The final, eternal end of unbelieving people is so hideous, so full of unimaginable terror and torment that clear description of it eludes all human language. In Revelation, it is simply called, “the second death.” Hell is itself a place of torment (Lk. 16:19-31), but it is used only as a “holding pen” for the unrighteous dead until the final judgment. After that, both those who are in hell and hell itself, with every other filthy thing, are cast into “the lake of fire.” This is the second death (Rev. 20:14). This “second death” is so horrible that even hell is cast into it! But what are some of the qualities of this “lake of fire”?

The first inkling of the real depths of horror which await the ungodly came a few years ago while I was reading in the Psalms. Speaking of the destiny of the wicked, the Psalmist wrote “they shall never see light” (49:19). Never see light? What a terrifying thought, to imagine oneself bound forever in a sepulchre of blackness! It is a lake of fire, but it is a fire with no light! At least three different times, Jesus referred to this as “outer darkness” (Mt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30), in every case adding that “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” When Solomon glimpsed this miserable place, he called it “obscure darkness” (Prov. 20:20). Peter, referring to the suffocating thickness of the dark, called it a “mist of darkness” (2Pet. 2:17). Jude tried to describe it by saying, “blackness of darkness” (Jude 13). These and other Biblical phrases came from holy men who were, with the meager tool of earthly language, trying to describe a chilling fact of eternity.

The most impressive testimony I have heard concerning this came a few weeks ago on television. A lady was relating a vision which God had given to her concerning the final abode of the damned. With deep emotion, she described as well as she could the indescribable blackness. All the darkness we have experienced in this world, she said, has a gray tint to it in comparison to that darkness. It is an enveloping, oppressing blackness, in which the individual senses the eternity, the finality of it all, and is filled, there for the first time, with the sense of absolute hopelessness, the utter absence of choice, the reality and depth of the wrath of God against unbelief and disobedience. That lady told of returning to consciousness from her vision with an awareness of someone screaming in terror, only to find when she awoke that the screams were her own. Needless to say, she wept for hours after returning from this awesome vision.

In addition to the thick, crushing blackness, and terrifying lostness, there is also in the second death the element of unimaginable torment - likened in the Scriptures to being burned alive. Jesus said that the torment was so great that even if we had to cut off parts of our body to escape that place, it would be well worth it (Mt. 18:8-9; Mk. 9:43-48). Of course, he was speaking of spiritual members of the body, but his point is graphically made. It is a place, he said, where “the fire is not quenched,” a place of “everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt. 25:46), a place of “everlasting punishment” (Mt. 25:46). The wicked world ruler and the wayward minister who will promote his religion will be “cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone” (Rev. 19:20). One thousand years later, after the much-heralded millennial reign of Christ, the devil is cast into that same lake “and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Rev. 20:10). Then, following the great white throne judgment which immediately occurs, death and hell itself “and whosoever was not found written in the book of life” are all together cast into the lake of fire, the second death (Rev. 20:11-15). Can you imagine this scene?

I saw a racing car accident that caused gasoline to splash on the driver. He crawled out of the car’s window writhing on the ground, but there were no visible flames. The type of gasoline used in his racing vehicle burns invisibly. Of course, the fire crew at the race track knew what was happening and rushed to his aide with fire extinguishing equipment. But when, in that pit of absolute blackness the invisible, unquenchable fire is raging, there will be no rescue. It truly is such a fearful thing, that it requires faith in order to believe that it will happen. We have no earthly equivalent. It is only by faith that we can understand (cp. Heb. 11:6). All the suffering for sin that mankind has experienced on earth has been mixed with God’s mercy and patience. The “second death” is the end of God’s mercy for those who go there. It is pure vengeance and contempt, unmixed with any hope or love, directly from the heart of the Creator. Those who go there will not have fallen into the hands of the devil; they will have fallen into the hands of an angry and holy God.

God is still communicating to His people the reality of His terror. Paul knew the terror of God (2Cor. 5:11) and labored to persuade men to believe. According to the Scriptures, it is the wicked who do not fear God (Ps. 36:1; Rom. 3:18). Jesus feared God (Heb. 5:7-9), and he warned his disciples to fear Him as well (Lk. 12:4-5). The love of God casts out all the fear of God. In fact, we love God for the very same reason that we fear Him: His power to save and to damn.

The fear of God is clean (Ps. 19:9) and causes those who have it to despise ungodly living (Prov. 8:13). It keeps us humble (Rom. 11:17-22), places us in a position to receive the blessings of God (Acts 10:1-2), and to praise and worship Him who inhabits eternity (Ps. 2:11; Rev. 14:7; 19:5). Noah was moved with fear to build the ark (Heb. 11:7), and those who now are of faith, as Noah was, are also moved by the fear of God to prepare for the coming destruction of all this creation, for

“...... the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless” (2Pet. 3:10-14).

The reality of the wrath of God which is coming in great fury upon this doomed creation is a necessary element of the body's faith. It is true. It is certain. And, thankfully, that wrath is avoidable. The gospel of Jesus teaches us not only that it is coming, but that through faith in his shed blood, we may escape it. He is our refuge, our hope, our life. There is none other by whom men may be saved from the wrath of God (Acts 4:12). If we have anything to celebrate, it is that Jesus lives and that he loves us! His heart’s desire is for us to be where he is, and he has literally given his all just to make that possible. He has really done all that he can do. Thankfully, the Spirit’s call through the ancient prophet Isaiah has not yet been revealed:

“Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteousness man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isa. 55:6-7).

Now is the acceptable time for repentance and faith. Now is the day of salvation. Let us take advantage of it.