# Question: Who are those cast into the lake of fire in Revelation? My best friend, Alan, and I used to have regular Q&A emails. He sent me this question some time ago from someone at his church, and I've been a bad friend. I haven't answered him in the style that I know that he wants. I'm hoping this will give me the opportunity to properly analyze the question and provide an answer to him. Note, his goal wasn't an answer to the question as he's already answered it, but to have someone review his thoughts and critique it in view of Church history and traditions. The original question from his church member was: *Hey! Question. The book of life. So does God look at the book of life after the rapture and cast ppl into the lake of fire whose spirits are already in heaven? Or is it the ppl that are on earth and haven’t repented and lived for God?* ## Synopsis God judges the spirits of the dead and casts those not found in the book of life into the lake of fire. Those reigning with God in Heaven today (Revelation 20:4) are judged as well, but they're not cast into the fire. Only those not found in the book of life are cast away. ## References ### Primary Reference Context The Revelation of Saint John is an [[Apocalypse|apocalyptic writing.]] It serves to reveal something about the nature of God. Its primary purpose is to reveal Christ enthroned in the [[Messianic Age]] to the people at the time who were experiencing intense persecutions and martyrdom. Within this frame, we see Christ seated in judgement in Revelation 20:11-15 from the NET Bible. *Then I saw a large white throne and the one who was seated on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. Then books were opened, and another book was opened—the book of life. So the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each one was judged according to his deeds. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, that person was thrown into the lake of fire.* ## Detailed Answer & Discussion ### My Friend's Reply I think the word that may be more helpful to use is “resurrection” instead of “rapture”. Revelation says that there will be two resurrections (revelation 20:5-6). The first resurrection will be when all Christians from all time will be raised back to life to live with Jesus forever. The second resurrection will be when everyone of all time who rejected having faith in Christ will be raised (revelation 20:11-15). The people in this 2nd resurrection will all be condemned. None of their names will be found in the book. That is why it says earlier that blessed are those who take part in the first resurrection. Paul talks about the resurrection in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and specifically talks about the order in verses 22-26. Christ was resurrected, people of faith will be resurrected, and then the rest will be resurrected, and then even death itself will be demolished. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Paul again explains that Christians will be resurrected first (so if Christians are alive at the return, they will be “resurrected” without having to die physically-verse 15&17 there) I think what a lot of people call the “rapture” is actually the resurrection described there in 1 Thessalonians 4 and Revelation 20:5-6. Which means that after that event, no one else will be saved. 2 Thessalonians 2:11 talks about this as well. The Bible says that every person has an opportunity to repent and believe in Jesus until He returns. 2 Peter 3 says that we are living in a time of God’s patience. But that patience will run out one day and Jesus will return. The purpose of His current patience is to show people His goodness and lead them to repentance and faith. When you get a chance read all of 2 Peter 3 then look at verses 9 & 14-15 specifically. ### My Answer Let me start by just answering the question without regard for "exegesis" or "hermeneutics." I understand that reading anything in the Revelation is going to encourage the contemporary reader to assume it isn't saying what it plainly says. There has been so much interpretation and confusion around this book, throughout history, that at one point it was questionable if it belonged in the Canon at all. I think, however, this is one of the few sections that if we read it for what is plainly written we can glean a lot of valuable information. Let's start with answering the specific question, "*does God look at the book of life after the rapture and cast \[people] into the lake of fire whose spirits are already in heaven? Or is it the \[people] that are on earth and haven’t repented and lived for God?*" The text says "the dead, great and small, stand before the throne" to me this reads as all of the dead. John then clarifies this with the statements about the sea, Death, and Hades giving up their dead, this is the final judgment in which everyone is judged. All of those found without being written in the book of life are thrown into the fire. I could simply stop there. The text lays it out plainly in this case. Her question, though, offers some insight into her thought process as well as her own theological assumptions. These are things that need to be addressed as well to ensure that the question is answered in truth. The format of the main question "does God...case people...already in heaven?" implies a specific understanding of death and the spirit's disposition after. Could this, like other thoughts below, be a product of the semi-Christianized culture of the American south? We all hear, especially when we're young, "they went to Heaven to be with Jesus" when someone dies. Perhaps she is conflating this cultural idea of Heaven with "the place of the dead" without recognizing it. Cultural assumptions and mores will do that to us. I would say that is likely the case here. It is difficult for American Evangelicals to say "the place of the dead" when they're talking about the soul after death. It implies, in their mind, that it is someplace separated from God. But Jesus went there into Sheol/Hades and cleaned it out (see below). David proclaims in the Psalms that "*If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there. If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be.*" - Psalm 139. God is everywhere present, and for our spirit to be absent from the body is truly to be in the presence of the Lord. However, that doesn't necessarily mean when we die that we're mystically transported to the end of time (though that could be argued logically, I'm sure). With this information, I think we can say two things. God is not casting spirits into the lake of fire that are already reigning with Him (Rev 20:4) in the Kingdom of Heaven. God is retrieving the spirits of those who remain in the place of the dead, and some of those will be cast into the fire. I say some because of the way that we translate it into English, but also the Greek itself includes the conditional "IF." This implies that at least 1 of those judged at the end is not thrown into the fire. [[What are humans being judged on in the end|However, everyone is judged in the end.]] Continuing this breakdown of her question, consider her assumption of the rapture. It is possible that her usage of this term is entirely cultural, as with using Heaven in place of "the place of the dead". Where we are dispensational American Evangelicalism is common culturally even if less emphasized from the pulpits in the mega churches, such as the one I'm sitting in right now. Alan's answer above starts by correcting the terminology to ensure that the contextual assumptions are on the same page. However, Alan and I are going to have to agree to disagree on the two resurrections in Revelation. Remember, Revelation is filled with its own assumptions of the reader as well as its own symbolism. The early Church considers the "first" resurrection to be the saints in heaven today. I agree with this assessment. It seems more understandable than trying to understand how there are two resurrection events that happen at the end of time without also including a dispensationalist understanding. This also makes the next assumption make more sense. She also makes mention of repentance and living for God as the "qualifier" for those in the books of life. This intrigues me because very few American Evangelicals will include "lived for God" in the same sentence as "repentance" when talking around salvation topics. It is right that she uses this terminology as we see in the text, "according to their works" being the focus of judgment. We have to repent and choose to follow Christ, yes, but we also can't do that one day and never again. We must continue to live for Him and serve Him in our lives. ### Extras In addition to her presuppositions we have to remember that Revelation, like the rest of Scripture, contains references and assumptions that the original readers in the first century would have immediately understood. #### Death and Hades Death and Hades are functioning as a unit here. Where one goes the other follows which, I believe, has connection to an ancient god that the hearers of Revelation would have immediately understood. I'm fairly confident that the connection here is to Mot, the Canaanite god of death, however, I could be wrong and will continue to search for the confirmation, then update this as a link. If Death and Hades are a unit, what does it mean for them to give up the dead which are in them? There may be something to be considered here for the concept of an intermediary state of the soul, neither in Heaven nor in Hell (eternal death). If Death and Hades are "storing" their dead for judgment, then they're being allowed to do so by God as we see earlier in the text, Christ holds the keys to Death. He defeated it and has snatched back that authority that had been given to Death. This concept is visible in Luke when Jesus is telling the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16). The rich man and Lazarus die and both souls enter into Sheol. Each on opposite sides of the pit, torment or blessedness. When Jesus tells Dismas (the thief on the cross) that he will see Jesus in Paradise, that term is referring to the blessed side of Sheol. Now, the question becomes when Jesus died and descended into Hades, did he cross the boundary between the sides? #### Crossing the boundary The 3rd or 4th century writing of the Gospel of Nicodemus (Acts of Pilate) has the most thorough depiction of the harrowing of Hades of any writing. It describes the whole of Sheol, Hades, as well as Death, being under the authority of Satan. Well worth the read, I read it this week and whether it's canonical or not the depiction of Christ's entry into death and storming the gates of Hell is incredible. The depiction shows Christ taking humanity, not just individuals, out of the pit. His retrieval of Adam from the jaws of Hades is the representation of the total redemption of mankind. If all of mankind has been freed from bondage to sin and death, where does that leave us? I'm still exploring this concept myself. I am not a universalist in the sense that God *must* save everyone, but I am very much accepting that God is merciful and loving wishing for none to perish (2 Peter 3). I know that the Church has decried universalism as a heresy, but the boundary, I believe, is on the "God *must*" rather than "God *can*." ## Closing Thoughts So, Alan wanted me to provide a detailed answer as well as critique his own. I didn't do much critiquing above, so let me hit the high notes here. I think Alan, I love you my friend, missed the key part of her question and unintentionally focused on the word "rapture." I get this, he and I have had plenty of conversations about the issues around rapture theology so it's very easy to pull that thread. In pulling this thread though, we see declarations that potentially don't align with the early Church Fathers, namely the two bodily resurrections (three if you count Christ's and those with Him (Matt 27)). The Church has primarily considered the first resurrection to be of those presently reigning with Christ on the thrones referenced in Revelation 20:4. This is an area where I know he and I disagree, and that is acceptable. We're good enough friends to disagree and remain friends. I think it's important though that whether we believe in one bodily resurrection or two, that we understand the Resurrection will happen one day, Christ will appear with the shout of the archangels and the Day of the Lord will be upon us. When that day comes, and we are judged [[What are humans being judged on in the end|according to our works]] will God know us or will He cast us away? --- Canonical Link: <a href="https://bryangarrison.com/Questions/Who+are+those+cast+into+the+lake+of+fire+in+Revelation" rel="canonical">Who are those cast into the lake of fire in Revelation?</a>