Hell
Revelation 20:1-3 Romans 11:36 Revelation 19:20 Revelation 20:10 Revelation 20:11-15 Revelation 21:1-8 Revelation 22:11-19 Mark 9:41 Mark 9:43-48 Job 25:6 Psalm 22:6 Isaiah 1:18 Isaiah 14:9-11 Isaiah 66:22-24 Exodus 16:19-20 I Corinthians 15:22-28 Mark 8:34-35 (KJV)
The Bible teaches that there are several different types of hells. At the end of the thousand year reign of Christ on the earth, God will raise the dead to judge them at the Great White Throne Judgment which will be Christ's final judgment. The Bible states clearly that these dead will be raised from the sea, from death and from hell. Obviously, these must be three different places. The fact that the dead are raised from three different places re-enforces scriptural teaching that Christ employs great latitude in how He judges believers and unbelievers alike.
The Bible nowhere explains exactly what the place called "the sea" is, but Micah 7:19 teaches that God has buried all of His believers' sins in "the sea," demonstrating the fact that God has separated His believers from their sins forever. Also, Revelation 21:1 states that when God recreates a new heaven and earth at the end of Christ's thousand year reign, the new earth will have "no more sea." This place called "the sea" can have nothing to do with the oceans of the world because these are extremely beautiful and so one cannot believe that God would leave them out of His recreated earth. The most that can be learned about this "sea" is that God sent some of the unbelievers there with their sins still adhering to them, but only the sins of the believers were sent there as being separated from the believers.
The second place from which God raises the dead is called "death." Since the word "death" denotes a complete loss of all sensations and an emptiness, then this may be the same place that Jesus called "outer darkness." Jesus taught that both backslidden believers and unbelievers are punished in this place. The difference is that God has temporarily punished the backslidders for their correction, and He will bring them back to Himself when their sentence has been completed, but the unbelievers will remain there until their resurrection at the Great White Throne Judgment.
The third place from which the dead are resurrected is called "hell." This is a place of flame and torment as Jesus taught in the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. Apparently, the most evil of the unbelievers go to this place; those who are very cruel and who hate God the most. No believers are ever sent to this place or any place like it. These are three places of temporary punishment. Two of these places, "death" and "hell," God will destroy in the "lake of fire;" and the third place, "the sea," God will simply eradicate completely.
Immediately following the battle of Armageddon when Christ will return to earth to destroy the beast's evil armies and rescue the nation of Israel from destruction, then the beast, who is the AntiChrist, and the false prophet, who is a kind of Anti-Holy Spirit, will be captured and will be "cast alive" into the lake of fire. Note the significance of the phrase "cast alive." An angel will also bind Satan, who is a kind of Anti-Father, with a "great chain" and "cast him into the "bottomless pit" until the thousand year reign of Christ is ended. At that time, the Devil will "be loosed out of his prison" and will " go out to deceive the nations." The Devil will gather another great army to try to destroy God's people, but God will destroy this army with fire from heaven. Then, the Devil will be captured and cast into the lake of fire where the beast and false prophet already are, where "he shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." This last phrase indicates that Satan will also be fully conscious while enduring this eternal torment.
The "bottomless pit" where Satan will be bound during the thousand year reign of Christ apparently refers to a place that seems to be an infinite nothingness. This is probably the same place that Jesus called the "outer darkness." God's Word provides no reason why Satan should be subjected to this temporary punishment before being finally cast into the lake of fire forever, nor does it provide a reason why Satan will be loosed from this prison at the end of Christ's thousand year reign. Perhaps, God wants to reduce Satan to a sole consciousness of absolute nothingness since Satan invented false combinations of some of God's Infinite Ideas in his rebellious attempt to reduce God to an absolute nothingness. Also perhaps, Satan will be loosed from his prison so that God can prove that the Devil will never give up on his desire to destroy God and His creations. As has been stated before, persistence is not a virtue with Satan. He knows that he cannot repent because God can never trust him again, and he also knows that he is destined for the lake of fire; so he has no other choice but to continue his rebellion to the end.
As mentioned before, the Bible clearly teaches that the beast, the false prophet and Satan will be fully conscious of their torment in the lake of fire forever. This condition shows that quality of life directly relates to the measure of consciousness that one possesses at any time. The contents of one's consciouness determines the quality of life one has. Those who try to concentrate on the deep spiritual qualities of life enjoy more life than those who merely concentrate on shallow experiences. God possesses Infinite Life because the contents of His Consciousness are Infinite; that is, the Father and the Living Word. In addition, His Consciousness exists absolutely everywhere and at every time; that is, the Holy Spirit. The beast, the false prophet and Satan will be fully conscious of their burning torment in the lake of fire and this is all of which they can be conscious. It is quite impossible for them to be conscious of anything else. In this way, God will return them to His service because He will use their torment to neutralize their abilities to concoct false combinations of His own true Ideas; that is, lies, murder and all evil. The lake of fire constitutes one of the methods that God will use to cleanse His universe of the filthiness of all sin and rebellion.
One may ask at this point: Why does God have to torment them? Why does not God simply put them into a coma? The answer is that their consciousnesses are basic things which God has created, and God can never destroy any of His basic true Ideas. God can destroy false combinations but only to recover the basic true Ideas contained within them. Should God destroy any basic thing which He has created, He would have to diminish the usefulness of His own Infinite Idea which provided the pattern for its creation. For God to neutralize the effectiveness of even one of His Infinite Ideas would be to eliminate a part of Himself, and this He cannot do. The physical law of the universe which states that matter can be changed into energy but never destroyed reflects this fact about God's existence. God must allow Satan's consciousness to remain, but at the same time eliminate his abilities to invent sin and rebellion.
Nevertheless, the Bible teaches that at the last judgment, God does not resurrect the dead to life. The dead are still dead when they stand before God. However, the fact that they are resurrected means that they must retain some measure of consciousness. Otherwise, their resurrections would have no meaning. They cannot be mindless zombies as they stand before God, and yet, the Bible clearly states that they are still dead. God cannot destroy their consciousnesses for the same reasons as before stated, but God can reduce their consciousnesses to that of being concentrated only on the filthiness and nothingness of their former sins. Because their sins still adhere to their consciousnesses, and because they refused to accept God's grace that would have cleansed them of their sins forever, then they have separated themselves from the everlasting Life of God and this separation constitutes their deaths. To be dead is to be separated from the Eternal Life of God. Thus, the resurrected dead are still dead when they stand before God, and yet, they are also still conscious of the filthiness of their former sins. Read Revelation 22:11.
When the names of the resurrected dead are not found in God's book of life, God has them all cast into the lake of fire. In Revelation 21:8, the Bible teaches that these dead "shall have their part " in the lake of fire, but the Bible does not state that they will suffer the full torment of the flames that Satan will suffer. The difference is that Satan was "cast alive" into the lake of fire but these are still "dead" when cast in. One of the meanings of the Greek word for "part" is a division. The Bible also calls the lake of fire "the second death." Since the first death involves the return of the body to dust and the immediate judgment of the soul and spirit, then why cannot the "second death" be some similar division? Since God loves all of humanity, and He is a merciful God, and since humans are the victims of sin as much as they are participants in it, then it stands to reason that God will not punish these dead with the same torment that Satan will suffer. Satan is the villain here, not humans. Remember Abraham's question to God in Genesis 18:25: "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" This Judge knows how to think and to reason to a perfect degree. Like all good judges, He certainly knows how to recognize mitigating circumstances.
Thus, the lake of fire becomes a "second death" for humans only. If the first death can become an eternal separation from fellowship with God, then what could a "second death" be? Jesus Himself provides the answer in Mark 9:43-48. Three times in these scriptures Jesus repeats His revelation: "Where their worm dieth not , and the fire is not quenched." This is not a parable but is a direct teaching on the nature of the lake of fire. Jesus' statement that "the fire is not quenched" must refer to the lake of fire because the temporary hell will be destroyed in the lake of fire. Likewise, the phrase "where their worm dieth not" must mean that "their worm" must suffer in the lake of fire forever. This means that the sufferings of "their worm" must be the same punishment that Revelation 21:8 calls "the second death."
Therefore, the meaning of the phrase "the second death" depends on the meaning of the phrase "their worm." The meaning of the Greek word here used for "worm" is a maggot. When Jesus used this term, He was referring to the maggots that squirmed in the fires of Gehenna which was the garbage dump which burned continuously just outside the gates of Jerusalem. Even the bodies of violent criminals who had been executed were sometimes thrown into this dump where the maggots fed on them. Since the quality of one's life depends on the level of one's consciousness, then Jesus' use of the phrase "their worm" evidently refers to the level of consciousnesses of those dead who would be in the lake of fire. Jesus' use of the word "their" shows that He meant that the "worm" belonged to the dead; that is, that the dead had become the "worm." If the first death means a separation of the consciousness of man from the Life of God, then the "second death" must mean a reduction of the consciousnesses of those in the lake of fire to that of maggots. The dead squirm in the lake of fire like the maggots did in Gehenna. They have no more consciousness than that of a maggot. Their suffering has been reduced to that of a maggot squirming in a fire. This means that God has greatly reduced their suffering from that of a fully conscious human burning in a fire.
These maggots in the lake of fire are not only dimly aware of their suffering, but in accordance with Revelation 22:11, they are also dimly aware of their hunger and the filth on which they feed. These maggots still hunger for the filthiness of their former sins and still desire to feed on them. This is another meaning of "the second death," that is, that the consciousnesses of the dead are reduced to the level of maggots squirming in a fire and feeding on their own filth forever. Further confirmation of this meaning of the "second death" is found in Job 25:6 where the Word of God calls man a "worm." The Hebrew word used here means a maggot. This verse refers to the filthiness of sin that resides within every human who has inherited original sin from Adam. The "second death" is a reduction of human consciousness to this wormy nature.
Additional confirmation can be found in Isaiah 14:9-11. This scripture contains a prophecy of when Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire. Verse eleven clearly teaches that he will be swallowed by a sea of "worms." The Hebrew word for "worms" here means a special type of maggot called a crimson maggot. The Hebrews used these crimson maggots to make a dye by which they colored their clothes crimson. As Isaiah 1:18 teaches, this crimson color derived from the crimson maggot, God closely associates with man's sins. This makes the prophecy of the doom of Satan clear. He will be thrown into a sea of crimson worms which symbolically represents a sea of humans whose consciousnesses have been reduced to that of maggots feeding on their own filth.
Additional confirmation that the Bible identifies the crimson maggot with sin occurs in Exodus 16:19-20. Moses had instructed the Israelites not to try to save the manna that they gathered every day until the next day. Some of the Israelites disobeyed Moses and tried to save some of their manna until the morning. Since God had appointed Moses as the leader of God's people, to disobey Moses amounted to the same as to disobey God. In the morning, the manna they had tried to save was being eaten by the crimson maggot.
Jesus paraphrased Isaiah 66:24 when He taught about the lake of fire in Mark 9:43-48. The first part of this verse probably refers to the millions of dead bodies left on the earth following the battle of Armegeddon. But the second part of this verse states that their "worm," again meaning the crimson maggot, "shall not die," and "neither shall their fire be quenched." The illustration reveals that unrepentant sinners consciousnesses eventually will be reduced to that of crimson maggots squirming in an eternal fire who are crimson because they have been feeding on their own past sins.
Much of Psalm chapter 22 constitutes a prophecy depicting Jesus' crucifixion and death on the cross. In Psalm 22:6, the Holy Spirit reveals the thoughts of Jesus about His crucifixion. One of Jesus' thoughts while on the cross was: "But I am a worm, and no man......" Again, the word "worm" means the crimson maggot. Here, Jesus directly referred to the fact that He, the Innocent Lamb of God, took upon Himself the filthy sins of all humanity when He suffered on the cross. In order for Jesus to suffer and die in the place of all sinners, He had to suffer for their sins so completely that His shed blood would thoroughly cleanse all of those who would repent and put their trust in Him. He also had to die the same kind of deaths that sinners die; that is, as being separated from God as His actual cry from the cross as prophesied in Psalm 22:1 indicated. As a result of His suffering for sins and His death in the place of sinners, He became as He thought: "no man...." Like lost sinners in the lake of fire, Jesus reduced a part of His consciousness to the level of the crimson maggot. When Jesus suffered and died on the cross in the place of all sinners, he went all the way with it. He accomplished an absolutely thorough completion of it.
Yet, because of His absolute Love and Innocence, all of that filthiness which He endured could not adhere to him. Death and hell could not hold Him. Hear His victorious cry from the cross: "It is finished." Read John 19:20. Read His reassuring words to His disciples in John 16:33: ".....but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Jesus rose from the grave, victorious over sin and death and the Devil, to justify those who trust in Him and to give them His own everlasting life.
Jesus proved that Infinite Love and Innocence can never be destroyed by even the most subtle of Satan's machinations. The limited innocence of the first humans succumbed to the Devil's subtle tricks, but God's Almighty and Eternal Love and Innocence could be injured by the Devil, but never could it be destroyed by even the most wicked forms of Satan's rebellion. God sacrificed Himself for the salvation of sinners, and gained His glorious victory for the sake of mankind. God is perfectly willing to give His victory to all who will simply receive it by putting their trust in Him.
As Mark 8:35 teaches, all who truly repent of their sins and submit to the gospel of Christ will be saved as individuals regardless of whether they become good or bad children of God. God will eventually wholly sanctify them no matter how long it takes or how much He has to punish them in this life or the next. God knows the futures of all who repent, and once they become His children, He also knows exactly how to sanctify them completely. Jesus will never lose a single one of His sheep. The peculiar certainty of this salvation and sanctification is that God saves and recreates all of His children so that each one of them will forever retain a consciousness of each one's own particular individuality.
Those who teach that backslidders are actually unsaved should reread their Bibles because the Bible is literally full of backslidders. But God always preserves and sanctifies His backslidders no matter how bad they may be. For example, take a look at Lot and Samson. Those who teach that only God's good children are saved are really just trying to bring good works back into salvation through the back door, so to speak. The only condition for salvation is the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ received by faith given by God. Read I Corinthians 15:1-4 and Romans 10:13.
In Mark 8:34-35, Jesus taught that those who "deny themselves;" that is, those who reject their old sinful selves and turn to Jesus for their salvation and recreation, will retain an eternal consciousness of their own particular individualities. At the resurrection, they will lose all consciousness of their old sinful lives, but they will retain a recreated consciousness of their original personalities. In other words, those "who lose their lives" for Christ's sake will also "save them."
Jesus also taught in these verses that those who try to save their lives will lose them. Unbelievers will lose their lives because they tried to save their old sinful selves. Following the final judgment, God will separate the consciousnesses of the unsaved dead into two parts. As the Bible teaches, the quality of each person's life is determined by that of which he is conscious. Part of the consciousnesses of the unsaved dead will forever be attached to their sins as they suffer like maggots feeding on their own filth in the lake of fire. God will recreate the other part of their consciousnesses.
God clearly states in Revelation 21:5: "Behold, I make all things new." The Holy Spirit also teaches this truth in Romans 11:36 and in I Corinthians 15:28. Read Revelation 4:11. God created "all things" in the first place, and the Word of God clearly teaches that God will not only recreate the heaven and the earth, but that He will also literally recreate "all things." "All things" that God has created which have been tainted by being included in Satan's false combinations, God will recover and recreate to the uses and purposes of His own will.
The Bible has no problem with the word "thing." This is a perfectly good word which means any object in consciousness. The objects of God's Consciousness are Infinite. This is the Word of God which is one with God. The limited number of material things which God has created, which are based on His Infinite Ideas, have all been tainted to some degree by Lucifer's misuse of God's Ideas in that he invented false combinations based on some of the things of God's Word. God rightly calls these false combinations, sin and evil. All of God's created things have been tainted which have been subjected to Satan's misuse.
Satan injured God Himself when he misused His Word; an injury which had its final denouement in the cross of Christ.
But God has promised that in His final judgment, He will literally recreate all of His tainted things, and remove any possibility for their future misuse. God will restore all of His created things to His own service and purposes. God will neutralize Satan's ability to misuse God's Word by his torment in the lake of fire. God will also neutralize the abilities of the unsaved dead to sin by reducing their consciousnesses to that of maggots feeding on their own filth in the lake of fire. In other words, God will recreate good systems and eliminate all false systems from His creations.
All false systems attempt to reduce God's good Ideas and creations to absolute nothingness, but God will recreate new good systems and reduce all false systems to an equality with absolute nothingness. In this way, God will return the unsaved dead, and even Satan himself, to His own good uses and purposes. In other words, God will literally "make all things new."
But there is still more to the story of God's recreation of all of His things. Revelation 20:12-13 teaches that the unsaved dead will be judged according to their works. This must mean that they will be judged according to their good works as well as their sinful works. Read Revelation 22:12. Their sinful works will be reduced to the consciousnesses of maggots squirming in the lake of fire, but their good works will be retained and rewarded by God. Mark 9:41 teaches that even the smallest good work will be rewarded by God. God will reward all good works, but this does not mean that the unsaved dead will, in the end, be saved by God's grace. They will not be saved as individuals. Only God's church who has received God's grace will be saved and recreated as individuals retaining their former personalities. The consciousnesses of the unsaved dead will, in the final judgment, be separated into a consciousness of their good works and a consciousness of their sinful works. This separation, in itself, will destroy their individualities. Yet, even more than this, in order for God "to make all things new," even their consciousnesses of their good works must be separated into discrete things which God can recombine and recreate. Believers saved by grace are exempt from this type of recreation because God has already recreated them when they were "born again," and He will recreate their bodies at the Rapture of the church. Read John 12:24-25.
Following the Great White Throne Judgment, God will recreate a new heaven and a new earth, and will recreate a new human race to live on the earth. Revelation 21:2-3 teaches that the New Jerusalem will descend from God to the new earth that will be populated by a recreated human race. These new humans cannot be any of the saints saved by grace because all of God's saints will dwell in heaven with Christ. In addition, the Bible does not state that these humans will be saints, but that they will be ordinary humans, but incapable of committing sins. Since all good systems originated from God's Ideas, then God will recreate these new humans from a pool of good works which He has recovered from unsaved humans when He separated their consciousness of their sins from their consciousness of their good works which emanated from God in the first place. In this way, God recovers all of His good systems and good Ideas from any possibility that they could be misused in the future.
Revelation 22:12 clearly teaches that God will reward every man, saved and unsaved, according to their works. The word "works" here can only be good works because they will be rewarded. This verse has to mean that God will recreate the unsaved because certainly anyone in a lake of fire cannot receive a reward. Some of the recreated humans will retain some part of their former individualities because they did a lot of good works in their former lives. Others who did mostly evil works, and few good works, will retain little, if any, of their former personalities. In either case, the fact that God will remove all sorrow from the lives of the recreated humans shows that God will nullify all memories of their former lives.
The recreated humans will live only on the earth. They will not be allowed to enter into the New Jerusalem. Only God's saints will be allowed to live in the New Jerusalem, or in Paradise.
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