By the Numbers

Saturday, June 1, 2013

What Is The Bible's Lake of Fire?

                         What Is The Bible's Lake of Fire?

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Some persons simply reject Hell. To them a God who throws people into a fire to burn forever seems horribly cruel and really merciless. To them Jesus is not that kind of God! Justice is not served if the most wicked and least wicked burn together in a lake of fire. If it's true, why even try to be good.  Yes! But are there other things said of Hell that never get mentioned? Could the fire be something other than the physical fire we imagine? Can we examine arguments about this painful subject with an open mind?
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1. Yes, Jesus spoke many times of Hell as eternal fire (Matt. 5:29-30; 22;13). He used vivid figures of speech to capture attention, warn us, and save us from sin that corrupts and confines us away from God and all his blessings. He explained Hell's worse than losing an eye, foot, or hand. It's outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now that's not physical consuming fire; it's great loss and inconsolable grief, unremitting torment. Jesus' warnings show great compassion for human well-being.
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We shutter at  Hell and  delight in  Heaven.  But if there's no Hell,  neither can there be Heaven. Unbelieving rebels would do the same wicked things  in Heaven they do here (Mark 7:21-22; Rev. 21:11). Ultimately, it wouldn't matter how we believe or behave. Laws, police and jails don't prevent our evil passions or keep us safe. Jesus,  the God-man, is our ethical authority (Matt. 25:46), or we're at the mercy of a dictator's whims and human chaos.  Wisdom then dictates we need to get it right about the prospect of Hell!
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2. Are some sinners in Hell whipped more than others? In  Luke 12:47-48, Jesus said the wicked servant who knew his master's will but didn't do it will be beaten with many strips, but the one who didn't know it yet deserved punishment, would be beaten with few strips. Isn't this just a way of saying Hell  is degrees of punishment? Mom's lying about her age then would never be punished in a lake of physical fire with Hitler who caused the deaths of millions of people? So many passages that plainly teach Hell is degrees of punishment make it difficult to believe in a lake of physical fire where all would be burned, consumed, or be punished equally. For degrees see also Matt. 10:15; 11:22, 24; Mark 6:11; Hebrews. 10:29
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3. The Bible says Hell was made for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41).  Angels as spirit beings who wouldn't be burned or consumed by physical fire. But later the beast, false prophet, and the devil are  said cast apparently meaning bodily into the lake of fire and brimstone forever but said only to be  tormented (Rev. 20:10). Could the fire be a metaphor used to depict its serious nature?
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4. Jesus said the worm doesn't die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:44). That' s another powerful figure of speech.  Jerusalem's garbage dump was always burning dead carcasses with maggots eating rotting flesh, and fires that never went out. Jesus borrowed that loathsome sight to illustrate Hell. Of course there are no maggots in Hell. The worm is used to express contempt as used of Jacob and of Jesus (Isa. 66:24; 41:14; Ps.22:6), and the physical fire we know can go out. Could the fire then be something like the burning bush that attracted Moses because it didn't burn up (Exodus 3:2).

5. Jesus told about a rich man in Hades and Lazarus in Abraham's bosom (Luke 16:19-30). Unbelievers such as this rich man at death went to the place of torment or anxiety as  mentioned here four times.  This tormented man was concerned for his five unrepentant brothers. Jesus said that if they would not heed Moses and the prophets, they would not believe even if one rise from the dead.  His undying memories, lost opportunities, and eternal despair were agonizing. Revelation 20:10, 14 says plainly the lake of fire and brimstone where Death and Hades will be cast, is torment, forever torment. Torment is agony of mind, not torture of body as in physical fire.

6. Our Lord's brother, Jude, says several things about Hell that never seem to get mentioned. Speaking of doomed sinners, he says they are "clouds without water carried about by the winds, late autumn trees without fruit twice dead and pulled up by the roots, raging waves of the sea foaming up their own shame, wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever" (Jude 12-13).  Here persons in Hell are pictured as empty, fruitless and spiritually dead, in rage and shame, lost, and  alone in darkness forever. Daniel 12:2 and 2 Peter 2:17 say similar things. That's the meaning of Hell.
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7. Pure justice is that we reap exactly what we sow. If we sow to  sinful desires it brings  corruption and death, but  to sow to the Holy Spirit leads to everlasting life (Gal. 6:7-8). Only God who knows our secrets and everything about us can ensure true justice (Gen. 18:25). According to the Bible, trusting Jesus is what decides whether we go to Heaven or Hell (John 3:16, 36). But Scripture everywhere says we're rewarded in Heaven or punished in Hell according to our works which is different with each of us. Believers are rewarded at the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 3:9-15). Unbelievers condemned at the Great White Thrown (Rev. 20:11-15)
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8. Bible lessons are literally true (spiritually), but not necessarily true literally. The fire is real, but not necessarily physical to burn or consume. Persons in Hell have imperishable physical bodies unaffected by fire as we know it (John 5:28-29; Rev. 20:13-15). Moreover, Jesus and others of his day used exaggerated speech or hyperbole to drive home a point. For example, Jesus said his disciples are to hate family in comparison to loving him (Luke 14:26). Strong faith  can move mountains into the sea (Mark 11:23). Lake of fire, furnace, flames, smoke, brimstone are exaggerated metaphors to get attention and drive home the point.

It's unfortunate that Hell fire is sometimes screamed at us without careful explanation. We  have trouble believing God is love when he seems represented so cruelly. Hell is not God torturing us in physical fire--it's our choice of self-torment without God alone in an eternity of darkness. When we turn from God's love, truth, righteousness, and gospel, he gives us up to uncleanness, vile passions, and a debased mind (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28). We are then without excuse (Rom. 1:20; 2:1).
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What then is the Bible's lake of fire? We already seen above that rebels in Hell will have imperishable physical bodies. I believe those who won't obey the gospel experience Hell as God's fiery wrath judging sin (2 Thess. 1:7-9). They love evil, won't repent, and live in darkness (Jn. 3:19-21). John 3:36 tell us what Hell is, "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Hell is the wrath of God felt by everyone who chooses to reject the Lord's truth, love, righteousness, and gospel (good news) of  Jesus dying on the cross to pay for our sins. Love and righteousness can't be forced. God lets unbelievers have their own way forever. So all who reject God  feel his fiery wrath in their anger, hate, guilt, contempt, shame, darkness, despair (Rev. 21:11-15). Can anything be more serious?
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The Bible is clear that God is love and it's not his will that anyone perish or burn. A loving  God  doesn't and can't force us to trust him when we don't want him in our lives (2 Peter 3:9). A guilty conscience, the promptings of God's Spirit, the beauty and design of nature, the Bible, Christian witnesses, all testify to a personal ethical Creator. He is known to us as the Lord Jesus Christ. Won't U say, Lord Jesus, I trust You now as my Lord, Savior, and Guide from this moment on to live for You and to see You some day in Heaven.
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