A reader asked us to explain
more about Hell, saying she thought "those who are unsaved go there."
Victor's reply:
Hi Deborah,
Regarding Hell, wicked men have taken the unseen
and unknown and used them as tools to deceive and bind people so
as to exercise power over them through mysticism and fear. You
will find nothing in the Old or New Testaments that speaks of an
everlasting place of literal, fiery torment for the wicked.
I will cover many verses on Hell in this reply to you. Know
that Hell is a state as much as it is a place, which is true for
many things. It also has many levels or degrees, according to
the need of its occupants, both in this world and the world to
come. We will also discuss the Biblical fires, seeing that Hell
and fire are identified together in Scripture, yet
misunderstood.
God Is in Hell
If Hell is a flaming torment, how does one make his bed there?
“If I go up into Heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in
Sheol [Hebrew word translated 'Hell'
by KJV and other translators],
behold, You are there” (Psalms 139:8 MKJV).
The Psalmist learned that though he was in darkness, turmoil,
and fear, God was there.
Men say that God is not in Hell, but that is not what the
Scriptures teach. There is no place that God is not, and no
thing in creation from which He is entirely detached. These same
people who deny His presence in Hell say He is omnipresent, that
is, everywhere, and nowhere that He is not. They contradict
themselves. They are right when they say He is omnipresent, and
therefore wrong when they say He is not in Hell as well as in
Heaven and on earth.
And if God is in Hell, how should it be a place of endless,
fiery torment of those He has made in His image? Is He a sadist
who enjoys seeing those He loves suffering so? Is He one who
indulges in the vindictive pleasure of “I told you so”? No, only
those in Hell (darkness) teach such heinous things about God,
our Creator, Who laid His life down for us that we might, each
in his or her due time, live unto Him.
The Nature of Spiritual Fires
The Pharisees, scribes, and their followers were members and
agents of Hell. Jesus said so. Were they walking around in
flames?
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass
sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and when he is made,
you make him twofold more the child of Hell than yourselves”
(Matthew 23:15 MKJV).
Their tongues were instruments of Hell (Greek, Gehenna, ancient
Jerusalem’s garbage dump for burning refuse):
“And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So the tongue
is set among our members, spotting all the body and inflaming
the course of nature, and being inflamed by Hell” (James 3:6
MKJV).
To these religious men, Jesus said, “Serpents! Offspring of
vipers! How can you escape the condemnation [Greek, krisis, judgment] of Hell [valley of Hinnom, a garbage dump
and place in Jerusalem to burn refuse]?”
(Matthew 23:33 MKJV)
What was Jesus talking about? He wasn’t saying they couldn’t
escape Hell, but rather the judgment of Hell.
They would be subjected to severe judgment and purged by a
spiritual fire, all the dross to be burned away. Hell, not the
person, would be done away with!
Was Jesus speaking of a physical or spiritual fire when He
said, “For every one shall be salted with fire, and every
sacrifice shall be salted with salt” (Mark 9:49 MKJV)?
Was the Hebrews writer speaking of the biggest bonfire one has
ever imagined when he said, “Therefore, since we are receiving a
kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we
may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for
also, ‘Our God is a consuming
fire’” (Hebrews
12:28-29 MKJV)?
Is God a literal, physical fire?
“John answered all, saying, I indeed baptize you with water,
but He Who is mightier than I comes, the thong of whose sandals
I am not worthy to loose. He shall baptize you with the Holy
Spirit and
with fire, Whose
fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor and
will gather the wheat into His storehouse. But He will burn the
chaff with unquenchable fire” (Luke 3:16-17
MKJV).
A “fire that is not quenched” (Matthew 25:41-46)? Are not
physical fires quenchable? Yes, they are, but the spiritual fire of God
must continue until the job is done, therefore
it is unquenchable.
When that which is meant to be destroyed ceases to
exist, the fire of God will cease to exist, even as in nature fire
ceases when that which fuels it is consumed. The Scriptures
teach that the Lake of Fire will devour Death, Hell, and all
things that offend in God’s creation. Those things will not continue
indefinitely.
There are those who point to Jude’s words on Sodom and Gomorrah
to “prove” Hell and everlasting fire:
“As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, in like
manner to these, committing fornication, and going away after
other flesh, laid down an example before-times, undergoing
vengeance of everlasting fire” (Jude 1:7 MKJV).
But let’s take Young’s Literal Translation, for example, and
see the wording that is a more accurate translation of the
original Greek:
As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, in like
manner to these, having given themselves to whoredom, and gone
after other flesh, have been set before--an example, of fire age-during, justice
suffering” (Jude 1:7 YLT).
Is this only a matter of man’s opinion, interpretation, and
translation? What did Jesus say of Sodom and Gomorrah’s end?
Here it is:
“And whoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when you
depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet for a
testimony against them. Truly I say to you, It shall be more
tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for
that city” (Mark 6:11 MKJV).
“More tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah”? Did He mean that
instead of 350 degrees C. (the temperature for wood to ignite),
Sodom and Gomorrah’s temperature might be decreased to 100
degrees C. (boiling point of water)? If Sodom and Gomorra are to
suffer forever and ever in literal flames, how is it that it
will be more tolerable for them, unless it is corrective, unless
there is going to be justice and mercy, and unless there is hope
of a good and worthwhile end? Doesn’t that make sense?
There are those who teach that the lost souls of mankind who
didn’t confess Christ as their personal Savior will be subjected
to a fire that will burn them forever, with neither the fire nor
their bodies, fashioned to handle everlasting literal fire,
quenched.
Would Jesus immerse everyone in a literal destructive fire, specially
designed to last forever? To what end? What purpose would it serve other
than none whatsoever?
And if He spoke of a spiritual fire (which He did), would all be
destroyed in it, or would only the “chaff” be destroyed,
but the
“wheat” saved?
1 Corinthians 3:13-15 MKJV
(13) each one's work shall be revealed. For the Day shall
declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire
shall try each one's work as to what kind it is.
(14) If anyone's work which he built remains, he shall receive a
reward.
(15) If anyone's work shall be burned up, he shall suffer loss.
But he shall be saved, yet so as by fire.
Jesus said, “I have come to send fire on the earth. And what
will I do if it is already kindled?” (Luke 12:49 MKJV)
Is it a physical fire He sends, or a spiritual one – His Word
of truth?
“Isn't My Word like fire? says the LORD; and like a hammer that
breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29 HNV)
The day came that Jesus would send the cleansing, purifying
fire of the Holy Spirit, as John promised:
Acts 2:2-4 MKJV
(2) And suddenly a sound came out of the Heaven as borne along
by the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house
where they were sitting.
(3) And tongues as of fire appeared to them, being distributed;
and it sat upon each of them.
(4) And they were all filled of the Holy Spirit, and began to
speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Were those literal flames sitting on the saints? Could one
smell burning hair, flesh and cloth going up in smoke? Were they
calling the Jerusalem Fire Department to the Upper Room?
Let’s get back to Hell:
If those residents of Hell are there for all eternity (an
everlasting time, time without end, as we use the word today),
why does Hell deliver up the dead that are in it?
“And the sea gave up the dead in it. And Death and Hell
delivered up the dead in them. And each one of them was judged
according to their works” (Revelation 20:13 MKJV).
If Hell is eternal, then how is it cast into the Lake of Fire
to be destroyed along with Death?
“And Death and Hell were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is
the second Death” (Revelation 20:14 MKJV).
Two Deaths
There are two deaths.
The second Death is that which ultimately does away with all
evil and consequence thereof, including the first Death and
Hell, which it does by means of the Lake of Fire. When Death is
done away with in the Lake of Fire, then Hell is also destroyed,
as the Scriptures declare. So then how can there be an eternal
Hell, as men believe and teach?
The first Death is spiritual separation from God, an absence of
fellowship with Him Who is Life, which is what Adam and Eve
experienced the day they ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good
and Evil:
“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat
of every tree in the garden, but you shall not eat of the tree
of knowledge of good and evil. For in the day that you eat of it
you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17 MKJV).
“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and
that it was pleasing to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to
make wise, she took of its fruit, and ate. She also gave to her
husband with her, and he ate. And the eyes of both of them were
opened. And they knew that they were naked.
And they sewed fig leaves together and
made girdles for themselves” (Genesis
3:6-7 MKJV).
Hell comes automatically with the first Death. Adam and Eve
died, and with that Death came Hell. Hell is not only a place,
as commonly supposed; it is a state of being, beginning and
established in this world, this life, this realm.
In the first Death, Adam and Eve experienced
self-consciousness, ignorance, doubt, fear, difficulty, failure,
loss, defeat, pain, ungodly sorrow, suffering, uncertainty,
guilt, shame, and generally the insecurity of a disconnect from
God. That is Hell. Can you relate? Indeed, there certainly is a
Hell and a suffering in Hell.
Death and Hell go together as horse and carriage, husband and
wife, or bird and feather:
“And I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him
sitting on it was Death, and Hell followed with him. And
authority was given to them over the fourth part of the earth,
to kill with the sword and with hunger and with death and by the
beasts of the earth” (Revelation 6:8 MKJV).
Remember that Jesus Christ came to do away with the last enemy
of mankind:
“The last enemy made to cease is Death” (1 Corinthians 15:26
MKJV).
All men are born into the first Death from the mother’s womb
and dwell in a state of spiritual darkness known as Hell because
of sin:
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my
mother conceive me” (Psalms 51:5 MKJV).
The Lord Jesus Christ laid down His life and took it up again
to put away sin and the first Death. The putting away of Death
is also known as the second Death.
What Is Hell?
Hell is a state of darkness and torment in varying degrees, one
of fear, bondage, regret, hopelessness, uncertainty, lack of
security, and as I have said, of guilt and shame. The “know not
anything” is the state of the dead. It is Hell.
We have all been in Hell, and for the more wicked there are
greater degrees or depths of Hell:
“For great is Your mercy toward me; and You have delivered my
soul from the lowest Hell”
(Psalms 86:13 MKJV).
“And that servant who knew his Lord's will and did not prepare,
nor did according to His will, shall be beaten with many
stripes. But he not knowing, and doing things worthy of stripes,
shall be beaten with few stripes. For to whomever much is given,
of him much shall be required. And to whom men have committed
much, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12:47-48 MKJV).
Is Hell ever forever? If so, why does God bring up from Hell?
“The LORD kills and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol [Hell], and brings up” (1 Samuel
2:6 MKJV).
Jonah was also brought up from Hell, where he was placed for a
time because refusing to obey God:
“I cried to the LORD from my distress. And He answered me. Out
of the belly of Sheol [Hell/Hades] I cried for help,
and You heard my voice” (Jonah 2:2 MKJV).
Jonah was “buried” in a great fish. By the way, did the fish
have an inflamed stomach and heartburn?
It is true that there is a fire in Hell, the characteristics being
as I have described. It
is a spiritual one, and that fire of God is not only in Hell; it is everywhere
to destroy Hell and all that offends. As the Lord testifies:
“For a fire is kindled in My anger, and shall burn to the
lowest Hell [Hades – another Hebrew word meaning 'world of the
dead,' translated 'Hell'], and shall consume
the earth with its increase, and set on fire the foundations of
the mountains” (Deuteronomy 32:22 MKJV).
People enter into different tiers or forms of Hell and Death in
this life, as for example when they subject themselves to agents
who destroy. False religion is represented allegorically as an
adulterous woman, her fruits being Death and Hell (Sheol). Ever
so lovingly, she destroys. Wisdom warns against it:
“For the lips of a strange woman drip honey, and her palate is
smoother than oil; but afterward she is as bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps
take hold on Hell [Hades/Sheol], lest you should meditate
on the path of life, her tracks are movable; you cannot know
them” (Proverbs 5:3-6 MKJV).
“And now listen to me, sons, and attend to the words of my
mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, do not go
astray in her paths. For she has cast down many wounded; yea,
many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to
Hell [Hades/Sheol], going
down to the rooms of death” (Proverbs 7:24-27 MKJV).
Proverbs 9:13-18 MKJV
(13) A foolish woman is noisy; she is simple and knows nothing.
(14) For she sits at the door of her house, in a seat in the
high places of the city,
(15) to call those who pass by, who are going straight on their
ways;
(16) The simple one, let him turn in here. And to one lacking
heart, she says to him,
(17) Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is
pleasant.
(18) But he does not know that the dead are there; her guests
are in the depths of Hell [Hades/Sheol].
The dead are in Hell - the physically dead in a physical grave
(Hell), and the spiritually dead in a spiritual grave (Hell).
The grave is known as Hell (Hades/Sheol); again, Hell is that
place of darkness, buried or hidden from the living. As well as
a “waiting room,” Hell is a spiritual prison, a place or state
of chains of darkness.
Men try to hide from God in Hell (Sheol/Hades) and the Lord
prevents them:
“If they dig into Hell [Sheol], there My hand shall take them.
And if they go up to the Heavens, I will bring them down from
there” (Amos 9:2 MKJV).
Men and most living creatures hide in darkness, but would men try to
hide in flames? And if God forever burns the wicked with literal superhot
flames, would He pull them out of the flames if they were wicked? Why
would He
not leave them there? Where would He take them, and why?
Truly
it is Hell to hide from God. In Hell, we experience bitterness, self-pity,
resentment, and hatred. We feel selfishness, jealousy, vengeance, envy,
and lusts of the flesh. In Hell, we are at enmity with God, by nature,
resisting His will. And in that state, we are already in touch with
the fire of God, for He is at work doing away with the Death
and
Hell that are within. God will not leave man to his destructive devices
forever.
Obviously, Hades/Sheol is not what men have taught it is. That
goes for Heaven as well: “And if they go up to the
Heavens, I will bring them down from there.” Truly, there is
much more mystery and different meanings to life, Death, Heaven,
and Hell than men have believed and taught. And these elements
are far closer and far more involved in our existence than we
have realized.
The great portion of pain the Lord had to suffer was to experience the
elements of a soul found in all evil:
“For He has made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians
5:21).
Jesus said He would be speaking to the dead (those in spiritual
darkness and disconnect with God), and they would hear His voice:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, The hour is coming and now is,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they
who hear shall live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so
He has given to the Son to have life within Himself, and has
given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the
Son of Man” (John 5:25-27 MKJV).
Jesus went into Hell when He died, the grave, even as David and
Peter testified, but He was not kept there. Instead, He defeated
Death and Hell for our sakes:
Acts 2:22-32 MKJV
(22) Men, Israelites, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God among you by powerful works, and wonders and
miracles, which God did through Him in your midst, as you
yourselves also know,
(23) this One given to you by the before-determined counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by lawless hands,
crucifying Him, you put Him to death;
(24) whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death,
because it was not possible that He should be held by it.
(25) For David speaks concerning Him, "I foresaw the Lord always
before me, because He is at my right hand, that I should not be
moved.
(26) Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad; and
also My flesh shall rest in hope,
(27) because You will not leave My soul in Hades [Hell], nor will You allow Your Holy One
to see corruption.
(28) You revealed to Me the ways of life. You will fill Me with
joy with Your countenance."
(29) Men, brothers, it is permitted to say to you with plainness
as to the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and
his tomb is with us to this day.
(30) Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn
with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to
the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit upon his throne,
(31) seeing this beforehand, he spoke of the resurrection of
Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor would His flesh
see corruption,
(32) God raised up this Jesus, of which we all are witnesses.
Peter was referring to David’s words as prophesying of Jesus in
the psalm a thousand years earlier: “For You will not leave My
soul in Hell; You will not allow Your Holy One to see
corruption” (Psalms 16:10 MKJV).
After His resurrection, Jesus preached to those who perished in
Noah’s day, thousands of years earlier, souls who were in Hell
and were dead to this world, as Peter also declares:
1 Peter 3:18-20 MKJV
(18) For Christ also once suffered for sins, the just for the
unjust, that He might bring us to God, indeed being put to death
in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit;
(19) in which also He went and preached to the spirits in prison [Hell],
(20) to disobeying ones, when once the long-suffering of God
waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared (in
which a few, that is, eight souls were saved through water).
David experienced and spoke of Hell (Sheol/Hades) in this life.
Was he burning up? He says:
“The sorrows of death hemmed me in, and the floods of ungodly
men made me afraid. The sorrows of Hell surrounded me; the
snares of death confronted me” (Psalms 18:4-5 MKJV).
Whether David or another psalmist, this person relates the
experience of Death and Hell in this world and God’s deliverance
from them:
“I love the LORD because He hears my voice and my prayers.
Because He has bowed down His ear to me, therefore I will call
on Him in my days. The sorrows of death hemmed me in, and the
pains of Hell took hold on me; I found trouble and sorrow. Then
I called on the Name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech You, deliver
my soul. Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is
merciful. The LORD keeps the simple; I was brought low, and He
helped me” (Psalms 116:1-6 MKJV).
Peter speaks of messengers put in the prison of Hell:
“For if God did not spare sinning angels, but thrust them down
into Tartarus [Greek, Tartaros, the lowest level of Hades or Sheol], and
delivered them into chains of darkness, being
reserved to judgment [Greek, krisis, correction]” (2 Peter
2:4 MKJV).
Is Hell Forever?
Those who teach an eternal (everlasting, time without end) Hell
plainly teach that Hell is the Omega (English “Z”) because
implying there is no end to it. But only of Jesus Christ is it said
that He is the
end of, or after, all things:
“I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, says
the Lord, Who is and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty”
(Revelation 1:8 MKJV).
“I came to be in the Spirit in the Lord's day and heard behind
me a great voice [the LORD’s], as of a trumpet,
saying, I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last”
(Revelation 1:10-11 MKJV).
Judgment Fires Are Correction, Not Destruction
When the Lord speaks of Hell, He does not speak of it as
mean-spirited charlatans and ignoramuses have imagined and
interpreted it to be:
“But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother
without a cause shall be liable to the judgment [correction].
And whoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be liable to
the sanhedrin [a corrective judgment council]; but
whoever shall say, Fool! shall be liable to be thrown into the
fire of Hell [Greek, Gehenna, a valley in Jerusalem that served as
a city dump for destroying refuse, metaphorically used here
to signify burning up the refuse in us, like injustice and
uncalled-for anger, which is what we all need, but not
forever, only until it is gone]” (Matthew 5:22
MKJV).
“And if your right eye offends you, pluck it out and throw it
from you. For it is profitable for you that one of your members
should perish, and not that your whole body should be thrown
into hell [Gehenna]. And if your right hand
offends you, cut it off and throw it from you. For it is
profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and
not that your whole body should be thrown into Hell [Gehenna]”
(Matthew 5:29-30 MKJV).
Jesus isn’t speaking of literal amputation and, in
that context, neither is He speaking of literal bodies burning
in literal flames of Hell. When we do evil to one another, and
if we persist, we are punished and subjected to a state of
torment, some of which is multiplied guilt and other like fruit
we have imposed on others, until we “learn our lesson” and
are cleansed of the evil we have done. Our spirits and attitudes are
corrected, not only to know better, but also to do better. Only God
can do this to and for us, and He does so by fire:
“And do not fear those who kill the body, but are not able to
kill the soul. But rather fear Him Who can destroy both soul and
body in Hell [fires of Gehenna]” (Matthew 10:28
MKJV).
What Is Destruction?
“Destroy”? Yes! He is able to do all things, but He is not
willing that any should perish; He will bring all to repentance,
every man in his order. But there is a destruction of sorts with
each one. I was destroyed when saved by His blood through a new
birth. I was never the same again. I am now a new creature:
“So that if any one is in Christ, that one is a new creature;
old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”
(2 Corinthians 5:17 MKJV).
While some are subjected to fire for purification, others are
imprisoned in chains of darkness for a time until a day of
judgment (correction), wherein they will also be cleansed by
fire:
“And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to the Heaven, shall be
brought down to Hell [Greek, Hades – the 'unseen'].
For if the mighty works which have been done in you had been
done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But
I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the
day of judgment than for you” (Matthew
11:23-24 MKJV).
However, there is not the slightest mention in Scripture of a time
of torment without end, or of torment for torment’s sake, except
by faulty translation of the Hebrew word for “age”, “olam” and
the Greek word for age, “eon,” to mean “everlasting,” in
order to please religious rulers who believed pagan doctrine, as in
King
James’ time.
Capernaum of Israel was once a prosperous, active city, which,
because of its sins, was laid waste in darkness (Hades). There
is no hint of literal, everlasting burning flames, but people
see these things only because they have been falsely taught.
Let’s stick with what the Bible says and ignore what men presume
or pretend the Bible says, according to the Hellish doctrines of
men.
The Lake of Fire Not Forever
Neither is the Lake of Fire the Omega, an end in itself, unless Jesus
Christ is the Lake of Fire - which He is - but His work on souls, and
Death and Hell are not eternal as is He. Therefore, while He continues,
His work ends. Yes, He is that unquenchable fire that never dies (for
our God is a consuming fire - Hebrews 12:29), yet the destruction of
all evil will come to an end. Because the fire burns forever does not
suggest that those things it burns last forever. That is a theologically
erroneous and hateful assumption many make.
Is it not written that
these things will pass away, and all things will be made new?
The Lake of Fire will do what
it must do until the job is done. Why should death be done away
with, yet last forever in fire? Why should that be so for Hell,
or anything else not wanted or needed?
“And the Devil, who is leading them astray, was cast into
the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, where are the beast and the false
prophet, and they shall be tormented day and night - to the ages of the ages” (Revelation 20:10
YLT).
The Lord speaks of a day of judgment. The word “judgment”
(Greek, krisis) speaks of “justice.” Is God’s justice one of
destruction or complete condemnation for all of eternity of one
created in His image? Is that what we see in the cross of Jesus
Christ? Is He not able to fix or correct that which He made and
for which He paid with His flesh and blood because it needed
fixing? If He can raise Himself from the dead, what can’t He do?
It is written and said that nothing is impossible to God, but I
say there is one thing He can’t do, and that is fail. To scrap
something broken or spoiled in the city dump is a polluting loss
and failure. If man can recycle and repair, how much more can
God? To condemn a living soul to perpetual destruction is
nothing short of a dramatic testimony of inestimable failure. We
have a much greater God than that. If not, we ought to look for
another.
Total Victory Assured
Jesus said to Peter, “And I also say to you that you are Peter,
and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell [Hades] shall not
prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18 MKJV).
What was Jesus talking about? Was His Body, His
Congregation/Assembly, going to assail the gates of Hell? Yes!
But if Hell is all about eternal flames burning people who will
never escape torment, why would the Church of God, His Body, be
pitted against it? If what’s done is done when souls go to Hell
to burn forever, as conventional religion teaches, then what
point would there be? What could the Body of Christ possibly do?
So we must believe that the common nominal orthodox concept of
Hell is not at all true.
So what is Jesus saying? He is saying that when the saints who
comprise His Body come against the powers and positions of
darkness (Hell), or if the powers of Hell come against the
saints, His Congregation, the saints will prevail. As we are
sent of God to speak the truth to you by the anointing of His
Spirit, Hell will not be able to hold you forever. That goes for
all those in their graves (spiritual Hell) who hear
the Voice of
the Son of God. They will come up and live. Hell will be
defeated in its grip, as will Death be defeated.
Life and redemption are inevitable, for nothing can stand
against the greatest power in all existence, that being the
Resurrection Power and Life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Resurrection means defeat of Death, does it not? Death and Hell
don’t stand a chance. By the power of resurrection life, the
prison of Hell is broken open and spoiled:
Isaiah 61:1-4 MKJV
(1) The Spirit of the Lord God is on Me; because the LORD has
anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to
bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those
who are bound;
(2) to preach the acceptable year of the LORD and the day of
vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
(3) to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them
beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the mantle of
praise for the spirit of heaviness; so that they might be called
trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He might
be glorified.
(4) And they will build the old
wastes, they will raise up the ruins of former times. And they
will repair the waste cities, the ruins of many generations.
Redemption, restoration, reconciliation, restitution – these
are the plan of God for all of His creation:
“And through Him having made peace through the blood of His
cross, it pleased the Father to reconcile all things to Himself
through Him, whether the things on earth or the things in
Heaven” (Colossians 1:20 MKJV).
“O Death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?"
The sting of Death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law.
But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57 MKJV).
If Death is defeated once for all, why not the dark, dank
dungeon of Hell, which came with Death?
So you see, Deborah, that men have not taught on Death and Hell
as they ought, and Jesus didn’t say or mean the things they say
He said and meant concerning Death and Hell.
One more thing: What about the story of Lazarus and the rich
man and the mention of Hell and flames? Read The
Rich Man and Lazarus - A Pagan Parable. Even if the story
were from God, it would be interpreted not in literal, but in
spiritual, terms, but it isn’t a story from God, and we make a
case to that end.
I was there in Hell, that spiritual prison and grave, being
spiritually dead, though no more, because He caused me to hear
His Voice there and brought me back from the dead. You are still
there, as have been all those in unbelief, but now the Lord is
granting you the privilege of hearing His Voice and coming out
of Death and Hell, as He granted us. He has come to redeem you.
Otherwise, you would not be here pondering and enquiring about
the things of life, asking these questions, and we would not be
answering you.
Read in our section The Restitution of All Things.
Related topics:
The Good News
The Great Promise of the Lake of Fire and the Second Death
The Purpose of Evil
Diabolical Doctrine: 15) Those who do not believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ will be fearfully and forever tormented, without
end
Victor Hafichuk
