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 This brings us to the great white throne judgment
where the dead, the ones who died in their sin never having accepted
the sacrifice of the Christ, are brought forth from the grave. The book
of their life was opened and the book of life which contains the names
of those who have accepted Jesus and from these books they were judged by their works.
 Revelation 20:11-15 KJV 11And I saw a
great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth
and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God;
and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the
book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were
written in the books, according to their works.
13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death
and hell (the grave) delivered up the dead which were in them: and they
were judged every man according to their works.
14And death and hell (the grave) were cast into the lake of
fire. This is the second death.
15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life
was cast into the lake of fire.
 Remembering that all through the Old Testament
that God's judgments were always for correction and restoration and
that forever and ever were not the original translations lets see if
we can shed a little more light as to the eventual destinies of these who were judged.
Analytical-literal translation of Revelation 20:10
And the Devil, the one leading them astray [fig., deceiving them],
was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur [or, brimstone], where
the beast and the false prophet [are], and they will be tormented
day and night into the ages of the ages [fig., forever and ever].
You will notice that although this is a literal
translation they add a figurative translation of ages of ages to be
forever and ever which in itself makes no sense since just forever would have sufficed.
American Standard Version of Revelation 20:10
And the
devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are
also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and nightj for ever and ever.
 This version puts a footnote that tells us in the original Greek it was "ages of ages".
Darby Bible (1889) Revelation 20:10
And the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of
fire and brimstone, where are both the beast and the false
prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for the ages of ages.
Young's Literal translation (1898) of Revelation 20:10
and the Devil, who is leading them astray, was cast into the lake
of fire and brimstone, where are the beast and the false prophet,
and they shall be tormented day and night--to the ages of the ages.
We find in reading this scripture that when God
is dealing with the devil, the beast and the false prophet they are
thrown into the lake of fire along with death and the grave but it
is for the ages of ages --- a period of limited time not an eternal,
never ending time. When God is dealing with those who do not have
their names written in the Lambs Book of Life they are cast into the
lake of fire but no time limit is set.
As I have mentioned earlier fire and brimstone
(sulfur) are purifying agents and it is because of my strong belief
in a JUST God that I do not believe in eternal everlasting torment.
If we truly believe that Jesus made the payment for all sin, past,
present and future then what are we making of His sacrifice by
putting a large part of God's creation into an eternal, everlasting
torment with no hope of redemption ever? Did not the King of Glory,
while being crucified and the nails being driven into His hands and
feet, ask the Father to forgive those who were doing this? How does
making God some malevolent, spiteful, horrible deity bring Him glory?
Would He not be glorified exceedingly more by saving His creation instead of tormenting it forever?
In the end what I believe is of no consequence
because God gave you the 'free will' to decide for yourself what
you choose to believe. Now I know there are those who will say I
am giving some people a license to sin thinking it will all be
fine when they get to heaven but you must remember that with your
'free will' comes choices and with choices come consequences. We
will all be judged by the works we have done in the body while on
this earth both believers and unbelievers.
Revelation 22:12 KJV And, behold, I come quickly;
and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
Bob Goulding © January 2008
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