I've received several emails lately asking
for clarification of the term “Outer Darkness.” It's
mentioned a total of 4 times in the New Testament,
three by name and one by implication, and always by
Jesus. The term is not used any where else, Old Testament or
New, by any other writer.
Those who ask want to know if it's another name for the
place of eternal punishment, or if it's someplace different.
And they want to know who's going there.
The problem I've had in researching this is
there's no general agreement among scholars as to what it is,
where it is, or for whom it's intended either.
There's also no agreement as to whether it's a physical
location or a state of being.
The phrase Outer Darkness literally means, “outside,
where there's no light”.
The Greek word for darkness can be used metaphorically to
mean obscurity, which is the condition of being unknown.
And there's also a sense in which spiritual ignorance or
blindness can apply.
An accompanying phrase describes it as a place of weeping
and gnashing of teeth, which denotes extreme anguish and utter
despair. No matter
what else you think about it, the Outer Darkness is definitely
not a nice place to be.
For many generations it was simply thought
to be another name for Hell.
But Hell, or more accurately Hades, is not a permanent
destination.
It's a temporary one that will be thrown into the Lake of Fire
at the end of the Millennium (Rev. 20:14).
To me, the concept of utter despair denotes permanence.
So let's take another look at its four
appearances to see if we can answer some of the lingering
questions about the Outer Darkness.
Matt. 8:12.
When
Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for
help. "Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in
terrible suffering."
Jesus
said to him, "I will go and heal him."
The
centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come
under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be
healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers
under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one,
'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he
does it."
When
Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following
him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel
with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the
east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the
subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the
darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
(Matt. 8:5-12)
In His first reference to the Outer Darkness,
Jesus was clearly speaking to and about Israel. He was
criticizing the Jews for letting a Gentile Roman soldier
demonstrate a stronger faith in Him than they had. He said that
their lack of faith would result in people from all over the
world (Gentiles) inheriting the Kingdom, while the Jews, who
were the Kingdom's subjects, would be thrown into the Outer
Darkness, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Israel was then (and will be again) God's
Kingdom on Earth. The Lord repeated His warning to them
in Matt. 21:43
when He said, "Therefore
I tell you that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you
and given to a people who will produce its fruit." It's
obvious that the Lord believed they were the subjects of the
Kingdom or else why would He threaten to take it away from them?
So in His first mention of the Outer Darkness
the Lord warned the Jewish people that at the End of the Age
Gentile believers, like the Centurion, would join their
patriarchs at the Wedding Feast while they themselves sat
outside in the darkness for failing to recognize their Messiah.
Matt 22:13
Jesus
spoke to them again in parables, saying: "The kingdom of heaven
is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He
sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet
to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
"Then
he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been
invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened
cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the
wedding banquet.'
"But
they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to
his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and
killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and
destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
"Then
he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but
those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street
corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' So the
servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people
they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was
filled with guests. "But when the king came in to see the
guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding
clothes. 'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without
wedding clothes?' The man was speechless.
"Then
the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw
him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.'
"For
many are invited, but few are chosen." (Matt. 22:1-14)
This is the parable of the Wedding Banquet,
and there are three things to keep in mind here. First, the
bride is never mentioned in this parable.
Second, a bride is not considered a guest and could never
be thrown out of her own wedding. And third, the banquet follows
the wedding, so in the context of the parable the wedding has
already taken place.
To accept the view that this parable is about
the Church you have to start with the belief that some in the
Church will become the Bride of Christ while others will not.
But the Bible never even hints of that.
It's a man made conclusion without any Biblical support.
If we're saved, we're in the church and are the Bride of Christ.
If we're not, we're not.
In parables everything is symbolic of
something else, and the Bible always explains what they stand
for. Isaiah
61:10 explains that the wedding clothes represent
righteousness;
I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Here's how I see it. In
Rev. 16:15, just
after the 6th Bowl judgment and long after the church has
departed, the Lord said,
"Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and
keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be
shamefully exposed."
He was alluding to the fact that the Doctrine
of Eternal Security expires with the Rapture, a fact that Jesus
taught in the Parable of the 10 Virgins. Tribulation believers
will be saved by faith, just like everyone else, but will be
responsible for keeping themselves saved, or as John said,
keeping their clothes with them.
Rev. 14:12 says they will do this by obeying God's
commandments and remaining faithful to Jesus.
The man ejected from the banquet was a last
minute guest. He
represents tribulation survivors who are not part of the Church.
He was trying to receive the blessing of those invited to the
wedding feast that
occurs at the time of the 2nd Coming (Rev.
19:9). But He
either hadn't remained faithful and had lost his salvation, or
never was saved at all.
Remember the servants invited both the “good” and the
“bad” and it isn't clear whether this man had wedding clothes
and lost them, or never had them in the first place. When he
tried to gain entrance into the banquet, he was discovered and
ejected.
So the 2nd reference applies to
unbelieving survivors from the Great Tribulation who will be
denied a place in the Kingdom for lack of the righteousness that
comes by faith, and banished to the Outer Darkness instead.
Matt.
24:51
Who
then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put
in charge of the servants in his household to give them their
food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose
master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth,
he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
But
suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, 'My master
is staying away a long time,' and he then begins to beat his
fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master
of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him
and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and
assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt.
24:45-51)
The Parable of the Servants has only an
implied reference to the Outer Darkness, calling it a
place for hypocrites where there will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth. Since that
phrase accompanies every other mention of the Outer Darkness, I
think it's safe to include it in our study.
The timing of this parable was established as early as
Matt. 24:29-30 which
makes every thing that follows pertain to those on Earth at
the time of the 2nd Coming.
As a matter of fact, all the Olivet Discourse parables
describe the destinies of Tribulation Survivors.
You can easily confirm this by also looking at
Matt. 24:36-37, Matt.
25:1, and Matt.
25:14.
This parable is about those who will have held
positions of spiritual leadership during the Great Tribulation.
In the Millennial Kingdom, the Lord will elevate to a place of
authority leaders who have kept the word of God through the
intense hardship and persecution of the times, and have taught
sound doctrine to the flocks entrusted to them. (Remember, no
Tribulation survivor will enter the New Jerusalem, but will
dwell on Earth during the Lord's Millennial reign.)
But having forsaken the truth, the wicked
servants no will longer be watching for the Lord's return,
ignoring the obvious fulfillment of prophecy all around them and
ridiculing those whose child-like faith sustains them. They are
the worst of all enemies because they'll look and sound like
friends. They're like the one John describes as appearing to
have the authority of the Lamb but who speaks the words of the
Dragon (Rev. 13:11).
The Greek word translated hypocrite was often used to
describe an actor or pretender, someone who appears to be
something he's not. So for the third time we see the Outer
Darkness as a place for unbelievers. In this case it's those who
have betrayed the trust placed in them.
Matt.
25:30
The Lord's final reference to the Outer
Darkness appears at the end of the Parable of the Talents.
"Again, it
will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants
and entrusted his property to them.
To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents,
and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then
he went on his journey. The man who
had received the five talents went at once and put his money to
work and gained five more. So also,
the one with the two talents gained two more.
But the man who had received the one
talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's
money.
"After a long time the master of those servants returned and
settled accounts with them. The man
who had received the five talents brought the other five.
'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I
have gained five more.'
"His master
replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been
faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many
things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
"The man with
the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me
with two talents; see, I have gained two more.'
"His master
replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been
faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many
things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
"Then the man
who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew
that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and
gathering where you have not scattered seed.
So I was afraid and went out and hid
your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'
"His master
replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest
where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered
seed? Well then, you should have put
my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I
would have received it back with interest.
" 'Take the
talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.
For everyone who has will be given
more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even
what he has will be taken from him.
And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness,
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' (Matt.
25:14-30)
For a more complete treatment of the Parable
of the Talents click here. The relevant points for this study
are that like the other Olivet Discourse parables, the timing is
after the 2nd coming, the judgment is on Earth, and
the man who had his only talent confiscated demonstrated a
complete lack of knowledge of and faith in his master.
He thought of Him as a hard man who accepted credit He
didn't deserve and he was afraid the master would treat him
unfairly. No
believer feels that way about Jesus.
His punishment was to be consigned to the outer darkness.
So in all four cases, the ones being judged
are unbelievers and their punishment is to live in a state of
total obscurity where they will experience extreme anguish and
utter despair. The
fact that there's no expanded teaching on the Outer Darkness
elsewhere in the Bible leads me to believe the Lord was speaking
of a place we're already familiar with, but describing it in a
way that helps us understand how it will feel to be there.
Remember, the words obscurity, extreme anguish
and utter despair are associated with the phrase outer darkness.
To be there is to be cut off from the presence of the Lord and
everyone else, existing in total obscurity.
The dictionary defines anguish as excruciating or acute
distress, suffering, or pain, and despair as a state of utter
hopelessness.
That, my friends, is the consequence of
unbelief. Whether you call it Hell, Hades, Gehenna, the Lake of
Fire, or the Outer Darkness, it's all the same and you wouldn't
want your worst enemy to spend even an hour there.
03-13-10
