This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon. 

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In Matthew 24-25, Jesus is on the Mount of Olives with his disciples, responding to their questions about the future destruction of the temple and the end of the age. He closes out the Olivet Discourse with the parable of the sheep and goats, revealing the preparation of a final place of judgment for Satan, evil spirits, and unbelievers. 

A key verse reads: “Then he [the Son of Man] will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!’” (Matt. 25:41).

The central theme of this parable is that Christ separates believers from unbelievers at his return. Jesus also makes it clear that all angelic and human rebels are banished from his presence. This passage deals with human works, not as a condition of salvation, but as evidence of one’s regard for the Son of Man. 

Distinct places are prepared for the sheep and goats. Jesus tells the sheep, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34). God’s kingdom – his reign, or authority to rule – has always existed and must be entered by faith. 

Christ has known his sheep from eternity past and has prepared a special place of honor for them. This honor is bestowed when the kingdom of the world becomes “the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15). At the same time, Satan, sin, and death are fully and finally banished, and Christ makes everything new (2 Pet. 3:10-13; Rev. 21-22; cf. Isa. 65:17).

As for the goats, Jesus says, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41). In contrast to the sheep, who are welcomed into Christ’s kingdom, the goats are banished to a singular place prepared for Satan and evil spirits. 

The idea of banishment is consistent throughout the New Testament with respect to those who reject Christ. Jesus calls false prophets “lawbreakers,” declares that he never knew them, and commands them to depart from him (Matt. 7:23). Paul writes of the day when Christ “takes vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from his glorious strength” (2 Thess. 1:8-9). And at the great white throne judgment, the judge throws the wicked into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15).

Note in Jesus’ words to the goats that hell is a place “prepared for the devil and his angels.” Jesus doesn’t tell the goats that hell is prepared for them, but for another race of beings – rebellious angels. There’s no hint of redemption for the evil one and his angelic cronies. Christ didn’t come in the likeness of sinful and fallen angels, but in the likeness of sinful and fallen people. Salvation is God’s exclusive gift to humans, a gift denied to the evil one and fallen angels. 

Nevertheless, those who reject Christ occupy the same place of everlasting punishment as Satan. Just as saints enjoy everlasting life in the presence of the triune God and God’s holy angels, unbelievers experience banishment in hell, along with “the god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4) and his angelic minions. Unbelievers don’t care about being heirs of God’s kingdom because they have no regard for the king. And so, by their choice, the goats depart into eternal fire.

This judgment is final and everlasting. The sheep gladly accept eternal life as the ultimate act of God’s grace. The goats, however, depart in stunned silence to hell. There is no higher court to which they may appeal. No second chance. No calls for clemency. No end to the consequences of their sin; that is, no annihilation, and no universal salvation. Just the stark reality of eternity in outer – and utter – darkness.

Jesus clearly teaches a final judgment, as well as a final destination, for all people. God has prepared a place of blessing for those who submit willingly to his Son’s kingship. It’s a place of rest, peace, security, and joy in the presence of the triune God, his holy angels, and other heavenly beings. 

At the same time, those who reject the Lord’s gracious provision for their sin, and who rebel against his kingship, are cast into a place not prepared for them, but a place where they nevertheless suffer the same fate as the ones for whom hell is created: Satan and evil spirits. Together, they all go to a place of eternal punishment, while the redeemed enjoy eternal life. 

Finally, when we think of the fires of hell, we shouldn’t disconnect them from the presence of God. Remember that God often is associated with fire. He appears to Moses in a burning bush (Exod. 3). His presence radiates through the pillar of fire and cloud during the Israelites’ forty years in the desert. And the writer of Hebrews depicts him as a “consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29). 

The fires with which God is associated provide holy angels and believing sinners with light, warmth, protection, and guidance. These same fires torment rebellious angels and unrepentant sinners. 

In some respects, the blazing brilliance of hellfire is the backside of heaven’s Shekinah glory. It continuously reveals the holiness of God and perpetually sears the blackened hearts of the damned. The fires of heaven and hell are not two distinct fires. They share the same divine source but have very different effects on the righteous and the wicked.

Next: Satan’s date with destiny