God's Love on Trial

A wrong view of God’s character is one of the main reasons why people have trouble getting to know and trust Him. 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 to the loving character of a tender, gracious heavenly Father. In His word, God tells us He has no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11). It is called a strange work (Isaiah 28:21). Not only is the idea of eternal torment contrary to God’s love and mercy, it is not even fair or just. What just earthly judge would sentence a criminal to be beaten continuously and roasted over a slow fire, for any length of time? Then shall not “the judge of all the earth” “judge righteously?” (Genesis 18:25; Psalms 96:10) ) “The wages of sin is death,” not eternal torment. (Romans 6:23)

Then what really happens when someone goes down to the grave? and what will happen to the wicked?

Man is Mortal, and only Receives Immortality at the Resurrection.

Previously we have seen that man is mortal and only receives immortality if he accepts Christ. We have also seen that the righteous receive immortality when they are resurrected (1 Corinthians 15:51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Let’s have a look at some further evidence for this:

David expected to receive immortality when he awoke in the resurrection.

I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. Psalms 17:15

Peter declared that righteous David has not yet gone to heaven.

Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day... For David is not ascended into the heavens:… Acts 2:29, 34

Peter’s argument to prove that David is not in heaven was that David’s body was still in the tomb. He understood that there is no such thing as disembodied souls. Christ, Elijah, Enoch and Moses, all ascended to heaven bodily. Other than a few exceptions, the righteous dead have not been raised, and have not yet gone to heaven.

Paul did not expect to receive his crown until the day of Christ’s second appearing, along with the rest of the righteous.

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. 2 Timothy 4:7, 8

The Reward of the Wicked is Complete Annihilation.

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Ezekiel 18:4

The wicked are turned to ashes

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. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 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. Malachi 4:1-3

They are consumed into smoke.

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. Psalms 37:20

The fire will go out.

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. Isaiah 47:14

They will be unconscious forever.

In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD. Jeremiah 51:39

The wicked will cease to exist.

For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. Obadiah 1:16

When are the Wicked Destroyed and Where?

No one is burning in hell right now.

Malachi 4:1, 3 speaks of a future time: “the day that cometh shall burn them up…” and 2 Peter 2:9 says they are reserved “unto the day of judgment to be punished.”

A thousand years after the resurrection of the righteous

Revelation 20:4-6 describes the resurrection of the righteous and says “the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years are finished.” A blessing is pronounced on him “that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power…” Then the passage goes on to describe a judgment,

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

The lake of fire happens on this earth

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

Malachi 4:3, as mentioned earlier, says the wicked will be “ashes under your feet.” This shows us that the fire will occur in the place inhabited by the righteous afterwards, which is this earth (Matthew 5:5). Also, Revelation 20:8, 9 says the resurrected wicked will be on the “four quarters of the earth” and the next verse says:

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. Revelation 20:9

Isaiah describes the earth at that time in Isaiah 24:1, 9, and Jeremiah also, saying:

I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man… and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger. Jeremiah 4:23-26

The earth will be created anew.

Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 2 Peter 3:12-13

The Bible is clear, there is no burning hell right now, rather, the wicked will be judged, and destroyed in the lake of fire, after the 1,000 years, and they will cease to exist. They will not burn and suffer through eternity. Why then are there scriptures that seem to say otherwise? God’s word does not contradict itself. We need to study deeper and adjust our understanding to see the harmony in all of God’s word.

Everlasting Fire: torment for ever and ever?

The Bible speaks of everlasting fire, burning and tormenting people “for ever.”

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. Matthew 25:41

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Revelation 20:10

But, in the Hebrew mind, “everlasting,” “forever,” and “eternal” were like the word tall. These words describe an unmeasured duration, just as “tall” is used to describe an unmeasured height. The meaning varies depending on what is being described. You can have a tall mountain and a tall man, but they are not the same height.

Jonah describes the time he was in the belly of the whale in one place as “for ever,” and in another he qualifies that as being three days.

I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. Jonah 2:6

Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Jonah 1:17

In Deuteronomy 23:3, forever means 10 generations. In other cases, it meant “as long as he lives” or “until death.”

...He shall be thy servant for ever. Deuteronomy 15:17

...And Achish said to David, Therefore will I make thee keeper of mine head for ever. 1 Samuel 28:2 (See also 1 Samuel 1:22, 28; Exodus 21:6; Psalm 48:14.)

Mountains that might only be a few thousand years old, dating back to the time of the flood, or possibly to creation, are called everlasting.

He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting. Habakkuk 3:6
The Hebrew words for “everlasting” are also translated in other ways that obviously do not mean “without beginning” or “without end.” An example of this is where they are translated days “of old,” (Micah 7:14, Job 20:4; Isaiah 63:11), where it refers to the time Israel entered the promised land, a few centuries previous, the creation of the world, and Moses time.

Unquenchable Fire

He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Matthew 3: 12

The fire is unquenchable because it cannot be put out. God will not put it out, the wicked cannot put it out and there is no celestial fire department that will come to their rescue. Everything that is wicked will be consumed. We saw an example of this in the fires that consumed the World Trade Centers in New York, which were impossible to extinguish, but eventually died out after they had burned everything.

We were given an example of this unquenchable, eternal fire at work in the story of Sodom and Gommorah.

Even as Sodom and Gomorrha... are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Jude 1:7

And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes...making them an example to those that after should live ungodly; 2 Peter 2: 6

Are Sodom and Gomorrah still burning today? No, they were reduced to ashes.

Their Worm Dieth Not

And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Mark 9:43

Just as now the worm symbolizes spoilage and decay, in typical Hebrew poetical parallelism, Job and Isaiah equate the worm with corruption, which is a synonym for mortality/death.
I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. Job 17:14

For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation. Isaiah 51:8

An undying worm, like unquenchable fire indicates the unchangeable and eternal results.

No Second Chance

While the punishing is not eternal, the punishment ? death, is.

And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. Matthew 25:46

For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. Psalms 37:10

Friends, God is love. He is fair and kind; one we can trust. I want to live forever with this kind of God. I want to live in a place where there will be no more tears, death, sorrow, crying or pain. Will you join me there?

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