Matthew 25:41

“Then will he say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels,' ”

Then comes the judgment declared on ‘those on His left hand'. Notice the anonymity of the description. They are all who are not ‘the righteous, the blessed of the Father'. They are those who are indifferent to, or at odds with, Jesus Christ, as revealed by their attitude towards His followers. Only this could justify their sentence. In contrast to those who are ‘blessed', these are ‘cursed'. And as a result they are to depart into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.

Of great interest here is Jesus' emphasis on the fact that the eternal fire had not been prepared for mankind. Originally it had been prepared for spirit beings. This in itself reveals that it is not physical fire, which could not touch spiritual beings. But these out of mankind are to experience it also because they have sided with the Devil and his angels. They have rejected God and His Law in practise if not in theory, and above all they have rejected His Son. And thus their destiny is to share the fate of the main rebels against God. Thus originally God's purpose was that all men should be righteous and enjoy eternal life. It was man who chose otherwise. The final realisation of the fate of all that is evil is described in Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:10; Revelation 20:14.