(new article tomorrow)
"In the last 40 years or so, there have been a number of Christian writers who've argued that the souls of the lost are not eternal because they want to avoid the concept of eternal punishment," explains Preacher David Reid of Columbus, Ohio.
"If you think about eternal punishment, it's really quite sobering, isn't it? You live on this earth for 80-100 years, but as a result of not believing the gospel, how long is your punishment? It's eternal, and that's why people would rather believe in annihilation, where you die and your soul ceases to exist.
"The problem is verses like Revelation 14 couldn't be more clear: [10] The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
[11] And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
"There are three things that are eternal: God, the Word of God and the souls of men. Eternal life is not simply eternal existence. John 17: 'And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.'
"The moment you begin your relationship with God is when you believe the gospel. So your eternal life as a saved person begins during this life; it begins when you know Jesus Christ. The flip side of that is if you don't get saved, you're dead while you live. You have a body that functions, but you're spiritually dead.
II Thessalonians 1:9 says, [9] Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
"It's not everlasting annoyance or inconvience; it's everlasting destruction. It's a continual process. The first definition of torment is, 'To inflict torture upon.' Torment is essentially torture.
"Now, people can only be tortured for so long before their bodies just quit, but that's not the way eternity works. In eternity, it's possible for people to be tortured forever and ever.
*****
"It seems to me that the eternal torment is designed to offend all of our five senses. Revelation 20:10
says, [10] And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
"Revelation 19:20 says, [20] And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
"Fire is one of the most painful sensations the body can have. That verse describes it as a lake of fire. What happens if you go outside and it's minus 10 degrees? What happens if you then fall into near-freezing water? Which is harder on you? The minus-10 air temperature or 34-degree water temperature? The water. You'll die of hypothermia in less than an hour.
"The water simultaneously affects every inch of your body. It's not like somebody hitting you in the shoulder. You feel that sensation everywhere at the same time as you're immersed in water.
"What single person in the Bible speaks of hell more than any other? Jesus Christ. Jude 6 says, [6] And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even while those angels are in the lake of fire they're still chained. Do you see how bad this is?
Jude 13 says, [13] Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
"I don't know if you've seen this yet, but they're advertising new TVs that have the 'blackest of blacks.' Jude 13 is saying it's not just darkness; it's the blackness of darkness.
"What we have with sight is the ability to perceive things like light and color. A prism takes pure white light and then it separates it into the rainbow. White light can give you all the colors that exist. Darkness gives you nothing. All the colors, all the sights our eyes would naturally take pleasure in you're not going to have in hell. It's the blackness of darkness.
"What happens in the winter if you live in Columbus, Ohio? Its gets gloomy. Do people's moods change in the winter season compared to say, June? That's because of the sun.
"Malachi 4:2 talks about the S-u-n of righteousness and uses the metaphor of Jesus Christ, but it uses the word 'S-u-n' as if He's the light source, the source of joy for the universe. Guess what happens in hell? There's no sun. There's no white light. There's no color, there's no rainbow.
*****
"We've talked about touch and sight, but what does hell sound like? Matthew 8:12 says, [12] But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
"As a parent you've known what it's like when a baby cries and cries and cries and you just want them to fall asleep. But that's not the crying of intense pain. Here, the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth is different than a baby's crying.
"Matthew 13:42 says, [42] And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
"The word 'wailing' means lamenting; expressing sadness. There's loud cries of sorrow, deep lamentation. In the lake of fire there are billions of beings who are wailing their eternal state. It's dark and you can't see anything, but what can you do?
"You just hear endless, endless misery for which there's no one who comes in and says, 'Time out, this was all a joke.' No one comes in and says, 'Okay, you've had enough.' It's just staggering and I'm inadequate to convey this to you.
*****
"What's it smell like? The lake of fire is full of brimstone, which is sulfur. Sulfur, according to Webster's 1812 dictionary, is a 'hard, brittle, flammable substance of a yellow-lemon color which has no smell.' It has no smell unless heated. Sulfur by itself is odorless, but when heated smells nasty. According to Wikipedia, it has a 'suffocating and irritating odor.'
"There's another sense we haven't covered--taste. What do you think hell tastes like? Job 6:30 says, [30] Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?
"When Scripture uses parallel constructions like this, it frequently is saying that the two clauses are equivalent. Taste in the second clause is equivalent to what in the first clause? It's the word tongue.
"Luke 16:24 talks about the tongue in hell. The passage reads, [22] And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
[23] And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
[24] And he 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 tormented in this flame.
"What's fascinating is he doesn't ask for a pitcher of water; he just makes what he thinks is the smallest request he can make. So the fires of hell harm one particular aspect of your being most intensely, apparently, don't they?
"James 3 says, 'And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.' The sense of taste, the tongue, suffers grievously in hell.
"Isaiah 66:24 says, [24] And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
"Jesus Christ quotes that in Mark 9 three different times. It's the only thing He does in triplicate like that. He's obviously trying to emphasize the severity, the significance of it.
"It says there that their 'worm shall not die.' What happens to the lost man in hell is his condition is degraded to that of a worm. Think about a grown adult. You have the ability to walk and run; you can move your arms to run and catch something because you have that dexterity built into you. You have the ability to use your fingers and your senses to play music, to paint, to build, to create. Scripture properly says we are fearfully and wonderfully made because we have these talents built into our bodies.
"God does not require any of those talents for the eternity of hell. He's not expecting people in hell to write screenplays or paint paintings or create music. So what happens is their physical body is reduced to that of a worm.
*****
"Look at verse 24: 'They shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.' Isaiah 66 describes some events that will occur in the Millennial Kingdom. Jesus Christ will reign in Jerusalem and outside Jerusalem is a portal opened into hell where it's possible to see down into it and to see those cast into it.
"Have you ever seen something that's so repugnant, so abhorrent you just can't watch it--you may just throw up? There's this silly, false bravado that going to hell is just drinking beer with your buddies. That's just ridiculous.
"Isaiah 14 captures some statements made to Lucifer when he's cast into hell. There are people already down there, of course, and they have things to say to him. Verse 11: [11] Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
"One of the realities of hell is there's no personal space. If you're claustrophobic, it would be a bad place to be. Here's Lucifer, 'the anointed cherub that covereth,' with all the splendor he had and his covering and his capabilities, and then he's cast down there and there's just worms crawling all around him.
"This stuff is horribly bad. God put it into Scripture so we would know it's there. Jesus Christ spoke about it in Mark 9 three times because He, in love, is calling out to humanity and saying, 'Look, you have to understand this is real. This is not fake, this is not fiction, not scare tactics. You need to understand the eternal state that exists so that when I tell you to repent, you take it seriously.' He did that lovingly because He doesn't want people to go there."
No comments:
Post a Comment