“Jesus said “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).
When Jesus sent the twelve disciples into the world to preach the Gospel, He plainly told them they would face bitter opposition. So bitter would be this opposition that some would be delivered up to death.
In order that the followers of Jesus not be cowed into shirking their gospel duty, Jesus gave the above warning. In this text we see that: 1) there are two major powers at work; 2) each of those powers are worthy of fear; 3) violence is the end result of opposition to those powers; 4) God is infinitely scarier than the devil in His capacity for retributive violence.
Christ’s admonition to not fear the devil’s threats, because God’s are greater, is especially relevant to our current world situation. Currently we face the very real possibility that the mark of the beast—Sunday rest by law in opposition to the Lords true Seventh-day Sabbath—is at the doors.
The devil’s threats regarding his mark are first socioeconomic (Revelation 13:17). Without the mark no one will be able to buy or sell. In other words, Seventh-day Adventists will become social and economic outcasts. We will be barred from entering into the basic transactions necessary to sustain social and physical life.
As God’s people wisely refuse to yield their allegiance the ultimate threat is revealed. Catholics and Protestants will unite with the civil power to “… cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed” (Revelation 13:15). More specifically,
“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4).
Beheading, a fearful fate indeed. One that is meant to strike fear in the hearts of those that would be loyal to God. During the French Revolution beheading by guillotine was the favorite method of execution. In that bloody Reign of Terror the mantra of “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity” deteriorated into fear, bloodshed, and the guillotine. The weeks following June 8, 1794 saw the heads of 1,400 people fall “like slates from a roof.”[i]
The specter of the guillotine has risen in recent months. Black Lives Matter protesters, who created the CHAZ [Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone] in Seattle, turned it into the CHOP[ii]. Chop, like what a guillotine would do. They specifically referenced the French Revolution. During one demonstration in Portland a group of protestors decided to burn an American flag on a mock guillotine[iii]. The spirit of the French Revolution is returning, and some of God’s people may indeed be beheaded for the witness of Christ. Fear not, Jesus says. For while some faithful Seventh-day Adventists may lose their lives, we should not lose our heads. As fearful as it may be to face the violent end of one’s life amidst the imprecations of a hateful throng; Jesus basically said “you think that is scary, wait until you see what My Father can do.”
So: “Whom shall we fear?”. The devil or the Lord? On the devil’s side we have banishment and eventual death. What does the Lord have? He has the Lakes of Fire. Yes, I am aware of the seven last plagues, but this article focuses on Christ’s words that God is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. He does not mention the plagues in that text. He is specifically referring to the lakes of fire.
The beginning of punishment of God starts with lake of fire number one:
“And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone” (Revelation 19:20).
This lake of fire happens at the beginning of the 1000 years which is ushered in at the Second Coming of Christ. While the great masses of the wicked are “…slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth.” (Revelation 19:21); there is literally a ‘special place in hell’, as the saying goes, for the Beast and the False prophet. Notice the Bible says that they are cast ‘alive’ into the lake of fire. Papal history is replete with those whom it consigned to the flames, and burned alive for challenging her heresies.
Therefore, will the Beast and the False Prophet experience the same judgments with which she judged her victims. Unlike God’s saints of whom White says the “…recording angel has sustained the martyrs who would not worship idols.” (7 Bible Commentary 913.7) There will be no sustaining grace when the Papacy and apostate protestant leadership face God’s fiery wrath. They shall be cast, alive, into that volcano of God’s fury. The wicked priests and pastors will find no one to pity them. No one to care for them. No, not one.
As an aside, the fate of turn-coat Seventh-day Adventists is also most terrible. White writes,
“I was shown a company who were howling in agony. On their garments was written in large characters, "Thou art weighed in the balance, and found wanting." I asked who this company were. The angel said, "These are they who have once kept the Sabbath and have given it up." I heard them cry with a loud voice, "We have believed in Thy coming, and taught it with energy." And while they were speaking, their eyes would fall upon their garments and see the writing, and then they would wail aloud. I saw that they had drunk of the deep waters, and fouled the residue with their feet--trodden the Sabbath underfoot-- and that was why they were weighed in the balance and found wanting” (Early Writings 36.2).
Eventually this first lake of fire will burn out. Like Sodom and Gomorrah of old, its fire is gone as the fuel upon which it lit is now nothing but ashes in the desert. As it is written,
“Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them…are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 7).
Seventh-day Adventists understand the term eternal is not referring to time but ultimate outcome. The effects of the fires are such that Sodom and Gomorrah are no more. The lake of fire of Revelation 19 is of that same type. The Beast and the False Prophet are no more.
Thus, God’s terrors prepared for wicked Papists, Protestants, heathens, and turncoat Adventists are orders of magnitude greater. Those of us who face earthly persecutions should count it all joy in comparison to facing the Wrath of God unmingled with mercy. Indeed, fear Him who can cast the both body and soul in hell. But God is not done.
The Lake of Fire, Take Two
With the end of the 1000 years comes the resurrection of the wicked dead and the second lake of fire. Unlike the first lake of fire this one is given a special distinction missing from the first lake of fire. It is now also called the second death, in Revelation 20 and 21,
“And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:9-15).
“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:7-8).
Recall that the first ones to taste of the lake of fire were the devil’s henchmen; the beast and the false prophet. Now the devil is faced with the very same destruction. He had previously witnessed the destruction of his staunch supporters, and had been given 1000 years to stew over it. For a thousand years Satan had this image burned into his memory, and now the time has come for the fire to kindle on him and the wicked with him. It is only at this point that the lake of fire now becomes the Second Death.
Of special note is that those who made up the Beast and the False Prophet get a double portion of God’s wrath. The Beast and the False Prophet, as systems, have ceased to exist. Yet those individuals that were part of them have been raised up at the second resurrection at the end of the thousand years for their second go at the lake of fire. They will be revisiting this terrible punishment in a more dreadful way. Thus, the Bible says of Babylon that she should be rewarded double for her sins and that she is to be punished with fire (Rev 18:6,8).
The particulars of this final lake of fire are most unpleasant. Notice what Elle White says regarding this second lake of fire:
“The wicked receive their recompense in the earth. . . Some are destroyed as in a moment, while others suffer many days. All are punished "according to their deeds." The sins of the righteous having been transferred to Satan, he is made to suffer not only for his own rebellion, but for all the sins which he has caused God's people to commit. His punishment is to be far greater than that of those whom he has deceived. After all have perished who fell by his deceptions, he is still to live and suffer on” (The Great Controversy 1888, p673).
Still more dreadful are the following words:
“I saw that some were quickly destroyed, while others suffered longer. They were punished according to the deeds done in the body. Some were many days consuming, and just as long as there was a portion of them unconsumed, all the sense of suffering remained” (Early Writings Vol. 1, p295).
This is no ordinary fire, but the supernatural destruction and punishment meted out to those who have rejected eternal life. They have refused the suffering of the Son of God on their behalf and now find the weight of the gift they have scorned. While they do not burn eternally, for God would make an end of sin, it will be a terrible suffering. To feel the flames while a particle of the person remains, to experience no relief knowing that the wrath of God is being pour out without mercy! Let us fear him not who may threaten our earthly life! No, let us fear and reverence Him who can cast both our body and soul into unquenchable fire.
These two lakes of fire are a warning NOW. We have a Hell to shun and a Heaven to win. Let us by these warnings take heed of the words of Christ. When the test comes, whether it be the mark of the beast, or our daily trials, let us rather fear God, and give Him the glory. When it comes to the lakes of fire let us strive to be observers only, and not participants.
Marko Kolic was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist faith in 1998 in a cold lake in Canada. Coming from a Catholic background he is passionate about Biblical truth and the Spirit of prophecy. He received his B.A. in Religion from Burman University [formerly Canadian University College] in 2005 and his M. Div. from Andrews Theological Seminary in 2009. He currently works in one of Canada’s federal penitentiaries.
[i] Robert J. Morgan, On This Day: 365 Amazing and Inspiring Stories about Saints, Martyrs & Heroes, electronic ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997).
[ii] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrqkAqpHzfs&t=159s , watch from 10:30 on.