Sulphur Lake

"The Lord has made all for Himself, yes, even the wicked for the day of doom." ~Solomon

I was asked once by someone that was very interested to know if I believed that hell really is a lake of fire. For years, I had believed that it was but I had never studied the subject and could recall no scriptures to back up my assumptions. I told them that honestly, I'd never studied hell because I'm not going there. I assured them that I would research it for them and get back with the answer. The next day when I saw them at work I had a cheerful answer; "Yep," I chirped.

The whole concept of hell began to crystallize in my mind. A semi-morbid curiosity drove me to imagine the scene in Revelation 20. I had always sort of hopped across those verses lightly, afraid of getting burnt, and rushing on to the good part. The part where the devil, death and Hades get tossed into the lake like twigs. What I saw made me shrink back from a Holy God this time though. Instead of cheering on the end of death like usual, I was forced to stare into the face of the damned. It chills me to think that God made the wicked for Himself for the day of doom. I realize it's His prerogative to do whatever He wants with His creation but it was hard for me to reconcile the God of love that I knew with the Holy God that proclaimed, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay". A deeper appreciation and love for Jesus grew. I'm thankful that I was created for good works in Christ and not for the day of doom!

"If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." ~John