davidbu@loowit.wr.tek.com (David E. Buxton) (03/25/91)
Do the wicked go straight to a conscious hell or does this final hour of
judgement come later?
""The light of the wicked indeed goes out, and the flame of his fire
does not shine." -- Job 18:5 (NKJ)
"For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom; they shall be brought
out on the day of wrath." -- Job 21:30 (NKJ)
" "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. "-- Mal 4:1 (NKJ)
""The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the
age, and the reapers are the angels. "Therefore as the tares are gath-
ered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age." --
Mat 13:39,40 (NKJ)
Jesus - "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with
His angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
(Matt 16:27)
"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to
reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: " (2 Peter
2:9)
"I am come to send fire on the earth; and why should I, if it is
already kindled?" (Luke 12:49)
The wicked do not go straight to a torturing hell. The wicked have reserved
seats in the lake of fire. If they are already burning in the lake of fire,
why the need to cast them in on the day of judgement? What sense does it
make to punish them for thousands of years before judging them on the day of
judgement? This makes the day of judgement sound rather hollow. No, Peter
assures us that they are reserved for the future day of judgement. (2 Peter
2:9)
You can skip the next two hell fire sermons. Here is how one preacher
described Hell and how God treats sinners:
The little child is in the red hot oven. Hear how it screams to come
out; see how it turns and twists itself about in the fire. It beats
its head against the roof of the oven. It stamps its little feet on
the floor. God was very good to this little child. Very likely God
saw it would get worse and worse, and would never repent, and so it
would have to be punished more severely in hell; so God in His mercy
called it out of the world in early childhood.
Only conceive that poor wretch in the flames, who is saying, "Oh for a
drop of water to cool my parched tongue?" See how his tongue hangs
of his mouth as if it were a firebrand! Behold him crying for a drop
of water.
A famous 'Christian' preacher describes eternal hell fire:
The view of the wicked being tormented in hell will be a fount of hap-
piness for the saints throughout eternity. It will make paradise even
more precious to them when they see their loved ones suffering in that
way. The saints won't have any compassion for the wicked in hell fire,
as they suffer unexplainable pain. It will give them happiness to see
them burn there."
With sermons like these; no wonder there are atheists and agnostics who do
not believe in the Bible or in God. Robert Ingersoll told his father "If
that is what God does, I hate Him." He became one of the world's best known
infidels. How do we reconcile such stories of hell with the texts that say
God is a God of love? Is heaven where all the Sadists go? Hardly! Is hell
so horrible that, because of God's love, there will be no hell after all?
Lets stop right there and review the texts that speak against the universal-
ist view:
Man without wedding garment . . . cast into outer darkness; there will
be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' "For many are called, but few are
chosen." "-- Mat 22:12-14 (NKJ)
As it was in the days of Noah (Mat 24:38; Luke 17:26). They were
disobedient in spite of God's longsuffering waiting while the ark was
being prepared (1 Pet 3:20) "and did not spare the ancient world, but
saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing
in the flood on the world of the ungodly;" -- 2 Pet 2:5 (NKJ)
"Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?" And He said
to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to
you, will seek to enter and will not be able. . . . . "There will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.
" -- Luke 13:23-24,28 (NKJ)
"and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed with the filthy conduct
of the wicked" -- 2 Pet 2:7 (NKJ) " "Likewise as it was also in the
days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they
planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it
rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so
will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. " -- Luke
17:28-30 (NKJ)
As we look about the world today it is sobering to know that only a few will
be saved. Somehow we must reconcile the love of God with the texts that say
that the majority of this world will not be saved. To dispose of these
texts and insist that God will resort to plan B and save everyone, is not
Biblical. It may be philosophically soothing, but not Biblical. I believe
that part of the answer, regarding God's love, is that hell is not yet burn-
ing and when the lake of fire is lit, it will consume rather quickly and
thoroughly. But still you persist perhaps? There are a lot of religions
that hold out a second chance - a purgatory or a soul prison. It was
perhaps Oregen (AD 185- AD 250) who sculptured hells escape hatch, perhaps
drawing from Tertullian's extreme views. Oregen has traditionally been clas-
sified a Neo-Platonist philosopher. Oregen proposed that hell is a purify-
ing, refining and restorative fire from which the condemned soul would
emerge fit to stand before God. Is Oregen correct?
Let us examine the texts that show there are but two alternatives - salva-
tion on one hand vs ultimately eternal death on the other hand.
" "He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him
be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he
who is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I am coming quickly,
and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. "
-- Rev 22:12 (NKJ)
"Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness;
in the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, and will not behold
the majesty of the LORD. " -- Isa 26:10 (NKJ)
Isaiah is pointing out that a purgatory or soul prison would be rather
pointless. The wicked would not turn to righteousness even if given the
opportunity. John makes it clear that God holds out no second chance. The
following texts say that there are only two camps - the saved and those not
saved:
"And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some
to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt." -- Dan
12:2 (NKJ)
"For Sheol {grave} cannot thank You, death cannot praise You; those who
go down to the pit {grave} cannot hope for Your truth. The living, the
living man, he shall praise You, as I do this day; the father shall
make known Your truth to the children." -- Isa 38:18,19 (NKJ)
" "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with
Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will
be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as
a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. "And He will set the
sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. "Then the King
will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:"
-- Mat 25:31-34 (NKJ) ""Then He will also say to those on the left
hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared
for the devil and his angels:" - - Mat 25:41 (NKJ) ""And these will
go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal
life."" -- Mat 25:46 (NKJ)
""I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have
set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose
life, that both you and your descendants may live;" -- Deu 30:19
(NKJ)
". . . . every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath. . . . .
and all shall be ashamed who are incensed against Him. (Isa 45:23, 24)
""Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and
disgraced; they shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you
shall perish. " -- Isa 41:11 (NKJ) See also Ro 14:11.
"Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who
fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His good-
ness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. "-- Rom 11:22 (NKJ)
"And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the
lake of fire." -- Rev 20:15 (NKJ)
This fire is a consuming Lake of Fire with no escape hatches. See also Job
21:30; Psa 37:22, 28, 34, 38; 145:20; Ezek 18:31, 32; Mat 7:21-23; Rom 2:5-
9; 11:22; 2 Th 1:7-10.
If there is any possible third group it would be those who are as though
they had not been after they die. The following texts could mean one of
three things: 1) For some people they die and that is their final end - no
lake of fire. 2) They are known no more in death until judgement and then
the lake of fire. 3) They are known no more after the judgement and the
lake of fire that consumes.
"As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, so he who goes down to the
grave does not come up. He shall never return to his house, nor shall
his place know him anymore." -- Job 7:9,10 (NKJ)
""Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and
disgraced; they shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you
shall perish. You shall seek them and not find them; those who con-
tended with you. Those who war against you shall be as nothing, as a
nonexistent thing." -- Isa 41:11,12 (NKJ)
"You have rebuked the nations, You have destroyed the wicked; You have
blotted out their name forever and ever. O enemy, destructions are
finished forever! And you have destroyed cities; Even their memory has
perished." -- Psa 9:5,6 (NKJ)
"For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you
will look diligently for his place, But it shall be no more. "-- Psa
37:10 (NKJ)
"But the wicked shall perish; And the enemies of the LORD, Like the
splendor of the meadows, shall vanish. Into smoke they shall vanish
away. "-- Psa 37:20 (NKJ)
I am not sure that any of these texts really say that some will die and that
will be their final everlasting end with no lake of fire to face after the
judgement. But I am sure that the Bible is clear that there are but two
groups - the saved vs the lost. The Bible does not support the idea of a
3'd group that will be given a 2nd chance after they die.
Will there be varying degrees of punishment?
" "Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of
Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city! "-- Mat
10:15 (NKJ) Similar in Mat 11:24 and Luke 10:12-14.
Those parallel texts speak of judgement and not necessarily of punishment.
The following and similar other texts seem to at first glance to suggest
degrees of punishment. The following parallel texts deal with spiritual
leaders who abuse the power of their positions of spiritual leadership.
" "who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.
These will receive greater condemnation." " -- Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47
(NKJ) Also Mat 23:14
These clearly say their condemnation will be greater. That again sounds
like judgement and not necessarily of punishment. Other texts, Mat 5:19 for
example, make it clear that spiritual leaders who lead their following
astray will be held more accountable than those they have led astray.
"Thus says the Lord GOD: "Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their
own spirit and have seen nothing! " -- Ezek 13:3 (NKJ) " "They have
envisioned futility and false divination, saying, 'Thus says the LORD!'
But the LORD has not sent them; yet they hope that the word may be con-
firmed. " -- Ezek 13:6 (NKJ)
Can we go so far as to say that their suffering will be greater? That does
not seem clear at all, except as they stand in judgement, feeling miserable
and sick at what they have done. The judgement will be a most horrible blow
to those who have led their congregations in that which is popular, 'unify-
ing' or ecumenical instead of that which is Biblical and truth. And many
preachers and evangelists do admit that much of what they teach is not
really Biblical but insist that it is close enough, or that a particular is
not all that important and so why rock the boat. A Newsweek article some
months ago sited a poll finding that 80% of the people in the pews believe
in heaven and only 20% of those in the pulpit do. How can these preachers
preach that you go straight to heaven if they don't even believe there is a
heaven?
Dave (David E. Buxton)
From the Silicon RainForest of the Northwest