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Amazing Facts

Hell

Joe Crews

Hell Part 1

The Great Fire of 1871 completely destroyed 3 and a half square miles of Chicago's business district.

250 people perished in the blazing inferno.

But this is like a candle compared to a future fire destined to be the most destructive in world history.

I'll be back in a moment with the amazing facts about smoking ruin and death.

♪ Hello, this is Joe Cruz in the Amazing Facts broadcast, Facts Which Affect You.

I would like to make a little preliminary statement today about the method I use in studying Bible doctrines here on this broadcast.

You have doubtless noticed that I use many, many texts in presenting subjects from the Word of God.

All the truth can never be found in 1 text or even in 1 book of the Bible.

We have to search the scriptures in order to discover its secrets.

And that is why I bring together from many parts of the Bible the text showing what each writer has said in order to get the full picture.

Comparison of these assembled texts makes the subject clear.

Now occasionally it may seem that 2 or 3 texts are out of harmony with all the others and that they actually disagree with each other, but by carefully studying those texts in their context, we soon learn that the contradiction is really in our own minds rather than in the Word of God.

Now these principles must be followed especially in studying the subject that we are introducing today.

The subject of hell has been so theologically confused and distorted that it has actually become a byword for many people.

Millions are actually wondering if a God of love will torment the wicked for all eternity, or if the fires of hell will ever burn the badness out of people.

But now let's consider the dealings of God with sinners.

First we should understand that there is a heaven to win and a hell to shun.

Notice Jesus' words in Matthew 13, 41-43, The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and that which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire.

There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth, then shall the righteous shine forth as the son in the kingdom of their father, who hath ears to hear let him hear." So there it is, friends.

Finally there must be only 2 classes, the saved and the lost.

Everybody will either be cast into the furnace or saved in the kingdom.

How very earnestly we should be seeking to find the right way.

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, John 14, 6.

If we take what He said on this subject of hell, friends, we certainly will be on the right road.

Now many people have claimed that Christ taught about some disembodied soul leaving the body at death and flying away to either heaven or hell.

Jesus must not be blamed for such a teaching as that.

Now let's turn to Matthew 5, 30 for a sample of what He taught on this doctrine of hell.

Matthew 5, 30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee.

For it is profitable for thee that 1 of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." Now notice Jesus taught that it is the body that suffers in the fire of hell and not the soul.

These are the words of the Master Teacher, and there is no vague, mystical, invisible soul to leave the body at death and find its way to some place of torment or punishment.

Now the question arises as to when this punishment of the wicked takes place.

Again the words of Jesus present a clear answer in Matthew 13, 38-42.

There He gives the parable of the tares and wheat.

He tells about a man who went out and sowed wheat, good wheat, and then an enemy came in the dead of night and sowed weeds in it, or tares, among the wheat.

And after it all began to grow, the servant came in and told the master about it, and asked if he should pull up the weeds.

And the master said, No, let them all grow together until the harvest, and then we can cut them down together, separate them, burn up the weeds, and put the weed into the garner or into the grain.

Now notice that when Jesus explained the meaning of the terms in that parable, He said, The harvest is the end of the world.

Now friends, that is when the separation is going to take place.

That is when the wicked are thrown into the fire.

That is when the tares are to be burned up.

There is no room for argument or quibbling here.

Nobody is going into that furnace of fire until the end of the world.

And how very unfair it would be for God to punish the wicked before they even came to their time of judgment.

Even an earthly court would not send a man to prison for many years before considering his case and pronouncing sentence on him.

In 2 Peter 2, 9, by the way, we find very clearly that principle laid down.

Notice these words, The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." Now did you follow that statement, friends?

Now we know that the wicked are not going to be dealt with at all until after they have been judged.

Now we are prepared to answer the question, how many people are in hell right now, today?

My friends, not 1 single person is there now.

They are all being reserved until the Day of Judgment.

They are reserved until the day of judgment to be punished.

But the question is where are they being reserved?

And the Lord Jesus gave the answer to that very, very clearly in John 5, 28 and 29.

He said, marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." And so there it is, it agrees with what Job wrote hundreds of years before.

You remember in Job 21 and 29 Job asked this question, Job 21 and 29, Have ye not asked them that go by the way?

And do ye not know their tokens, that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction?

They shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.

Now friends, the whole teaching of the Scriptures is in perfect harmony on this subject.

The unsaved remain in their graves, sleeping the sleep of death until the resurrection day.

Then they are brought forth to be punished.

Now this brings us to the question as to the place of punishment and the time of punishment.

Revelation 21, 8 throws light on this, 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." Now, please remember that this punishment in the fires of hell is called the second death.

Well, it means that it must take place after the resurrection of the wicked at the end of the millennium.

There can be no second death without a second life, of course.

Every sinner must be brought out of the grave in the second resurrection, and then be cast into the lake of fire to die again, and that is called the second death.

So obviously, friends, there can be no punishment of the wicked in the lake of fire until after the resurrection takes place at the end of the world.

Does the Bible tell us how these things are going to be accomplished?

In Revelation 20, verses 7-9, And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the 4 quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about in the beloved city, and far came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." Now, friends, here we have a picture of the last chapter in the history of sin and sinners.

Under the great arch deceiver, all the numberless host of the resurrected wicked will go up there to fight against the holy city which is come down from God out of heaven.

Now You will find that account in Revelation 21.

John said, And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

We studied this thing even more closely when we talked about the Millennium here earlier in our series.

But the result of that unholy attempt to take the city of God is graphically told in these words, And fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

A consuming flame will envelop those great armies of Satan, and destroy them from the face of the earth.

Now this is a strange fire in many respects, because it not only devours the wicked, but it burns and purifies the earth at the same time.

Every trace of the curse of sin will be purged away by the intense heat of that flame.

Now in 2 Peter 3, 10 we have the record of elements melting with fervent heat.

Notice, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heaven shall pass away with a great noise, and the element shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

But now Peter hastens on to add this in verse 13, Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." Yes, friends, you see, God will reconstruct this world into a perfect, beautiful paradise, even as it was before the entrance of sin.

Today however, we are mainly concerned with the effects of that fire upon the wicked.

After all, this is the Bible picture of hell.

It is not to be located in some dark subterranean place.

It will be this old world, this planet itself, turned into a lake of fire at the end of the thousand years.

Isaiah 34, 9 says that the streams will become pitch, and the dust will turn into brimstone.

And now we can be sure about the size of hell.

Why, friends, it is just as long and wide as this earth itself, 25, 000 miles in circumference.

Now, how long will the wicked 1 suffer in that lake of fire on this earth?

I can't tell you of course the exact length of time, but I can give you the assurance with confidence, friends, that it will not be throughout all eternity.

This earth is going to be recreated and will finally be the eternal home of the saints.

Hell Part 2

Fires fed by natural gas are among the most difficult to extinguish.

Sometimes they've raged for weeks before being brought under control.

A nightmare blaze of the future will prove to be unquenchable by man's best efforts and equipment.

Hello, this is Joe Cruz in the Amazing Facts broadcast, facts which affect you.

In our last broadcast we delved into a subject which shunned by the great majority of modern religionists.

Multitudes have become skeptical about the reality of hell.

Under the influence of higher criticism, 1 doctrine after another has been discarded from God's holy book.

Even among those who still hold strong convictions about the punishment of the wicked, the interpretation of man has molded their understanding of the subject too often.

The question is, friends, what does the Bible say?

Now millions of people have been taught that a disembodied soul leaves the body at death to be punished or rewarded immediately.

The Bible teaches that punishment will be meted out only after the judgment at the end of the world.

Furthermore, Jesus taught in Matthew 5.30 that the body would be cast into hell, and not just some discarnate disembodied soul.

Language could be no plainer than this, he said, for it is profitable for thee that 1 of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Now friends, that settles it forever, doesn't it?

We discovered in our last broadcast that hell will be right here on this earth.

It will be the planet itself turned into a lake of fire.

Listen to the vivid description I have been given by Isaiah in chapter 34, verses 8 and 9.

For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.

And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch." And then you add to that the text in Revelation 20, verse 9, "...and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." So there you get the picture now of this earth turned into a burning lake of fire and brimstone in which the wicked are going to be consumed.

In fact, the wicked will be burned right here on the face of this earth itself.

Now The big question, of course, is this, how long are they going to burn?

Now I must confess to you I don't know exactly, but I do know that they will not go on burning endlessly.

Finally, the fire will go out, the wicked will be burned up.

This earth will be recreated and turned into heaven or the new earth.

The wicked, of course, never receive immortality, or eternal life.

They have no connection with Christ, and it is only through Jesus that eternal life or immortality can be given.

In 1 John 5, 12 we read, He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

And then again, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, Romans 6, 23.

And so those wicked ones who never receive the gift of life through Jesus will have to die.

They cannot keep on living with immortality when they have sinned and are condemned to death.

Now, at this point, a question might arise in your mind about some perplexing Bible statements.

For example, there is a text which says that the fires of hell are unquenchable.

Let's allow the Bible to do its own explaining of this text.

In Jeremiah 1727 the scriptures tell us that the gates of Jerusalem would burn with a fire that quote, shall not be quenched, end quote.

Now there is an unquenchable fire, isn't it?

Does that mean the fire will never go out?

No, the fact is that the city was burnt to ashes by that fire and had to be built back again according to 2 Chronicles 36.

The word unquenchable simply means that it is beyond the power of anybody to quench it or put it out.

The strange fire of God which destroys sinners cannot be extinguished.

No 1 will be able to deliver themselves from the power of that flame.

Some may say, well, doesn't the Bible teach that it is eternal punishment?

We readily concede to that, but again we must compare text with text to understand the true meaning of that term.

Some words in the Bible are used in a different way now than they were used back in those olden times.

Are you sure that the word eternal means without end in every case?

Let's take a look at a text now and see how the Bible uses it, and not the way that you and I might use it in our own modern vernacular.

In Jude 7 it says, Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

We are told that the fire that burned Sodom and Gomorrah was eternal fire.

On the contrary, the dead sea rolls over the sight of those ancient cities.

II Peter 2, verse 6 tells just how complete that destruction was, And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly.

Notice that this eternal fire brought the cities to ashes, and we are told here that it is an example of what will happen to the ungodly people.

In other words, the same kind of eternal fire that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah will someday consume the wicked people and bring them to ashes on the face of the earth also.

The results of the burning will be definitely without end because there be no resurrection from that second death.

Now another text which has caused some concern is Matthew 25, verse 46, And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.

Now please notice that this verse reads punishment instead of punishing.

A lot of people just get the idea that it's talking about a punishing process, but not so.

The text says that they go into everlasting punishment, and what is the punishment for sin?

The answer, of course, is in 2 Thessalonians 1, 8, and 9, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.

You see, friends, the punishment is here called everlasting destruction.

Thus we can see that the wicked do go away into everlasting punishment because it is an everlasting destruction from which there will be no resurrection.

In other words, it is a destruction that lasts eternally.

Thus we can see how clear and plain the Bible truth is made by allowing it to explain itself.

Now we will read a few texts to see how complete that work of destruction will be.

Jesus made it clear in the words of Matthew 10, verse 28, "...and fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Oh, friends, both the soul and body will be destroyed in that fire on the authority of Jesus' own Word and teaching.

Sin and sinners will be wiped out of existence so completely that the universe will be just as clean as it was before the entrance of sin.

Here is the way Malachi describes it, 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 unto the soles of your feet.

And the day that I shall do this saith the Lord of hosts." Now friends, that is Malachi 4, verses 1 and 3.

Even Satan, the root of evil, will be brought to ashes along with all his followers.

Notice Psalm 37, verses 10 and 20, For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be, yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.

But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs, they shall consume into smoke, shall they consume away." Now I submit to you today that those words are very, very definitive, friends.

They are going to burn up and disappear into smoke just like the fat of lambs is consumed also by combustion.

You see, friends, the theology of man has painted our kind Heavenly Father as a cruel God, an ogre God who delights in torment.

How repugnant to imagine that He is like some Hitler who would perpetuate the existence of deathless souls for billions of years just so they could suffer the exquisite torture of unending fire.

It was that very thought, by the way, that turned young Robert Ingersoll into the world's greatest infidel.

Now I realize that there is another extreme also.

Some believe that God is too good to punish the wicked.

But in between these extremes is the Bible picture of a God of justice who recompenses every man according to his works.

Read about it in Revelation 20, verse 12, And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works.

Now this thought is repeated again in Revelation 22, 12, And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

I don't deny that there be degrees of duration and intensity, because each must suffer according to his life record, but the end must be death.

Now we must consider another Bible phrase which has caused some perplexity about the punishment of the wicked.

The book of Revelation uses the term forever and ever in describing the smoke that will be going up from those fires of hell.

Again, though, we must let the Bible be its own expositor.

How is the term forever used in the scriptures?

If you will read Exodus 21, 1-6, you will find exactly how it is used.

There you find the rules laid down for the keeping of a Hebrew servant.

If thou buy a Hebrew servant, 6 years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing.

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