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 2”

Today we will continue where we left off last week with the cornerstone lie of Satan regarding the subject of hell. In Part 1, we learned 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 what form a person enters the hellfire. In Matthew 5:30, Jesus said “It is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” And in Matthew 10:28 He added “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.” 

So the Bible is clear that live people enter hell in bodily form and are destroyed both body and soul. They die the second death we have previously read in Revelation 21:8, and that scripture is supported by Ezekiel 18:20 “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”  

So now we come to the question of the role Satan plays in the hellfire. Is he in charge? On the basis of God’s Holy Word we can say absolutely not! In fact he and all the evil angels that followed him in his rebellion against God will be cast into the fire and it will turn him into ashes and he will be no more. Revelation 20:10 “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.” And in Ezekiel 28:18,19 “I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.”

Some have asked if the word hell always refers to a place of burning. The answer is NO. The word hell appears 54 times in the whole Bible and in only 12 cases does it refer to a place of burning. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for “hell” is “sheol” and it means the “grave” and is found 31 times. 

In the New Testament the Greek word for hell is 10 times “Hades” meaning the “grave;” 1 time Tartarus, which means “a place of darkness;” and 12 times “Gehenna” which means “the place of burning.” The Greek word Gehenna is a transliteration of the Hebrew “Ge-Hinnom” which means “Valley of Hinnom.” This valley lies immediately south and west of Jerusalem and was a place where garbage, dead animals and other refuse were dumped and burned. Fire burned there constantly as it does today at many sanitation dump sites. The Bible uses Gehenna as a symbol of fire that will destroy the lost at the end of time. The fire of Gehenna no longer burns southwest of Jerusalem today, just as the literal hellfire will end when it has accomplished its purpose.

Well then what is the real purpose of the hellfire? The answers are in the following scriptures: Matthew 25:41, Jesus said “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”  

Revelation 20:15 “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

God’s purpose is that hell will destroy the devil, his angels, all sin and sinners so as to make the earth safe for eternity. And this is why God cannot save anyone in their sins, He saves us from our sins. If one sinner were left on this planet, it would be a deadly virus forever threatening the universe. 
The work of destroying sinners is foreign to the nature of God. We read in Ezekiel 33:11 “As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” 

And in Luke 9:56 Jesus assures us “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.” 

And in Isaiah 28:21 “For the LORD shall rise up…that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.”

The work of God has always been to save and not destroy. The work of destroying the wicked is so foreign to the nature of God that the Bible calls it His strange act. What more could heaven have done to save mankind?

Now let’s look at God’s post-hell plans for the earth and His people. Nahum 1:9 “What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.” 

And in Isaiah 65:17 “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.” 

And finally Revelation 21:3,4 “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 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.” 

No one will be saved because they feared hell. No, they will be saved because of their loving obedience to their Savior. The real tragedy of hell is in missing heaven.

From scripture alone, we have proved conclusively, that contrary to what is taught in many religious circles, hellfire is not burning now and that it will be in the future. Also that Satan will not be in charge, in fact he, his angels and all of the lost will be destroyed in that fire. The fire will go out and Satan, his angels and all the lost will be ashes. The earth will be created anew and sin and evil will be no more.

This week we will answer some thought questions, again using the King James Version.
The 1st Question - Does the Bible speak of “eternal torment”? No friends, the phrase is not in the Bible.

Question 2 – Then why does the Bible say the wicked will be destroyed with unquenchable fire? Unquenchable fire is fire that cannot be put out, but it goes out when it has turned everything to ashes. Jeremiah 17:27 says Jerusalem was to be destroyed with unquenchable fire. Listen “But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” This fire went out and Jerusalem is not burning today.

Question 3 – Doesn’t Matthew 25:46 say the wicked will receive “everlasting punishment”? “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” The word is punishment, not punishing. The punishment is the second death and it is the death that is everlasting.

Question 4 – Matthew 25:41 speaks of “everlasting fire” for the wicked. “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” Does it go out? Yes, according to the Bible it does. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed with everlasting or eternal fire. Jude 1:7 reads, “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.” These cities became ashes and are not burning today. The everlasting hellfire will go out after it has turned the wicked into ashes. Malachi 4:3. “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.”  

Question 5 – Doesn’t the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 teach an eternal hell of torment? No indeed, it is simply a parable to illustrate a point. Jesus often used things that people were most familiar with in his parables. Going to Abraham’s bosom was a commonly held belief, although in error. Many facts make it clear that this is a parable. 1. Abraham’s bosom is not heaven (Hebrews 11:8-10); 2. People in hell can’t talk to those in heaven (Isaiah 65:17); 3. The dead are in their graves (Job 17:13); 4. Men are rewarded at Christ’s second coming (Revelation 22:11,12); 5. The lost are punished at the end of the world, not when they die (Matthew 13:40-42). The point of the story is found in verse 31 of Luke 16. “And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”

Our final Question – But the Bible speaks of the wicked being tormented forever, doesn’t it? The term “for ever,” as used in the Bible, means simply a period of time, limited or unlimited. It is used 56 times in the Bible in connection with things that have already ended. It is like the word “tall,” which means something different with men, trees or mountains. In Jonah 2:6, “for ever” means three days and nights. In Deuteronomy 23:3, this means 10 generations. In the case of man, this means as long as he lives, or until his death. Look at 1 Samuel 1:22 “But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and there abide for ever.” Hannah was giving her son Samuel to the Lord forever. Verse 28 tells us how long forever is. “Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD.” 

Exodus 21:6 “Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.” That would be as long as he lives. 
Psalm 48:14 “For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death. 

So the wicked will burn in the fire as long as they live, or until they have died their second death. This fiery punishment for sin will vary according to the degree of sins for each individual, but after the punishment, the fire will go out. 

Friends, do you realize that the teaching of eternal torment has done more to drive people to atheism and insanity than any other invention of the devil. It is slander upon the loving character of a tender, gracious heavenly Father and has done untold harm to the Christian cause.

Next Week: We’re going to look into the subject of the secret rapture. So many people are deceived with this gigantic lie of Satan.  So tune in next week for the topic, ““Left Behind. The Secret Rapture?””

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.