Php 2:9-11 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, (10) so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (11) and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus is the Prince of Peace. And yet He is the ultimate King-Warrior. When He returns one final time to this present world, He will come as the Conqueror, rendering judgment and recompense to His enemies. Not one of them will ever trouble His people again. No wicked soul will inhabit the New Heavens and Earth.
Rev 19:20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.
Rev 20:10-15 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (11) Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. (12) And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. (13) And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. (14) Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. (15) And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Rev 21:8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Why is this necessary? It seems that most professing Christians today prefer a “kinder and gentler Jesus” who will say to just about anyone who says “sorry” to enter His kingdom. After all, if the Lord just shows them enough love, they will change, right? But this is certainly not what we read in scripture.
Every enemy will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Every knee will bow. And then every enemy will be…I almost said destroyed, but that is not really correct. Every enemy will be resurrected, then thrown into the lake of fire with the devil and his angels forever and ever and ever. That is what existence in complete absence of the Lord and His good gifts is. And that is what the wicked chose.
The Lord will judge the wicked in this way because He is perfectly just, and this is perfect justice. It is right that the ones who hated Christ and persecuted His people in this world receive that judgment. It will be all to the glory of God, to the glory of His glorious justice.
In his book on The Second World Wars, [Basic Books, 2017], (read the book and you will see why “wars” is in the plural), Victor Davis Hanson writes:
Conflicts throughout history become serial [ie, repetitive] when an enemy is not utterly defeated and is not forced to submit to the political conditions of the victor….only the side that has the ability to destroy the homeland of the other wins.
As harsh as that sounds, it is true. And this is exactly what we see in Scripture. The Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings, utterly defeated Satan at the Cross. Satan was cast out of heaven and is under divine sanctions now, ultimately to be cast into the Lake of Fire forever. His homeland, this present world under his dominion, that is to say the kingdom of the devil, is destroyed and the kingdom of God is established. When Christ returns this destruction will culminate in its fullness.
And because of this, there will never be a cosmic World War 2. Satan will never rise again to start a battle we will have to fight all over once more. Nope. It will never happen. Christ has seen to that.
Heb 2:14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
As citizens of Christ’s kingdom, we are to emulate His justice to this present world. We are to put evil out from among us (see 1 Cor 5 for example). We are not to let evil even be named among us. Yes so many, dare we say most, local churches in our day are not showing Christ to the world. Rather than putting the wicked out, they are often embracing them out of a supposed motive of “love” or “grace.” Those who call for justice, such as the victims of the wicked, are the ones who are expelled. This is not Christ. Our Lord’s eyes burn in fury against those who oppress His little ones. If we are going to call ourselves His people, the same should be seen in us.