An Exercise in Refuting False Doctrine
We should begin with the text that has prompted our study, Revelation 14:9-11 Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives [his] mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 “he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 “And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
Introduction
The language of fire and brimstone hearkens back to God’s judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet in this context the judgment is personalized to the individual sinner rather than rendered upon whole cities. Further, the consuming inferno of Genesis 19, is not directly paralleled here. The fire and brimstone are instrumental in the torture and torment applied to the sinner without respite. Rather than being expended in a single fiery cataclysm this fire and brimstone blaze without end. The smoke of torment is unceasing and the wicked there in those flames know no rest day or night. The agony is not punctiliar, but continuous and indefinite, “And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night.” All this torment is accomplished in the presence of holy angels and in the presence of Christ, the Lamb. The Heavenly court is witness to the guilty in torment, their punishment is meted out before the face of Christ, the Lamb. Recall that He has by His own blood saved an innumerable people from such an end, and has received all authority to bring about such judgment upon the reprobate. This brief survey is striking, especially when laid out alongside the false teachings of experts who fancy themselves far more merciful than God. It is not difficult to find religious “experts” reframing Hell in less offensive terms:
I believe that the ultimate annihilation of the wicked should at least be accepted as a legitimate, biblically founded alternative to their eternal conscious torment.
John Stott
Hell–or evil or sin, the various names it’s called in the Bible–is something that humans have created
Tim Mackie
Hell is something that we have created on earth. And God hates hell and He, the story of the Bible is the story about God wanting to heal his world and get the hell out of earth. Are you with me? That’s the story of the Bible. And God hates hell. Because what if, hell is about the unleashing of selfishness and evil and the breakdown and the degrading of dignified image bearing human beings. That’s what hell is.
Tim Mackie
My usual counter question is: “Why are Americans so fixated on hell?” Far more Americans ask me about hell than ever happens in my own country. And I really want to know, why is it that the most prosperous affluent nation on earth is really determined to be sure that they know precisely who is going to be frying in hell and what the temperature will be and so on. There’s something quite disturbing about that, especially when your nation and mine has done quite a lot in the last decade or two to drop bombs on people elsewhere and to make a lot of other people’s lives hell. So, I think there are some quite serious issues about why people want to ask that question.
N. T. Wright
So many who were taught to think of hell as a literal underground location full of worms and fire, or for that matter as a kind of torture chamber at the centre of God’s castle of heavenly delights, decided that, when they stopped believing in that, so they stopped believing in hell. . . . it is not the serious early Christian doctrine of final judgment that has been rejected, but one or other gross caricature.
N. T. Wright
There is no concentration camp in the beautiful countryside, no torture chamber in the palace of delight.
N. T. Wright
I think the people already know what they’re doing wrong, and I certainly believe in Hell. But to me, when I see thousands of people before me, it just doesn’t come out of me to say, ‘You guys are terrible, and you’re going to Hell.’ I’d rather say that God is a God of mercy. You’ve got to live an obedient life, but for every mistake you’ve made, there’s mercy there, and I believe we can do better.
Joel Osteen
I believe there’s a heaven you know. Afterwards, there’s, you know, a place called hell. And I believe it’s when we have a relationship with God and his son Jesus and that’s what the Bible teaches us. I believe it.
Joel Osteen
Alright, fine, it was mean of me to include that last quote. But there’s a kind of NASCAR wreck beauty about it that just compels you to read it over and over and shake your head in admiration. I have obviously included too many quotes, but it is important to be aware of the attack upon this Biblical doctrine. The doctrine of Hell is not one we gladly meditate on, and so we rarely check in to see how things are going in the church regarding this teaching. When any doctrine, any facet of the faith once for all handed down to the saints, is ignored, false doctrine arises precisely there. If we’re unwilling to diligently study what God has revealed about Hell, then we will take teachers’ words as truth instead.
We will get nowhere helpful by trying to address each subtle deception of false teachers. We need to begin with the plain statement of the doctrine from the Bible, beginning with Christ’s earthly ministry, proceeding to His Apostles’ preaching and then reflecting on how all this sheds light on various themes in the Old Testament. If anyone is upset by this trajectory, one must wonder, “why?” Someone may complain, “Well, of course, if you read New Testament themes into the Old Testament, seeing “Jesus everywhere” it all coheres! The point is that Hell is not in the Old Testament and is in sharp tension with statements in the New Testament.” In this instance a slightly sad, quizzical expression will suffice as the initial response. On to the doctrine itself!
Listen to Christ
By one count, the New Testament features 162 references to Hell and 70 of these come directly from Christ’s own teaching. With so much material we have no right to despair of God’s clarity on the matter. It is not as if we’re trying to discern between the values of supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism, or determining the essence of the Godhead’s perichoresis. The doctrine of Hell is not an impenetrable mystery, off limits to run-of-the-mill saints. It is also not a fungible material, to be molded as runs the fancy of churchmen, either medieval or modern. Finally, it is not a dispassionate investigation or a shibboleth football in the sport of debate. The doctrine of eternal judgment is weighty with the glory of God and should humble us in more than one way.
As we orient ourselves to the work ahead we must acknowledge that our feelings and experiences, although important at the application level, have no bearing on the interpretation level of Bible study. We must read the text of Scripture as carefully as we read broadly. This is hard work, and the only proper response to false teachers claiming the Bible supports their positions. False teaching thrives among churches full of lazy, distracted or ill-trained Saints. We must search the Scriptures in the fear of the Lord, by the light of Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s listen to Christ’s warnings about eternal judgment and discern if indeed Hell is made by men and hated by God. Let’s begin with three main passages, one from each of the synoptic Gospels.
Final Judgement in Matthew
Matthew 25:41 (NKJV) 41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: We observe that the everlasting fire (a great definition for Hell) has been prepared. It was not prepared BY the devil and his angels, but FOR them. We may rightly wonder what good is fire to punish non corporeal creatures, but we recall fire as the expression of God’s perfect judgment. Notice also the theme of exile or banishment. Being cast outside the camp is another Old Testament image of God’s judgment. Who then prepares Hell, that eternal exile of fire? Men with their wickedness, or God in His holiness? The latter seems obvious. Continuing on, we see more of the theme.
Matthew 25:42-46 ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 ‘I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 “Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do [it] to one of the least of these, you did not do [it] to Me.’ 46 “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Jesus so closely contrasts eternal punishment with eternal life, one cannot easily deny the one and affirm the other. A rejection of eternal conscious torment in Hell is by Jesus’ own connection of the two a rejection of eternal conscious blessedness in Heaven.
Counting the Cost in Mark
Now consider a relevant passage from Mark’s Gospel account. Mark 9:42 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea. One wonders what would be worse than being drowned in such dramatic fashion. How is death better than giving such offense? As we look at the rest of the passage, we discover a fate worse than death in the poetic description of Hell. This same kind of dark comparison is made as well about Judas Iscariot, (Matthew 26:24 (NKJV) “The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”)
Continuing on in Mark’s passage, we observe a pattern repeated three times. Mark 9:43-48 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— 44 where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’ 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— 46 where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’ 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire— 48 where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’ When we read about severing limbs and gouging out eyes, and when we read about maggots that never stop eating even though they apparently exist within a fire that never fully consumes the material it burns, we know that we are in the metaphor zone. The metaphors of repentance are laid alongside the metaphors of Hell. These metaphors are full of instruction as to the dangers and disaster of sin. They are built around the contrast of losing something in the temporary now and losing everything in the eternal not yet. Repentance is likened to lopping off appendages and gouging out an eye. The metaphors get at the costliness of denying oneself and following Jesus. Eternal judgment is likened to an unquenching fire and undying worm. Being eternally burned and eaten alive is an image getting at the horror of God’s everlasting wrath.
At first reading we are amply helped to see that denying fleshly lusts, though painful, is far to be preferred to the never-ending punishment of Hellfire. Consider that the sinner is called to action in repentance, but failing this, the sinner is passive as Someone else casts him into Hell. It may be noted that the language of fire and worms shows up in the Old Testament, and such passages will be examined more fully in future studies.
Parable of Regret in Luke
There is a much abused parable in Luke about the eternal states of a beggar named Lazarus and a rich reprobate. It is a masterful story and should be enjoyed in full. Luke 16:19-31 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 “Then 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.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ 27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”
The parable does not condemn riches and promote sore-riddled poverty, but demonstrates to Jesus’ audience that riches are not to be equated with closeness to God (a common misconception). The parable should also not be used to create new metaphysical categories like “Abraham’s bosom” or to anticipate a bunch of long distance communication between Heaven and Hell. Jesus’ story is not primarily an examination of the nature of the intermediate state, but a compassionate warning to those who trusted in false assurances. Nevertheless, we can learn from the parable some basic assumptions that Jesus does have about existence after death. After death, one’s body is buried, but one’s soul continues on either in the comforting fellowship of the saints or in isolated torment. There is no corridor between Heaven and Hell, that a saint may be lost to the flames, or that a sinner may escape the torment. A great gulf has been fixed. What makes the real difference between Lazarus and the rich man? Not their economic status, but their repentance at the proclamation of God’s Word.
Conclusion
After making these plain observations of just three Gospel passages, we must ask ourselves, do the claims of the false teachers remain intact? Is Hell man made, or hated by God, or temporary, or something absent from God’s direct control? Based on our reading of the Scripture what might be our conclusion? Allow me to sum up our position in the words of Joel Osteen, “There’s, you know, a place called Hell . . . and that’s what the Bible teaches us. I believe it.”
