BIBLE DOCTRINE 22
HELL
God’s Word
teaches:
That Hell fire
is a place of everlasting punishment where sinners (all who do not have their
names in the book of life) will suffer torments for ever and ever. It was
prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41) but God has decreed that
the wicked and those who forget Him and reject Christ will also be cast there
because of their sin and neglect of His salvation - Psalm 9:17; Matthew 25:46;
Luke 12:4,5; 16:19-31; Matthew 5:22,30; Mark 9:43-47; Revelation 14:10,11;
20:10,12,15.
The fact and
reality of Hell is an important and recurring theme in the Scriptures. It is
vividly captured as a place of agonizing torment and everlasting punishment in
unquenchable fire for the unconverted (Matthew 25:41; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:23,
28). Owing to its frightful credentials, there are those who merely explain
away hell as a biblical truth. Many have even drawn up the broken cisterns of
erroneous assertion to rationalize their gross inadequacies. The Bible,
however, unambiguously provides ample illuminations of hell, as the
indisputable abode of sinners (Psalm 9:17; Proverbs 7:24-27; Proverbs 9:13-18;
Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:22-28; Revelation 20:13-15; 21:8).
Hell
is a fearsome 'rest place' for transgressors. And the Lord Jesus Christ spent
considerable time lending weight to this reality. He told the city of Capernaum
for instance, that it would be turned into hell because of its iniquities
(Matthew 11:23, 24).
He
warned repeatedly on the danger of hell and the need for His listeners to steer
clear of it (Matthew 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:8, 9; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 12:5). He
offered vivid explanations of hell as a place of everlasting punishment
(Matthew 25:41, 46; Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:22-28; Revelation 14:10, 11). He
revealed that sinners who die unsaved would have their lot in hell (Matthew
7:15-19; Matthew 13:40-42, 50; 23:33; 25:41-4620; Revelation 20:14-15; 21:8).
The
Apostles also followed the same thematic explanations of hell as offered by the
Lord (Romans 2:5-9; 2 Thessalonians 1:8,9; Hebrews 10:26,27; James 3:5,6; 2
Peter 2:4,9; 3:7; Jude 7, 23; Matthew 3:7-10). The church today cannot afford
to assume a less specific position on the teaching of hell, without subverting
the sacredness and completeness of scripture.
The
word 'Hell' is found about fifty-four times in the King James Version of the
Bible. Its translation in Hebrew, Sheol, occur thirty-one times, while
the Greek interpretations "Gehena", "hades" and the Latin interpretation "Tartarus"
occur twelve, ten times and once respectively. Its regular usage in scriptures,
apart from the allusions drawn to it by the Lord and other Bible characters,
lend sufficient validity to its reality.
When
a sinner dies, his soul immediately proceeds to hell where, with full
consciousness, he tastes the excruciating pain that hell offers. The story of
poor Lazarus and the rich man, best exemplifies the eternal punishment awaiting
the sinner (Luke 16:23, 24).
Hell
is also a place where the memory of the damned comes alive. The rich man in
Luke 16:23, 24 remembered his riotous living while on earth as well as his five
brothers yet unsaved. Apart from the acute discomfort of hell, the regret of an
error of judgement while on earth on the part of the unsaved, presents an
everlasting torment of its own.
The
teaching of the doctrine of hell must scrupulously avoid erroneous and
unscriptural views of false teachers. The concept of purgatory, representing a
so-called intermediate state between death and appearance before God has no
biblical foundation. Neither is the notion of the annihilation of the wicked
correct. The future punishment of the wicked is eternal while the sinner at
death automatically receives an express translation into hell where "their
worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:44-48;
Deuteronomy 32:22; Job 26:6; Isaiah 5:14; Amos 9:2; 2 Peter 2:4; 2
Thessalonians 1:7-9). The needless controversy over the reality of hell is not
strange as the scriptures clearly allude to this. "But the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto
him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned"
(I Corinthians 2:14). Since God is holy, sin must be punished in the person of
the sinner or in the person of the sinner's substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ.
No man believes in Hell because he
simply wants to. He believes in Hell because he is compelled to. It is true
that eternal punishment is not a pleasant subject for discussion, yet, it is a
fearful reality, an awful and tragic fate.
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