Victory Ministries International presents:
Awesome Truths and Amazing Facts  
Treasures of awesome truths from God’s Word 
and facts that affect you!

Hello!  This is Richard Vaughn

Today’s subject –  “Hell. Are people there and is it burning now?” Part 1”

Today we will explore another cornerstone lie of Satan regarding the subject of hell. This is just as much a misunderstood subject as was the topic of the dead we just finished last week. People have such a twisted understanding of it, and I believe it is due largely to the fact that they are not studying God’s word, which makes it perfectly clear. The Bible says that those who do not receive the love of the truth, God will let them be deceived.

Many people believe that the devil is in charge of hell and that’s just what Satan wants you to think. The very reputation of God is involved in the correct understanding, as too many former Christians have become Atheists because of the general teaching in the churches today. 

How many lost souls do you really think are in hell today? Well 2 Peter 2:9 says “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.” On the authority of the Word of God, there is not one single soul in hellfire today. The Bible says that God reserves, or holds back, the unjust until the Day of Judgment to be punished. 

So, when will sinners be cast into hellfire? Jesus tells us in Matthew 13:40-42 “…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.” So the lost sinners will be cast into hellfire at the end of the world, not when they die. God will not punish any person until his case was decided in court. 

In our previous study we learned that the dead know nothing, nor will they have consciousness again until one of the two resurrections spoken of by John in John 5:28,29 “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves 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.”

The Bible is clear, both the righteous and the wicked that have died are in their graves “sleeping” until their appropriate resurrection day.
Let’s look at what the end result of sin is. “Sin is the transgression of the law.” According to 1 John 3:4; and Paul tells us in Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” These two verses tell us that sin is breaking God’s commandments and the penalty or payment is death. That is verified in James 1:15  It reads “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” 

We will all die the first death because of Adam’s transgression, but if we die with unforgiven sin, we will die the second death because of our sin. That is the death spoken of in the last two verses. The death of Jesus on the cross is the second death paid for every redeemed child of God and only the righteous will have eternal life as we read in John 3:16. This is a much quoted scripture by Christians, but few understand what it really says. Let’s examine it. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Do you see? Those who are the forgiven believers have eternal life; all the rest will perish in the second death, which will be the hellfire. We read that in Revelation 21:8, “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.”

The teaching that sinners are immortal in hell originated with Satan when he told the first lie to Eve in Genesis 3:4 “…Ye shall not surely die.” Those who do not study the Bible will believe about anything and are most prone to deception. 

The Bible is very clear about the fate of the lost, as they will suffer “destruction” (Job 21:30); “shall perish” (Psalm 37:20); “will burn up” (Malachi 4:1); “shall be destroyed together” (Psalm 37:8); “will consume away” (Psalm 37:20); “shall be cut off” (Psalm 37:9); “shall be slain” (Psalm 62:3); God will “destroy” them (Psalm 145:20); and “fire shall devour them” (Psalm 21:9). 

Note, that all of these references make it clear that the wicked die and are destroyed. They do not live forever in misery. They will have chosen to be lost and it is a merciful God to end their existence.  

So far the Bible teaches that no one is in hellfire today and that the hell fire comes at the end of the world. Also that the wicked will be destroyed and be no more. 

Now let’s see what the Bible has to say about when and how hellfire will start. Revelation 20:9 “And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” 

And in Proverbs 11:31 “Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.”

What we have just read in these two verses is at the end of this present world, God Himself will kindle the fire. As the holy city New Jerusalem comes down on earth, (Revelation 21:2), the wicked have been raised in the second resurrection following the millennium, and they make an attempt to capture the city. At that time God will rain down fire from heaven upon the earth, and it will devour the wicked. This fire is the Bible hellfire.

Now let’s see what the Bible has to say about the scope and intensity of the hellfire.  We read in 2 Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” Do you see? Hellfire will cover the earth and the atmospheric heaven will explode, burn and pass away with a great noise and all the works therein will melt with extreme heat. 

The question arises, “How long will the wicked suffer in the fire?” The Bible is silent as to how long the wicked will be punished, but it does indicate some will receive greater punishment than others, based upon their works. In Matthew 16:27 it reads “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” And in Luke 12:47,48 “And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.”

So the next question would be, “Will the fire eventually go out?” Isaiah 47:14 reads, “Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.” After a fire has done its work, there is only stubble and ashes. This verse indicates the there won’t even be a hot coal left. The fire goes completely out. So the wicked have been recompensed in the earth. 

The righteous will also be recompensed as we read in Revelation 21:1,4 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” The Bible is so clear on this point, as all the former things are passed away. Hell and the wicked being included in the former things, and that is God’s promise in His word.

Friends, God is no torturer. If God tortured His enemies throughout eternity, He would be more vicious and heartless than men have ever been in the worst of war atrocities. An eternal hell of torment would be hell for God also, who loves even the vilest sinner.

What is left after the fire goes out? 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.” This verse does not say the fire will burn them like asbestos as many believe, rather like stubble, which will be burned up. The little word “up” denotes completion.  

Psalm 37:10,20 says the wicked will go up in smoke and be completely destroyed. It reads, “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.”

Well friends time is about up for this week, so we will continue this subject in our next broadcast. 

Next Week: we will continue to study the topic “Hell. Are people there and is it burning now? Part 2”

Until next week, Jesus said in John 5:39, “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me”. Even so, Come Lord Jesus.