My last Blog focused on where Christians spend eternity. Although not nearly as important, it is interesting to understand what the Bible says about where non-Christians spend eternity.
The Bible is very clear about what happens at the end of Christ’s thousand-year period for dead non-Christians (Rev 20: 11-15)
“1 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
The Bible is far less clear about living non-Christians after the end of the thousand-year period. It takes a deep use of inductive reasoning to obtain a most probable scenario.
There must be non-Christians alive before and after the “White Throne” judgement (Rev 20: 7-9).
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9 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.”
The heavenly fire killed all who Satan had deceived, but the occupants of the “beloved city” (Jerusalem) remained alive.
So, what did those people do. Over time, they must have procreated, populated the new earth external to the New Jerusalem, and formed nations. This must be true, for in Rev 21:24 the Bible says what the nations bring into the New Jerusalem.
“The nations shall walk by its light and the rulers and leaders of the earth shall bring into it their glory”
They will never die, for death and hell were already cast in the Lake of Fire (Rev: 20: 14).
When the New Earth will be created, physics, as we know it, must be changed. There will be no sun (Rev 21: 23).
“And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon to give light to it, for the splendor and radiance of God illuminate it, and the Lamb is its lamp.”
Without sun and moon, time will be changed and there will be no aging.
Some of those living will have their problems, for certain people can not enter the city (Re 21: 27).
“But nothing that defiles or profanes shall ever enter it, nor anyone who commits abominations shall ever enter it, …”
The health and well-being of those people will be maintained by trees of life growing in the New Jerusalem (Rev 22: 2)
“Through the middle of the broad way of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve varieties of fruit, yielding its fresh crop; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing and restoration of the nations.”
Concluding, the non-Christians who will be alive at the end of the thousand-year period of Christ will live forever on the New Earth outside of the New Jerusalem.