WOULD A GOD OF LOVE BURN PEOPLE FOREVER?
Kevin D. Paulson
The story is told of a girl who, more than a century ago, lived in the Montana wilderness, during the pioneer days of the old West.
She became seriously ill with smallpox. And though she survived the disease, it had disfigured her face terribly.
Everyone tried to hide mirrors from her, so she couldn’t see herself. But eventually, of course, she found one. She was horror-struck by her appearance, and in a fit of despair, took a gun and shot herself.
A young man in the territory who had struggled for some time with the teachings of Christianity, became enraged by this tragedy for more than the usual reasons.
This was because he had heard for so long that according to Christian beliefs, and presumably according to the Bible, people who went to hell were to be tormented there throughout eternity.
And because this woman had taken her own life, it was simply assumed—irrespective of the circumstances—that she could not be saved.
The more the young man thought about it, the angrier he became. Because this poor girl had yielded to a moment of despondency, God would burn her in hell forever and ever!
Thankfully, the young man eventually learned the true teachings of the Bible on this subject, which we’re going to examine this evening.
The Jan. 31,2000 issue of U.S. News & World Report contained a survey of people’s opinions about Hell:
"Do you think there is a hell?
Yes 64%
No 25%
Don't Know 9%"
"What comes closest to your idea of hell?
Hell is a real place where people suffer eternal fiery torments 34%
Hell is an anguished state of existence eternally separated from God 53%
Don't Know 11%
But what does the Bible actually teach about the issue and the nature of Hell?
Let's not forget the theme of our last presentation:
The dead are unconscious.
The soul is not immortal.
1. God's character of love
Ex. 34:6-7:
"The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty."
Num. 14:18:
"The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty."
I John 4:7-8:
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God: and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love."
Heb. 2:3:
"How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?"
Ex. 20:5-6:
"I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate Me: And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments."
Prov. 28:13:
"He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy."
Isa. 55:7:
"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."
God's character, according to Scripture, is one of love, justice, and mercy. Sin will indeed be punished, but those who repent and forsake their sins, claiming His power to obey His commandments, will find mercy.
2. A Strange Act
Eze. 33:11:
"As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die?"
Luke 9:56:
"For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."
Isa. 28:21:
"For the Lord shall rise up . . . that He may do His work; His strange work; and bring to pass His act, His strange act."
God takes no joy in punishing sinners. They are His creatures as verily as those who accept His saving grace. This is why Scripture describes God's act of punishing the wicked as His "strange act."
3. Hell in Holy Scripture
The word hell is used 54 times in the Scriptures, and only 12 of these times does it refer to a place of burning.
Sheol (the grave) 31 times
Hades (the grave) 10 times
Tartarus (a place of darkness) 1 time
Gehenna (a place of burning) 12 times
4. The Wages of Sin
Rom. 6:23:
"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
James 1:15:
"Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
Rev. 21:8:
"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
Scripture is clear—sin results in death. This is why the final destruction of the wicked is called the second death, from which there is no resurrection.
Gen. 3:22-24:
"And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
“Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
“So he drove out the man: and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."
I hope we understand this clearly.
If people were tortured in hell throughout eternity, they would be immortal. By placing angels to guard the entrance to Eden and bar the way to the tree of life, God prevented sinners from living forever.
5. When will the fires of hell be ignited?
Matt. 13:40-42:
"So shall it be at the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity: and shall cast them into a furnace of fire."
Job 21:30:
"The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath."
II Peter 2:9:
"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished."
Dan. 12:2:
"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake: some to everlasting life, and some to shame, and everlasting contempt."
John 5:28-29:
"The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the grave shall hear His voice, and shall come forth: they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."
Holy Scripture is very clear on this point.
Hellfire is not kindled until the end of the world. No one is being punished in hellfire today. All who have died, both righteous and wicked, wait to be resurrected and then receive their fate.
6. The Length of Punishment
Matt. 16:27:
"And then He shall reward every man according to his works."
Luke 12:47-48:
"That servant, which knew his lord's will, and . . . neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes."
Mal. 4:1,3:
"For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and that day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. . . . And ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts."
Rev. 21:1,4:
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. . . . And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."
7. But what of those verses in Scripture which seem to teach the idea of eternal torment?
Let's look at some of them:
Rev. 20:10:
"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."
Other passages speak of "everlasting fire" (Matt. 25:41) and "unquenchable fire" (Isa. 66:24; Matt. 3:12; Luke 3:17).
Remember the principle we talked about our first evening. The Holy Scriptures are to explain themselves. All Scripture is inspired by God (II Tim. 3:16; II Peter 1:20-21), and what God inspires is to be understood by comparison with itself (I Cor. 2:12-14).
So what does the Bible mean when it speaks of "unquenchable fire" and "eternal fire"?
Jer. 17:27:
"Then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched."
The Bible tells us how this prophecy was fulfilled:
II Chron. 36:19,21:
"And they (the Babylonians) burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. . . . To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah."
In other words, this prophecy of Jeremiah came to pass. But once the fire did its job, it went out, since Jerusalem's gates and palaces aren't still burning.
Jude 7:
"Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."
Gen. 19:24:
"Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven."
This is the same fire which destroys the wicked at the end of time, as we saw in Revelation (Rev. 20:9-10; 21:8).
II Peter 2:6:
"And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly."
According to Scripture, eternal fire turns people into ashes. It is the results that are eternal, not the process of punishment.
8. “Forever”
Now what about the meaning of “forever” in some of these verses? Remember, as we saw in our last presentation, the Bible is clear:
I Tim. 6:15-16:
“Which in His times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
“Who only hath immortality.”
The child Samuel, we read in the Bible, was given to the service of the sanctuary “forever”:
I Sam. 1:22:
“But Hannah went not up, for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, and there abide for ever.”
The same was said of the leprosy that befell Gehazi, the servant of the prophet Elisha, as a curse for his lying and deceit:
II Kings 5:27:
“The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.”
When Jonah was in the belly of the great fish, he prayed to the Lord as follows:
Jonah 2:6:
“I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever; yet hast Thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.”
Quite obviously, in these verses, “for ever” doesn’t mean time without end. It only means until death or God’s intervention—as in the case of Jonah.
9. The Eternal End of Evil
Speaking of the devil, the ancient prophet declares:
Eze. 28:18-19:
"I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. . . . And never shalt thou be any more."
Some have asked, “Is the Devil in Charge of Hell?” I think we have the answer in this and the following verse:
Rev. 20:10:
"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire."
Rev. 20:15:
"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
Sin, tragedy, pain, death--all will at last come to an end.
Rev. 21:4:
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death; neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."