Everlasting Burnings

Isaiah 33:14: The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

Probably the most unpalatable doctrine we ever have to come to terms with in the Christian life is the doctrine of hell-fire. The usual question that everybody asks - Christians and non-Christians alike - is this: How can a God of love send anyone to eternal conscious torment in body and soul in hell fire for ever and ever? The two don’t seem to be compatible.

Well, we can explain that not only is God a God of love, but He is also a God of justice, and He hates sin with a perfect hatred:

Psalm 11:5-7: The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.

Psalm 5:4-6: For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.

In fact, sometimes it’s God’s mercy we have a problem with, and not His justice:

Habakkuk 1:13: Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?

Jonah 3:10 - 4:1: And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

So, how can we bring these two aspects of God’s character together? Only in Jesus Christ:

Romans 3:26: To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Christians have experienced at first hand the love of God. He has revealed Himself to them personally in their hearts as the Saviour who has saved them from what their sins deserve. So, it’s understandable that the concept of God being anything other than loving can appear at first glance to be a problem. 

Men have made up many extra-biblical ideas as to what happens after death. Some have invented a place called purgatory. Like hell, it’s a place of torment as a punishment for sin, but it doesn’t last for ever, and we’ll all get out eventually. That’s not right. We have to face the fact that the Bible describes hell-fire as eternal:

2 Thessalonians 1:9: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power....

Matthew 18:8: Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.

Matthew 25:41: 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....

Mark 9:44 (also v.46, v.48): Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

Revelation 14:11: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Many try to argue that this idea of everlasting torment was never in the Old Testament. But it is:

Deuteronomy 32:22: For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

Psalm 21:9: Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.

Isaiah 1:31: And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

Isaiah 33:14: The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

Isaiah 66:24: And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

Jeremiah 4:4: Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

Daniel 12:2: And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Malachi 4:1: 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.

Another way of trying to deal with this seeming problem is to say that those who don’t embrace Jesus Christ as their Saviour are simply annihilated, snuffed out. They quote verses, such as:

John 3:16: 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.

There you are, they say. They “perish,” in other words, they just cease to exist. But in order for this idea to work, they have to explain away all the references to eternal fire, which Christ quite clearly taught. They would argue that He was referring to the valley of Hinnom, just outside Jerusalem, which was the rubbish tip and continually burns. But His references have absolutely nothing to do with the city of Jerusalem:

Luke 16:23,24: And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

In any case, the Bible tells us that the wicked are not simply destroyed after death. All of us have eternal souls which will continue on for ever, whether we’re Christians or not. There is going to be a resurrection of the unjust as well as the just:

John 5:28-29: ....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.

Acts 24:15: And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.

What is the point of preaching the gospel, if the alternative to being in heaven with Christ, is simply annihilation? Sinners would be quite happy with nothing after death. That’s what most of them try to convince themselves of anyway, so they can carry on in their sin:

1 Corinthians 15:32: If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.

Thinking they’ll never be punished in any way after death means that they can do what they like. If they get caught for doing something wrong in this world, they can always evade men’s punishment by committing suicide. And by doing so, they think they’ll be escaping punishment altogether. Except they won’t escape, because there most surely is a judgment after death, and it will be a righteous judgment with a just punishment:

Genesis 18:25: ....Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

The main problem we have here is the idea of a God of love tormenting people for ever. We can’t fathom that. So we need to ascertain where this torment actually originates. 

Is it from the devil? No. The medieval church has given us a very distorted caricature of hell-fire. They depicted it as a place of flames with the devil in charge, demons running riot and sinners being poked back into the fire with pitchforks if they ever attempted to escape. The devil isn’t in charge of hell, God is. The devil and his minions are it’s most notorious inmates:

Matthew 25:41: 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 20:10: 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.

So, is it God that deliberately stokes the fire and fans the flames? No. I don’t think hell-fire is an external flame at all.

Many people think that they’d quite like to go to hell, because they don’t like the idea of heaven. They think that in hell they’ll see all their mates again and be able to carry on sinning with them for ever. But it’s not like that. Do we really think God has created a place in eternity where people can sin forever? That’s just what they want. They’d look forward to going to a place like that. God has created this temporary world, where He allows people to sin for a short time. And even then, He allows sin in a very limited way by only bringing to pass what He purposes to turn to His own glory in the end. In eternity, it can’t be anything like this. Nowhere in eternity will men be able to carry on sinning. That surely cannot be. Eternity is altogether clean and holy:

Isaiah 57:15: For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

This might sound odd, but I suggest that hell is actually quite a nice environment. It’s a place where nobody will be able to sin. And it’s a place where everybody will be bowing the knee to Jesus Christ:

Philippians 2:9-11: Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The only thing that will ruin hell are the people that God populates it with.

Christians will be going to an identical place after death. We too won’t be able to sin any more and will also be bowing the knee to Christ. But Christians are going to love it there, whereas those in hell will be hating every minute of it. 

So, where does the torment come from? Within themselves. After death, God merely puts them in the same kind of environment as the Christian. So He does nothing wrong. He’s not stoking any fire. But they’ll hate it and we’ll love it. And those in hell will know it’s their own fault that they’re in that predicament. They won’t be shaking their fist in God’s face saying, “I hate you God. It’s your fault I’m here.” No. They’ll know exactly whose fault it is. They’ll only have themselves to blame.

There are other passages in Scripture which have nothing to do with hell-fire, but which describe a burning as coming from within:

The Word of God in a believer’s heart is likened to a burning:

Luke 24:32: And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

Jeremiah 20:9: Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.

Unfulfilled desires before marriage are likened to a burning:

1 Corinthians 7:9: But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.

So, burning is a familiar term to describe something emanating from within ourselves. It doesn’t necessarily depict anything external, such as a flame or punishment inflicted from the outside. The burning, fire-like quality, in hell doesn’t come from God lighting a fire to deliberately torment anybody. It originates entirely from within those who go there.

Although the environments of heaven and hell are identical, they are also very separate. A great gulf has been fixed between the two:

Luke 16:26: And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

The wicked, who persecuted the Christians in this world, will never be able to reach them in the next. Believers will be eternally blissful in heaven:

Revelation 21:27: And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Revelation 21:4: 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.

So, God isn’t tormenting anyone in hell, those there are tormenting themselves. That’s the just punishment they have brought upon themselves. Yet still some people think this a bit too harsh. And that’s caused many to believe that there will be a “second chance” to hear the gospel in the next world, especially for those who didn’t have the “chance” to hear it here. And they use verses like these:

1 Peter 3:18-20: For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

1 Peter 4:6: For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

They claim that, in these verses, Christ is preaching to those in hell to give them a “second chance” to be saved. But that’s not so. In any case, if that was what these verses were teaching, it undermines all missionary work. If Christ is going to be preaching the gospel in the next world anyway, I’m not going to preach to anybody at all here. He’ll do a far better job than I ever could. I’ll just leave it to Him. No. These verses teach that when Noah, and others throughout history, preached - to those who are now long since dead - it was Christ they were preaching. Before Christ actually came to earth, the gospel was exactly the same as it is now. The call, then, was to put their trust in a Saviour that was to come. Now, the call is to put our trust in a Saviour that has been, and we know exactly who He is.

1 Corinthians 10:1-4: Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

Hebrews 4:2: For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

So there is only one “chance” to hear the gospel, and that is while we’re in this world:

2 Corinthians 6:2: For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Hebrews 9:27: it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment

Those to whom the gospel never comes, God knows that they would never have believed anyway. God sends His missionaries where He sends them. He makes the best use of His resources:

Acts 16:6-7: Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.

Wherever we are sent, it most likely means that there will be some of His people to gather in. Our job is simply to make sure we are where God wants us to be.

Those in hell are there because they chose the lifestyle they chose while they were in this world. It’s their own fault. But we who get to heaven, will only be there by the sheer grace of God. Because, we have to admit, if left to ourselves, we’d also have chosen the lifestyle of the wicked.

But when God comes into our lives, He changes our hearts so we no longer desire that evil way we were born into and naturally grew up in. We are given a new heart and a new spirit, so instead of loving sin and hating God, we now hate sin and love God. A complete change. And that fits us perfectly for the next world, which we will then enjoy to all eternity.

That does mean we’ll now have trials and tribulations in this world, because we’ll realise how full of sin it really is. But that’ll only be for a short time, and it will be all worthwhile in the end:

John 12:25: He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18: For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

It is therefore imperative that every one of us has our heart changed by the Lord, here in this world, so that after we die, we’d fit into and love the beautiful place the Lord has prepared for all of us in eternity. Once there, change will no longer be possible. 

Ezekiel 18:31: Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?