Notes by Pastor Ted Kirnbauer 1 HELL 1. Words translated as Hell a. Hades (Sheol) The Bible speaks of a place called Hades in Greek or its equivalent, Sheol, in Hebrew. Hades is the under world, the realm of the dead, the grave (Gen. 42:38). Etymologically it means the unseen (land) the invisible (world) and is conceived of as being far under the ground (Job 11:8; Psa. 139:8; Amos 9:2). It can be described as a place of torment (Matt. 5:22; Lk. 16:23) or simply refer to the state of death without any negative connotations (Rev. 1:18). Since both believers and unbelievers die, both go to Hades (i.e. the grave; I Sam. 2:6; Psa. 89:48). For example, Acts 2:25-31 speaks of King David s descent to Hades and contrasts it to Christ s descent there (cf. Eph 4:9-10). The contrast lies in the fact that the body of God's Holy One (Jesus) did not see decay while David s body did. Jacob, another believer, expected to meet his son Joseph in Sheol (Gen. 37:35). Hezekiah also looked at death as entering the gates of Sheol (Isa. 38:10). See Ps. 9:17; 49:14; Isa. 5:14 for the unbeliever. The New Testament sheds greater light upon the nature of Hades. According to Luke 16, Hades had an immense gulf that separated the believing from the unbelieving (Lk. 16:26). The believer was at rest with Abraham (Lk. 16:22) while the unbeliever on the other side of the gulf was in torment (Lk. 16:23-24). Both were awaiting resurrection; one to a resurrection of life, one to a resurrection of judgment (Jn. 5:28-29: Dan. 12:2). Questions about Hades still remain. Since Acts 2:25-31 says that Jesus went to Hades and Luke 23:43 says that He went to Paradise, some believe that Hades includes both heaven and a place of torment. Others believe that in Old Testament times Paradise was part of Hades but that it was relocated into heaven when Christ rose and ascended (Eph. 4:8). Whatever the case may be, when a believer dies today it is clear that he is with the Lord (II Cor 5:8).
Notes by Pastor Ted Kirnbauer 2 Because Christ is the Eternal One (Rev. 1:17) and has life in Himself (Rev. 1:18), He has the power to give life (Jn. 5:26-28) and either consign people to death permanently or to release them from it (Thomas, Revelation, 112). It is, therefore, not surprising that in Revelation 1:18 He is said to have the keys to death and Hades, for keys symbolize authority and He is the one who controls the prison of the dead. b. Tartarosas (tartarw,saj) The word tartarosas appears only one time in the Bible (II Pet. 2:4) and is described as a place of punishment for wicked angels awaiting judgment. c. Gehenna In Matthew 5:22 Jesus refers to the fire of Hell, literally, the gehenna of fire. The expression gehenna of fire comes from the Hebrew ge-hinnom, or the Valley of Hinnom. This valley was a ravine south of Jerusalem that was associated with the god Moloch and the worship of Moloch which included child sacrifices (II Chr. 28:3; Jer, 7:31). Moloch worship, though condemned by God (Lev. 18:21; 20:2-5), was practiced by some Israelites (Ezek. 23:37) until King Josiah abolished the practices and then defiled the valley by making it a dumping ground for filth and the corpses of criminals (II Ki. 23:10). In the time of Jesus some suggest that it was still being used as a rubbish pit with fires that smoldered continually. The valley came to symbolize hell, the place of the unbelievers final destiny. The final punishment of the wicked is also described in Isaiah by allusions to this valley of Tophet or Hinnom (Isa 30:33; 66:24) Though at times there is a clear distinction between Hades and Gehenna, elsewhere the two seem to be almost synonymous.
Notes by Pastor Ted Kirnbauer 3 2. The nature of Hell here. Hell is described in a number of ways. Only a few will be mentioned a. It is described as fire Matthew 3:12: His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Matthew 25:41: Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. It appears that God originally created Hell as a place of punishment for evil angels. Hebrews 10:26-27 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Revelation 14:10 says of those that have the mark of the beast... shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. Because no one has yet experienced the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:10, 14) it is difficult to portray the human agony in human terminology. God has chosen this imagery to portray it. (also Matt. 10:28; 13:41, 42, 50; 18:8)
Notes by Pastor Ted Kirnbauer 4 b. It is described as destruction Matthew 7:13: Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. In Romans 9:22 the unbeliever is referred to as a Vessel of wrath prepared for destruction. II Thessalonians 1:9: These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power c. It is described as eternal punishment Matthew 25:46: And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. d. It is described as darkness Matthew 22:13:... cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. e. It is described as torment Revelation 14:11: And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name. (also Rev. 14:10) A constant reminder of the permanence of their misery is the endless trail of smoke that keeps on ascending (Thomas, Revelation II, 211). Revelation 20:10: The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. All of these expressions express the mental and physical suffering of the unbelieving in proportion to the guilt of those who have sinned (Lk. 12:47-48).
Notes by Pastor Ted Kirnbauer 5 3. The conscious existence of the dead Many find the biblical teaching about Hell so offensive that they feel that it cannot be true. How could a God of love send people to such a place forever and ever? 1 Surely if someone we know dies as an unbeliever there can be no comfort if we imagine that he or she is in hell. To cope with these difficult issues, people have attempted to prove from the Bible that the souls of the dead are not conscious. Some say, forever or everlasting just means a long time. 2 Other expressions such as fire and brimstone or the story in Luke 16 are said to be only symbolic of destruction (annihilation, extinction). Some verses, they claim, represent death as a kind of soul sleep (Matt. 9:24; Acts 7:60; I Cor. 15:51; I Thess. 4:13). 3 Other passages are said to show that the dead are unconscious (Ps. 6:5; 30:9; 115:17; 146:4; Ecc. 9:10; Isa. 38:18-19) 4, or that the soul is destroyed (II Thess. 1:9, etc.) 5 refuting the idea that the soul continues on in a conscious state. Can these conclusions really be drawn from the Bible? Does the Bible teach soul sleep or an unconscious existence of the soul after death? It is clear that the Bible teaches a continued, conscious existence of the soul. That the soul of the believer is conscious is found in numerous passages; Lk. 23:43; Jn. 14:3; II Cor. 5:1; Phil. 1:23; Rev. 6:9-11.; 7:9-10; 20:4; etc.. John 11:25: Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, shall live even if he dies. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" II Corinthians 5:8: We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Neither Jesus nor Paul could speak this way about an unconscious existence for that would be a virtual non-existence.
Notes by Pastor Ted Kirnbauer 6 Other passages make it quite clear that the same can be said of the unbelieving. Lk. 16:19-31; Ro. 2:5-11. Revelation 14:11: And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name. If the unbelieving were not conscious why mention things like torment ascending forever and ever, or no rest day or night? Or how could it be a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 13:40-42) if the souls of people there are totally unaware of what is happening around them? An unconscious existence makes such expressions absolutely meaningless. The rich man in Luke 16 was obviously conscious for he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off... Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. (Lk. 16:23-24). Revelation 19:20 says, Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. Yet later in Revelation 20:10 at the end of the thousand year reign of Christ they are still in existence.
Notes by Pastor Ted Kirnbauer 7 NOTES: 1 Probably the greatest difficulty people have in believing in hell is in reconciling the love of God with eternal punishment. If we, whose love cannot compare to the love of God, could not send someone to hell, how could God do such a thing? Furthermore, the punishment doesn t seem to fit the crime. No matter how bad someone is, no one deserves an eternity of torment. In order to discuss this difficult subject, we must understand a little about the attributes of God. An attribute is an inherent quality of God that helps define who He is. For example, we say God is love, holy, eternal, and unchangeable. All of these describe qualities about Him, therefore, they are called attributes. God's wrath, unlike His love, is not considered one of His attributes. Wrath is the response of His holiness to sin. Where there is no sin, there is no wrath. By contrast, the love of God will always be there. When a holy God confronts sinful man, wrath is the natural outcome. If we dilute the wrath of God we dilute His holiness. One problem we face in understanding how a God of love could send someone to hell is that we don t understand perfect holiness, love, nor do we understand the hideous nature of sin. If we were honest with ourselves a lot of the things the Bible calls sin don t seem all that bad. Consequently, we cannot understand why God would have such a severe reaction to them. If we truly understood the nature of sin we would free ourselves of it completely for it would be utterly offensive to us. The fact that we can live among sinners rather easily and take pleasure in sin ourselves demonstrates how far short we fall of perfect holiness. Therefore, we must first come to grips with the fact that we cannot understand God's holiness and His violent response to sin based on our own understanding of it. God has revealed the proper response to sin based on His own perfect character. The response to sin is wrath and judgment. If we do not share the same response it is because we are flawed, not Him. Secondly, we are confused about how love and wrath could co-exist since in our experience anger and love usually exist in two separate
Notes by Pastor Ted Kirnbauer 8 compartments. Love drives out wrath and wrath drives out love. We come closest in bringing the two together when we must deal with a wayward child, but normally we do not think of a wrathful person as loving. But this is not the way it is with God. God's wrath is not a blind, emotional outburst. It is a reasonable response to the sinner who affronts His holiness. If sin did not offend Him, He would not be holy. Men deserve the wrath of God. They do not deserve His love. If God loves, it is because He chooses to do so for there is nothing in us that compels Him to love us. The real mystery isn t in God's wrath it is in His love. Thirdly, many of us are mistaken in believing that forgiveness entails overlooking another s faults, turning a blind eye, or that it is a necessary requirement of love. That is, if someone sins against us or God, we believe that we are required to forgive them unconditionally or we are not acting in love. The assumption is that to love is to forgive and to forgive is to love. Of course, love does often lead to forgiveness, and forgiveness is a loving thing to do, but the question is must God forgive us if He loves us? The answer is, No! In spite of the fact that God loves us, forgiveness is not unconditional. This is obvious or all would be saved and the cross would be unnecessary. Forgiveness of sin is conditioned upon repentance and faith in Christ. God demonstrates His love for us through the cross, but at the same time forgiveness cannot take place apart from it. Finally, even if we were to convince ourselves that there was no hell, denial does not change reality. Failure to believe that God is a God of wrath actually lessens our ability to appreciate the cross. The cross is where the love and holiness of God meet. God is so holy that He cannot endure the slightest sin, but so great is His love that He poured out His wrath upon His Son to our benefit. 2 Some claim that the words forever, everlasting, eternal simply refer to a long time. There are instances in New Testament Greek where the word translated as eternal does just mean an age. At the same time eternal is also used of God (Rev. 4:9, 10; 7:12; 10:6; 15:7), Christ (Rom. 9:5; Rev. 1:18), the Holy Spirit (Heb. 9:14), the gospel (Rev. 14:6), salvation (Heb. 5:9), life (I Jn. 5:20), the Kingdom (II Pet. 1:11), etc. In each case it means forever. The context always determines which is meant.
Notes by Pastor Ted Kirnbauer 9 However, the Greek term is also unique in that it often appears in duplicate (unto the ages of the ages) and is commonly translated as forever and ever in English. The plural is designed to emphasize the idea of eternity which is contained but often blurred in the singular (TDNT I, 199; cf. Gal 1:5; Phil. 4:20; I Tim. 1:17; II Tim. 4:18; Heb. 13:21; I Pet. 4:11; Rev 1:6, 18; 4:9, 10; 5:13; 7:12; 10:6; 11:15; 15:7; 19:3; 22:5) This duplicate construction is used to give the duration of the torment in the Lake of Fire in Revelation 14:10 and 20:10. It is eternal. Both Jesus in Matthew 25:46 and Daniel in Daniel 12:2 use the same word everlasting to qualify the endless life of the saved as well as the unsaved. Matthew 25:46: And these will go away into everlasting (aivw,nion) punishment, but the righteous into everlasting (aivw,nion) life. Daniel 12:2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting (~l'a[) life, Some to shame and everlasting (~l'a[) contempt. Nobody disputes that the believer will live forever. On what basis then can we deny that same word in the same sentence has two different meanings? 3 Sleep is used in the Bible to describe death. But the Bible never speaks of soul sleep. Sleep is an expression that describes the likeness of a dead body to that of a sleeping person. The expression is only used of believers and provides assurance of their resurrection. Just as a person who is asleep will someday awaken, so the believer who dies in Christ will awaken from the dead. 4 Those passages which are used to support that the dead are unconscious are better interpreted as meaning that at death the activities of the present world end.
Notes by Pastor Ted Kirnbauer 10 5 Those who believe that the dead will not face eternal punishment point out that the Bible says that they will be destroyed. If something is destroyed it ceases to exist. Such a simplistic argument does not take into account the way the term is used in the New Testament. The word means to mar or ruin or make unfit for the purpose it was originally intended. To deny all the evidence that shows that the soul of the unbeliever is not annihilated based on the alleged meaning of the word destroy is on very shaky ground. SEE The Gagging of God (p. 515 ff.) by D.A. Carson for a response to those who believe that Hell ends in the annihilation of the individual.