Revelation 20:9-10

And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

This is the last rebellion.

Satan gathers a final company and leads them against the beloved city. They surround Jerusalem as if the King inside can be threatened. They march as if numbers matter. They move as if one last uprising might somehow pry the throne from the Son of God.

But there is no battle here, not really.

There is no long contest. No suspense. No drawn out struggle. Fire comes down from God out of heaven and devours them. Just like that. The rebellion that looked large on earth is nothing before the holiness of heaven.

That is how futile sin really is. Men imagine they are resisting God from a position of strength, but all they are really doing is rushing toward a judgment they cannot survive. Satan has always sold the same lie. You can throw off the Lord. You can live without Him. You can rule yourself. You can stand against His reign. And at the very end of history, he is still selling it.

Then comes his end.

The devil that deceived them is cast into the lake of fire, where the beast and the false prophet already are. His work is finished. His purpose in God’s great story is complete. The deceiver is deceiver no more. The tempter is finished. The accuser is silenced. The one who slithered into Eden and stained the whole human story with rebellion is finally and forever judged.

And John says he shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

That is a hard line, but it is a true one. Hell is not a joke. It is not a dark comedy. It is not a place where men swap stories and laugh in the flames. The cartoons lie. The movies lie. The whole cultural picture of hell is a lie.

Jesus spoke of it with terrible seriousness. He called it outer darkness. Think of that. Fire, and yet darkness. Torment, and no comfort. Consciousness, and no relief. The horror is not only the pain itself, but the complete separation from all that God is.

Because God is light.

God is life.

God is peace.

God is wholeness.

God is love.

So if a man says, I do not want God, the final answer is dreadful. To refuse God is to refuse light. To refuse God is to refuse life. To refuse God is to refuse the only source of joy, peace, health, and home the soul was ever made for.

That is why hell is so awful. It is not merely punishment in the abstract. It is the full and final experience of existence without the God a man spent his whole life pushing away.

And yet the heart of God is not eager to send men there. Jesus said hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. Peter says the Lord is not willing that any should perish. God does not stand at a distance saying, Stay away from Me. He says the opposite. He says, Come. He says, Turn. He says, Live.

More than that, He says, I would rather die than live without you.

And He proved it.

At the cross, Jesus stepped into judgment so that sinners would not have to. He bore wrath so we could receive mercy. He opened the way home so no man would need to choose darkness.

That is why this passage is both severe and merciful. Severe, because it tells the truth about where rebellion ends. Merciful, because the warning itself is an invitation. As long as a man can still hear the gospel, the door is still open.

So do not play games with God. Do not toy with sin. Do not imagine eternity is a light thing. The last rebellion ends in fire. The devil ends in judgment. And every man who wants life must come through Jesus Christ alone.

But oh, what mercy there is in Him.

The One who judges is the same One who bled.

The One who reigns is the same One who called.

The One before whom every knee will bow is the same One who stretched out His hands and said, Come unto Me.