Weeping and Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth

It is at the casting, not everlasting. 

Weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, like undying worms, unquenchable fire, and ever-ascending smoke, have been trademarked by traditionalists as clear evidence of endless torment. The rich man said, “I am tormented in this flame” (Luke 16:24), and it makes sense that such torment could cause weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

In previous chapters we have made the case that the latter expressions speak of final destruction, not ongoing agony. Worms that don’t die devour carcases of people who do (Isaiah 66:24); fire that can’t be put out certainly burns up the items in it (Matthew 3:12); and smoke that ever rises bears witness to complete consumption, not perpetual torture (Isaiah 34:9, 10). 

In this chapter we will show that the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth takes place at the judgment, not in hell or the lake of fire, and is the reaction of being cast out, not the result of burning.  

“There shall be… gnashing of teeth” is found seven times; six in Matthew, once in Luke. Two of the occasions, from the kingdom parables of Matthew 13, say “there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (13:42, 50). The rest say “weeping.”     

Gnashing of teeth in the Bible is more often an indication of anger than pain; and from the rage of enemies, not the trauma of the suffering. “He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me,” Job laments. “He gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me. They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me” (Job 16:9, 10).  

David said his enemies misbehaved the same way: “in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not: With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth. Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions” (Psalm 35:15-17).

“The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth” (Psalm 37:12). “All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth” (Lamentations 2:16). This was the reaction of those Deacon Stephen blistered as “the betrayers and murderers” of Jesus: “When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth” (Acts 7:52-54). Gnashing reveals anger.

But gnashing could be evidence of pain in the case of the devil-possessed son. His father said that “wheresoever he (the unclean spirit) taketh him, he teareth him: and he (his son) foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away” (Mark 9:18; Cf. Luke 9:38-42). 

And gnashing could be similar to when “the fifth angel poured out his vial… and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores” (Revelation 16:10, 11). It could be. But is it?

Let’s look first at the lone Luke text: 

But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. Luke 13:27-29.

Here Jesus tells us exactly when the weeping and gnashing takes place: “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see” the patriarchs and prophets in the kingdom, “and you yourselves thrust out.” The seeing provokes the weeping and gnashing. 

It’s at that miserable moment of horrifying realization and terrifying anticipation when those being thrust out will uncontrollably weep in sudden awareness of the unalterable destiny of eternal loss, nervously gnashing their teeth in grim grasp of the fate awaiting. 

It is the when and where of then and there, at the judgment, not in hell or the lake of fire afterwards. It is the terrible but temporary torment of the agonizing expectation of being cast out, knowing what is happening and about to happen, not the beginning of the pain of endless torment after being thrust out.   

The Psalmist surely pictures the same dreadful scene. A "good man… shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance... his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour. The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish” (Psalm 112:5, 6, 9, 10). 

Again, the when is when "the wicked shall see it." And he is grieved, not pained. The gnashing precedes melting- gnash, then melt, not gnash on and on. The wicked will “melt away” and their desire shall "perish." 

This is the same language as Psalm 37:20: “the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.” 

The contrast in both of these Psalms is that of good ol' John 3:16, perish or everlasting life.

Matthew describes similar: “And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:11, 12). 

Of the six Matthew “gnashing” texts, three speak of being “cast into outer darkness (8:12; 22:13; 25:30), two “into a furnace of fire” (13:42, 50), and one to being “cut asunder” (Matthew 24:51). Luke says “thrust out.” If the furnace of fire means complete consumption by fire, and not nonstop burning in fire, then fire and darkness are reconcilable. Both spell a miserable end, not endless misery, and are in harmony with “to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever” (2 Peter 2:17), and “to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever” (Jude 1:13). 

Burning up equals blackness of darkness. Burning on and on doesn't. 

But does being cast into a furnace of fire mean being burned up? It most certainly does. This imagery is part of the kingdom parables of Matthew 13, and paints a picture every Galilean farmer would easily understand (see chapter ?, The Pictures in the Scriptures): 

“As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (13:40-43). 

Tares, a worthless weed that resembles wheat, is extremely flammable, and burns up quickly in a furnace of fire. Every farmer knows that. That’s the picture. And in contrast to the resulting darkness of being burned up, the righteous shall "shine forth as the sun." 

“So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:40-43, 49, 50). 

And remember that it is when Christ gathers his wheat into the garner that “he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12). So shall it be at the end of the world. The picture is consistent, the meaning is clear. Tares in torment is not the picture. Tares, like chaff, burn up.

The last three instances of teeth gnashing in Matthew reveal similar fates. In the parable of the wedding feast, the king gives orders to his servants concerning a man not wearing a wedding garment: “Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (22:13). In the story of the evil servant who says “My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (24:48-51). 

In the parable of the talents the order is given to “cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (25:30). The weeping and gnashing is hinged to the casting and cutting.

The context of these last two passages is clearly the coming of the Lord: “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:44). "When the Son of man shall come in his glory" (Matthew 25:31). 

And the two instances tied to being cast into a furnace of fire is specifically identified as "the end of the world" (13:40, 49). So the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth happens when the Lord comes in judgment at the end of the world. This is "that day." 

That's what it says. What it doesn't say is anything about hell or the lake of fire. But I do believe the lake of fire is another picture of the same reality as the furnace of fire. The weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth happens at the "casting," and these castings are the same event as when "whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:15). 

And having "part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone… is the second death" (Revelation 21:8). 

 The weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth happens at, not after, being "cast into the lake of fire." The end result is the everlasting punishment of everlasting destruction.  

So, like undying worms, unquenchable fire, and ever-ascending smoke, weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth is actually a testimony to the final end of the wicked when they burn up and perish in a consuming fire. It is their reaction at the end, not at the beginning of endless.