The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
–Matthew 13:41-42
What is the destination of the unbelievers who are judged at Christ’s second coming? Matthew 13:42 says, “[His angels] will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The eternal destiny of phony Christians is hell.
People who think hell is going to be a party with all their friends do not know what they are talking about. Your friends may be in hell, but you will not be partying with them, because hell is a place of indescribable loneliness. Jesus taught there was conscious eternal suffering in hell. He described hell as a place that will be characterized by “torment” (Luke 16:23), “agony” (v. 24), and “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:42). Perhaps the most terrifying thing about hell is it is a forever destination. There is no way out. When you have spent 10 billion, trillion years in that place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, you will not have lessened by one second the time you have left to spend there. That is the awful truth about hell.
People say, “I do not believe God would ever allow such a thing to happen.” If you do not believe that, then Jesus Christ is a liar. Because Jesus talked more often about hell than He did about heaven. You cannot accept what He said about heaven and reject what He said about hell. Hell is a reality. It is the very place Jesus died to deliver us from. And Jesus said those who are phony Christians will be cast into this place of fire.
But notice in verse 43 the destination of genuine believers: “The righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Jesus was showing the great contrast in the eternal destinies of the unbeliever and the believer. The unbeliever will be forever in a place of darkness while the believer will be forever with Christ in heaven.
Right now, believers and unbelievers exist side by side with one another. That is true in your workplace and possibly in your home. In your church, there are believers and unbelievers sharing the same pew. But even though we exist side by side in this world, Jesus said there is a time when God will separate the real Christians from phony Christians–and that separation will last for all eternity.
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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “How To Spot A Phony” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2008.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org