What Is "HELL"?

Who will go to hell?  Who is in hell--some of our loved ones, our enemies? It may indicate that hell is not what most people and Christian religious organizations have imagined.  This may be what the Bible reveals is true about the subject of Hell [as taught by some Sabbatarian Christian churches]. The subject of hell has been a most misunderstood subject, for every Christian group seems to have a different interpretation of what Hell is (as we just read in the previous article-"Battle Over Hell"--written by Keith Stump!).

As I brought out, almost all the various Christian Churches and fellowships have differing interpretations of what they think Hell is and who really goes there--and why.  Is hell a literal place, a geographical place or location?  Is it somewhere in the interior of the earth, as many believe?  Or is it in remote space, say in a black hole? 

        Or does the word "hell" refer to a troubled mental state found here on this earth.  Or does "hell" refer to the troubled spirits of deceased people who did not go to heaven upon death?  Some Christian denominations and fellowships take the parables of Lazarus literally, and believe just that.  Others look to other scriptures which paint a somewhat different picture.  What follows is one of those different pictures.  It is well worth looking at because differing and wrong beliefs in this area have caused Christianity's collective preaching of the gospel of the kingdom to the world to be seriously hindered.  Unconverted mankind may be ignorant of the things of God as Paul says in I Corinthians 2.  But unconverted mankind isn't stupid.  They know disunity when they see it.  Every child ever born knows when his or her parents are in disagreement about something.  People learn early-on how to spot disunity because they learn to spot it in the home!  So every single area where the differing Christian fellowships can agree on a doctrine but don't' agree, is an area where mankind can point at us and with laughter and scorn.  It doesn't hurt us as individuals as much as it hurts and cripples our efforts to preach the gospel to the world!  So don't be selfish and put this aside, thinking "I know what I believe"--this isn't important to my salvation.  And yes, compared to the saving knowledge of the gospel of Christ, this is secondary knowledge.  But achieving unity in some of these secondary areas may affect the future salvation of others.

        A survey once showed that 78 percent of Americans believed in heaven, but only 60 percent believed in the reality of a hell.

        Why all this difference in percentages?  Probably because many of those who believe in a heaven cannot bring themselves to think that an all-merciful and loving God would condemn anyone to a place of ETERNAL TORMENT--No matter how evil that person was. 

 

WHAT DO CLERGYMEN THINK? 

Many theologians today do not believe in a literal hell, but believe that "hell is a separation from God--not really torture, but mental torment."  Some believe that when the unsaved die, their spirit wanders in this state of mental torment until the Great White Throne Judgment, when they are then resurrected back to physical life in physical bodies and then thrown into Gehenna Fire, where their torment ends.  As we saw in Ezekiel 37:1-14, the Bible seems to indicate that this is not an accurate picture of what takes place after this massive resurrection back to physical life occurs.  Ezekiel 37:1-14 indicates that a massive group of people, all of unsaved Israel that ever lived are resurrected back to physical life, where they are then given My Spirit [a direct reference by God to His Holy Spirit], and then given lands to live in.  The only massive resurrection back to physical life that the Bible mentions anywhere else (Revelation 20:5, 11-13) is the Great White Throne Judgment.  So why in the world would a loving God allow the disembodied spirits to wander around the world in mental torment and then be resurrected back into a world that God has turned into a paradise during the Millenium?  This is a very good question, plain statements of the Bible tend to shoot the disembodied spirits scenario in the foot, so to speak.  These are all secondary issues, when compared to the gospel of Christ which is the specific knowledge of salvation.  But this secondary knowledge is mighty important in shaping our approach toward what and how we preach "this gospel of the kingdom" to the world, which Jesus said we Christians would do just before his glorious return (Matthew 24:14).

 

  One theologian, Clark H. Pinnock, theology professor at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario, asked "How can Christians possibly project a deity of such cruelty and vindictiveness" as to inflict "everlasting torture upon his creatures, however sinful they may have been?"  He said that a God who would do such a thing is "more nearly like Satan than like God."  Is this theologian correct in his judgment of what many Christians take on what "hell" is, and how God will administer it to the unsaved dead? 

        Then there are those theologians who view hell as "the loss of communication, insensitivity to spiritual values, the realization of how far short of our capabilities we have fallen, the memory of some of the things we have done."  They don't say as to whether they think those suffering with these thoughts are wandering spirits of individuals who never accepted Jesus Christ.

        Pope Paul VI stated that "those who refuse the love of God are going to the fire that is not extinguished ("Credo of the People of God", issued June 30, 1968).  So that spells out the basic belief of the Catholic Church, a major Christian denomination.

        The Encyclopedia Americana states: "As generally understood, hell is the abode of evil spirits; the infernal regions...whither lost and condemned souls go after death to suffer indescribable torments and eternal punishments."  Some have thought of it as a place created by God, where He punishes, with inconceivable severity, and throughout all eternity, the souls of those who through unbelief or through the worship of false gods have angered Him, a place of Divine revenge, untempered and never-ending.  This has been the idea most generally held by Evangelical Christians, Catholics, and Protestants alike.  It is also the idea embodied in the Mohammedans' conception.The main features of hell as conceived by Hindu, Persian, Egyptian, Grecian, and Christian theologians are essentially the same. (from the article on "Hell").  But the big question is "Why do people believe what they believe?"  Where does this concept really come from?  Does is come from the Bible, as most Christians assume?  Assuming can be dangerous.

 

FROM THE PHILOSOPHERS

 

A few influential men since the time of Christ left writings and teachings that became so universally believed that they became accepted doctrine of the Christian world. One of the most important of these influential writers was Augustine who (even though he was a Christian) reasoned that there should be a temporary cleansing of imperfect souls in purgatorial fire.  He, like many other early Christian theologians, was influenced by "pre-Christian doctrine" [doesn't Revelation 2 and 3 preach against this "pre-Christian" doctrine?]--the doctrine of the ancient pagan philosophers--and other early church fathers (see Encyclopedia Britannica, 11^th edition, article "Purgatory").

        Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) wrote a tremendously popular poem, La Divina Commedia, in three parts--Hell, Purgatory and Paradise.  "Of all poets of modern times," says a modern author, "Dante Alighieri was, perhaps, the greatest educator.  He possibly had a greater influence on the course of civilization than any other man since his day.[He] wrote.an imaginative and lurid account of a dismal journey through a lurid hell--a long poem containing certain phrases which have caught the attention of the world, such as 'All hope abandon here, Ye, who enter here'" (Thomas N. Page, Dante and His Influence, pp. 3,7).

        This Dante is reported to have been so fascinated and enraptured by the ideas and philosophies of the philosophers Plato and Virgil that he believed they were divinely inspired.  But who were Plato and Virgil?

        Says the Encyclopedia Americana: "Virgil, pagan Roman poet, 70-19 B.C. belonged to the national school of pagan Roman thought, influenced by the Greek writers.  Christians of the Middle Ages, including Dante, believed he had received some measure of divine inspiration."

        Plato, a Greek philosopher, born in Athens, 427 B.C., was a student of the renowned Socrates.  Plato's famous literary work Phaedo taught the immortality of the soul--the foundation for other writings on the doctrine of an eternal hell where wicked souls are supposedly punished forever.  Apparently if this is the main source of Christianity's concept of eternal punishment in hell, Christianity had better take a long hard look at every scrap of Biblical teaching it can find on eternal rewards and punishments, and then re-orient it's beliefs according to God's Word completely, no matter what the consequences.  But these concepts, even if totally wrong in the minds of believing Christians, will in no way stop God from bestowing Eternal life on the believer.  But these wrong concepts must be corrected before we can have an affective work of preaching the gospel Jesus wants us to preach to the unconverted world (over 6+ billion strong at this point in time!).  This takes us into the next area.

 

WHAT ABOUT THE BILLIONS OF MANKIND?

 

Before we examine the Bible to see whether the common ideas about hell could possibly be true, let us carry this concept of hell to its logical conclusion. 

        On this earth there are more than over six billion people.  The most populous lands are China, India and other parts of Asia.  But in spite of the efforts of Western missionaries (who are very sincere and zealous in their efforts to fulfill Matthew 28:18-20), more than half of all the people on the earth have never so much as heard the name of Jesus Christ--the only name by which men may be saved (Acts 4:12).

        In the past, literally billions of people on this earth have lived and died without having known anything about salvation--without ever so much as having seen a Bible.  As a matter of fact the full Bible wasn't complete until some years after 90 A.D., and wasn't printed for general distribution until Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 1400's!  The Bible never saw widespread printing in the language of the common people until the 1600's, although Peter de Waldo did produce hand-written copies of it in the vernacular French and Spanish during the 1100's.  Much of mankind, historically, has remained ignorant of God's Word, and thus of the true path to salvation through Jesus Christ.  Much of this is through no fault of mankind.  Much fewer people have had adequate exposure to God's Word for a decent chance to obtain a saving knowledge of the way of salvation than one would expect.  The number of people who reach this knowledge and properly apply it has always been relatively small by comparison to the world population of any period one may be looking at.  If you don't believe, me, then study history--both Christian and secular.

        Now think what all this means.  If all unbelievers go immediately to a fiery hell at death--or into some limbo of a spirit world where mental torment reigns--the two concepts of hell commonly believed in--then more than half of the people who have ever lived on this earth [and my estimate, being an avid student of history, is more along the lines of 85 percent!] have been consigned to this terrible punishment--and they are there, now, without ever having had a chance to escape it.

        Can you really believe that is the product of the mind of an all-wise, all-merciful loving God???

        We face these alternatives: Either the Creator reveals the truth on this subject in his inspired Word, or else we must confess we just don't know.  Either we believe what the Bible says, or we must--if we are rational and honest--admit ignorance.

        What does God say about hell in the Bible?  You may surprised.

 

 

JESUS SPOKE OF "HELL FIRE"

 

What punishment did Christ warn would ultimately befall those who refuse to quit sinning?  Mark 9:43  (He obviously did not mean we should literally cut off parts of our bodies, but rather stop using them to commit sin.) "And if your hand makes you sin, cut it off.  It is better for you to enter into life maimed, than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched--where 'their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched." and so on and so on, goes the thought through verse 48.  The word "Hell" is an English word.  When Mark recorded Christ's words, he wrote them in the Greek language.  The Greek word translated "hell" which Mark was inspired to write down, is gehenna.  Since in this verse Christ says the sinner is "to go into the fire," it follows that those who go to gehenna will receive punishment by fire.  Keep in mind, then, that Christ associated the Greek word gehenna with fire.

 

The English Word "Hell" Has Been Misapplied

 

In A Dictionary of the Bible, edited by James Hastings, it has this to say about "hell" in the Old and New Testaments.  Keep in mind as you read this that the Old Testament was originally written in the Hebrew language, and that the New Testament was originally written in the Greek language.

        Hastings says: "In our Authorized Version the word "hell" is unfortunately used as the rendering of three distinct words with different ideas [or meanings].  It represents (1) the 'sheol' of the Hebrew Old Testament, and the 'hades' of.the New Testament..It is now an entirely misleading rendering, especially in the New Testament passages.  The English revisers, therefore, have substituted 'Hades' [going back to the original Greek word] for "hell" in the New Testament..In the American Revision the word "hell" is entirely discarded in this connection..

        "The word "hell" is used (2) as equivalent to [the Greek word] 'tartaros'.in II Peter 2:4.[and] (3).as the equivalent of [the Greek word] 'gehenna'"

        So we see that the real meanings of three different Greek words--hades (equivalent to the Hebrew sheol of the Old Testament, tartaros and gehenna--have been confused with each other because translators have attempted to make the one English word "hell" cover the definitions of all three words.  No wonder millions have been confused about this subject.

        What do these three words really mean?

        The Old Testament word sheol and the New Testament Greek word hades mean the same thing--simply the grave.  These words have been correctly translated as "grave" in many places in the Bible.  However, these words have also been translated "hell."

        "Hell" is an old English word.  More than 350 years ago, when the Authorized Version was translated, the people of England commonly talked of "putting their potatoes in hell for the winter"--a good way of preserving potatoes--for the word meant merely a hole in the ground that was covered up--a dark and silent place--a grave.  But misconceptions caused people to misapply the old English word "hell" to the lurid imaginations of Dante.

        The second Greek word, tartaros, occurs as a verb form in the New Testament.  It is found only in II Peter 2:4, where it has been translated into the English expression "cast.down to hell."  Tartaros does not refer to humans, but to the restrained condition of fallen angels (or demons).  Its meaning, translated into English, is "darkness of the material universe," "dark abyss" or "prison."

        But what about gehenna?  This Greek word is derived from the name of the narrow, rocky Valley of Hinnom, which lies just outside of Jerusalem.  It was the place where refuse was burned up.  Trash, filth, and the dead bodies of animals and despised criminals were thrown into the fires of gehenna, or the Valley of Hinnom.  Ordinarily, everything thrown into this valley was destroyed by fire--completely burned up.  Therefore, Christ used gehenna to picture the fate of unrepentant sinners.

 

Two Different "Hells"

 

        In many of the passages of the New Testament where we see the word "hell," the Greek word is not gehenna.  Often it is hades--which does not refer to fire at all, but to a grave--a hole in the ground.  Yet the translators have confused and obscured the two entirely different meanings of these words by indiscriminately rendering them both by the same English word "hell."

        Let's study the proof.

1.               What did Jesus say about "hell" in Luke 12:5?  ""But I will show you whom you should fear:  Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!"  If you were to look up the Greek word that is here translated into the English word "hell," you would find it is gehenna.  Gehenna, remember, is the place where dead bodies were thrown and destroyed by fire.

2.   How is the same English word "hell" used in Acts 2:31?  "he foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption."  [New King James Version has properly switched the translation back from Hell, which was a proper 1611 rendering of Hades, to Hades."]  Hades means the grave, as its usage in this verse clearly shows.  WE can plainly see that the English word "hell" can have different meanings.  So when we come to the word "hell" in the New Testament (except in II Peter 2:4), we must keep in mind these two vastly different meanings and carefully determine by the context whether it refers to destruction by fire, or the grave where the dead lie buried.

 

          Whenever you're in doubt about the intended meaning of the word "hell" in the New Testament, look it up in an exhaustive concordance, such as Strong's or Young's, to see which Greek word it was translated from, and hence its true meaning.

 

Where to After Death?

 

According to this verse found in the Bible, when a person dies and is buried in his grave, he knows absolutely nothing (Ecclesiastes 9:5).  He merely lies quietly and silently there as in a "sleep," totally oblivious to everything.

        Let's briefly examine several scriptures that illustrate this important understanding.

        What one things befalls both men and beasts?  Ecclesiastes 9:5-6. "For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing.  And they have no more reward.  For the memory of them is forgotten.  Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished."  This indicates that even conscious thought ceases when one dies.  This scripture would indicate that the spirits of the dead are not conscious.   The spirit in man gives man his intelligence and mind-power to comprehend the things of a man [i.e. Algebra, history, languages,  things a cow or turkey or dog have no comprehension of.]  This verse indicates all conscious thought ceases when life ceases--no wandering spirits of the deceased in mental anguish for all eternity, as some interpret, or until they're resurrected in the Great White Throne Judgment, as others interpret.  Now let's turn to Ecclesiastes 3:19-20. "For what happens to the sons of men also happens to beasts; one thing befalls them; as one dies, so dies the other.  Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over beasts, for all is vanity.  All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust."  Now verse 21 gets interesting.  The spirit of man, and the spirit of or in beasts is mentioned. "Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward [upon the death of the person], and the spirit of the beast, which goes down to the earth?" [And this Scripture indicates the spirit of "all" dead people goes "upward" (obviously to God for safe keeping).] I Corinthians 2:11 sheds a little more light on this "spirit in or of man."  "For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?."  The Bible, if you honestly research the subject of the spirit of man or spirit in man, indicates that this spirit in man, this human spirit, is what grants mankind human intelligence, as opposed to animal intelligence, which is much lower.  In modern terms, this spirit component is like the software that gives your computer it's intelligence, it's computing power.  Computer's analyze data, which can come in from various sources, the keyboard, the phone modem, etc.  Our data comes in through our five senses, touch, smell, sight, hearing and taste.  Obviously, the power or mental software which gives us the ability to process data comes from this spirit in man which God puts there.  The book of Ecclesiastes, part of the Word of God, says this spirit in man, ceases to function upon the death of an individual, and that it goes back to God.  It does not say only the spirit of good people goes back to God.  It says this spirit in man for every human being, goes back to God upon death, and that all conscious thought ceases.  That is what the Bible appears to teach on this subject.  Some fellowships believe differently based upon their interpretation of the parable of Lazarus and the rich man.  We'll get to that one a little later.  Genesis 3:19. "By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." 

        Is there any remembrance of God in death?  Psalm 6:5. "For in death there is no remembrance of You; In the grave who will give you thanks?"  Now there are certain fellowships which say that Solomon spiritually lost it before he died and so what he wrote is subject to question.  For one thing, God is the One who decides what writings are inspired and belong in His Word.  But if you insist on following your own reasoning and think Solomon was a disqualified writer, then David cannot be put in that category.  He died a righteous man in God's eyes on all counts.  He basically re-iterates what Solomon stated in Ecclesiastes about the dead knowing nothing after death.

        What place does God say man goes to when he dies?  Ecclesiastes 9:10. "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going."

        The Word (Logos) became Jesus by the act of incarnation.  Jesus was God incarnate--God made of flesh (John 1:14).  Did he share the same mortal flesh of which we are composed?  Hebrews 2:14. "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is the devil."

And did he also go to the grave as other mortal men do?  Acts 2:31. "For he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption."

 

The Greek word in Acts 2:31 is hades which, as you now know, means the "grave."  Jesus did not see corruption (did not decompose in the grave) because he was resurrected after three days and three nights. While in this section of Acts, let's look a couple of verses.  Let's combine them, and see what they appear to tell us.  Concerning what we learned about the righteous dead being resurrected to glory in the first resurrection which Paul described in I Corinthians 15, they make sense.  Acts 2:29,34. "'Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.For David did not ascend into the heavens." 

                So, if what these scriptures indicate is true, the spirit in man, or the spirit of man is not a conscious entity, but just the spirit software that God places in every person, probably at conception.  Yes, as Solomon stated in Ecclesiastes, it goes back to God, in the third heaven, but no it is not conscious.  It merely holds all the memories and the exact image of what that person was.  Then in one of the two major resurrections, God will use that spirit software that was in the person to reconstruct that person physically, as in the description found in Ezekiel 37:1-14 or into a Spirit body, as described in I Corinthians 15:49-54.  This is what we've just seen in scripture.  Now let us cut to the quick, so to speak, and turn to the area in scripture most frequently used by those who hold to the spirits of those who die either wander in mental torment, or if righteous, go to be with the Lord God in the third heaven.  As we saw in Ecclesiastes, the spirit in every person 'rises to God in heaven.'  So the wandering spirit theory seems to get blasted right there.  Other groups also use the Lazarus parable of Jesus to prove there is an eternal hell fire of the Dante's Inferno type.

 

 

The Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man

 

         What lesson did Jesus intend to illustrate by this oft-misunderstood parable (found in Luke 16:19-31)?  Let us carefully study this entire parable, comparing it with other crystal-clear scriptures.

 

Did Lazarus--a poor but righteous man--die?  Was he later carried by angels to "Abraham's bosom"?  Luke 16:22. "So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom.  The rich man also died and was buried."

 

Now there are two ways we can look at this parable--literally or figuratively.  The scriptures of the Old Testament, when added to I Corinthians 15:49-54 and Revelation 20:5,11-13, and Revelation 20:14-15 indicate 1) the dead know nothing until they are resurrected back to life.  The righteous dead will be in the first resurrection to immortality.  The unrighteous dead or unsaved dead will all come up in the general resurrection at the period of time spoken of in Revelation 20:11-13 as the Great White Throne Judgment.  Ezekiel 37:1-14 fleshes out the skimpy details of this resurrection and shows us two things: 1. They will all be given God's Holy Spirit.  2. The will be given lands, beautiful farmlands, to live out their lives on.  2) Then all who remain unrepentant go into the "Lake of Fire", as indicated by Revelation 20:14-15.  No third resurrection is spoken of anywhere in the Bible, so obviously all who don't repent remain on earth as physical humans.  God then proceeds to make the new heavens and new earth by setting them all on fire and melting them down, referred to in II Peter 3:10-11 and Revelation 20:14-15 and 21:1.  All those whom God has not changed and given new Spirit bodies will perish in the fire God is using to make the new heavens and new earth, obviously.  Adding all related Scriptures in both Old and New Testaments together indicates the Lazarus parable of Jesus was meant to be taken figuratively.  The parable itself fits right into Greek mythological thought about their own beliefs about Hades, a place of torment for the dead.  If we are to take the parable in a figurative sense, then we must realize that Jesus was being a bit tongue-in-cheek about the Greek interpretation of Hades to make a point.  But also knowing that everyone reads and sees the various scriptures in slightly different ways, he obviously knew he would be allowing for division in his body of believers who would make up his Church.  But this division isn't over the primary knowledge of salvation for those that are saved, but a secondary area, the area of the unsaved dead.  Remember, a good 85 percent of all who have ever lived have never known God or his Word and Jesus Christ, nor have they had an adequate opportunity to know God.  Jesus is the door to Eternal Salvation!  He didn't arrive on the world scene until four thousand years had elapsed after the creation of man.  The Church was founded two thousand years ago.  At least 85 percent of the known world from then to now never responded to the message, which really hasn't been all that available until modern printing arrived, and even then the availability wasn't like it is today through the modern media tools and information transfer systems!  This is also Satan's world right now.  He is the unseen ruler of the world, and in Matthew 4 he offered the nations of the world to Jesus Christ if He would only bow down to him and serve him.  Jesus didn't correct Satan in his statement of ownership of the nations of the world.  God's redemptive plan for all of mankind doesn't really kick into passing gear until after Jesus arrives back on earth and locks up Satan and his demons in the bottomless pit, the abyss (Revelation 20:1-3).

 

Now why would Jesus want the various members or fellowships that compose his body of believers to remain divided over the two thousand year period from his first arrival to his second arrival?  Satan knows that when Matthew 24:14 is accomplished the gig is up for him and his demon empire!  But as long as all the various Holy Spirit led Christian fellowships that make up the collective body of Christ are in disunity over such issues as Eternal rewards, heaven and hell, and what the gospel message Matthew 24:14 is supposed to be composed of, then that Matthew 24:14 gospel has no way of being powerfully and collectively preached by the body of Christ!  It's like a massive chess game between Satan and God.  Satan knows the Word of God as well if not better than we do.  He knows what he must do to prevent Matthew 24:14 from ever happening.  Disunity of beliefs destroys effectiveness of collective preaching, and the effectiveness of the message being given to non-believers.  Satan isn't stupid, be we Christians have been, in not understanding Satan's devises.

 

  Jesus has allowed for this division within his body, until He wants to end it.  Most of Christianity takes the Lazarus parable totally literally, with all of its Greek mythological overtones included.  If taken literally, all other related scriptures which may modify this parable, giving it a different meaning, have to be ignored, which isn't a sound method of Biblical interpretation.  If taken literally, not allowing for any modification of meaning by the rest of the Bible scriptures relating to this subject the parable has this meaning:

 

1)               The spirit in man remains conscious after death.  The good ones go to heaven to be with the Lord, and the unrepentant ones wander the earth in mental torment until the 2^nd resurrection.  [But why would God then resurrect them all (Revelation 20:5,11-13), give them beautiful farmland, and give them all His Holy Spirit?]  Then sometime after the Great White Throne Judgment God will then proceed to burn up all the unrepentant.  (There is possibly one other reason Jesus has allowed Christians to believe that all the "unsaved dead" go into eternal torment--that this belief is a motivator to preaching the gospel around the world.  The central question now is--should we allow a flawed teaching to be our primary motivation for wanting to see humanity saved now before a horrible World War III?)

 

2)               Hades is a place where the unrepentant spirits of man wander in torment and anguish, even flame (Luke 16:23). [cf. Ezekiel 37:1-14.]

 

 

3)               The dead go there upon their death, immediately (Luke 16:27-29.)  Notice Jesus never said this was a place of eternal torment, but just a place of torment (vs. 28).

 

The parable:  Luke 16:19-31 (New King James Version). "There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.  [20] But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, [21`] desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.  Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.  [22] So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom [this would have to be the spirit of Lazarus, as he does not receive his new Spirit body until the time of Jesus' return (I Corinthians 15:49-54).] [23] And then being in torments in Hades, [this is definitely a Greek mythological view of Hades.  Were the Greeks right?  Or was Jesus just making a figurative point?] he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.  [24] Then he cried out 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 tormented in this flame.' [25] But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.' [26] 'And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.' [27] Then he said, 'I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house, [28] for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.' [29] Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' [Now almost all the children of Israel directly under Moses in the Sinai did not possess the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God.  Go and look up the incident where Moses cried to God about being all alone and needing some assistance.  God granted that seventy elders would receive His Spirit.  Two of these seventy couldn't be present.  But God nonetheless granted them his Spirit.  They went about the camp prophesying.  Joshua then asked Moses, "Should I go out and stop them?"  Moses reply was telling.  "God forbid!  I wish that all of Israel had the Spirit of God in them!"  So apparently 'the time Moses and the prophets' was not a door to salvation for most of Israel, only for a select few whom God chose to call.] [30] And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' [31] But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.'"

 

If this parable is to be taken figuratively, as it is indicated when all the other related scriptures pertaining to eternal reward and punishments are put together, then this is how the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man should be interpreted: "If we are Christ's, we become heirs with Abraham to receive the promises God made to him (Galatians 3:29).  Through faith we  all become the spiritual "children of Abraham" (verse 7).  This is an intimate relationship--a close or bosom relationship, spiritually speaking--with Abraham.  We are to be in close contact with him in sharing eternal life.  This is the sense in which righteous Lazarus was taken to "Abraham's bosom" if we are taking this parable figuratively and not literally. 

        When, then, will Abraham and the Lazarus of Jesus' parable actually receive the promises?  The answer given in the Bible is that Abraham and the saints--his spiritual "seed"--will inherit the promises at the resurrection of the just, when Jesus returns to earth (cf. I Corinthians 15:49-54; Revelation 19, 20:4; 11:15-18).

        The word "hell" [in the King James Bible] used here is translated from the Greek word hades, which we know means the "grave."  It is not from the Greek word gehenna, which represents the future lake of fire that will destroy the wicked forever.  The rich man is pictured after he has come out of his grave through a resurrection and some time afterward (if he remains unrepentant) enters into the lake of fire. 

        This phrase depicts Abraham and Lazarus having already inherited eternal life in God's kingdom (Matthew 25:34).  They are pictured as having been immortal for more than 1,000 years before the wicked rich man is resurrected.  Then if he remains unrepentant, then at the time God makes the new heavens and new earth, he will be burned up in the lake of fire which the earth will become--i.e. the whole earth will be engulfed in fire, the very rocks will become molten, like in a volcano.  At this time the rich man will see the flames of the lake of fire beginning to surround him.  If Revelation 20:14-15 is a reality, he will then die in this lake.  No more eternal torment.  No eternal torment at all, just merciful death.  The great "gulf" between the two represents the difference between mortality and immortality.  Those who will have been made immortal shall never die because they will have inherited eternal life.  Abraham and Lazarus are pictured on the immortal side of this gulf--the rich man on the mortal side, facing imminent eternal death by fire.

        The parable graphically illustrates the rich man wanting to have his relatives warned (verses 27-28), not realizing how much time has already elapsed since he died.  They in all probability will have arisen at the same time as him, thinking all their hope is lost (Ezekiel 37:11), which is the first conscious thought-reaction we see in the people rising up in the Valley of Dry Bones prophecy of Ezekiel 37:1-14.  Proper discernment of God's Holy Scripture must include all scriptures relating to a subject, as God pointed out through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 28:9-10,11-13.  God put the Bible in a form of code, so the unbelieving masses would go on their merry way, never comprehending until they had a chance to learn just how awful Satan's way really is.  You learn by eating the fruit in this world.  The true lessons of man's horrible history will not be comprehended by all until God brings all the unsaved up in this massive general resurrection of the dead, where all can compare notes and realize just how bad it truly was.  Jesus Christ and we will then instruct them and help them learn by eating the fruit of God's way of life (Ezekiel 37:13-14).  But when we as Christians don't fully follow the code-breaking formula outlined in Isaiah 28:9-10, then our proper understanding of God's Word stumbles also, as verses 11-13 so graphically predict will happen to anyone not following it.  Like scripture must be added to like scripture, here a "little and there a little" to gain the proper Bible definition on any one doctrine in the Bible.  When we fail to do this our understanding in that particular area or doctrine "stumbles and falls backward" just as it does for those unbelievers in Satan's world.

 

    The parable of Lazarus and the rich man does not prove eternal punishing by God in hell fire if all the other related scriptures on eternal rewards and punishments are included in the mix.  If the parable is left by itself, with no other related scriptures added to it to properly modify it's intended meaning, then yes, it would tend to lend support to an eternal torment of lost souls (spirit component of the deceased), until the Great White Throne Judgment.  And then these lost souls would be resurrected and burned into nothingness, by an apparently cruel and vindictive God.  Many people can't bring themselves to believe in such a God, but most Christians today don't know what else to believe simply because they have not done an exhaustive study on the whole subject, including all the related scriptures on the subject.  Adding all the related scriptures on the subject indicates that Jesus used this short illustration to picture to his listeners the reality of the resurrection from the dead of both the righteous and the wicked.  He was picturing the resurrection to eternal life as contrasted with the ultimate fate of the wicked--death for all eternity for those who will live on into the period when this planet will be set afire and melted down along with the whole vast universe (Revelation 20:14-15; 21:1).

 

GOD IS LOVE

 

Why do so many people have a false concept of hell?  I believe I have pretty well explained that.  When you add like scripture to like scripture for all the scriptures dealing with eternal rewards and punishments you come up with a thorough understanding of God's master plan of salvation.  When you don't follow this process of Isaiah 28:9-10, verses 11-13 you get a faulty picture--an inaccurate picture. 

        God has no desire to torment or to torture anyone.  God is love if we are to believe what the apostle John said in 1 John 4:8.  He created us mortal.  He will condemn no one because of ignorance, and will see to it that every person ultimately learns the truth and has a real opportunity for salvation upon sincere repentance, no matter how terrible his or her sins have been.  To say any less is a denial of the Grace of God given through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.    

        God is "longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9).

        The ones who accept Jesus and live a life walking in the Spirit will be given the free gift of eternal life.  But the unbelieving disobedient must pay the "wages" they have earned, since they have not desired the precious Blood of the Lamb to cover them and their sins.  It is the final or second death--death in the lake of fire.  These are the two alternatives God places before each of us and that is just what he is trying to illustrate to us in the parable.

       

While a Christian is free to believe either way on this issue about "hell," realize these differing views color our gospel witness to the yet unconverted world being held captive by Satan.  This interferes with the effectiveness of that gospel message.  Believing in a literal or figurative interpretation of the parable of Lazarus and the rich man and all the accompanying different views on eternal rewards and punishments will not hinder ones receiving eternal life in the resurrection to immortality!  This is what makes it a secondary issue for the saved.  If you wish to keep believing the parable is to be taken literally, that won't effect your salvation is Christ.  Individuals and even whole Christian fellowships and denominations may continue to take the parable literally.  Jesus just won't be able to use any of us as effectively in accomplishing Matthew 24:14, for our differing interpretations on "hell" will be hindering our efforts.  Therefore it's time for the body of Christ to hammer this one out and come to some Jesus Christ inspired conclusion under the direct influence and guidance of the Holy Spirit, following the sound guidelines God gave us for scriptural discernment in Isaiah 28:9-13.

 

RESURRECTED TO JUDGMENT

 

You may have heard that some ministers preach that unbelievers go directly to hell fire when they die.  If there is a place of eternal torment, this teaching would mean they are condemned to a fiery inferno formally judged and sentenced.  That would be worse than our own imperfect criminal justice systems we have on earth today!  Let's notice when and how the dead will be judged.

 

1)   Is there to be a future resurrection to judgment of the unsaved dead?  John 5:28-29. (The word "damnation" in the Authorized Version--verse 29--is correctly rendered as "judgment" in most modern translations, and is literally interpreted from the Greek word meaning "discernment."  This accurate rendering is further proof that the unsaved dead are not being tormented in a fiery hell.  They are now dead.  But there is coming a time ("the hour is coming," said Jesus) when they will be resurrected for judgment.  "Do not marvel at this: for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life [cf. I Corinthians 15:49-54), and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation [Strongs #2920: krisis: decision (for or against).]

2)Do the first sentence of Revelation 20:5 and verses 11-12 also prove there is to be a future resurrection to judgment?  (Note that the first sentence in verse 5 is a parenthetical statement inserted within verses 4-6, which describe the first resurrection.)  Revelation 20:5,11-12.  "But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.[11-13]Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away.  And there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened.  And another book was opened which is the Book of Life.  [In ancient Greece, every city had a Book of Life, which had recorded every living person in it.  When a person died, his name was removed from the Book of Life.]  And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.  The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them.  And they were judged, each one of them according to their works."

 

Some of the dead--the "dead in Christ"--will be resurrected to eternal life in the first resurrection at Christ's second coming (I Corinthians 15:49-54; I Thessalonians 4:16-17).  But the "rest of the dead" will not live again for a thousand years.  They will then be resurrected to mortal life.  These are the unsaved dead who will rise in the second resurrection to be "judged."

The Great White Throne Judgment described in Revelation 20:11-13 is the period when the vast majority of mankind (the dead, and most who are now alive) will be resurrected and given their first real opportunity to learn about God's redemptive Plan of Salvation through Jesus Christ.  They will come to know Jesus and learn of his ways in a graphic personal way as they never had the opportunity to do so before, being held captive under Satan's deceptive sway and deception.  These billions--some estimate as many as 50 to 100 billion strong--are those who never heard or understood God's way of life due to Satan's deception.  What does Revelation 12:9 say about Satan?  "So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."

 

Think about this.  All Israel with the exception of a few righteous people, were unsaved.  They died in their sins.  The apostle Paul addressed this matter in Romans 11 where he said, "I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited [the other time Paul uses this phrase is to describe a major resurrection from the dead]: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.  And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godliness away from Jacob.  And this is my covenant when I take away their sins [Isa. 59:20-21; Jer. 31:33-34].'

As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.  Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you.  For God has bound ALL MEN over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on THEM ALL."  That last sentence is very interesting.  Let us see what it might mean.  We're not taking Paul and God literally enough in this statement.  The way we Christians have interpreted this scripture (Romans 11:32) is "God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on 20 percent or less of them all!"  For when we take a good honest look at world history, we cannot possibly say that any more than 20 percent, and perhaps far less, fit the description of being "called, chosen and faithful."

Let us remember right here, for those of us who are saved and in the Lord and fit the description of "called, chosen and faithful", this information is not primary knowledge about salvation, and belief one way or the other will not affect a saved individual's salvation one single bit.

        So how will all Israel be re-grafted into God's Olive Tree, according to how some Christian fellowships view this issue?  Ezekiel 37:1-14. "The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.  Then he caused me to pass by them all around, and behold there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry.  And he said to me, 'Son of man, can these bones live?'  So I answered, 'O Lord God, you know.'  Again he said to me, 'Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!  'Thus says the Lord God to these bones; 'Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.  I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live.  Then you shall know that I am the Lord.'

        So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone.  Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.

        Then he said to me, 'Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord God: 'Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.'  So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

        Then he said to me, 'Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.  They indeed say, 'Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!'  Therefore prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God: 'Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, O my people, and cause you to come up from your graves and BRING YOU INTO THE LAND OF ISRAEL.  [WHY GIVE THEM LAND IF THEY ARE ABOUT TO GET BURNED UP IN THE LAKE OF FIRE?]  Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up from your graves.  [Does it say these dead were wandering spirits from the time they died to the time of this massive resurrection back to physical life?]  I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT IN YOU, AND YOU SHALL LIVE, AND I SHALL PLACE YOU IN YOUR OWN LAND:  [NOTE THIS: THESE PEOPLE ARE GIVEN GOD'S HOLY SPIRIT.  THUS THEY ENTER THEIR TIME FOR SALVATION RIGHT HERE AND NOW, WHENEVER THIS MASSIVE RESURRECTIOJN OF THE DEAD TAKES PLACE.], THEN YOU SHALL KNOW THAT I THE LORD HAVE SPOKEN IT, AND PERRFORMED IT, SAITH THE LORD.'"

        Now when Jews read this passage, they put these verses in context with verses 15-28 of the same chapter 37 of Ezekiel, which is a "Day of the Lord/2^nd Coming of Jesus Christ prophecy.  So the Jews and some Christians believe that all dead Israel will be resurrected back to physical life at the glorious coming of the Messiah to rule the world.

        But we Christians are supposed to put all the related scriptures on a subject together, letting them modify the whole picture as Isaiah 28:9-10 states--showing us the timing of various Old Testament prophecies that deal with The Day of the Lord, or what we call 2^nd Coming of Christ prophecies.  Ezekiel 37:1-14, as we read, is about a massive resurrection of ALL Israel back to physical life.  Ezekiel 16:55 indicates that the rest of humanity will come back to physical life at the same time all Israel does.  Ezekiel 16:55. "When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters [Gentiles], return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters return to their former state, then you and your daughters will return to your former state."  This is only one verse, but when we combine it with a New Testament verse, we see that it is talking about these people, Gentiles, rising up at the same time as all Israel.  Now we see that a massive resurrection of physical human beings takes place some time in the future (Rev. 20:5, 11-13; Ezekiel 37:1-14).  The Jews, taking Ezekiel 37:1-14 in context with verses 15-28 of the same chapter, say this resurrection of all Israel takes place at the glorious coming of the Messiah to rule over the whole world.  Christians should be letting Jesus' Word found in the New Testament, given to John in Revelation modify the Old Testament prophecy that describes a massive resurrection of physical human beings back to life.  And look as hard as you want to, you will only find two major resurrections mentioned or prophesied in the whole Bible (John 5:28-28; Daniel 12:2-3; Revelation 20:4-6, 5,11-13; I Corinthians 15:49-54; I Thess. 4:16-17).  Since one is to immortality at Jesus Christ's 2^nd Coming, the other massive resurrection is after the 1000 year reign of Jesus over the earth.  Ezekiel 37:1-14 is a massive resurrection to physical life.  1 + 1 still equals 2 where I come from.  If Ezekiel 37:1-14 and Revelation 20:5,11-13 are one and the same resurrection back to physical life, and Ezekiel 37:14 states that these people are to have God putting His Holy Spirit in them and then resettling them in their own land, then these people are receiving their chance at salvation in Jesus at this point in prophesied history.  The book of Revelation is clearly a book of prophetic timing of events that occur starting with the great tribulation, going through the Day of the Lord, on into the millenium and then to the massive Great White Throne Judgment, the Lake of Fire, and then ending with the creation of the new heavens and new earth (regardless of what amillennialists would have you believe).  Many prophecies are recorded in the Old Testament, but without the book of Revelation, the proper time context for many of them is lost, and no idea exists as to where they fit into the whole picture.  So logically, this would be the book of the Bible where we would look for a prophecy about a massive resurrection of humans back to physical life.  And we find just such a resurrection mentioned in Revelation 20:5,11-13, which states, But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away.  And there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened.  And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.  And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things written in the books.  The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them.  And they were judged, each one according to his works."

 

So we find Revelation 20:5,11-13 gives the briefest description of this massive resurrection back to physical life.  But it does give accurate timing of the event in future historical context.  Ezekiel 37:1-14 gives a lot of physical details, especially the most important one, are these people lost, or do they get their chance to accept Jesus Christ and salvation through him and him alone?  Ezekiel 37:13-14. "Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves.  I will put my Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land."  The first reaction to coming up is that they think their hope is lost, gone--they're on the way to the Lake of Fire.  But the very next thing to occur is that they receive the Holy Spirit (verse 14)!  Now we know, only those called to a saving knowledge of salvation through Jesus Christ receive the Holy Spirit, who then dwells in them (read Acts 2:1-41; Acts 5:32; John 14).  This is a clear cut scripture showing "unsaved dead" rising in a resurrection back to physical life and receiving God's Holy Spirit!  That ought to give all Christians cause to re-think this question on the "unsaved dead" now oughtn't it?

        That's a clear example of the New Testament book of Revelation showing us when this massive resurrection occurs.  Then the Old Testament prophecy in Ezekiel 37:1-14 fills in the details of this resurrection and what it is for.  The apostle Peter stated that judgment has now begun in the house of God.  If being called into a saving knowledge of salvation through Jesus Christ is our judgment, then it would only make sense that the rest of humanity's judgment at the Great White Throne Judgment would be similar, for God is no respecter of persons.

       

As I brought out before, there are several different interpretations amongst Christian fellowships on the two resurrections listed in the Bible in John 5:28-29, Daniel 12:1-5 and Revelation 20:4-5,11-13.  One takes the view that the Great White Throne Judgment leads right into the Lake of Fire with no chance of redemption for those who are in this resurrection back to physical life.  You have seen that there is good reason in scripture to question this interpretation.  But let's go a little further.  And don't forget, we are doing this in a spirit of desiring truth in this matter and not in an effort to be divisive.  The next question we need to ask is this.  Revelation 20:5,11-13 shows this massive resurrection.  Verse 14-15 of Revelation 20 goes right into the Lake of Fire scenario.  If a redemptive work of Jesus Christ is to occur for all these billions of people at this time, there must be an event/time gap between verses 13 and 14 of Revelation 20 which is not mentioned in Revelation 20. (We also saw in verses 12 and 14 that God said he would "bring them back to the land of Israel".  These two verses strongly indicate these people enter into a period of time for life.)

Does the Bible have any previous precedent for such an event/time gap?  Yes it does.  It is found in Genesis 1:1-2, between verses 1 and 2.  It is known that a massive unspecified amount of time and events occurred between the events mentioned in verses 1 and 2-31, the original creation of the heavens and the earth, and the re-creation of life-forms one earth along with the creation of man.  Some don't believe in this event/time gap, but the record in the rocks tends to conclusively prove there were two distinct creations of life-forms which occurred on this planet.  The Bible backs this up in other places, just as it does the event/time gap in Revelation 20 between verses 13 and 14.  The universe was not created "Tohu" and "Bohu" as the Hebrew reads in verse 2 of Genesis 1.  "Tohu" and "bohu" translate to "empty" and "void."  Genesis 1:1-2. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  [verse 2] And the earth was {Hebrew: became] without form [Tohu] and void [Bohu]; and darkness was upon the face of the deep."  The universe was not created originally "tohu and bohu", but became "tohu and bohu."  We can see this by adding together the Scriptures about this same event that would modify and add meaning to the word translated "was" which can be translated "became".  Some people, deep into Hebrew grammar are judging this word entirely on how it is used within this one sentence, but not including other Scripture passages that would and do add meaning to the word.  This is being entirely nearsighted in our approach to Bible interpretation.  Let us look further at some of the Scriptures that can and do modify this word translated as "was" which can and should be translated "became".

In Job 38:4-7 it talks of how the angels sang for joy at the creation of the heavens and the earth.  These angels would be just a little bit strange for singing joyfully at the creation of an earth described as "tohu and bohu," now wouldn't they?  In Ezekiel 28:13-17 a description of the fall of Lucifer is given.  It is repeated in Isaiah 14:12-17.  God repeats in scripture what is important.  He saw fit to record two descriptions of Lucifer's fall in the Old Testament.  In the New Testament Jesus himself remarked how he saw Lucifer fall like lightning to the earth, and in Revelation 12:3-4 it describes Satan drawing a third of the stars of heaven, referring to a third of the angels, and throwing them to earth.  This same Dragon tried to destroy the Christ child (Rev. 12:4-5).  So between the original creation of the heavens and the earth and the creation of man and re-creation of plant and animal life conducive to man, a great gap of time and events has occurred.  [This is called the "gap theory," and would account for the dinosaur age in the pre-history of man.  65 Million years ago a massive cataclysm occurred which destroyed all life on earth, dinosaurs included.  The record in the rocks is undeniable, and this cataclysmic destruction of all life on earth along with the sudden creation of fauna and plant life conducive to man along with man totally baffles evolutionary scientists.  So between the original creation of the heavens and the earth and the creation of man and re-creation of plant and animal life (different from the previous plant and animal life of the dinosaur age), a great gap of time and events has occurred.  Some Christian groups that like to deny the "gap theory" also say that Satan created the dinosaur fossils as a hoax to muddy the waters.  This is not true.  God is a creator--The Creator of heaven and earth--Satan is not, and cannot create anything.  God has not given him or any of the demons that power.  We don't even know if he's given the angels any of that power.  That is something wholly reserved to God, by the very essence of what Scripture reveals about God--as the Creator.  Look up all the verses that cover who created.  God created, and he did this through God the Son, Jesus Christ.  That's it.  If fossils of dinosaurs are out there, they're real.  Satan can't create or manipulate matter at this point.  He can destroy, and that's about it.  That power hasn't been removed from him, yet.  (Log onto http://www.UNITYINCHRIST.COM/dinosaurs.htm for a more in-depth study on the record of the rocks, and what it tells us about creation, and that the theory of evolution is indeed a very false theory.)

        When looking at Revelation 20:11-13 and 14-15 some say one event goes right into the other without a break in time or events, when judging and interpreting verses 14-15 as they stand alone.  Others think there is a break in time and events between Revelation 20:11-13 and verses 14-15 of Revelation 20. I personally believe that Christianity as a whole ought to thoroughly examine its' beliefs about the "unsaved dead" and those not called in this evil world before they teach or preach one more word on the subject publicly before the unsaved world.  If Christianity's take on this subject is wrong then our preaching of the gospel to this dying world is tragically flawed and thus hindered by this flaw.  If an error in our perception of these verses is being preached we all share in the responsibility for that error.

      

DEATH BY FIRE

 

What is the ultimate penalty--the "wages," or reward--of sin?  Is it eternal life in torment?  Or is it eternal oblivion?  What is the ultimate fate of incorrigible sinners?  The Bible makes the truth very clear.

        What are the "wages of sin"?  Romans 6:23. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Death is the opposite of life.  The final wages the incorrigible will receive is the complete cessation of life.

        What does Paul warn will be the judgment or sentence of those who, knowing God's commands and having tasted of his way of life, sin willfully?  Hebrews 10:26-27. "For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries."  Will the wicked, these adversaries as Paul calls them, live on in torment in fire--or will they be devoured by it?  Verse 27.

        Does Jesus compare false prophets who don't bring forth good works to trees that don't bring forth good fruit?  What did he indicate would happen to them?  Is combustible material that is put into a fire only tormented--or is it burned up?  Did Jesus indicate that all who do not bring forth "good fruit" will likewise be cast into fire?    Matthew 7:15-19. "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.  You will know them by their fruits.  Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?  Even so, every good tree bears good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

        What did Christ say to the unrepentant scribes and Pharisees of his day?   Matthew 23:33. "Serpents, brood of vipers!  How can you escape the condemnation of hell?"  The Greek word translated here as "hell" is gehenna--meaning the Valley of Hinnom.  Christ used the fire that burned up refuse in the Valley of Hinnom as a type of the final fate--complete destruction--of the wicked by fire.  Those rebellious and stubborn religious leaders could well understand Christ's analogy.  They knew they were being threatened with complete destruction by fire.

        What did Christ warn would happen to those who will not repent of their sinful ways?  Luke 13:3. "I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."  "Perish" means to cease existing.  It does not mean to continue living.  Life in eternal torment is not what God has decreed for incorrigible sinners.  The punishment revealed in the Bible is death--cessation of life forever.  Eternal life is something we were not born with.  It is a gift of God that he will bestow upon those who have accepted Jesus Christ and are living their lives in Jesus, living a repentant life, not a lifestyle of constant sin as the world does now (Romans 6:23).  Eternal life and death are contrasted throughout the Bible.

        Did Christ show by his parable of the tares that there is to be a future harvest?  Did he say the evil people--the "tares"--will afterward be burned?  Matthew 13:30. "Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, 'First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"  Jesus likened the earth to a "field" (verse 24), the obedient or saved people to "wheat" (verses 25,29), and the disobedient to "tares" (verses 25,29-30).

        Does Malachi 4:1 also show that the ultimate fate of the wicked will be destruction by fire?  Will this fire be so hot that it will burn up--consume--the wicked?  Same verse.  What will be left of the wicked? Verse 3.  Who will burn up the wicked--Satan and his demons, or the eternal God?  Same verse.  Malachi 4:1-3. "'For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.  And the day which is coming shall burn them up,' says the Lord of hosts, 'That will leave them neither root nor branch.You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,' says the Lord of hosts."  The "hell fire" that the Bible speaks of will be thousands of degrees hotter than the imaginary hell fire that most of you preachers preach about--which is only hot enough to torment.  The Biblical hell fire will totally consume the disobedient--those not under Grace and the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb.  Never will they exist again. 

The Bible plainly shows that those who have been given "exceeding great and precious promises" (II Peter 1:4) and willfully disobey and refuse to repent, will reap the wages of sin--death for all eternity (Romans 6:23).  This scripture means what it says.  The attempt by many of you theologians to explain away death and to interpret it as mere "separation from God" cannot be reconciled with Scripture.  Death clearly does not mean eternal life in the horrifying torments of an eternal hell.

The author of this deception is none other than the father of lies--Satan the devil (John 8:44).  It is time now that we weed out of our midst some of these hurtful lies that the enemy has so cleverly sown in our midst, right into the doctrines of our Christian Churches!

 

WHAT IS THE "LAKE OF FIRE"?

 

And now comes a most interesting revelation.  Exactly what is gehenna fire that will consume the wicked?  When and where will it occur?

        Are all who stubbornly refuse to repent and accept Jesus Christ as their personal saviour, and then leading lives that show forth that fruit, the fruit of the Spirit of God who dwells in them, to find themselves in a lake of fire and brimstone, which is the second death?  Revelation 21:8. "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolators, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

        We've already seen that the fate of the wicked is gehenna fire.  So gehenna and the lake of fire are the same.  A very large fire would have the appearance of a fiery lake, hence its description.

        Will it cause the death of the wicked?  Notice Revelation 21:8 again.  Also notice which death it will cause.  Mortals naturally die once, because we just wear out.  Some of us die untimely deaths of disease, or in accidents or wars.  But if anyone dies the second death, that individual will have been judged by God to be guilty of persistent disobedience and incorrigible rebellion.  The second death will be for all eternity.

        After God's plan of salvation for mankind is complete, will the flames of the "lake of fire" purify the earth's surface, burning in one vast worldwide inferno?  Will all the things man has created be burned up, as well as the rest of those people who will not have received salvation and eternal life because of willful rebellion against God?  II Peter 3:7,10 and Revelation 20:15.  II Peter 3:7,10. "But the heavens and the earth which now exist are kept in store by the same word, reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up."  Revelation 20:15. "And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."  Now in Revelation 21:1 we see this: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.  Also there was no more sea."  Adding like Scripture to like Scripture tells us how the new heaven and new earth will be created by God.  And unless God replaced the sea, naturally it wouldn't exist anyone, after a fire like that!  So we see Peter gave us some insight into how God will remove the wicked and give us a new heaven and new earth.  So here is God's description of the final hell fire.  It is yet in the future.  It has not yet occurred.  Nothing is said anywhere in the Bible about souls descending into the earth into hell fire, or torture for all eternity.  Rather, the Bible shows that all incorrigible human beings and their works  will suffer destruction once for all eternity.

        Are the wicked to be reduced to ashes by the fire that will consume the earth's surface?  Turn to Malachi 4:3 once again.  Malachi 4:3. "'You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,' says the Lord of hosts."  Can ashes be tormented forever and ever?  Of course not!  The death of the incorrigible wicked will have suffered will be eternal, everlasting punishment, not an everlasting punishing.  There is a big difference between punishment and punishing.  "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), not eternal life in hell fire.

 

HELL FIRE "NEVER QUENCHED"?

 

Did John the Baptist ever speak of "unquenchable fire"?  Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17.  Matthew 3:12. "His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

Did Jesus say that hell fire will never be "quenched"? (Recall that the Greek word for "hell" in verses 43, 45 and 47 is gehenna.)  Mark 9:43-48. "And if your hand makes you sin, cut it off.  It is better for you to enter into life maimed, than having two hands, to go to hell [gehenna], into the fire that shall never be quenched--where 'their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.'  And if your foot makes you sin, cut it off.  It is better for you to enter life lame, than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched--where 'their worm does not die and the is not quenched.'  And if your eye makes you sin, pluck it out.  It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire--where 'their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.' 

People have carelessly assumed the "fire that shall never be quenched" (verse 43) is a fire of torture that has been in existence for centuries, and will continue to exist for eternity.  But we have proved that this idea is absolutely false.  Notice the biblical truth about unquenchable fire.

        Did God (more than 2,500 years ago) warn the inhabitants of Jerusalem that he would kindle a fire in Jerusalem's gates that would not be quenched?  But what would that fire do to the city's palaces?  Same verse.  Jeremiah 17:27. "'But if you will not heed Me to hallow the Sabbath day, such as not carrying a burden when entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.'"  This fire occurred a few years later, and it destroyed all the houses of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 52:13).  Since God said this fire "shall not be quenched" and since it is not burning today, it obviously went out by itself after devouring all combustible material.  This is something simple science/chemistry students know in High School, but theology students can't seem to grasp.  But God's Word even explains its' own phraseology, for those willing to look hard enough.  Nothing is really left to chance interpretation if you are willing to look hard enough and be thoroughly honest with yourself and what you read.  But our honesty in proper interpretation must go beyond the emotional comfort-zone of what we were brought up believing or taught to believe by others.

        What punishment befell the notorious cities of Sodom and Gomorrah?  Genesis 19:24-25. "Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens.  So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground."  Was it literal fire that destroyed human beings?  Luke 17:29. "But on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all." [Jesus speaking to the Pharisees, vs. 20]  What do we read in Jude 7 about this event?  Is there still a fire burning in those cities that God destroyed long ago?   Jude 7. ".as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh [homosexuality], are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."  Is there still a fire burning in those cities that God destroyed long ago?  The term "vengeance of eternal fire" is used here, and we can plainly see that it does not refer to an eternally burning fire.  The term "eternal fire" in Jude 7 means a fire whose results are permanent or everlasting--obviously not a fire that burns forever.  Sodom and Gomorrah were utterly destroyed centuries ago--they are not burning today.  The fires that burned these wicked cities simply died out after consuming all combustible material.  These scriptures prove that "fire that never shall be quenched" will not torment people forever.

The fires were never quenched or put out prematurely by anyone.  The flames merely died out when they had nothing more to consume.  So it will be with the final gehenna fire that will consume the wicked.  It will be unquenched--but it will finally burn itself out.  It will be part of the creation process God will use to create the new heaven and new earth (II Peter 3:10; Rev. 20:15;21:1).

 

 

"THE WORM THAT DIETH NOT"

 

A startling statement is found in Mark 9:44, 46 and 48.  In these verses, Christ spoke of a worm that "dieth not" [old King James language].  Are these immortal worms?  Some people think Jesus referred to people as worms, and that he was trying to say that these "people" never die but live on forever in agonizing torment.  However, those who believe this fail to notice that what Jesus spoke of was "their worm."  So the wicked themselves are not the "worm."

        What is this mysterious "worm" that does not die?  Notice what Jesus really meant.  Jesus clearly had reference, as the marginal notes of many Bibles show, to Isaiah 66:24, where a similar statement is made about "their worm"--the worm of "carcasses."  (Be sure to read this verse in your Bible.) 

        Now what is the "worm" of a decaying carcass?  If you have ever seen a putrefying carcass, the answer should be obvious.  To put the matter beyond all doubt, we find that the lexicons define as grub or maggot both the Greek and the Hebrew words translated as "worm" in Mark 9:44 and Isaiah 66:24. 

        When a dead body occasionally lodged on one of the rocky ledges above the garbage fires of the Valley of Hinnom, it was soon infested by many worms or maggots, which hatched out of eggs laid by flies.  It was simply these worms to which Christ referred when he said, "their worm dieth not."

        But Jesus didn't mean that each individual worm continued to live forever.  Actually, the larvae--maggots--would hatch from eggs, eat the flesh, continue in the larval form only a few days, then go through pupation or metamorphosis and finally emerge as flies.  The worms didn't die--they became flies.  Later, the flies died.

        The misunderstanding of Christ's simple statement by some people should be an object lesson to always be careful to use wisdom and common sense in studying God's Word.  The Holy Spirit is the spirit of a sound mind (II Timothy 1:7).  Let's always study these perplexing scriptures carefully and not jump to hasty, erroneous conclusions.