Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.”
How can the mention of “eternal fire” apply to the national judgment against Israel? Jude discusses a judgment against false teachers and illustrates how God punished unbelieving Jews that he had brought out of Egypt, punished sinful angels, and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Concerning Sodom and Gomorrah, Jude wrote,
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
If Sodom and Gomorrah could suffer the punishment of “eternal fire,” why is it so difficult to imagine the Jewish nation cast into eternal fire? The same use of the words “eternal fire” is found in an example of national judgment that has already been experienced. This is not a future suffering of “eternal fire.” If they have not yet suffered this judgment, then the point of Jude is a useless one because they can’t be set forth as an example of how God renders judgment on the wicked. It’s the same baptism of fire that John promised that Jesus would administer in Matthew 3:10-12. It reads,
I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (ESV)
The rich man of Luke 16 lifted his eyes in torment and declares that he is in anguish in these flames. Is there any doubt that death was the entrance to one of two places – comfort or torment? That division took place at death. Physical death may be associated with pain and discomfort because once the body and soul separate (James 2:26), the “eternal fire” is reserved for the wicked. Notice the simple sequence of events in Hebrews 9:27. It tells us that “it is appointed unto man once to die, then comes the judgment.”
We have presented earlier in the book the prophecy of Joel regarding the outpouring of the Holy Spirit but the promise of deliverance is to those who call upon the name of the Lord. Beginning in Joel 3, Joel predicts what would happen after Israel’s restoration in those days. It reads,
For behold, in those days and at that time, When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations, And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel. (vs. 1-2)
Once again, we read of the “nations” that would be gathered for the purpose of judgment. Verses 11-13 reads,
Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, And gather yourselves there. Bring down, O LORD, Thy mighty ones. Let the nations be aroused And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge All the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the winepress is full; The vats overflow, for their wickedness, is great.
Joel spoke of God judging all the surrounding nations “in those days and at that time.” Notice when Peter said, “This is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel.” You cannot separate the coming of the Holy Spirit in the last days from the judging of the nations in those same days.
While Joel describes the judgment taking place at the harvest, Jesus, in the parable of the tares, explains, “The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels” (Matthew 13:39). Similar language is written by the apostle John, who wrote of “putting in the sickle” in the harvest of the great city (Babylon, Rev. 18:10) in which our Lord was crucified (Rev. 11:8). Among the many difficult texts in the revelation of Jesus Christ, this is about the clearest unambiguous as you will find.
First, Jesus was crucified in only one city and it certainly was not Rome. Second, there is a harvest of the wicked just as there is the righteous and the implication of John 5 is that in their death, they will be raised to this spiritual condition of life or damnation. Nothing is ever said about a body being given these wicked and condemned souls. It is certainly a possibility. It is also possible that they remain in a disembodied condition like the demons of the first-century longing to indwell some lifeform but having no certain dwelling place. Due to the very nature of the reward and punishment, one thing seems apparent – they are not granted a glorious body like the Savior and His disciples. Rev. 14:15 reads,
And another angel came out from the temple, crying with a great voice to him that sat on the cloud, Send forth thy sickle, and reap: for the hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
Let we forget the setting of these things, John was writing of things that were coming, soon (Rev. 1:1,3; 22:12).