Let's start this off with a scripture,
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9
This means our idea of right and wrong is off, way off. God is God and He made the rules. Whether or not we like them won't change a thing.
She proceeded to say, "I just don't like that."
She didn't much like it either when I presented the flip side of that statement which is, "Unfortunately, if you don't repent and accept Jesus, you will go to Hell." Her sense of justice flared at the fact that a mass murderer has the potential to go to Heaven when she, seeing herself as righteous, might miss it. Such is the wonder of the Gospel. Whether or not we like it, truth is truth.
"Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord comprehend fully." Proverbs 28:5
It is important that we don't try to mold God into our own image. It is this is the kind of thinking that leads to the dangerous belief, "All roads lead to God." They do not! We tend to form a god in our head that makes us feel good about ourselves and allows us to embrace our sin. It just gives us comfort in a lie. What our feel-good tendencies do not do, is change the fact that judgement is coming and the standard by which we will be judged is the Word of God.
Here are some verses about the coming judgment:
The Old Testament also hints at the resurrection and judgment in some places see: (Psalm 98, and Isaiah 25:8) and declares it in Daniel 12:2,
How can we be sure that there is a Hell? How can we be sure there is punishment? Are we sure it is eternal? Let's clarify terms first. What most Christians refer to today as Hell, the place of eternal punishment, is actually the Lake of Fire. Though the word Hell is used in the Bible, it is not Hebrew, Aramaic or even Greek. It is a word with Germanic roots that means underworld. But translaters applied a word their readers understood to the word in the original text.
There are actually several words appearing in the original biblical text to which Hell is applied. They are: Sheol, Gehenna, Tartarus, The Lake of Fire, and yes, even Hades. We'll do a brief overview of each before we get to the doctrine of Hell.
Sheol is a Hebrew word used in the Old Testament and is translated as 'the grave', 'the pit', and the like, many times. The thing is, consciousness is implied for the souls there; for instance:
"If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there" Psalm 139:8
.
"Sheol beneath is eager to meet you upon your arrival. It stirs the spirits of the dead to greet you—" Isaiah 14:9
There are many occurrences of the word Sheol in the Old Testament, far too many to list.
Gehenna is derived from 'The Valley of Hinnom'. This is a valley outside of Jerusalem that was first known for the child sacrifices that occurred there, but later became Jerusalem's garbage dump. Not only was garbage dumped there, but the bodies of dead animals and criminals were, too. It was 'accursed' ground and fire burned and smoldered there all the time. It is almost always rendered, as Hell. See, Matthew 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5; James 3:6
Tartarus is mentioned in it's verb form, 'to be thrown into Tartarus', in 2 Peter 2:4 and is also translated (for the most part) as Hell. In Greek mythology, it is the place of the wicked dead and also the prison pit of the Titans. In the Bible, some of the fallen angels are reserved in chains there.
"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 worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." Revelation 19:20
"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 20:10
"And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:13-15
"He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 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." Revelation 21:7-8
Folks, that is a pretty inclusive list. You may not be a murderer, but notice that ALL liars have their part in the lake of fire. I think it is fair to say that ALL of us have lied at one time or another. This is why we need Jesus. He stands between us and God as the sinless sacrifice. He is what God the Father sees, not our sin. Back to our study.
There are a couple of honorable mentions of Hell that we haven't covered yet. Here they are:
God did not create Hell for people. Hell was created for the devil and his angels, Matthew 25:41. People go to hell by choice. It has been said that even Heaven would be Hell to those who choose not to be there. The very fact that we have free will insures the fact that there is a Hell, or justice for sin.
God is long-suffering and not willing that any should perish, 2 Peter 3:9. If you find yourself in Hell, it will be by your own choice. If you don't believe God doesn't want you in Hell, just remember, John 3:16 which says,
"Black is black and white is white,
Hell is hot and sin ain't right,
God is holy and Christ is coming,
And RIGHGEOUSNESS WILL PREVAIL!
This means our idea of right and wrong is off, way off. God is God and He made the rules. Whether or not we like them won't change a thing.
"Will not the judge of all the earth do what's right?" Genesis 18:25.
I recently had a conversation with a loved one in which I said, "If Charles Manson repents and accepts Jesus before he dies, God will let him into heaven."
She proceeded to say, "I just don't like that."
She didn't much like it either when I presented the flip side of that statement which is, "Unfortunately, if you don't repent and accept Jesus, you will go to Hell." Her sense of justice flared at the fact that a mass murderer has the potential to go to Heaven when she, seeing herself as righteous, might miss it. Such is the wonder of the Gospel. Whether or not we like it, truth is truth.
"Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord comprehend fully." Proverbs 28:5
It is important that we don't try to mold God into our own image. It is this is the kind of thinking that leads to the dangerous belief, "All roads lead to God." They do not! We tend to form a god in our head that makes us feel good about ourselves and allows us to embrace our sin. It just gives us comfort in a lie. What our feel-good tendencies do not do, is change the fact that judgement is coming and the standard by which we will be judged is the Word of God.
Most people don't think they are evil, but what does the Bible say about all this?
"All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23
"All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23
"The heart of man is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9
Folks, I implore you, do NOT base your eternity on your heart or feelings.
"But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." Matthew 12:36 (words of Jesus in red here and hereafter)
"He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained." Acts 17:31
"And as it is appointed for men once to die, but after this the judgment." Hebrews 9:27
"For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight; if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly; and if He rescued Lot, a righteous man distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)— if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment." 2 Peter 2:4-9
The Old Testament also hints at the resurrection and judgment in some places see: (Psalm 98, and Isaiah 25:8) and declares it in Daniel 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."So, judgment is coming. All of us will stand before God. The only difference will be between those who will stand with Jesus as their advocate, and those who will plead their own case. That is what the judgment is all about. God is fair. You will have an opportunity to plead your case before Him; but know this, you have broken God's law and if you reject the only one who can pay the penalty for you, well, you will pay it yourself. Unfortunately, the choice is an eternal one.
How can we be sure that there is a Hell? How can we be sure there is punishment? Are we sure it is eternal? Let's clarify terms first. What most Christians refer to today as Hell, the place of eternal punishment, is actually the Lake of Fire. Though the word Hell is used in the Bible, it is not Hebrew, Aramaic or even Greek. It is a word with Germanic roots that means underworld. But translaters applied a word their readers understood to the word in the original text.
There are actually several words appearing in the original biblical text to which Hell is applied. They are: Sheol, Gehenna, Tartarus, The Lake of Fire, and yes, even Hades. We'll do a brief overview of each before we get to the doctrine of Hell.
Sheol is a Hebrew word used in the Old Testament and is translated as 'the grave', 'the pit', and the like, many times. The thing is, consciousness is implied for the souls there; for instance:
"If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there" Psalm 139:8
.
"Sheol beneath is eager to meet you upon your arrival. It stirs the spirits of the dead to greet you—" Isaiah 14:9
There are many occurrences of the word Sheol in the Old Testament, far too many to list.
Gehenna is derived from 'The Valley of Hinnom'. This is a valley outside of Jerusalem that was first known for the child sacrifices that occurred there, but later became Jerusalem's garbage dump. Not only was garbage dumped there, but the bodies of dead animals and criminals were, too. It was 'accursed' ground and fire burned and smoldered there all the time. It is almost always rendered, as Hell. See, Matthew 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5; James 3:6
Tartarus is mentioned in it's verb form, 'to be thrown into Tartarus', in 2 Peter 2:4 and is also translated (for the most part) as Hell. In Greek mythology, it is the place of the wicked dead and also the prison pit of the Titans. In the Bible, some of the fallen angels are reserved in chains there.
"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment."Hades is used a lot. It is often translated as Hell, but some versions and in some places it is just transliterated, meaning it appears as Hades in the original as well as the translation. It is also a Greek word that usually means underworld. See: Matthew 11:23, 16:18; Luke 10:15, 16:23; Acts 2:27, 31; Revelation 1:18, 6:8, 20:13, 14
The Lake if Fire is talked about in the book of Revelation:
"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 20:10
"And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:13-15
"He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 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." Revelation 21:7-8
Folks, that is a pretty inclusive list. You may not be a murderer, but notice that ALL liars have their part in the lake of fire. I think it is fair to say that ALL of us have lied at one time or another. This is why we need Jesus. He stands between us and God as the sinless sacrifice. He is what God the Father sees, not our sin. Back to our study.
There are a couple of honorable mentions of Hell that we haven't covered yet. Here they are:
"I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame." Daniel 7:11
"And a third angel followed them, calling out in a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and its image, and receives its mark on his forehead or on his hand, he too will drink the wine of God’s anger, poured undiluted into the cup of His wrath. And he will be tormented in fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever. Day and night there will be no rest for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.'" Revelation 14:9-11
And the one that Jesus quotes, Isaiah 66:24,
"As they go forth, they will see the corpses of the men who have rebelled against Me; for their worm will never die, their fire will never be quenched, and they will be a horror to all mankind.”
Let's take a look at how Jesus uses this verse in Mark 9:43-48:Jesus is clearly linking the verse in Isaiah with the concept of an eternal, burning place of punishment. Tie this in with the verses from Revelation where it says that people guilty of sin will be cast into the Lake of Fire and, well, you have the Christian teaching of Hell or 'The Second Death'.
"If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two hands and go into hell, into the unquenchable fire. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where ‘their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched."
God did not create Hell for people. Hell was created for the devil and his angels, Matthew 25:41. People go to hell by choice. It has been said that even Heaven would be Hell to those who choose not to be there. The very fact that we have free will insures the fact that there is a Hell, or justice for sin.
God is long-suffering and not willing that any should perish, 2 Peter 3:9. If you find yourself in Hell, it will be by your own choice. If you don't believe God doesn't want you in Hell, just remember, John 3:16 which says,
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."Jesus died to keep you from Hell. He wants a relationship. Please read my post on, "The Gospel", or email me at areasoningtogether@gmail.com if you have any questions. Don't let another day pass where you are unsure of your eternity.
Let's end with the words of an old Carmen song:
Hell is hot and sin ain't right,
God is holy and Christ is coming,
And RIGHGEOUSNESS WILL PREVAIL!
" Hallelujah!
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