Is the Fiery Furnace for the Righteous or the Wicked?
“So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” Mathew 13: 49, 50.
In this passage Jesus explains that the kingdom of heaven is like a large net cast into the sea that catches every kind of fish.
When full, fishermen pull it ashore and sort the good fish into containers while throwing the bad away. This represents the final separation of the righteous and wicked at the end of the age. To read the passage click here.
The Fiery Furnace
Our verse talks about the wicked being thrown into a “fiery furnace“. But in the book of Daniel, it was three righteous men who were thrown into a fiery furnace (Daniel 3: 8-30).
Both the righteous and the wicked endure a similar trial, the difference lies in the outcome. The wicked are not protected from its effects, and Jesus is not with them in it.
“The righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity” Proverbs 24: 16.
The Distinction
This idea is further expounded upon in the parable of the foundations (Mathew 7: 24-27). Both houses endured the same storm. It was the outcome of the righteous, not the ordeal itself, that differed from that of the wicked.
Both the righteous and the wicked must endure a “fiery furnace”. The righteous because of their uncompromising righteousness. The wicked because of their stubborn refusal to repent.
But, for the righteous, the Lord is with them in it and delivers them out of it (Psalm 91:15). For the wicked, it will be disaster that will cause “weeping and gnashing of teeth”.
The outcome of trials for the righteous also brings promotion and blessing, as we see with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Peter also speaks of a fiery ordeal that comes upon the righteous. “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you. . . ” 1 Peter 4: 12.
To read another post related to Is the Fiery Furnace for the Righteous of the Wicked? see The Promises of God: Oases in the Wilderness.