Job 18 King James Version (KJV)

Job 18 King James Version (KJV)

18 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

2 How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.

3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?

4 He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?

5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.

6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.

7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.

8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.

9 The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.

10 The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.

11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.

12 His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.

13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.

14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.

15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.

17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.

18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

19 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.

20 They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.

21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.

This is certainly one the most fear-worthy chapters in the entire Bible. Anyone who can read this chapter in faith should afterward have a fully made up mind to pursue God's will with a vengeance, if they didn't already possess that. There are some very sobering warnings in the chapter, but it is the references to "the second death," which is also called "the lake that burns with fire and brimstone;" that I would like to elaborate on just a bit (Rev. 21:8). The first reference to the ultimate fate of the wicked may also be the most telling reference: "Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine." Solomon made an identical statement to this, regarding those who live their lives in a manner of trampling on the commandments of God: "Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness" (Prov. 20:20). Bringing it up to new testament times Jude said of the wicked that resist God; "to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever" (Jude 1:13). Peter wrote also of the final destiny of the haters of God, saying, "to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever" (II Pet. 2:17). The word 'blackness' in Jude, and the word 'mist' from this passage from 2 Peter, both come from the Greek word 'zophos,' which means 'blackness or darkness.' So one thing is certain, and that is that the lake that burns with fire and brimstone will burn with flames that cannot be seen. As we have seen consistently from the scriptures here, there will be absolutely NO LIGHT of any kind, to any degree in that place. Another mention from the Psalms tells us the same thing: "Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him. Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself. He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light" (Psm. 49:16-19).

The point that utter darkness will engulf the wicked in the second death is emphasized in the very next verse in this chapter from Job: "The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him." In verses 14 and 15 we see more direct reference to the lake of fire, saying "he shall be brought to the king of terrors," and that "brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation." The reference to a 'king' in this passage is simply a way of saying that the final place of the wicked's unrest is as high on the ladder of terror as it gets, seeing a king is the highest form of governance. In verse 16 Bildad the Shuhite references something more that was also referenced by Jude, regarding those whose destiny will be the second death: "His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off." Jude said it in almost the same words, describing the fate of those who do evil in the sight of God referring to them as "trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots" (Jude 1:12). Amazing how these men who were separated by about two thousand years spoke the same exact thing about the final landing place of those who are disobedient. I've always considered verse 18 of Job 18 as one of the most powerfully emphatic statements of godly fear found in the Bible: "He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world." I just don't know how it can get more serious that being "chased out of the world." One thing that should be noted in regard to the flames in that horrific place, and that is though they will be invisible, they WILL BE real flames that burn for eternity. For any who may believe that there will be and end to the horror, after some extended period of time, we have this memorable quote from the book of Revelation: "The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name" (Rev. 14:10,11).

I also want to point out that the lake of fire that burns with brimstone is not the same place as hell. Hell is where the wicked go after death, and it also is a place of fiery torment, as Jesus clearly told us (Lk. 16:22-24). Hell however is only a holding place for the wicked until the thousand year reign of Christ and the saints in the earth is finished. After that reign is finished the wicked will be raised from the dead, and will go to the white throne judgment of Christ in heaven (Rev. 20:4,5,11,12). After being resurrected in their bodies, the wicked will suffer an eternal 'death' in fire and brimstone, because 'death' means the death of the physical body. That fate will reveal the true 'living dead.' The description of that final judgment day also includes the following revelation that hell and the lake of fire are two separate places: "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. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Rev. 20:13-15). It's certain that hell is a place of severe horror, torment, and pain; and by all means we want to avoid that awful fate. But it is equally as certain that the place of torment that hell itself will be finally cast into, is a place of far greater pain, horror, utter darkness, and suffocating isolation than hell. So in light of these fearful scriptural realities, it becomes more than evident why Solomon concluded the book of Ecclesiastes, which I call the most powerful, sobering, graphic description of the human existence ever written; with the following simplistic admonition: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil" (Eccl. 12:13,14). Feel the fear of God yet? I sure do. Amen.