The Final Judgment and its Outcome
Isaiah 45:20-25
Imagine that you are a doctor who has been called in to study a patient’s test results. You study the test results carefully, and see that the patient has treatable terminal cancer; it’s terminal, in that if not treated will kill him; but it’s treatable, the patient can be completely healed if treated.
But then you discover that another doctor is telling the patient that there’s no terminal cancer, the patient doesn’t have terminal cancer and so he does not need to worry about being treated; he can just go home, and he will be fine. So you look back over the test results, and study them carefully. And you find that that doctor is wrong. The patient does have terminal, treatable cancer.
What would you do? For the sake of love you would try to persuade the other doctor that the patient has cancer; you would try to persuade the patient that he has cancer. Because if the patient believes the other doctor, if the patient ignores the treatment, he will die.
That’s the situation followers of Jesus find ourselves in today. We study God’s Word, and we find that because of our sin we all face treatable terminal hell. It is terminal – eternal conscious torment. But it is treatable -- through faith in Jesus Christ we can escape from Hell, be freed from sin, and know God’s love and care now and forever. That’s what we find when we read God’s Word.
But two weeks ago a book was published by Rob Bell, who is a well-known author and pastor of the 8,000 member Mars Hill Church in Michigan (not to be confused with the Acts 29 Mars Hill Church in Seattle). And in this book he says hell is not eternal, and that ultimately everyone – believer and unbeliever -- ends up in heaven.
But that’s not what the Bible teaches. And that message will bring great harm -- to unbelievers who will think they will all end up in heaven no matter what, and to the church -- in weakening our fight against sin, our passion for evangelism, our willingness to take risks for the unreached.
So this morning my aim is to equip us so that we understand what God’s Word teaches about heaven and hell, and so we can help those who are wondering understand what God’s Word teaches about heaven and hell.
Let’s turn to Isaiah 45. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we will bring one to you. Isaiah 45 is on page 605 in the Bibles we are passing out. This morning we will start by focusing on Isaiah 45:20-25.
So what is Isaiah saying in these verses? Last week in vv.1-19 we saw how God fulfilled prophecy after prophecy about Cyrus – and how these fulfilled historical prophecies show that there is a God, that He is the God of Abraham and our Lord Jesus, and that there is no other God. Then in vv.20-22 he invites all the nations to respond – to turn to him and be saved. Look at v.22 --
"Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
Then in v.23 God tells them why they should turn to Him and be saved –
By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: 'To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.'
So the reason the nations should turn to God and be saved is because the day is coming when every knee will bow to God, and every tongue will swear allegiance to God. So what does that mean? You could think Isaiah is saying that everyone will have humble faith in God, and so everyone will end up saved.
But if you keep reading you will see that’s not what it means, because v.24 shows some who end up not saved. Look at v.24 --
"Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him.
So all who were incensed against God, turned their backs on God, rebelled against God, will come to God and be ashamed. In Isaiah the word “ashamed” does not mean being broken for sin; it’s talking about being exposed in your sin. You can see that for example in Isaiah 41:11. So “ashamed” is not repentance leading to salvation; it’s God’s judgment leading to condemnation. So this verse describes those who end up not saved.
But v.25 shows those who end up saved --
In the LORD all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory."
The “offspring of Israel” refers to all those who through faith become part of God’s people. So all those who in the Old Testament trusted God’s mercy and in the New Testament trust Jesus Christ shall be justified and shall glory. Which means they will be saved.
So if some end up saved and some not saved, what does v.23 mean in saying that every knee will bow and every tongue confess allegiance to God? To answer this, keep your finger here, but look at Zephaniah 1 (page 788). In Zephaniah 1 we can see this same phrase used to describe, not humble faith in God, but just outward conformity to God. Read vv.4-6 --
4 "I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests,
5 those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, those who bow down and swear to the LORD and yet swear by Milcom,
6 those who have turned back from following the LORD, who do not seek the LORD or inquire of him."
So here “bowing down and swearing to the Lord” is not a sign of genuine faith; it’s just outward conformity to God, a religious ritual, something you do even though it’s not from the heart.
This helps us understand what Isaiah is saying in ch.45. In v.23 Isaiah is saying is that everyone will bow down and swear allegiance to God, in the sense that at the end of history every human being will be gathered to the Final Judgment, and everyone will bend the knee and swear allegiance to God, some inwardly and willingly, and some only outwardly, because they have to.
And then in vv.24-25 Isaiah says there will be two very different outcomes of this judgment. In v.24 – those who have been incensed against God, who did not trust God’s mercy, who did not trust Jesus Christ, will face shame. And in v.25 those who have trusted God’s mercy, who do trust Jesus Christ, will be justified and glorified.
So let’s putting this all together: in vv.20-25 God calls all the nations to turn to Him and be saved, because the day is coming when every human being who has ever lived will be gathered to the Final Judgment, and this judgment will result either in people being ashamed, or people being justified and glorified.
Does that make sense? Any questions? (Let’s stick with questions, not comments.)
But now with that in mind, let’s raise this next question -- what does the Bible teach about eternity? Let’s start with two views that I want to show you are not taught in God’s Word.
One view is universalism. This is what Rob Bell’s book teaches -- that in the end everyone is saved and ends up in heaven. But there are Scriptures that clearly teach that not everyone is saved and ends up in heaven.
Look at Matthew 25:46 (page 831). This is from the parable of the sheep and the goats. The sheep are those whose love for Jesus’ brothers shows that they genuinely trusted Christ; the goats are those whose lack of love shows that they did not genuinely trust Christ. And the sheep and goats have radically different destinies. Look at v.46 – he starts off with the goats --
And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous [the sheep] into eternal life."
Here Jesus is clear. There’s not one universal eternal destiny of salvation. There’s two eternal destinies – eternal punishment, and eternal life.
But some would say it’s not so clear. They say the word “eternal” doesn’t have to mean eternal, and they are right. The Greek word “eternal” sometimes does mean a time that is everlasting, and other times it means a time that is indefinitely long but not everlasting. So how do we tell what is meant here? By looking at the context.
When Jesus talks about eternal life, it’s clear from other passages that He is talking about life that is everlasting – with no end. No one disputes that. But if the same word “eternal” occurs twice in one sentence, and one time it clearly means time that is everlasting, and there’s nothing in the context to say otherwise, then there’s every reason to conclude that other time also means time that is everlasting.
So there are two very different eternal destinies. For those who genuinely trust Christ there is eternal life; for those who did not trust Christ, there is eternal punishment.
Another view that is not taught in the Bible is annihilationism. Some people teach that there are two destinies, but that those who are not saved are annihilated – they just cease to exist. The biggest argument for this view is that unbelievers are often said to be destroyed – and if they are destroyed, this view argues, then they must cease to exist (Mat 10:28; .
But the Greek word “destroyed” has a broad range of meaning; it can mean cease to exist, but it can also mean being lost, being ruined, and continuing to exist in a ruined state. To see this look at Revelation 17:8 (page 1038) –
The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction [there’s that Greek word] …
So the beast will go to destruction. Does that mean he will cease to exist? No. Look at Revelation 20:10 –
… and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
So the beast is destroyed, which means he will be tormented day and night forever and ever. So the word “destroyed” does not necessarily mean ceasing to exist. It can mean being destroyed forever and ever.
So the Bible does not teach universalism, or annihilationism. What does the Bible teach? It teaches eternal heaven for those who trust Jesus Christ, and eternal hell for those who persist in rebellion. You can see that in Revelation 14:9-11 (page 1036) –
9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,
10 he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name."
That description is absolutely horrifying: torment forever and ever; no rest day or night. And the reason Jesus talked so much about hell, and here John talks so graphically about hell, is because God wants everyone to understand what is at stake here on planet earth: those who continue in rebellion against God will suffer conscious torment forever and ever and ever.
So – how is God just to do this? Think of who God is. God has always been, from eternity past, with no beginning, full of joy in the fellowship of the Trinity, a God who is perfect, holy, good, loving, just, wise, glorious. And God created a universe, and created this world, and created you and me, giving us life, bodies, each other, food, sun, rain – so we would see what an amazing Creator He is – and bow and worship Him, trust Him, obey Him, enjoy Him.
But we all have done what Adam and Eve did – we refused to bend the knee before God. We little, tiny, puny created beings who owe God everything refused to thank and love and worship our good and loving and holy Creator. But He was slow to anger, and continued to show humanity His goodness by providing harvests and sunshine and rain and raising up the nation of Israel and working signs and wonders and sending His own Son. But no matter how clearly God showed Himself to us, we refused to bend the knee before Him.
So what did God do? God is just; perfectly just. And justice says the punishment must fit the crime. We have persisted in desecrating infinite glory; that’s an infinite crime. And an infinite crime demands an infinite punishment.
Think about it like this. If you desecrate the worth of a dog by killing it, you will be charged with a misdemeanor and maybe imprisoned for 1 to 2 years. But if you kill a person, you desecrate the far greater worth of a person, and you could face life in prison or losing your life entirely. Why the greater sentence? Because you have desecrated a far greater honor.
But we have all persistently desecrated the infinite worth of God. And so it is right and just for God to punish us with an infinite punishment – eternal conscious torment.
So understand that God would be absolutely just if He cast all of us into hell forever. You need to feel this. God would be absolutely just – and all creation would applaud and all the angels would shout His praise.
But that’s not what God did. What did He do? He showed a mercy that is shocking. If you are trusting Jesus Christ, then what God did was take the eternal conscious torment that you deserved, the never-ending, day after day after day after day torment you deserved, and He poured that out on His Son. Jesus suffered infinite punishment, not infinite in time, but since He was infinite God, His suffering was just as infinite as yours would be.
So we should not wonder why God would cast people into eternal hell. That is perfectly just. We should wonder why God would cast our hell upon Jesus. That’s what our God has done. That’s His mercy, His love, His goodness – that He was willing to pour the Hell we deserve upon His Son so we can be saved from Hell.
What does this mean for us?
Two things. One – if you are not yet a believer, flee to Jesus Christ. Bend the knee in faith before Him, and through His death on the Cross He will forgive you for all your sins, and bring you to God, so you can know and trust and worship Him forever. Flee to Jesus Christ.
Two – if you are a believer, live in light of eternity. I recently read this illustration. In 1984 a dense fog suddenly fell upon a freeway in England – and visibility was cut to zero. Right at the same time a semi-trailer carrying huge rolls of paper lost control and crashed, and then car after car slammed into it and each other and dozens were killed and injured.
Two police officers arrived and were horrified. They saw car after car speeding by and then heard one sickening crash after another. So they started running towards the cars that were speeding into the disaster, screaming at them to stop, tears streaming down their faces, grabbing traffic cones and throwing them at the cars, doing whatever they could to stop them.
Wouldn’t you do the same? Everyone around you who is not trusting Christ is speeding towards eternal conscious torment. Love them. Pray for them. Tell them.