Cowards

Who, in the book of Revelation, gets thrown into the ‘second death, the lake that burns with sulphurous flames’? ‘Murderers, fornicators, sorcerers’, of course. That we knew. But they are only four to six in the list (of eight). Surprise, number one place is not for them.

No, number one place (Revelation 21.8) is for the ‘cowardly’ (the word can also be translated as ‘fearful’ or even ‘timid’). I suspect this includes us when we toe the line rather than risk the discomfort of saying what we believe to be right. Each of us can imagine situations this includes, in church and outside. No need to give examples.

But is clear from this passage and from many others, as well as Christ’s own example, that God hates it. We need to be careful what we don't say.

The Cowardly Lion as illustrated by William Wallace Denslow (1900)