Eternal Punishment

Transcript

GR 438
2/14/1982
Eternal Punishment
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

I want to mention this evening for a little while on the emphasis the Scripture gives to the subject of hell and eternal punishment. And we are going to be looking at a number of Scriptures which I think make clear the matter of eternal punishment and what is entailed in hell. Very simply, it’s a place of eternal unending torment for those who have not come to believe in the revelation God has given of Himself particularly in His Son, Jesus Christ. That it is eternal will be clear in the Scriptures we will look at—that it is awful suffering will be clear from the Scriptures as we look at them. And I think that the doctrine of eternal hell is just about as clear as any other doctrine revealed in the Scriptures. And I believe that the only reason a person would choose to reject it is because they are unwilling to face the clear teaching of the Scripture on this area. And if you look at the Scriptures, you’ll be able to evaluate that for yourself.

First I want to just go over a few basic words with you because these words are used in the Scripture and sometimes they are misunderstood and confused and interchanged. And there is a distinction in several of them. The four basic words that relate to the matter of life after death. The first is an Old Testament word, the word, Sheol, Sheol used 65 times in the Old Testament. Now the Old Testament does not develop with clarity the doctrine of life after death. Now that subject is in the Old Testament and the fact that there is life after death is clear in the Old Testament. Punishment for the wicked is clear. But a full development of life after death is not contained in the Old Testament. Sheol in the Old Testament often is a reference just to the grave and does not develop anything particularly after that. It's simply referring to the grave, the place of the departed dead. And you can take a Bible dictionary concordance and trace through these references. We won't take time to do that. There’s an abundance of them. King James often translated it "hell" and that is not a good translation. Now, in many of the modern versions, they just carry over the Hebrew word, Sheol, and allow you to determine by the context what is being meant. More often than not the subject is simply the grave.

You come over to the New Testament and the development of life after death becomes more detailed. There are a couple of words. The first is Hades. And Hades is the New Testament equivalent of Sheol. And when the Greek translation of the Old Testament was made, about 60 of the 65 references were translated by the word Hades. Septuagint translated a couple of hundred years before Christ. So it’s a word that is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew, Sheol, Hades. But with this we see some passages where there is a clear unfolding of life after death. We looked at Luke chapter 16 briefly this morning and you might just turn there. The word Hades is used ten times in the New Testament. So it's not used a lot in the New Testament but enough times for us to see its use pretty clearly. It could be used of the grave. It could be used beyond the grave. Hades being the place of departed souls. Now in particular, it becomes the focal point for the departed wicked in the New Testament. The souls of the wicked being in Hades. And in Luke chapter 16 the account that we touched on this morning with the rich man and Lazarus. And the rich man being an unbeliever died and in verse 23 of Luke 16, "In Hades he lifted up his eyes being in torment." So for the Jews it’s not a new thing that developed for them, the concept of life after death. And suffering for the wicked after death. Lazarus was carried into a place of glory and blessing—Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man is in Hades in torment.

We also saw this word in our study in Revelation chapter 20 this morning. Where the wicked are in Hades today awaiting final sentencing to hell. And the basic difference between Hades and hell as we can determine from the Scripture is that Hades is simply temporary and hell is eternal. The wicked dead are in Hades suffering the same kind of torment they will in hell. It is similar to being in jail awaiting final sentencing to prison. The type of punishment is similar but it is of longer duration when they're sentenced to prison. So here in Hades torment. And you'll note the description with the suffering, the fire, in verse 24, "That he may dip his-- Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, cool my tongue, I am in agony in this flame." And the flame and the suffering and the torment of fire is the kind of suffering associated with hell, But Hades is not hell, But it has the same kind of suffering for the wicked.

There's a word that's only used one time, but you ought to be familiar with it,
Over in Second Peter chapter 2. And since it's only used one time it's sometimes hard to establish a pattern of its meaning, (Pause) In second Peter chapter 2 and verse 4, it*s the word, "tartaros". And it relates to the angels. And in 2 Peter 2:4, "For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell", and the word there is "tartaros". Not the other word we're going to look at for hell in just a moment. And I think that T'S significant. I don’t think that hell quite gets it here because they are cast into Tartaros—"committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment." So they are placed into Tartaros, certain angels, awaiting their judgment which will be a sentencing to hell for remember? Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels, So it would seem to me that there is a difference between Tartaros and hell and I would see that Tartaros perhaps is the same place as the abyss that we've seen in the Book of Revelation. The word abyss. Remember in Revelation chapter 20 that Satan was bound in the abyss? You can just jot down these places if you want. Revelation chapter 9, verse JLJL.* Chapter 11, verse 7-; Chapter 17, verse 8; chapter 20, verse 1; chapter 20, verse 3, Those are the uses of the word abyss in Revelation. Chapter 9, verse 11; chapter 1.1, verse chapter 17, verse 8; chapter 20, verse 1; and chapter 20, verse 3. And you see there they're connected with a holding place for demons. And certain demons are let out of the abyss during the tribulation period to bring judgment on the earth. Now it seems that that place might be identified with the Tartaros of 2 Peter 2:4 because they're being held there for judgment. One other passage. Luke chapter 8. And you might turn to Luke chapter 8, verse 31. Uses the word abyss. Luke 8:31 And here you have a demon possessed man. And Christ commands the demons to come out of him. This is in the country of the Gerasenes in verse 26 of Luke 8. In verse 27, "When He had come out onto the land,
He was met by a certain man from the city who was- possessed with demons; and who had not put on any clothing for a long time (and if you’re going to go by that, we've got a lot of demon possessed people today I guess) and was not living in a house, but in the tombs. And seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell before Him, and said in a loud voice, 'What do I have to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me.' For He had been commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had seized him many times; and he was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard; and yet he would burst his fetters and be driven by the demon into the desert." So one of the things this demon did was give this man supernatural strength. Impossible to bind him and chain him, but he's a man out of control. Interesting, something of a counterfeit Sampson, Where God gave Sampson supernatural strength, but was under control. Here the man is out of control and in verse 30, "Jesus asked him, 'What is your name?'" Now He's conversing with the demon within this man. "He said, 'Legion,'for many demons had entered him and they were entreating Him not to command them to depart into the abyss." So these demons are asking Christ not to sentence them to the abyss at this time. To the place of suffering for demons who are awaiting sentencing to hell. So evidently some demons are free to roam the world today under the leadership of Satan. Other demons are bound in a place called the abyss. It gets its fullest unfolding in the Book of Revelation. I would see the most logical explanation of Tartaros in 2 Peter 2:4 as being a word synonymous with the word abyss. Especially since it also calls it "pits of darkness". Cast them into darkness, committed them into "pits of darkness", That fits the description we have of the abyss in Revelation. The key word for hell in the New Testament is the word Gehenna. Gehenna, and we carry that over into English—G E H E N N A. And it’s a Greek word we simply carried over. It’s the Greek word Gehenna. It's used twelve times in the New Testament. All but one of those uses is in the gospels. And most of them are in the Gospel to Matthew or the Gospel by Matthew.

Back up to Matthew chapter 5. Now hell is described in many other passages but this particular word which is the specific word for hell is used twelve times. But there are many other passages and we'll note some of them which are descriptive of hell which don't use the particular word, Gehenna. Matthew chapter 5, and it's interesting as well that the doctrine of punishment for the wicked receives its fullest development and explanation from the mouth of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul does not develop the doctrine of the punishment of the wicked to the extent that Jesus Christ Himself personally did during His earthly ministry. I think that's significant as of the stress that many today who do not want to believe in hell give to the love of Christ and so on. And that is all true. Jesus Christ is the leading spokesman in the Bible on the eternal punishment of the wicked. And He spoke more of that subject than any other Biblical writer. Matthew chapter 5, verse 22: "I say to you that everyone who is angry with his
brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca', shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, 'You fool' shall be guilty enough to go into the hell of fire."—Gehenna, Now, Gehenna, the Valley of Hena. And that was as many of you are familiar, the garbage dump for Jerusalem. Its background goes all the way back into the Old Testament. And here sons were caused to pass through the fire in offer of sacrifice to Moloch. This became the garbage dump for Jerusalem. It becomes a picture of eternal fire because the fires here smoldered constantly. They never went out. They burned constantly. The place where the refuse, the dung, the garbage was dumped. So becomes the word to describe the final abode of the wicked. An abhorrent place to the Jew. A place of defilement. A place that would clearly bring to their attention the awfulness of the destiny of the wicked.

Over in Chapter 5 of Matthew, verse 29, "If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out, throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to be thrown (into Gehenna) into hell."
And there you have a note in your margin by the word hell you have the little number 3 and they tell you it is Gehenna the word there*. Again, the point here is not to take out your eye or cut off your hand or any such thing. But the idea is of the awfulness of hell and no excuses, "Well, I would believe but..." There ought to be nothing to keep you. But obviously taking your eye out is not going to get you to heaven. But you need to deal with these things in light of heaven and hell.

Verse 30, in the same context: "If your right hand makes you stumble, cut off, and throw it from you; it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to go into hell." Over in chapter 10 of Matthew, verse 28. Matthew 10:28, "Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Gehenna. There are those who can kill the body, but they can’t affect the soul. Our fear ought to be directed toward the one who has authority over both body and soul and is able to cast both into hell. Now to destroy them in hell does not mean to annihilate them and we'll see that with a number of passages in a moment.

Over in chapter 18 of Matthew Same kind of context that we just read. If you're at verse 8 of Matthew, verse 9 of Matthew 18: "If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than having two eyes, to be cast into the hell of fire." Over in chapter 23 of Matthew. Verse 15, "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." Strong language that Christ used in talking to the Pharisees. All the efforts and all the energy that they made to make converts to Judaism, Christ said, "All you've done is make a double convert to hell." Worse off than he was before you converted him. Down to verse 33 of the same chapter; "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of hell?" Over into Mark, chapter 9, and we'll just look quickly here. All in chapter 9 of Mark are the three references. If I can find Mark before Luke.
Mark 9:43 And we want to pick up--this is the same context again, but I want to pick up a phrase that's used here that we're going to see in the Old Testament. "If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire." Now note that. Hell here is identified as "unquenchable fire," Fire that burns endlessly. Now if a person cast into hell was consumed and all the wicked at the great white throne are cast into hell and burned up, it wouldn't matter whether hell burned for a million years or not because in a few moments the person would be burned up and the job would be done. Why have hell burn for a million years if the people in hell are going to be consumed in a few moments? But hell is a place of unquenchable fire. And people who are not capable of dying but are capable of suffering.

Still in this context, verse 44 is not in the better manuscripts. You have, a note there. Then verse. 45, "If your foot causes you to stumble cut it off; better to enter life lame, than having two feet to be cast into hell." Verse 47, "If your eye causes you to stumble, cast 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." Note verse 48 which has been mentioned earlier but really this is the verse that it appears. "Where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched," "Where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." It's quoted from Isaiah 66:24. The worm does not die here, the fire is not quenched. A picture of the continual suffering. The continual life that is present. The worms continue, the fire burns. Rather awful picture of the garbage dump where the worms continue to gnaw away and the fires continue to burn.
The picture of the awfulness of hell.

Two other references that use the word Gehenna. Luke chapter 12, verse 5 Which is a verse that compares to Matthew 10:28. "I will warn you whom to fear. Fear the one who after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!" God is worthy of fear. People ought to be afraid. There is one who has authority not only to kill the body, but to cast the person into hell for eternity.
He's worthy of fear.

One other reference to Gehenna, And that's James chapter 3, verse 6, James chapter 3, verse 6, Interesting use of it here. "The tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles our entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell." (By Gehenna) Motivating factor. The tongue being so destructive and motivated often by hell itself, Note how often fire is associated with Gehenna?

Now, look at a couple of other passages. Let's go back to the Old Testament. Isaiah chapter 33. And we're just going to have time to read a number of passages but I think that you get a good picture of what we're talking about. It's rather simple and clear regarding this area, a matter of hell. Isaiah 33, verse 14. We're just going to take a few passages from the Old Testament to see the matter as it's touched on there. Isaiah 33;14: "Sinners in Zion are terrified, trembling has seized the godless. Who among us can live with the consuming fire. Who among us can live with continual burning?" Literally everlasting burning. And those who are the wicked will be the subjects or objects of the everlasting wrath of God, Continual fire burning of His wrath vented against wickedness.

Isaiah 66 is the verse we read about in the New Testament, Isaiah 66:24 "Then they shall go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched; they shall be an abhorrence to all mankind." Unquenchable fire. The worm that does not die. Daniel chapter 12, verse 2. Then into some New Testament passages. Daniel chapter 12, Verse 2: "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt." Old Testament anticipates the full development of eternal punishment. Everlasting contempt. Everlasting fire. Unquenchable fire. There can be no question about the eternality of the subject of the suffering, of the punishment if we are going to allow the Scripture to speak for itself.

Look over into the New Testament, Matthew Chapter 3. John the Baptist is speaking. Verse 12: And John comes on the scene, the last and greatest of the Old Testament prophets. And he comes preaching concerning eternal judgment, unquenchable fire: His winnowing fork is in His hand and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; He will gather His wheat into the barn and He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Fire that cannot be quenched. Again, the only significance of that is that it burns on and the suffering continues.

Look over in Second Thessalonians. Go into some of the sections of the word that we haven't looked at yet. 2 Thessalonians. We're basically looking at here is the emphases on the duration of hell, that is eternal, that is unending. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 9. Verse 6 starts the sentence that leads up to this: "For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire." Again, the context here of the flaming fire. "Dealing out retribution to those who do not know God, to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." So those who do not know God, who have not believed the gospel, will suffer eternal destruction. Eternal suffering.

The Book of Jude. Just before the Book of Revelation, And the wicked here--'.down in verse 13. "Wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever," And I want to go back, time permitting to one or two passages in the gospel. But I think it's important to note here, the blackness of darkness. Interesting the way it's expressed here, "the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever". So hell is not only a place of unquenchable fire, it is a place of black darkness. People say, "Well, if I'm going to hell I'll have lots of company. All ray friends are going there," That probably is only half true. Most of their friends are going there but they won't have any company. Because it's going to be a place of darkness. Isolation. Awful agonizing torment, but not personal associations. It is tremendous pain and suffering and torment in the blackness of darkness, in complete, absolute isolation. In Luke chapter 16 we saw the rich man in Hades. We don't find anybody talking to him in Hades. There's isolation there.

Look over in Revelation 14. That blackness of darkness was reserved for them forever—forever. Revelation 14 verse 11, "And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; and they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name." Only willful rejection of the clarity of the Word can miss what this verse is saying. The smoke of their torment. Again the context here of the fire and the suffering that it brings. You say, "Do you believe that hell is literal fire?" Well the description in the Bible is clear. The fire is constantly talked about. So I come to accept that it's literal. It goes up forever and ever. And they have no rest. To be able to die and cease from suffering would be its own rest. But the real awfulness of hell is there is no rest. Day or night. And I cannot conceive of this. Torment untold agonizing and suffering 24 hours a day, seven days a week, if we can put it in our time framework. No break, No relief. Not one second of relief ever for all eternity. You know when I think of it like that, it doesn't surprise me that the unbeliever says, "I cannot believe that there could be a hell." I mean I read that—I can hardly believe that. That's you know, it's something you don't want to accept. I find myself saying, "That really cannot be true." But God says it is. And so it is. It’s true. I cannot conceive of it, day and night forever and ever. You know, they're being tormented day and night forever and ever.

Chapter 19 of Revelation. Again you see the smoke associated here in verse 3. Revelation 19:3, "And a second time they*said, 'Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever.'" The destruction of Babylon. I take it those associated with it under the condemnation we just read about in Revelation chapter 14. Eternal suffering forever and ever. And we saw this morning in our study Revelation chapter 20 and verse 10, "The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are also. Tormented day and night forever and ever." We don't have time to go into a comparison of the times that the expressions for eternity are used of like. Throughout the New Testament many, many times. This same expression is used a number of times for eternal suffering and if there is such thing as eternity in the presence of God, there is also such a thing as eternity in suffering and torment.

Jump back to Matthew quickly. Our time is running by. We started a little later this evening. Matthew chapter 13. Let me read you Matthew chapter 8, verse 12: "But the sons of the kingdom shall be cast into the outer darkness," That expression we saw in Jude, "the blackness of darkness", here "cast into outer darkness" where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth." Over in chapter 13 of Matthew. Verse 42: The angels gather the wicked out of the kingdom and they "will cast them into the furnace of fire; and in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Tremendous expressions of agony. Down in verse 50 of this same chapter. "They will cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth," And we saw this morning over in chapter 25 of Matthew and verse 46, "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

There are a number of other verses that we have not taken time to look at and we won't right now. But I think that’s clear and simple. All you have to do is read what the Bible says on the subject. You don’t have to be a great Bible student. Do a lot of in depth study to come to the conclusion of certain basic facts. That God promises to judge the wicked. Those who have not come to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ as the one who died for them. That the place of punishment for them is a place identified as burning—a lake of fire which burns endlessly in which in isolation in the blackness of darkness, people will be tormented day and night for all eternity could Now I think anybody reading the Bible see that that is what it says. Now, not everyone reading it might believe it; but God has said it clearly and simply. His intention was to communicate to human beings on an important subject. And it’s communicated in a way that could not be misunderstood unless we twist His words.

Now I think the reason that I have a hard time accepting the reality of such a place of punishment is I do not have the view of sin that God does. That I have not yet come to see how awful sin really is in light of the holiness of God. That it is right and just that sinful human beings be punished with the most awful punishment that can be imagined, I say, "Oh, could a God of love do that? That is so terrible.” But He is also a God of holiness, of righteousness and justice. And could a God of holiness, righteousness and justice do any other? Shall not the judge of all the earth be right? Shall He not mete out that punishment upon sinful beings which their sin deserves? I really believe that if you and I as believers would consider more carefully—allow our minds to dwell a little longer on the reality of hell—-it would be a motivation for us in the proclamation of the gospel. Because it’s easy to study and say, "Oh, that’s terrible. Oh, I don't want to believe that." But has it really made that impact upon us? Have I been so impressed with the reality of the awfulness of hell that I will be moved to proclaim the gospel tomorrow to those I come in contact with? Am I so moved by the awfulness of hell (Pause) that I'll not be embarrassed to proclaim Jesus Christ?

Let's pray together...