1He also said to his disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions. 2He called him, and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’
3“The manager said within himself, ‘What will I do, seeing that my lord is taking away the management position from me? I don’t have strength to dig. I am ashamed to beg. 4I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from management, they may receive me into their houses.’ 5Calling each one of his lord’s debtors to him, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe to my lord?’ 6He said, ‘A hundred batos of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7Then he said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred cors of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’
8“His lord commended the dishonest manager because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light. 9I tell you, make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal tents. 10He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. 11If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? 13No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to one and despise the other. You aren’t able to serve God and Mammon.”
14The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him. 15He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
16“The law and the prophets were until John. From that time the Good News of God’s Kingdom is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. 17But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tiny stroke of a pen in the law to fall.
18“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. He who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.
19“Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day. 20A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was taken to his gate, full of sores, 21and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom. 24He cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.’
25“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted and you are in anguish. 26Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that no one may cross over from there to us.’
27“He said, ‘I ask you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house— 28for I have five brothers—that he may testify to them, so they won’t also come into this place of torment.’
29“But Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’
30“He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
31“He said to him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.’”
The final judgment of all men will occur before the great White Throne and result in all whose names are not recorded in the book of life being cast into the lake of fire along with death and Hades. Following his normal pattern, John notes the throne before he speaks of its occupant. The judgment seat of God is called “the great white throne.” We can know it is Jesus sitting on the throne based on what He said in John 5:22-23, that the Father has given all judgment to Jesus.
The face that heaven and earth flee from is that of Jesus. Their fleeing and there being “no place for them” is a figurative way of describing the dissolution of the material universe, prophesied in 2 Peter 3:10. Peter tells us there that the heavens will “pass away” with “fervent heat” that “burns up” the earth. Thus, heaven and earth fleeing refers to the universe being undone prior to Jesus recreating it as the new heavens and new earth.
The resurrected dead are described as standing before the throne, indicating they are waiting to be judged by Jesus. The “books” may be literal records of each person’s life or symbolic of those accounts of their life. The most significant book was the “Book of Life,” which recorded the names of those destined for heaven. When their name was not found in it, then the other books were opened, and their deeds were evaluated by Jesus. One’s destiny is determined by their faith in Christ or rejection of Him, not by their works. However, just as rewards await the saints for their faith and obedience, so, too, punishment awaits the unregenerate based on their works.
To be “cast into the lake of fire” means to be imprisoned there. Jesus now reveals through John that the lake of fire is “the second death” that everyone should want to avoid. “Death and Hades” refers to realms of existence that will also be “thrown” into the lake of fire, literally. Hades, or Hell, is a literal place where the unregenerate dead experience conscious existence and suffering while they await their trial at the Great White Throne. This is the place the rich man and Lazarus visited in Luke 16. It will be relegated to the lake of fire because it will have no further usefulness.
Everybody exists forever. However, where they will spend eternity existing is determined by their faith in or rejection of Jesus. Eternal death, the Second Death, the lake of fire, is a literal place where people will exist eternally, suffering. The new heavens and new earth, likewise, are literal places that will exist forever and where the saints will exist forever. They will be eternally alive in the presence of God, who is life. Eternal life is life with God. Eternal death, the Second Death, is eternal separation from God.