This Week’s Feature Article by Jack Kelley

I’ve received several emails lately asking for clarification of the term “Outer Darkness.” It’s mentioned a total of 4 times in the New Testament, three by name and one by implication, and always by Jesus. The term is not used any where else, Old Testament or New, by any other writer. Those who ask want to know if it’s another name for the place of eternal punishment, or if it’s some place different. And they want to know who’s going there.

The problem I’ve had in researching this is there’s no general agreement among scholars as to what it is, where it is, or for whom it’s intended either. There’s also no agreement as to whether it’s a physical location or a state of being. The phrase outer darkness literally means, “outside, where there’s no light”. The Greek word for darkness can be used metaphorically to mean obscurity, which is the condition of being unknown. And there’s also a sense in which spiritual ignorance or blindness can apply. An accompanying phrase describes it as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, which denotes extreme anguish and utter despair. No matter what else you think about it, the Outer Darkness is definitely not a nice place to be.

For many generations it was simply thought to be another name for Hell. But Hell, or more accurately Hades, is not a permanent destination. It’s a temporary one that will be thrown into the Lake of Fire at the end of the Millennium (Rev. 20:14). To me, the concept of utter despair denotes permanence.

So let’s take another look at its four appearances to see if we can answer some of the lingering questions about the Outer Darkness.

Matt. 8:12.

When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.”

Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.”

The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 8:5-12)

In His first reference to the Outer Darkness, Jesus was clearly speaking to and about Israel. He was criticizing the Jews for letting a Gentile Roman soldier demonstrate a stronger faith in Him than they had. He said that their lack of faith would result in people from all over the world (Gentiles) inheriting the Kingdom, while the Jews, who were the Kingdom’s subjects, would be thrown into the Outer Darkness, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Israel was then (and will be again) God’s Kingdom on Earth. The Lord repeated His warning to them in Matt. 21:43 when He said, “Therefore I tell you that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” It’s obvious that the Lord believed they were the subjects of the Kingdom or else why would He threaten to take it away from them?

So in His first mention of the Outer Darkness the Lord warned the Jewish people that at the End of the Age Gentile believers, like the Centurion, would join their patriarchs at the Wedding Feast while they themselves sat outside in the darkness for failing to recognize their Messiah.

Matt 22:13

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

“Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless.

“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

“For many are invited, but few are chosen.” (Matt. 22:1-14)

This is the parable of the Wedding Banquet, and there are three things to keep in mind here. First, the bride is never mentioned in this parable. Second, a bride is not considered a guest and could never be thrown out of her own wedding. And third, the banquet follows the wedding, so in the context of the parable the wedding has already taken place.

To accept the view that this parable is about the Church you have to start with the belief that some in the Church will become the Bride of Christ while others will not. But the Bible never even hints of that. It’s a man made conclusion without any Biblical support. If we’re saved, we’re in the church and are the Bride of Christ. If we’re not, we’re not.

In parables everything is symbolic of something else, and the Bible always explains what they stand for. Isaiah 61:10 explains that the wedding clothes represent righteousness;

I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Here’s how I see it. In Rev. 16:15, just after the 6th Bowl judgment and long after the church has departed, the Lord said, “Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

He was alluding to the fact that the Doctrine of Eternal Security expires with the Rapture, a fact that Jesus taught in the Parable of the 10 Virgins. Tribulation believers will be saved by faith, just like everyone else, but will be responsible for keeping themselves saved, or as John said, keeping their clothes with them. Rev. 14:12 says they will do this by obeying God’s commandments and remaining faithful to Jesus.

The man ejected from the banquet was a last minute guest. He represents tribulation survivors who are not part of the Church. He was trying to receive the blessing of those invited to the wedding feast that occurs at the time of the 2nd Coming (Rev. 19:9). But He either hadn’t remained faithful and had lost his salvation, or never was saved at all. Remember the servants invited both the “good” and the “bad” and it isn’t clear whether this man had wedding clothes and lost them, or never had them in the first place. When he tried to gain entrance into the banquet, he was discovered and ejected.

So the 2nd reference applies to unbelieving survivors from the Great Tribulation who will be denied a place in the Kingdom for lack of the righteousness that comes by faith, and banished to the Outer Darkness instead.

Matt. 24:51

Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt. 24:45-51)

The Parable of the Servants has only an implied reference to the Outer Darkness, calling it a place for hypocrites where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Since that phrase accompanies every other mention of the Outer Darkness, I think it’s safe to include it in our study. The timing of this parable was established as early as Matt. 24:29-30 which makes every thing that follows pertain to those on Earth at the time of the 2nd Coming. As a matter of fact, all the Olivet Discourse parables describe the destinies of Tribulation Survivors. You can easily confirm this by also looking at Matt. 24:36-37, Matt. 25:1, and Matt. 25:14.

This parable is about those who will have held positions of spiritual leadership during the Great Tribulation. In the Millennial Kingdom, the Lord will elevate to a place of authority leaders who have kept the word of God through the intense hardship and persecution of the times, and have taught sound doctrine to the flocks entrusted to them. (Remember, no Tribulation survivor will enter the New Jerusalem, but will dwell on Earth during the Lord’s Millennial reign.)

But having forsaken the truth, the wicked servants no will longer be watching for the Lord’s return, ignoring the obvious fulfillment of prophecy all around them and ridiculing those whose child-like faith sustains them. They are the worst of all enemies because they’ll look and sound like friends. They’re like the one John describes as appearing to have the authority of the Lamb but who speaks the words of the Dragon (Rev. 13:11). The Greek word translated hypocrite was often used to describe an actor or pretender, someone who appears to be something he’s not. So for the third time we see the Outer Darkness as a place for unbelievers. In this case it’s those who have betrayed the trust placed in them.

Matt. 25:30

The Lord’s final reference to the Outer Darkness appears at the end of the Parable of the Talents.

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

” ‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matt. 25:14-30)

For a more complete treatment of the Parable of the Talents click here. The relevant points for this study are that like the other Olivet Discourse parables, the timing is after the 2nd coming, the judgment is on Earth, and the man who had his only talent confiscated demonstrated a complete lack of knowledge of and faith in his master. He thought of Him as a hard man who accepted credit He didn’t deserve and he was afraid the master would treat him unfairly. No believer feels that way about Jesus. His punishment was to be consigned to the outer darkness.

So in all four cases, the ones being judged are unbelievers and their punishment is to live in a state of total obscurity where they will experience extreme anguish and utter despair. The fact that there’s no expanded teaching on the outer darkness elsewhere in the Bible leads me to believe the Lord was speaking of a place we’re already familiar with, but describing it in a way that helps us understand how it will feel to be there.

Remember, the words obscurity, extreme anguish and utter despair are associated with the phrase Outer Darkness. To be there is to be cut off from the presence of the Lord and everyone else, existing in total obscurity. The dictionary defines anguish as excruciating or acute distress, suffering, or pain, and despair as a state of utter hopelessness.

That, my friends, is the consequence of unbelief. Whether you call it Hell, Hades, Gehenna, the Lake of Fire, or the Outer Darkness, it’s all the same and you wouldn’t want your worst enemy to spend even an hour there. 03-13-10

A. In my commentary on Luke 17:20-37, I said that Noah was a type of Israel being preserved through the end times judgments while Lot was a type of the Church being removed from the time and place of judgment before it begins.   You’ve raised an interesting point that I hadn’t seen before.  In both the days of Noah and the days of Lot, only one family was protected.  Jesus compared both to the End Times, so the same will be true then.  No one can predict the actual number of either, but Israel is one family, all being descendants of Jacob, and will be preserved through the End Times judgment.  And the Church is one family, all being children of God (John 1:12), and will  be removed from its time and place before it begins.

A. I can’t prove this from the Bible, but it’s my belief that the End Times judgments, beginning in a small way with the so-called birth pangs, will serve a dual purpose.   In addition to being the means of punishment for the unbelieving world they will also be preparing Earth for its restoration to the way it was when Adam was created.  I believe that’s why the return of the Lord is sometimes called the renewal (regeneration, restoration, restitution)) of all things, as in Matt. 19:28 and Acts 3:21.

A. There are 2 places where the Lord’s followers are seen in the role of judges.  In Matt. 19:28 Jesus said at the time of the 2nd Coming the Disciples would sit on 12 thrones and judge Israel.  In 1 Cor. 6:2-3 Paul said saints will judge both the world and the angels.  Because of its timing I imagine the basis of the judgment where the world is concerned would be qualification for entry into the Kingdom.  We may be assisting the Lord with the 3 judgments described in the Parables of the Servants, the Talents, and the Sheep and Goat Judgment.  The judgment of angels would likely concern events of Genesis 6 mentioned in Jude 6.

A. There are many in the church who have been taught that the 2nd Coming is a spiritual one,  that when He comes back it’s to dwell in the heart of believers.  But in Acts 1:11 two men in white appeared to the disciples as Jesus was ascending into Heaven, telling them that Jesus would come back in the same way they saw Him go into heaven.

Matt. 24:27 & 30 say;

“For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.”

The Lord was a visible tangible man when He left and will be a visible tangible man when He comes back.  Some people witnessed His departure and many others will witness His return.

After several readings of the Matthew and Luke Passages, It seems to me that the generation referred to is the generation that sees the beginning of the tribulation – THAT generation will live to see the return of messiah.  Would you mind explaining why my reasoning might be incorrect?

A. The first specific sign Jesus gave in the Olivet discourse that will clearly indicate that the End of the Age has come is the Abomination of Desolation (Matt. 24:15-21).  But that’s really a “non-sign” because in several other places the Bible says when that happens there’ll only be about 3 1/2 years left until the 2nd Coming.  It wouldn’t make sense for the Lord to say that the generation being born at that time will live to see all the End Times signs fulfilled.  They’ll still be toddlers when the Kingdom Age begins.

So we have to look behind His words.  It takes a Temple for an Abomination, but according to Daniel 9:27 the Temple would only have to be 7 years old when the end comes, still too short a period of time.  But for a Temple to exist, Israel has to exist.  Without an actual State of Israel inhabiting the land that was promised to them, none of the other signs can happen. There couldn’t be a covenant people or a Temple or an Abomination of Desolation.  In addition to Daniel’s prophecy of a temple, Isaiah, Amos, Ezekiel, Zechariah and others all prophesied a re-gathered State of Israel in the last days as well. The re-birth of Israel is the pre-emminent signal that the End of the Age has come.

A. The word trampled in Luke 21:24 means to tread upon.  The Greek word is pateo.  It’s the same word used in Rev. 11:2 to describe how the Gentiles will trample upon the Holy City for 42 months, the duration of the Great Tribulation.  To me this means the times of the Gentiles won’t end until the Lord returns.  I believe this disqualifies 1967 as the beginning of the 70 year countdown to the 2nd Coming.

A. Yes I have narrowed in on 2018 as the most likely date of the 2nd Coming, but it was not because of the eclipses. It’s my understanding that they were supposed to place the 2nd Coming in 2015 meaning Daniel’s 70th Week had to begin in 2008.  If it had, the Battle of Ezekiel 38 would be in our past, there would be a Temple in Israel by now, and we’d have a pretty good handle on the anti-Christ’s identity.

I came to the conclusion that the times of the Gentiles were not fulfilled in 1967 because Jerusalem is still being trampled on by the Gentiles.  According to Rev. 11:1-2 this  will continue  until the 2nd coming.  For me this disqualified 1967 as  a start date for calculating the lifespan of the final generation.

A. Just a word of caution.  In trying to estimate the time of the 2nd Coming we’re talking about an average lifespan, not a generation.  A generation is only the time between a man’s birth and the birth of his first child.  Jesus said the generation being born at the time of the first signs would not pass away (die) until all the signs have happened. (Matt. 24:34)  So He was referring to our lifespan, not the birth of the next generation.

Psalm 90:10 gives man’s average lifespan.  The word strength appears twice in the English translation.  In Hebrew the first one describes one who is strong and mighty.  It was often used of hunters or soldiers.  The second Hebrew word translated strength is a different one.  It means pride or arrogance, warning that our strength can become a source of pride that is proven false because eventually we die anyway.  So the extra 10 years of life are attributed to an individual’s physical strength and are an exception to the average, not an extension of it.

A. The problem with using the jubilee year to date prophetic events is that Hebrew scholars disagree on how the date of jubilee years should be determined. At issue is whether or not the 50th or Jubilee year of one cycle is also the first year of the succeeding cycle. Even if you accept the 27 AD figure as accurate, the different methods of calculation make pinpointing the actual date nearly impossible.  (Some believe the correct dating of Jubilee years has been lost to modern Judaism.) Since the Jubilee is only celebrated when all 12 tribes are demonstrably present in the Promised Land, we may not know its correct date until after the 2nd Coming.