Throughout history there have been those who have taught about the horrors of hell, playing on people’s fears in an attempt to bring them to worship God. What kind of god do they portray by this kind of preaching? I remember as I grew up, my Grandmother told me about a place called purgatory and hell, where all sinners have to go in order to be purified. They pass through several places and pay a certain amount of money for their sins. “Wow”, I said, “then there is very little chance I will be saved.” I looked at God as an unjust God, saying to myself that this is what life is all about. We are doomed, not only to death, but to everlasting punishment. How many people in this world today believe the same thing, my friends?
The concept of a soul within us that cannot die first became a “Christian” doctrine at the end of the second century AD. Hell had been taught in Greek philosophy long before the time of Jesus, with Plato, in 427–347 BC. The teaching of an everlasting place of punishment for the wicked is the natural consequence of a belief in an immortal soul. At the end of the 2nd century Christianity had begun to blend Greek philosophy—human speculative reasoning, with the teachings of God’s Word. It arose out of the Gnostic idea that the body, flesh and matter, is inherently evil and must be purified and purged by fire elsewhere. The idea of a place like purgatory did not have its beginnings in the Christian church, but in ancient pagan religions. So, the question is: if God is so loving and good why would He want to punish sinners eternally? Why would He want them to continue burning forever? That is a fair question. Now, the Bible teaches about hell fire, but this is not what many Christians may have thought or what they have heard in their churches.
What really is the lake of fire? What does the Bible say about the Lake of Fire or Hell? Is hell the lake of fire? The lake of fire is mentioned five times in the Bible and only in the book of Revelation between chapters 19 and 21. Here it is mentioned in connection with the Millennium, or 1000 years, which is the time between the two resurrections—the first resurrection of the righteous and the second resurrection of the wicked, the ones who turned their back on Jesus while they were living.
The five verses are as follows:
“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.” 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 death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” Revelation 20:14
“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:15
“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 21:8
In answer to the questions, the lake of fire is the burning surface of the earth which takes place after the Millennium. It is the phase of the judgment which is called “the execution of the sentence.” This judgment falls upon the Devil and everyone else who has refused to surrender to Jesus. It is the final annihilation of the wicked. This is a very accurate word; “the final annihilation,” or, the “final destruction,” or, “second death.” Nothing is left after that. The Apostle Paul explains why this happens to these people. “(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)” Philippians 3:18–19. They are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction.
In the Bible we read that the beast and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. The Devil is also cast into it. Death and Hell are cast into it. Anyone whose name is not written in the Book of Life is cast into it and this would include unrepentant sinners.
As I stated, this Hell, or lake of fire, takes place after the Millennium, which means it does not take place now. A lot of people think that there is a hot place right in the centre of the world and that is where the wicked have ended up for thousands of years.
In Matthew 13 we read the parable of the wheat and the tares. Here Jesus says that there was an owner who sowed wheat; but half way through the process an enemy came at night and sowed tares. The servants of that owner, or farmer, came to him and said, “What do you want us to do? We see that tares are growing. Do you want us to pluck them out now?” The farmer said, “no—don’t do that. Let both of them grow until the time of the harvest. At the time of the harvest we will gather both of them and then separate the wheat from the tares and burn the tares.” That is what Jesus said. Later He explained the parable.” As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in 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: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 13:40–42
To answer the question that people may ask us, “Is hell going on now?” what would the answer be, according to Jesus? The answer would be, “no,” because that will not take place until the end of time. The wicked, the tares, are not destroyed until the end. No one, therefore, is burning in hell right now. Hell fire does not exist at the moment. It will exist in the future, but it is not present at this time. In 2 Peter 3:7 we read, “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” It says here that they are reserved for that day which means that it is not going on at this time.
This is quite different than the common teaching in the Christian world, and the Bible tells us how God feels about it. “For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, He shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that He may do His work, His strange work; and bring to pass His act, His strange act.” Isaiah 28:21. Here Isaiah calls this a strange work because God’s natural tendency is not to destroy. His natural tendency is to build up, to create, to save, and to deliver. In the Bible we read of a proactive God; the Bible teaches that God makes it happen, in spite of the fact that this is indeed a strange work for Him. But He does it—He does it because it is necessary.
Many people think it is eternal torment (lasting forever) because of how the Bible is written. They say that everybody teaches and preaches it that way. There are people who will say, “I have always believed that you are going to be tormented forever and ever.” In Revelation 14 it seems to say that this is so. In verses 10–11 we read, “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. 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.” This is in reference to the person who has the mark of the beast. It seems fairly clear, because the Bible says this torment goes on forever and ever. But you need to read the whole context to get the full understanding of what is written here.
To rightly interpret the Bible, it must always be read in context. Bible scholars call that “Exegesis” meaning “to guide” and this is the proper approach to Bible study. On the other hand there is “Eisegesis” which is reading into the Scriptures what we think they should mean. We want the Bible to teach us, and not us to teach the Bible. Context is paramount. The word “forever” can be translated in the Bible to mean, “until the end of the age.” In other words, there is an absolute way to translate it and sometimes it refers to a limited amount of time, even though it says forever. For example, if I say I love my wife forever; what do I mean by that? If I take it literally and apply it, what happens if one of us dies? Did I mean I would love her forever? No. If I am dead I cannot love her. It is applicable as long as I am alive. So, forever has limitations, also.
We can read another example of the word “forever” in Exodus 21:6. Here it refers to the situation when a master bought a slave. “Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.” Here it means, of course, as long as he is alive. If he is dead he cannot serve his master.
Jonah is another example. “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.” Jonah 2:6. He felt like this—in other words, he was doomed. Forever in this case was only three days.
The third example is found in 1 Samuel 1:22, 28: “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. Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the LORD there.” Here forever is in reference to Samuel, he served the Lord as long as he lived. This is what we need to understand about the word, “forever”.
The term “unquenchable fire” is also used and “unquenchable” means that it cannot be extinguished. It does not always mean never ending. For example, in Jeremiah 17:27, we are told the following words: “But if ye will not hearken unto Me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to
bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” Jerusalem is not burning today. It means that no matter how hard you try, you cannot undo God’s decision about burning the city. You cannot quench that fire. No human hand can put it out.
Another example we have in the Bible is found in the book of Jude, verse 7. We are told that Sodom and Gomorrah, were destroyed by eternal fire. If we go to that part of the world today, do we find these cities still burning? Eternal fire means that the fire burns eternally–as long as its fuel burns it cannot be quenched. As soon as the city was completely burned to the ground it was over; the fire stopped. What God is saying here is that no matter how hard you try to stop the judgment you cannot stop it from taking place. So, an eternal fire is one whose effects and results, are eternal. It is the voice of God saying, definitely this will take place. Everlasting punishment is eternal. This is not an everlasting punishing. There is a big difference, between the noun “punishment” and the verb “punishing.” Reading from Malachi 4:1, 3: “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the 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.” Burning something up is not the same as continuing to burn on. The Bible is crystal clear that God is not tormenting people forever and ever. This idea came from paganism. The motivation to follow Jesus is not the fear of His tormenting us with fire but rather the motivation should be His amazing love towards sinners.
The face of the wicked is that they will be as though they have not been. God respects our choices. Either we want to be saved or we want to be lost. The choices we make today will reveal our destiny. Forever saved or forever lost—this is what the Bible teaches us. You and I cannot be on the middle ground.
There are some difficult Bible texts for some people to understand on this subject, such as Mark 9 and Luke 16 where Jesus talked about unquenchable fire and undying worms, and also the rich man and Lazarus. What is the lesson that Jesus wanted to teach people, both in His time and in our time today? These references cannot be taken literally. The point in these references is that only by listening to God’s word today can one secure a future in heaven. Again the context is very important here. The question many ask is, “why are the wicked destroyed, in spite of God’s grace?” Does God want to save only a few people? Is Jesus promoting favouritism? Did He not die for all humanity?
“Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:4. Hell, or the lake of fire, is prepared for the devil and his angels and it takes place at the end of time. The wicked will join them. “That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.” Job 21:30. According to Revelation 20:14 this lake of fire is called the second death. This death is eternal. Jesus died the second death for us, the death which has no resurrection. Jesus died the death of the sinner; the death of the wicked. That is why, when Jesus died, He cried out to His Father saying, “Why have You forsaken Me?” He felt the entire weight of sin upon His shoulders. Jesus died the death of the lost, because He is the only One who comes back from the second death. Christ died so that no repentant sinner needs to die the eternal death. Why do wicked people die although such a great salvation was provided? The Apostle Paul tells us, “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:10–12. But for those who received Jesus, as we read in Revelation 2:11, the promise is given that the overcomers will not know the second death.
What will you choose today? Have you received Jesus as your personal Saviour and Lord? Can you look into His face when He comes and say; “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” Isaiah 25:9. It is my wish and prayer that you may choose today what I have chosen 17 years ago. This is the best choice I have ever made in my life. When I come to the cross and see what Jesus has done in my favour; when I open my Bible and see the beauty of His character and that all His life was—a self-denying and self-sacrificing life for me—I just bow down on my knees and say, “who am I, Lord, to deserve such a great honour to be Your child and live eternally in Your kingdom?” Amen.
Nicholas Anca