Final Battle • Devotion 3

That None Should Perish
John Rigg

As we near the end of the book of Revelation, we also near the end of all things as we currently know them. Presently, you and I know only a world that includes sin and unrighteousness, but we are told throughout the Scriptures, that this will not always be the case. Unrighteousness will not always prevail. In the now, if we are willing to confess our sins before God, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). We can individually be rid of unrighteousness. However, not all of mankind is ready to do so, as the world continues in unrighteousness.  

The Scriptures reveal to us over and over again that God’s longsuffering towards sin will eventually run out and He will deal with sin and unrighteousness, just as He has promised. Why is He so patient you may ask? It is because He is “not wishing that any should perish” and that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

So, the Apostle John is shown how the final battle will take place and records these events in the book of Revelation.

Prior to chapters 18-20, we see Jesus promising to remove the “faithful” from the trial which shall come upon the whole Earth (Revelation 3:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:17). Both those that are alive and those who are dead in Christ, will join Him in the air before the world is tested. During this time of Tribulation, the world will be tested through a series of judgments, which to many, will reveal that Jesus is who He says He is, and they will be saved (Revelation 7:9-17). Again we notice, He is “not wishing that any should perish.”

Chapters 18-20 now tell of God’s final battle against those who continue in unrighteousness. John records the future destruction of the great Babylon and the religious system called the harlot, which has been the catalyst for the world’s fornication. However, even in this great fall, we are shown He is “not wishing that any should perish.”

Revelation 18:4 says, “Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues.’”

Next, John sees Heaven open up and Jesus returning with the armies of Heaven to throw the Beast and the False Prophet into the Lake of Fire and slay those who had received the mark of the Beast and those who worshiped its image (Revelation 19:20).

This is followed by another act of long-suffering. Jesus reigns on Earth for 1,000 years void of the deception of the Devil, as he too has been chained and sealed in the bottomless pit. Nevertheless, the influence of Jesus over civilization and the removal of Satan are not enough to encourage people to follow God. As many will join Satan when he is released once again at the end of the 1,000 years in a rebellion against God and His Son (Revelation 20:7-8). Still, God is “not wishing that any should perish.”

Nevertheless, all rebels, those not found in the Book of Life, will be resurrected and thrown into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:11-15). This ends the final battle.

You might wonder why God would tolerate all our sin, rebellion, and unrighteousness for such a long period of time. It is because He is love (1 John 4:16) and is “not wishing that any should perish.”