Category: Columns

Satan’s Date with Destiny

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. 

The Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Massachusetts is well into its third decade of operation and has yet to report a breakout. The center has earned its reputation as the most technologically advanced and secure prison in the world – even more secure than Russia’s notorious Black Dolphin Prison, or the ADX prison in Colorado, dubbed the “Alcatraz of the Rockies.” 

Six hundred corrections officers guard Souza-Baranowski’s 1,500 prisoners. But just to be sure, the omniscient eye of a robotic watchman carefully monitors every inch of the facility. More than 40 graphic-interfaced computer terminals drive a keyless system that controls every aspect of the prison, from doors to the water supply. If that’s not enough, 370 high-definition cameras always record everything. Plus, a taut-wire fence and microwave detection system guard the perimeter. 

If you think you can simply snip a few wires or pull the plug on the entire system, think again. Souza-Baranowski is one of the only U.S. prisons designed to run entirely on solar and hydroelectric power. Oh, and for anyone trying the old-school method of digging out, the prison was built using the highest-strength concrete and tool-resistant steel available. Hollywood blockbuster Escape Plan to the contrary, not even Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone could bust out of this place.

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The Eternal Fire

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. 

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. 

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Thrown into the Lake of Fire

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. 

While followers of Jesus enjoy everlasting life in glorified bodies on a restored earth, the ultimate destiny of the wicked is the same habitation created for Satan and demons: gehenna.

It’s a place in English we call “hell,” and a place Jesus and the New Testament writers describe in various ways, among them: outer darkness (Matt. 8:12), the second death (Rev. 2:11; 20:14; 21:8), and the lake of fire (Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 14, 15; 21:8).

While the Hebrew term sheol and the Greek hades generally depict the temporary abode of the dead, gehennaand its associated terms describe the place of everlasting future punishment for those whose names are not written in the book of life (Rev. 20:15).

The term gehenna is derived from the Valley of Hinnom. Located southwest of Jerusalem, this steep, rocky valley is the scene of human sacrifices to pagan deities (2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chron. 28:3; 33:6). Jeremiah declares it the “Valley of Slaughter” (Jer. 7:31-34 ESV). To the Jewish mind, the images of fire and destruction become appropriate representations of the fate of idol worshipers.

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Glory in Restoration

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. 

The glorified body of Jesus easily navigates a world still under the curse of sin. After his emergence from the tomb, Jesus eats, travels, speaks with befuddled eyewitnesses of his resurrection, passes through closed doors, transports himself instantly from one location to another, and finally launches from the Mount of Olives into heaven. 

Our resurrected bodies will have many of these same capabilities. Yet the redemptive work of God isn’t finished at our resurrection. The world in which we now live was not always cursed, nor will it always be cursed. A day is coming when our sovereign Lord makes all things new (Rev. 21:5).

We’ll explore the new heavens and earth in future columns. For now, let’s survey three New Testament passages that address the restoration of our bodies.

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Glory in Resurrection

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.com. 

The glory we experience now as Christ lives in us, and the glory we experience in death as our souls and spirits ascend into heaven, are partial works of glorification. But full glorification for followers of Jesus takes place when he calls our bodies from the grave and gives us incorruptible bodies like the body he bore when he rose from the dead. 

Physical resurrection is the pinnacle of personal glorification, for in it we shrug off the last vestiges of sin, which have clung to our mortal bodies. In glorification, the effects of the Fall are fully and finally reversed. 

At the return of Christ, all who have died in the Lord are resurrected. Their souls and spirits, which are in heaven with Jesus, are reunited with their bodies, resulting in complete personal glorification; the body, soul, and spirit are fully conformed to the image of Christ and thus free of any effects of the Fall. 

Christians alive on the earth at the return of Christ are instantly transformed as they are given glorified bodies; their souls and spirits are perfected at the same time.

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