Here are some questions based on last Sunday’s sermon text (Revelation 20:7-15), in case they’re helpful to you for personal growth or group discussion…

• [7-10] From the beginning (Genesis 3), the devil has deceived humanity into joining his futile war against God. God has redeemed and won back people to his own side from the devil’s camp. Those who fight against God also fight against God’s people (“the beloved city,” the church). One day all nations will be engaged openly in this war—and then God will bring that war to a swift end in his judgment. If you are not with Jesus then you are against him (Matthew 12:30), and one day this will be revealed for the violent opposition that it really is. If you are with Jesus, your nation and your neighbors—even those unbelievers you now would consider to be friends—will turn against you for your association with Jesus. Is this difficult for you to imagine? Do you believe that this spiritual enmity is what truly divides all people in the world into two camps? How are Christians supposed to engage with those who have made themselves enemies of Christ and his church?

• God will let the devil off his chain, so to speak, in order to precipitate the battle that will climax in the devil’s final defeat. Can you think of other examples in the Bible where God sovereignly allows the devil to work against him, but turns it back upon the devil, to defeat him? What does God’s ability to do this reveal about his goodness, holiness, wisdom, and power?

• [11-15] On the Last Day of the old heaven and earth, all people who ever lived will stand before the throne of God’s righteous judgment. (The “sea” that gives up its dead is a picture of those coming from Gentile nations, while “Death and Hades” had contained the Israelite dead.) God will judge all according to their deeds as recorded in “the books,” and only those whose names are found in “the book of life” will escape sharing the devil’s fate in the lake of fire. If your name is to be found in the book of life on that Day, it is because of your faith in—and persevering faithfulness to—Jesus (see Revelation 3:5). Do you know Jesus as he is revealed in the Good News? Do you want to know him more? Do you believe that Jesus is the only Good Lord? Do you submit to his Judgment and his Word? Do you cherish the forgiveness Jesus has secured for you at the cross? Are you cheered by the power of his resurrection? Are you reassured by the heavenly welcome you receive in his name? Do you thrill at the expectation of seeing Jesus with your own eyes? Do you celebrate and confess Jesus before others? Do you want your whole life and all your relationships to be ruled by your relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, in the power of his Spirit? Are you with Jesus, or against him?

• (Questions by G. K. Beale…) “These verses present the lake of fire as a place of everlasting conscious punishment. Why do we have difficulty reconciling this truth with the loving character of God as also presented by the Bible? How do we reconcile the love and the justice of God? How do they meet at the cross?”