Copyright Ó 2011 J. Neely Revelation 21:8
8 But [de] the fearful [deilos], and [kai] unbelieving [apistos], and [kai] the abominable [bdelusso], and [kai] murderers [phoneus], and [kai] whoremongers [pornos], and [kai] sorcerers [pharmakeus], and [kai] idolaters [eidololatres], and [kai] all [pas] liars [pseudes], shall have their [autos] part [meros] in [en] the lake [limne] which [ho] burneth [kaio] with fire [pur] and [kai] brimstone [theion]: which is [ho esti] the second [deuteros] death [thanatos]. KJV-Interlinear
8 ‘But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.’ NASB
You cannot change or alter the weather, just as you cannot change or alter human history. The elements that affect both are too complex and too many, and simply beyond the human ability.
You can, however, alter your own future, such that you can secure a phenomenal future for yourself.
When you were born physically into this world, you had no say as to the details of your life. You did not choose your genetics, or IQ, you did not choose your parents, or home, social status, or environment into which you would be born. You did not have any say in what you could do or even what you would look like. You did not have any say in your natural abilities, physical or mental gifts. You had no say in anything, into which you would be born. Yet here you are.
Now, through faith in Christ, you have a second birth and the choices of having much more to say about your new life in heaven. And even some say in your present life in this world.
Even though God has a specific plan for your life, you will not live it, nor experience it, unless you follow Gods guidelines explicitly.
For those who pursue their spiritual life, their future is being defined as absolute and certain and phenomenal successes.
For those who reject God, and Christ, and doctrine, there is absolute and certain and phenomenal disaster.
Here in our passage is probably one of the best descriptions of the unbeliever. Though, there are many passages that describe unbelievers using many terms, John pretty much sums up exactly what an unbeliever really is.
These are not sins that people commit, and they are not patterns of life that people pursue, but they are the results of the patterns of life, which people choose to follow, in their rejection of Jesus Christ.
The first is cowardly. This is a person who will be easily frightened. They lack endurance. They lack the stamina required to defeat all obstacles in life, namely sin and death. They live on the edge in uncertainty and paranoia. And in the end, their life will be utter terror. Cowardice comes from uncertainty, and the unbelieving person has no certainty whatsoever in their life.
The second is unbelieving. The unbeliever refuses to recognize truth. They live in a world of fantasy, defining their own truths for life. They limit their scope of life to their five senses, and will even reverse their own rules of observation, in order to arrive at a conclusion with which they are comfortable. What they see and feel is more real to them than what they cannot see or feel. They will seek answers through their own interpretation, based on their own biased logic, rather than on common sense applications of logic. It makes more sense to them, that man came from goo, than for man to have been created instantly by God.
The third pattern result is abominable. The unbeliever is repulsive, vile, and detestable. Their life is dressed in evil, lies, and wickedness. Evil is the policy of Satan, lies are his teachings, and wickedness is the result or production of its actions. Nothing good comes from anything that an unbeliever thinks or does.
The fourth is murder. Murder is the taking of someone else’s life from them. Anyone who promotes lies, in effect tries to direct the attentions of others away from truth. Anyone distracted from truth runs dangerously close to losing their own life for both now and in eternity. Although everyone has the opportunity to reject lies and pursue truth, those who reject truth, go one step further and try to prevent others from seeing the truth of life. They become murderers, or attempted murderers by destroying someone else's future.
The fifth is immorality. Morals distinguish between right and wrong and how one should live their life and how one should behave in life. Sound principles and standards of life, guide the morality of ones life. Truth provides sound principles and standards of life. Lies do not. Even though an unbeliever may live a ‘moral’ life, those morals are rejected by God as detestable, because they are based on the unsound core beliefs of the unbeliever.
All good morals come from God, and to us through doctrine. Unbelievers see morals as relative and ever changing based on their own perception of life. At any point in time in history, any behavior potentially can become acceptable to them. Gods standards never change. The unbelievers standards will change with popularity, politics, or the weather.
The sixth is sorcery. Sorcery refers to magical or mystical powers. The word ‘pharmakeus’ gives us words like pharmacy, and refers more specifically to the mind altering drugs. People who escape truth, usually escape by means of various drugs or alcohol and so forth. Now, not all unbelievers are drug users, but that is not the meaning here. It is the escape from truth, which is the meaning. Evil is the worst possible drug. Satan’s policy and methods have so saturated society, that it is extremely difficult to identify them. And when a person lacks any foundation of truth in their soul, then that makes it doubly difficult. And when a person refuses to allow any semblance of truth into their soul, then discernment is nearly impossible.
The seventh pattern result is idolatry. Worship is giving recognition to something you adore, something you pursue, something to which you love or devote your life. When truth is rejected, then reality is rejected. That leaves only the false things of life to love. Idols are false and dead end pursuits. Idols come in many forms. Over the centuries people have fallen at the feet of idols of stone, of animals, of ancestors, of bodies in the night sky. But love is not limited to just objects of deity. People worship their lifestyle, their work, their political philosophies, their hobbies, their lusts. And all of these are false pursuits when God is excluded from the life.
And finally, this then leads to the eighth pattern result, which is the lie. When truth is squeezed out of ones life, then only lies remain. Building ones life on a foundation of lies means certain failure. Failure is in ones foundation, failure is in ones structure, and failure is in the results of ones life. There is no success whatsoever, in an unbelievers life.
Because unbelievers lack something so simple as the saving faith in Jesus Christ, and are therefore unbelieving, their disloyalty to that simple single element of truth excludes them from heaven, and destines them to the eternal Lake of Fire.
So here is the greatest warning possible in everyone's life. The new universe and heaven will so phenomenal that missing out will be the greatest failure possible.
So, believe in Christ and succeed. Reject Christ and failure is the least of your problems.
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