Difficult Doctrines: Understanding Hell by Greg Bahnsen

This recording has been released into the public domain by the Bonsen Institute, where we aim to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Welcome again to our course on difficult doctrines of the Bible. Today we're going to be looking at the doctrine taught in God's Word, which is perhaps the most emotionally difficult doctrine of all for people to accept. That's the doctrine of hell. Turn with me please, in your Bibles to Isaiah, the 55th chapter. This is the text we're using as the theme for our course, and I'll begin the reading at the sixth verse of Isaiah, chapter 55. Hear God's word. Seek ye Jehovah while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous men his thoughts, and let him return unto Jehovah, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Again we see, as Isaiah tells us, that there are some truths about God and his relationship to man that are not as we might in our human way of thinking, imagine there are some truths which we might not enjoy given our ways of thinking. God tells us that his thoughts are higher than ours, that even as the heaven is higher than the earth, so his thoughts are higher than ours. We shouldn't expect that what we might imagine or project about God, what we might come up with on our own creatively, is necessarily going to match the pattern of truth as it's found in God's own mind. Our pattern of reasoning might be misleading. We should always be questioning ourselves and always checking our thinking and our feelings and our attitudes against the truth as God Himself reveals it to us. Isaiah 55 tells us that if we're going to do theology properly, if we're going to read God's Word correctly and faithfully, we need humility before God and we need teachability before God. We need to allow him to inform us. We need to bow our hearts and our minds to Him. This is especially an appropriate beginning, I think, when we think about the doctrine of hell. The doctrine of hell is surely the most dreadful doctrine in all of God's word. It's certainly a major cause of ridicule of the Christian faith, perhaps the major cause for the rejection of the Christian faith by those who come into contact with it. In its full Biblical orthodoxy. When people encounter Christianity and they hear of a God who sends people to hell, to conscious, eternal torment for all eternity, they often complain about that. They will ridicule it. They'll think that they're loving more, loving more, more compassionate than God, and therefore they'll find the Bible deficient by their own loving standards and reject what it has to say. But if this doctrine of everlasting torment is an expression of the mind of God, the uneasiness that we have about the doctrine, the uneasiness of men with respect to this teaching, is utterly irrelevant. The real question is whether we will bow our minds to God. When I was first told that I had a heart problem, an aortic insufficiency that was going to take me out of athletics and other sorts of things, that was an unpleasant truth. I didn't want it to be true. I wish that it were not the case. You think I could wish it away? However, you see, whatever my attitude is toward that heart condition, whatever my response is, whatever I might think of it, that condition is there. It's an objective truth. And in the same way, if the Bible teaches us that God sends men into everlasting conscious torment for their sins, it really, in the end, is not going to make any difference. It's going to be totally irrelevant what we think about that, how we feel about that. In fact, we'll be called upon to adjust our evaluations, our ethical assessments, to adjust our attitudes to what is the objective truth, and not think that we can create reality after our own thinking. There's a bumper sticker that I've seen from time to time that says something like, if God said it, I believe it and that settles it. I'm not sure who that comes from, so I don't want to endorse the bumper sticker necessarily. And I would add that my believing it doesn't settle it at all. That's not really part of the process here. But it's certainly true that if God said it, that settles it. And so tonight, as we approach this most dreadful doctrine, the doctrine of hell, the issue is going to be, what has God said about this subject? And to begin our study, I'm going to look first of all at this truth that according to Scripture, death is something to be feared. Now, I wish we could just take that for granted. I mean, people should know that death is not something you look forward to. But because unbelievers want to suppress the truth and unrighteousness, as Paul tells us in Romans 1, maybe it shouldn't Come as such a big surprise that in our culture we have many schools of counseling. We have a lot of therapy that's designed to take away the fear of death from people. We even have people trying on their coffins and talking to one another openly about their obituaries and so forth as a way to naturalize and to get used to this idea of death. But the Bible teaches us that death is something to be feared. You'll see this In Hebrews the second chapter, verses 14 and 15, Hebrews 2 at the 14th verse. Since then, the children are sharers in flesh and blood. He also himself, in like manner, partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and might deliver all them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage. The Bible teaches us that throughout our lives, especially if we're not trusting in Christ and don't have that anchor of the soul and confidence that he's going to take care of our problems before God, that throughout our lives, we fear death. There are people who will tell you that when you die, if you're not right with God, what God does is he annihilates you. You just go out of existence, just kind of like, poof. No longer there, no longer any consciousness, any memory trace, any kind of active involvement with anybody. No activity, no personality, nothing. You're gone, annihilated. Of course, if that were true, if the doctrine of annihilation were biblical, we wouldn't be able to make sense of Hebrews 2:14. Because if men who are not right with God are annihilated upon death, what is there to fear in death? Nothing whatsoever. But Jesus delivers us from this fear of death. And in so teaching, the Bible tells us that outside of Jesus, we are not delivered from it. And there is something to be feared. There is something dreadful, there's something full of dread about dying. And what is full of dread is not that we are annihilated. I remember after I had my first open heart surgery, the pain that I was in, it's like a railroad train had run over my chest, was not pleasant at all. And I was hooked up to a monitor that would allow me to have morphine. And I understand drug addiction now, believe me, because the morphine was very nice. But now a side effect of the morphine is it made me very drowsy. And I can imagine having gone through that experience very much, how somebody who is in intense pain might very well prefer unconsciousness to being conscious and having to go through that kind of pain. When somebody tells you that the judgment of God upon sin is annihilation, I want you to remember that that unconsciousness is actually a relief to a life of pain or sin or guilt, whatever burden may be upon somebody. Annihilation cannot explain what the Bible teaches about the fear of death. In fact, the Bible tells us that there are some things that would be better than to come under the wrath of God. Some things that would be in a better situation for you. In Matthew 26:24 we read of that very situation. Jesus tells us in that chapter, Matthew 26 at the 24th verse, the Son of man goeth even as it is written of him. But woe unto that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed. Good were it for that man if he had not been born. Jesus tells us that to have not been born, or if you will, non existence for an individual is better than to come under the wrath of God. When annihilationists try to defend their teaching, they often will tell us that the most scary thing possible for a human being is that he would lose all involvement in life, would lose all consciousness, would be annihilated. But of course, if someone is annihilated, then they don't exist. That would be as though they were not born, if you will. Jesus tells us that it would be better, not worse, better to have not been born than to come under the wrath of God. And so the whole thinking of annihilationists is contrary to the scripture. The Bible teaches us that death holds something to fear and that what's much worse than having non existence is to come under the wrath of God. And so secondly, let's talk about the necessity a divine punishment if death is something to fear. The reason that we fear death according to the Bible is that punishment awaits us. And that punishment is not arbitrary. It's not some kind of whim on the part of God. But there is a necessity to it, a necessity due to God's own holy and just character. Look at a few biblical passages in this regard. First of all, in Your Bibles, Exodus 23:7, Exodus 23:7 says, Keep thee far from a false matter, and the innocent and righteous slay thou not, for I will not justify the wicked. God says that those who are evil in his eyes, those who are wicked, those who have transgressed his commandments, will not receive from him the verdict of just. He will not pronounce them innocent, he will not justify the wicked. Exodus 34:7 the Bible describes God as keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. And that will by no means clear the guilty. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children, upon the third and the fourth generation. That phrase who will by no means clear the guilty is what I want you to focus on. God will not justify the wicked, and he will not clear the guilty. It would be contrary to his own character for him not to tell the truth about men and not to respond in a holy way to that truth. And if they are wicked, if they are guilty, they will not be cleared, they will not be justified by God. And what is God's attitude toward those who have sinned? Psalm 5, 4, 6 Fifth Psalm, verses 4, 5, 6. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness. Evil shall not sojourn with thee. The arrogant shall not stand in thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou wilt destroy them that speak lies. Jehovah, abhor the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. This is a very blunt passage. God hates sinners. You notice, by the way, the Bible doesn't take the kind of clever rationalization and evasion that you find on the lips of so many evangelical preachers. The Bible doesn't say God loves all men, but he hates their sin. The Bible says God hates sinners. He abhors sinners. They are repulsive to him. In Habakkuk 1:13, we read that God is so holy that his eyes cannot even look upon that which is wicked, that which is evil, and God finds it repulsive. He does not send sin to hell, he sends sinners to hell. We need to keep that in mind. The Bible is a very personal book. It teaches a very personal theology, not this abstract notion that God doesn't like certain kinds of activity, but he loves all the people, whether they're doing that activity or not. The Bible says he hates sinners. And in Romans 2, verses 5 and 6, we see again that God's holy character will not permit him to put aside the judgment of those who have violated his law. Romans 2, 5, 6. But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his works. Paul says that God is going to pay back render to every man precisely according to what he has done according to his works, and that what we are doing if we are in sin and do not Know the righteousness of God in Christ is that we are treasuring up. We are storing up not much of a treasure to, but we are adding up for ourselves through our hardness of heart wrath. So that in the day of the revelation of God's righteous judgment, what will be awaiting us is the wrath of God. God cannot deny himself. God must be true to his own holy character. Often enough, parents tell children to do things and then threaten them with some kind of punishment if they will not follow through. But those of us who are parents know what it's like to have said that and then not done it, to issue idle threats. We don't realize, or if we do, we're ashamed and we don't often talk about it. Admit it, we don't realize that when we deny the punishment that we have threatened, we are really making a mockery of ourselves and our own dignity. We're not just wasting our child's time, we're also saying something about ourselves. And we are very different from God. Or better, God is very different from us. He never violates his own integrity. God doesn't issue idle threats. And when God tells us that he is going to punish the wicked, he is going to punish the wicked. When he says, I hate the wicked. When you are storing up wrath for the day of judgment, we have to count on the fact that that is going to take place. Second Timothy 2:13 tells us that God cannot deny himself. If we were to just say, well, you know, this doctrine of hell is so unpleasant. Couldn't God just kind of say, well, I was in a bad mood. Let's just forget all about that. I was like a parent that doesn't follow through, that doesn't give rules and judgments that match his or her own character. If God were to act like that, he'd be denying himself. He would no longer be God. And that's why God cannot empty hell at a whim. He cannot just change his attitude about it. He cannot just change the way the system works. The necessity of divine punishment upon sin is seen not only in passages like these that we have read, but also, I think it's seen in the death of Christ himself. You see, if God could just, at a whim say, okay, I'll overlook the fact that you've sinned and that sin cannot dwell with me and that it's totally intolerable to my holy nature and I hate it. If God could do that, there would have not been a necessity for Christ to go to the cross. For then God could have said, I've decided to save some people and Jesus, you go into the world and you tell them about that, but there's no need for you to die. I just want to get the message out that I've changed my mind or I've just decided I'm going to wipe it away. I'm not going to act as though people have sinned. But God cannot do that. If he could do that, His Son would not have to have died. I wonder if you remember in the Apostles Creed that expression, he descended into hell. Now, often enough people have trouble with that because they think it's a reference to the doctrine of purgatory or some such thing. It is not at all a reference to the doctrine of purgatory. When we say in the Apostles Creed that he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, and then add, he descended into hell. What we're saying is that death upon the cross was. Was in fact the very experience of hell, the judgment of God on sin for the sake of his people. Jesus in agony on the cross. Of course the physical agony is enough. But I want to remind you that the greatest of all of the agonies that he endured upon the cross is when he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus in agony on the cross would not have had to undergo any of that if sinners would not face separation from God themselves, apart from what he was undergoing. You see, it's in order that we not cry, my God, why have you forsaken me? That Jesus cried for us, that Jesus died in our place. He descended into hell, separation from God so that we would not be separated. And so you see, death is something to be feared according to the Bible. Annihilation is not something to be feared. The wrath of God, however, is to be feared. God hates sinners. God finds sin abominable, and he will respond to it according to his unchanging, holy and just character. And that's why Jesus went to the cross, to be separated from God in our behalf. Why must Hell be infinite in its duration? Though people will sometimes say, well, yes, sinners deserve to be punished. But do they deserve to be punished? On and on and on and on and then on and on and on, and then a thousand times over and a million times over and a billion times over. Do they have to suffer unendingly? Is that fair? Is that just? When people ask me why Hell must be infinite in duration, the answer that I give them has nothing to do with the dignity of man or the significance of man and his choices. You see, it's not that I have infinite significance. And so when I sin now, I must suffer eternally. And it's certainly not that my actions in themselves are so important that when I have done something wrong and contrary to the character of God, he must send me to hell forever. It has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with. What's the alternative? With Him. You see, I'm nothing but a speck, a finite, infallible, and fallen speck in this universe. God could, in terms of my significance, just do away with that speck. But this speck, when he sins, violates the infinite purity and holiness of God. You see, it's the amount of the offense, not the significance of the offender, that makes hell necessarily infinite in duration. According to the Bible, hell amounts to death because it separates us from from God. And in God we find life. Remember how Jesus says that the Father has life in himself and is given to the Son to have life in Himself as well? God is the principle of life. God is life. Apart from him, there is no life. And so when God separates us from himself because of our sin, we are being separated from life, the source and principle and sustenance of life. And so hell is going to be nothing but a conscious, continuous experience of death, separation from God, and from all the blessings that God represents to us. Let's take a moment here to talk about the doctrine of annihilation as well as the doctrine of conditional immortality, because they are often set forth not only in cultic circles, but in our day, even in some evangelical or allegedly evangelical circles, as being the teaching of the Bible. Annihilationism is simply the view that not all men are immortal. Immortality is granted as a gift from God. Eternal life is given to those who believe in Jesus, but those who do not believe in Jesus, those who are unrighteous, will not be immortal upon death. They will simply be annihilated. Conditional immortality says that not all men are immortal, but that some men must suffer after they die for a period of time, but that suffering will one day end, and then they will be annihilated. The conditional immortality position is that when you do not believe in Christ, when you enter the life beyond the grave in an unrighteous condition, God will punish you for that unrighteousness. But then eventually you will have paid the debt necessary to God, and then at that point he will annihilate you and you will not know any eternal blessing. And so what separates annihilationist and conditional immortalist? What separates These two positions is simply when annihilation will take place. Will it take place right at death or will it take place after some period of time of suffering? These views are held by groups like the Adventist and the Armstrongest and the Jehovah's Witnesses. But what really concerns me is that the position of conditional immortality in particular has come to be advocated by certain fairly well known evangelical teachers in our day as well. But neither one of these positions will fully live up to the teaching of God's Word. They are both sub biblical positions, certainly more palatable to man in his natural way of thinking, but not at all true to the holiness of God and what he says about himself in Scripture. Annihilation is not torment enough. We've already talked about that and I hope that has sunk in for you. According to the Nihilationists, when the Bible uses the word Sheol it's referring to the grave. So that when people go to Sheol they do not go to hell. Conscious suffering, that just means their bodies go into the grave. In a minute we'll see that this is not true to the teaching of God's Word. But I want you to know how they account for those texts that talk about going to Sheol. So the body goes to the grave, but the person, what we popularly call the soul or spirit of the individual, is annihilated if that person is wicked, if that person is righteous, then he or she will be granted immortality. And some teach that there will be a period of sleeping for the soul and then God will raise the body of the righteous. And others teach that the soul of the righteous will be granted immortality immediately and then the body eventually will be raised. So there are variations among the annihilationists. As I've already indicated, according to conditional immortality, the wicked will suffer after death for a long period of time and at that point they will be annihilated. What does the Bible teach us about the duration of hell? Turn with me to Matthew, chapter 25 and let's just look at one verse, verse 46, Matthew 25:46. Jesus says, and these shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Now how long will be the punishment then of those that come under the judgment of God? Jesus says, what? Eternal punishment? But now annihilationist and conditional immortalist have an answer to that. Or so they think. They say if you do a study of the word eternal in the Bible, you'll find that sometimes the word eternal is not used in an absolute sense, but in a relative sense that is there are some things which are relatively eternal. A good example, in the Psalms we sometimes read that the mountains are eternal, and yet the mountains are not absolutely eternal. They're just relatively eternal because they last longer than anything else we know in our experience. And so those who teach this doctrine would say that the eternal punishment of God is relatively eternal. It's a long, long period of time, but it's not absolutely unending. But now, if you were taking one of my logic courses or a course in hermeneutics, and you can do that by means of our tate ministry, if you wish to, I would have you look at this verse and say, now what will not be taken account of if you say that the word eternal means relatively eternal in this verse, I'll read it again and these shall go away into eternal punishment. Relatively eternal, very long, but not absolutely unending, but the righteous into eternal life. Now you see what the problem is. If that's how you're going to interpret the word eternal, and especially what is a parallel situation within one verse in the Bible, then the next occurrence is going to have to be interpreted that way too. And what that is to say is that those who believe in Christ don't enjoy unending, everlasting life with the Savior, but just relatively eternal life. It's a long, long period, but eventually it will end. You know, I don't find that very comforting. I don't find that very biblical either. But just in terms of comfort, have you ever had the experience of going on a vacation and on the vacation you keep thinking about, oh, you know, it's only six more days and this vacation is going to be over. And then five more days and it's going to be over. You keep thinking about the end of the vacation. In fact, sometimes we can think so much about the end of the vacation that it actually ruins the whole vacation. Because that's all we can think about. Oh, it's not going to keep going and going. How would it be if we went to heaven? And eternal life means, well, it's going to go on for a long time, but you know it's going to end. Don't you think we would keep thinking about, oh, it's going to end, it's going to end, it's going to end. That isn't what the Bible holds out for us. The Bible teaches us that we will live as long as our Savior lives. And that is unending, absolutely everlasting. And here in Matthew 25:46, we see that those who are going to come under the judgment of God will be punished eternally as well. In the same sense, this is unending torment. In Matthew 25:41, Jesus speaks of eternal fire. Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels. And Jude, the seventh verse, also tells us that this suffering is going to be eternal. Jude, verse 7 even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example suffering the punishment of eternal fire. It may be of interest to you that way. Way back in the year 553, at the Second Council of Constantinople, there were a number of anathemas issued against Origen, one of the patristic writers. And in the ninth anathema, in the ninth cursing or condemnation of the Emperor Justinian against Origen, we read these words. I if anyone says or thinks that the punishment of demons and of impious man is only temporary and will one day have an end, let him be anathema. And so the Church, one of its universal councils, declared way back 553, the condemnation of God upon this view of conditional immortality. Of course, the Church council doesn't have ultimate authority for us, but I think it's important for us to see that this heresy has been around a long time and has been condemned for a long time by the Church. The fact of the matter is that the Bible teaches us in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, it teaches us from COVID to cover that God is going to send the wicked into everlasting, unending, conscious torment because his holiness and justice demands that punishment upon their sin. Now there is progress in Revelation. We'll see that. And by this I mean that you don't know as much about certain doctrines early in the Bible as you come to know about them later in the Bible. We all accept that. We know that's true. We don't know as much about the Messiah in the book of Genesis as we know when we come to the prophecy of Isaiah. And we know even more about the Messiah by the time we get to the end of the Old Testament and the prophecy of Malachi. But obviously we know much more after the Gospels or what the Gospels relate to us about the life and ministry of Jesus. And then we know even more because of the theological reflection of Peter and Paul and John and other apostles upon the work of Christ. So there's a progress in our understanding of the doctrine of the Messiah. Now likewise, there's a progress in our understanding of the doctrine of hell, of everlasting damnation. You will not know as much from the Old Testament as you do from the New, but that should not upset you. There is no contradiction between what we read in the Old and the New Testament. There is simply a developing body of information as God progressively tells us more and more about this particular doctrine that we are studying in our class today. If a year ago I came to this class and I said, I have a tree growing in my yard. And then I came back now a year later and I said, I have an oak tree growing in my yard, I don't think anybody would say, oh, That's a contradiction, Dr. Bonson. Both of those can't be true. It'd say, oh, you're giving us more information. You're giving us more detail. Last year we learned it was a tree, and now we've grown a bit and we can understand these things. We now know it's an oak tree. Well, I'm a little humorous about your understanding progress about my tree. But the fact of the matter is that God knows what his people need and he does not give them all the truth at one gulp. And so we will see a development throughout the Bible with respect to the doctrine of everlasting damnation. I'm going to begin in the Old Testament as we develop this doctrine. And first of all, talk about this word Sheol. I told you certain cultic groups will say that Sheol refers to to the grave. The fact of the matter is that the word Sheol never refers to the grave. I know that's going to come as something of a surprise. You might think, well, it doesn't always refer to the grave, but there are some references that do and some that don't. And if you use the King James Bible, sadly you will be misled somewhat. Sometimes Sheol is treated in that way. But if you go back to the Hebrew and you study each one of these texts, I would argue that not one of them refers to the grave. The word Sheol refers to the temporary place of departed souls after death. Sheol refers to the place of the departed personality or soul, not the body, but that which is the disembodied personality, the soul or spirit of a person. And it's a temporary place. Sheol is not forever. Those who go to Sheol are going to end up finally somewhere else. The New Testament tells us about that. And so Sheol is not the grave. By the way, Sheol never means non existence. When people die, they don't go to Sheol. In the sense of nonexistence, they go to the place of departed souls after they die. Now, what is this place like? Before I tell you what it's like, let's look at Daniel 12:2 so that you understand what I'm getting at when I call it a temporary place. Daniel 12:2 says, 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. This is one of the texts of the Old Testament clearly teaching that the saints of old look forward to the resurrection. And so she all being the place where those who are dead go is only temporary, because someday the dead are going to rise from the dust and their bodies and souls will be reunited. Our disembodied personality is going to again have our body, our bodies. And Daniel 12:2 teaches us so Sheol must be seen as that which is prior to the resurrection. So let's put this all together. Sheol is that place of departed souls after death and prior to the resurrection. In Psalm143.3, the Psalmist tells us that Sheol is a dark place. A dark place, interestingly, because Jesus in the New Testament will speak of hell as the outer darkness. Ezekiel 26:20 tells us that Sheol is a different realm than our present experience because people must go down into Sheol. It is lower than in terms of a figure of speech, lower than the world or life in which we now live. In Genesis 25, verse 8, we read that those who go to Sheol are reunited with their ancestors. Now, what can that possibly mean? You know what cultic groups say? That just means it's a mass grave. When you die, you go to Sheol and you're reunited with your ancestors because your bones are dumped in with your father's bones and your grandfather's bones and all the rest. Which of course is utterly ludicrous. Preposterous. Very few families throughout history have one mass family grave where one body is, you know, reunited with another. In that way, the Bible is referring to the departed personalities, people now coming and being again with their family members after death. And according to the Bible, in Deuteronomy 32, verse 22, there are apparently different sections of Sheol or different dimensions of sheol, because Deuteronomy 32:22 speaks of the lowest Sheol. Now, I don't know what the different divisions would be necessarily, but we do know that there's a higher and a lower, because we have this reference to the lowest. Comparatively speaking, the lowest portion of Sheol. And in Isaiah 38:10, we read that Sheol is inescapable. Let me read that text for you. Isaiah 38:10, Hezekiah here is speaking, and he said, in the noontide of my days, I shall go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years. Hezekiah thinks of his life being cut off, the residue of years being taken away from him, and he says, he will go into the gates of Sheol. That term gates, refers to being held back or hemmed in. So what do we know about Sheol just at the very beginning of biblical revelation from the Old Testament? It's a realm different from our own. It's a place that is dark. It is where all of our ancestors, in fact all mankind, eventually is gathered after death. There are different dimensions to it, and wherever it is, it's inescapable. Moreover, according to the Old Testament, it's the place of disembodied spirits who are quite conscious. Proverbs 9, 18, probably a very good example because it refers to Sheol in this way, in such a passing manner. It's as though everyone understood this. It could be taken for granted. Speaking of the man who does not keep sexual fidelity and chastity, he goes into the harlot and to the foolish woman, verse 18 says, but he knoweth not that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol. Wow. Actually, the word for the dead, or the disembodied spirits here is shades in Hebrew, the ghost. Little does he know that the shades are there. And that's because those who visit a harlot are as good as ensheol. Disembodied spirits in Sheol in the depths of sheol. And Isaiah 14, 9, 11 tells us that in Sheol people are conscious of what's happening to them. Sheol from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming. It stirreth up the dead for thee. Even all the chief ones of the earth. It hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall answer and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we art? Thou become like unto us. Thy pomp is brought down to Sheol, and the noise of thy the worm is spread under thee, and worms cover thee again. Interesting, because Jesus will later say that the place of hell is where the worm never dies. Here, as the king of Babylon comes down, those who are in Sheol say, oh, you too. Even the mighty of the earth have to come down. You're weak, like we are, and you see how conscious. Then the experience is as well. You see that it's conscious torment for those who are wicked. Indeed, the Bible teaches us that this is a place of suffering. Deuteronomy 32, verse 22. I referred to it earlier, but now I'd like to read it. Deuteronomy 32. 22. For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and burneth unto the lowest Sheol, and devoureth the earth with its increase, and setteth on fire the foundations of the mountains. God's rage here is seen as a burning anger, a fire that burns in Sheol. And in Psalm 116, verse 3, the Psalmist tells us it will be a place of painful distress. Psalm 116, verse 3. The cords of death compassed me, and the pains of Sheol gat hold upon me. I found trouble and sorrow. And then in Job 26, verses 5 and 6, we learn as well that it's a place of writhing and trembling in the very sight of God. Job 26, at the fifth verse, they that are deceased tremble beneath the waters, and the inhabitants thereof. Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon hath no covering. And so what do we know about Sheol? It's dark, it's separated into compartments. It's not a pleasant place. It's a place where men are conscious, they cannot escape from it. And those who are wicked suffer there. They know the burning anger of God. They know painful distress. They know writhing and trembling in the sight of God. But now here's the interesting thing which people who have not studied this often, even in the evangelical church, do not understand that according to the Old Testament, it's not just the unrighteous who go to Sheol, but the righteous go to Sheol as well. Genesis 37:35 is an example of that. Here the righteous are said to go into Sheol. But the Bible teaches that the righteous are delivered from the power of Sheol and are brought into the very blessed presence of God. Let's look at three passages in the Psalms very quickly. Psalm 49, 15. But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. The Psalmist says, God is going to take me into his own blessed presence, and the power of Sheol will be cancelled for me. Look at Psalm 139. 8. Psalm 139 in the eighth verse. Now the Psalmist says, if I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in Sheol, Behold, thou art there. And what's the significance of God's presence to The Psalmist? Verse 10. Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. The psalmist says, I'll be in the very hand of God, protected and guided by him, even when I am in Sheol. And one more passage, Psalm 73:24. Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. When the psalmist now enters the presence of God in Sheol, he says he'll be received in glory. And so Sheol is the place of the departed after they die. And it has at least two compartments. And those two compartments will be one for suffering, the darkness and the torment and the worms of God's burning anger. And the other will be a place for the blessed presence of God, where he protects his people and receives them in glory. And so the departed souls will know a division between the suffering and. And the wrath of God, and another division that knows the protection of God and his blessing. Now, I've belabored the Old Testament teaching, because again, when you run into people who deny the biblical doctrine, they will often say, well, there's no teaching like this in the Old Testament. But you see, we could end our class right here. I think I have proven the point that there is a doctrine of conscious, everlasting judgment and that all mankind will undergo the judgment of God. The wicked are going to suffer, and the righteous will be delivered from that suffering. In the New Testament we see explicit confirmation of this. Please turn to Luke 16, verses 19 to 31. Luke 16, 1931. Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, faring sumptuously every day. And a certain beggar named Lazarus was laid at his gate full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died, and that he was carried away by the angels into Abraham's bosom. By this time the Jews labeled that portion of Sheol, that was the blessed portion where the righteous are received into glory. The bosom of Abraham. And the rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades. Now notice here, this is the New Testament word for the Old Testament word Sheol. In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Remember what I told you about. Sheol has two compartments. The righteous know the blessed presence of God and are protected and the wicked suffer damnation from God's hand. And here the rich man and Lazarus both go to the departed, one to Abraham's bosom, the other to the place Hades, where there is suffering. But they can see each other apparently. And so verse 23 in Hades he lifted 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 in anguish in this flame. That verse ought to scare every self conscious reader of Scripture. For you see, this verse teaches us that one drop of water on the tongue is something for people to desire and eagerly seek after and plead for. That one drop of water would be relief. I know just a very, very, very little of that kind of suffering. I might refer again to my surgery. For my heart I remember how terrible it was. I could not have anything to drink. I wanted so badly to have something to drink. I couldn't even have a chip of ice until the doctor said I could. And then only on the hour and so forth. And I would lie in that bed feeling this pain, watching the clock, saying, only 30 minutes more and I can get a chip of ice to suck on. Now that is nothing by comparison to the kind of suffering that hell will be. Here the rich man says, father Abraham, let Lazarus come. Put a drop of water on my tongue. That's how terrible it is. Notice the torment then of the wicked. But it's a great place of comfort for the righteous. But Abraham said, son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things and Lazarus in like manner evil things. But now here he is comforted and thou art in anguish. And besides all this between us and you there is a great gulf fixed in that they who would pass from hence to you may not be able and that none may cross over from thence to us we learn something further. Not only are there two compartments in Sheol, in Hades, but you can't cross from one to the other. So Jesus teaches us here. Then he said, I pray thee therefore Father, that thou wouldest send him to my Father's house, for I have five brethren that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. But Abraham saith, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, nay, Father Abraham, but if one go to them from the dead they will repent. And he said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the prophets Neither will they be persuaded if one rise from the dead. That's a very dramatic and very significant passage. You know what Jesus is referring to here, don't you? He's saying, if the Jews will not hear Moses and then believe in me, they won't believe when I rise from the dead either. Because you see, if you do not accept the authority of God speaking in His Word, a message of torment will make no difference to you. And this is important for us to remember, as we were not quite done, but when we come to the end of our lesson, those who will not accept the doctrine of everlasting damnation, I dare say it's because they do not have a perfect prior commitment to the supreme authority of God's word. The doctrine is taught here in the Bible. The Old Testament doctrine of Sheol comes over into the New Testament with the Greek word Hades. Let me give you some text that you can look up on your own. Hades according to the New Testament is the intermediate state after someone dies and prior to the resurrection, exactly as Sheol in the old Testament. Acts 24:15 combined with Revelation 20, verses 13 to 15 will show you that those who die go into Hades, but only until the time of the resurrection. In Revelation 20 you will read, the day is coming when death and Hades will be cast into what? The lake of fire. The day is coming when those who are suffering in soul are going to suffer in the lake of fire with body and soul after the resurrection. Hades is where the soul goes while the body decays. Acts 2:31 can be read in that respect. Acts 2:31 tells us that Jesus did not undergo this experience, but notice how it's described. He foreseeing this. That's David spake of the resurrection of Christ, that neither was he left unto Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. Those who go to Hades have their bodies decay in the tomb, but Jesus didn't undergo that because he was raised from the dead. Second Peter 2. 9 tells us that the unrighteous are under punishment in hades even now. 2nd Peter 2. 9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment. The unrighteous are being tormented even now and are being kept by the judgment of God until the final day there. And so we see that both the Old Testament and the New Testament teach that the unrighteous will pass out of this life into conscious suffering from which the people of God will be spared. But now we need to look at one other important biblical Word, we've looked at Sheol, we've looked at Hades. These two are the same, just Old Testament, New Testament vocabulary. But in the New Testament, we also read of a place called Gehenna. Gehenna, often translated hell. And what the Bible teaches us about Gehenna is that it is the ultimate and unending destiny of the wicked. After the general resurrection and the judgment of God. After the resurrection takes place and the wicked have their bodies restored to them, then God will punish those who had been in Hades by sending them into Gehenna, into hell. The word is used a dozen times in the New Testament, and interestingly, 11 of those 12 times, it's Jesus who is speaking. I find that interesting because often people who repudiate hellfire damnation preaching will say, that's not the spirit of Jesus. Jesus is kind and gentle and loving. He wouldn't talk like you preacher, about hellfire and so forth. Well, you know about everything we know regarding Gehenna comes from the lips of Jesus. He's the one who tells us about hell. The word Gehenna is the Greek transliteration of a Hebrew word. And the Hebrew means the Valley of Hinnom. The Valley of Hinnom was right outside of Jerusalem, is well known to all of Jesus hearers in the Old Testament. It was at a place of idolatrous human sacrifice. And so it was unclean, it was detestable. The valley of Hinnom, 2 Kings 23:10 tells us it was a place of idolatry and where humans were sacrificed to pagan gods. We read of it also in 2nd Chronicles 28:3 and 2 Chronicles 33:6. So the old Testament already sees it as a despicable place. But by the time the New Testament rolls around, the era of the New Testament, it had become a garbage dump. And it was a garbage dump where fires were always burning and the worms never stopped eating away at the stuff that was thrown into this Valley of Hinnom. And it's this picture that Jesus uses to teach us about the final destiny, the ultimate ending point for the wicked after the resurrection and the judgment of God. It was a picture that he did not make up himself. It's something that was already in development prior to his coming, especially in rabbinic teaching. In fact, we later see teaching about Gehenna or the Valley of Hinnom in the Talmud apocalyptic literature, the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha literature of the Jews as well. In fact, the Midrash of the Jews mentions Gehenna 75 times. So the Jews were very familiar with this doctrine of Gehenna, and Jesus comes and makes ready use of that to teach us the final destiny of the wicked. Christ deliberately used this word and used its imagery to illustrate the final judgment that awaits those who do not believe in him. He spoke of that final judgment as bringing unending fire, unquenchable fire as bringing undying worms. Matthew 23:33 tells us it's the place of judgment. Matthew 23:33 Fill ye up, then the measure of your fathers, ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of Gehenna, the judgment of hell? And according to Jesus, in Gehenna it is the body and the soul that will then be punished. Matthew 10:28 and be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both souls, soul and body, in Gehenna in hell. Matthew 5:29 30 teaches the same thing, that it's body and soul that get punished in hell. In Mark the ninth chapter, we have this imagery that I've already referred to, where Jesus tells us that it's a place of conscious suffering. Mark 9:43 to begin with, 9:43 and if thy hand cause thee to stumble, cut it off. It is good for thee to enter into life maimed, rather than having thy two hands to go into hell, Gehenna into the unquenchable fire, then verse 47 and if thine eye cause thee to stumble, cast it out. It is good for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell, where their worm dieth not. And the fire is never quenched. The rabbis taught, I'm quoting here from the Babylonian Talmud, the worms are as painful to the dead as a needle in the flesh of the living. The reason I read that is because I want to make it very clear that nobody in Jesus, they had any doubt that when he talked about the unquenchable fire and the worms, he was talking about something that's very conscious. It's not just the body being destroyed by worms or fire, but it's a kind of torment that will never end. And it's very conscious. In Matthew 8:12, Jesus said it would be the outer darkness where there is the weeping and wailing and what gnashing of teeth. You know, when people gnash their teeth when they're excruciating pain. This is not a pleasant doctrine. I realize that the imagery is very frightening. It's meant to be. We find similar imagery in Revelation 20:10, 15, Revelation 20. At the tenth verse after the resurrection comes the judgment of God. We read, and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet. And they shall be tormented day and night, forever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. And books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them. And they were judged every man, according to their works. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire. And if any was not found written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the lake of fire. The lake of fire, as you see, is a time after Hades. It is known as the second death. It's a place of torment and it will go on forever and ever. One footnote to this imagery about the unquenchable fire and the undying worms. We're sometimes told by evangelicals who teach conditional immortality that what that really refers to is personal destruction, the disintegration of the person, so that eventually, after the torment of the fire and the worms, there's no person left. So you see, they try to turn it into imagery for a long duration of punishment and then finally annihilation. However, in Matthew 10:28, where we read of personal destruction, the very same Greek word is used in Matthew 26:52, where Jesus says, all those who take the sword will die by the sword. They will perish by the sword. And the word perish there by the sword is the same word found elsewhere for undergoing the destruction of hell. Now, when someone perishes by the sword, does that mean that they go into non existence? Kind of like your Star wars view, you know, gets hit just right and poof, the guy's gone. No, it doesn't mean that at all. And so annihilationists who try to teach the destruction of hell, meaning personal destruction unto non being or non existence, are simply not being true to the teaching of God's word. Before we end this class on this dreadful doctrine, obviously we need to say something about the Objections that people have to it now be very brief about them. I don't think we should spend a lot of time trying to find some rational pattern of thinking that will make people happy that God is angry with sin in this way. Because God is angry with sin and sinners and his holy character is such that he will send them to everlasting damnation. Well, some people will say, well that's just unfair, that's unjust. I'll be very brief. The problem is not that the doctrine of hell is unfair, it's rather that our estimate of the wickedness of sin is too low. We just have to swallow hard and realize that God's a lot more holy than we are. And therefore God is a great deal more offended by our wickedness than we are. We might think, oh, but a little word of gossip, a little slander, a little backbiting, everlasting damnation, you betcha. That's because God is so just and righteous and pure and holy. If we want to understand how horrible our sin is, we need to understand how horrible the punishment will be for it. So rather than saying God is unfair, let's just admit that we don't have a high enough estimate of the wickedness of sin. The doctrine of hell is just the other side of the doctrine of God's holiness. To the degree that you mitigate the biblical teaching about hell, to the same degree you mitigate the holiness, righteousness and justice of God. Well then a second objection is, well, but it's so unpleasant, it's so unbecoming. How many hellfire damnation sermons do we hear today in evangelical churches? I mean, that's really fallen out of popularity, hasn't it? How many hellfire damnation sermons do we hear in the circles of the reformed faith? The fact of the matter is it's considered gauche. You know, smooth preachers who want to bring people to their churches and grow to behemoth Baptist or whatever it is it's going to be, are not going to be preaching sermons that people think are appropriate to the Puritan era. Hey, the Puritans didn't make up this stuff. They didn't discover this either. This goes all the way back to the days of the New Testament and the Old Testament. And yet we don't preach it. We're afraid to preach it. We'll think that people will see us as old fashioned or somehow weird. But you see, as unpleasant as the doctrine of hell is, it enables us to see and to understand how the God looks upon our sin. If you find the doctrine of hell repugnant. Then what you learn is that God finds you repugnant. He finds me repugnant. Now we see how unbecoming our sin is, how unpleasant it is, how ugly it is in the sight of God. As a matter of fact, sin punished is actually a good thing. Sin punished is a good thing. It's sin that's left unpunished that would be far more unbecoming, far more unpleasant. For you see, it's one thing to have the horror of sin, and it's another thing to say that that will never be corrected. The doctrine of hell may be unpleasant, but far more unpleasant would it be if God simply looked the other way. Then there will be people who say, but it's inappropriate for a loving God to send people to hell. Friends, let's remember that God is not to be made over in man's image. We mustn't imagine God to be like unto ourselves. It's rather we who were made in the image of God. And now God expects us to imitate him, to think his thoughts after him, to reflect his holiness and his attitudes. The doctrine of hell provides us an opportunity then to be more godlike and less idolatrous, less making up a view of God that pleases ourselves. And again, whether we like the doctrine of hell or not, it is still the truth. The actual, the one and only, the living and true God with whom we have to do, whether we like it or not, regardless of our feelings, tells us this is what he will do to those who are unrepentant and do not flee to Christ for salvation. Whatever we are to think of God must be based upon his self revelation or we are taking a very dangerous route, not just in our thinking, but for all eternity. But there is good news about hell. I know that's going to sound strange. There is some good news about hell. I can think of five good things about the doctrine of hell. First of all, the doctrine of hell tells me that my God is just and my God is holy. And therefore the doctrine of hell tells me I must respect my God. Secondly, the doctrine of hell tells me that God can be counted on to be faithful to his character and to his word. And why is that good news? Because if God can be counted on to punish the wicked, then God can be counted on to keep his promises of salvation. But now let's go back and reverse that. If God isn't going to punish the wicked, if you can't count on his character to be consistent and faithful, then his promise of salvation may be counted cancelled as well. The fact that God can be counted on to live up to his character tells me that his promise of salvation will never be annulled. Thirdly, the doctrine of hell teaches me that every wrong will be avenged from history. One of the hardest things we go through, I think, in this life, when we encounter the sin and the injustice and the cruelty of men, is how to deal with that. We so much want to have vengeance our own way, and it bothers us so much. It bothers me greatly. I don't want to bore you with tales, but people who have done me wrong, terrible, broken my heart, stomped on me, kicked me when I was down. When I think of all of those situations, and much worse when I think of the idiomines of history, the Hitlers of history, and on and on, I think there is comfort in knowing that God will balance the scales of justice and that every wrong will finally be avenged and evil will not prevail. Not only just in the big overall picture, but evil will not prevail for one moment. There will never be a sin or an injustice that is not going to be corrected according to God's eternal standards. No matter how large, no matter how small, the evil will be avenged. Fourthly, the doctrine of hell is good news because it means God respects human dignity. That sounds a little ironic. You think? Well, going to hell doesn't seem very dignified. Yes, but don't you see? Those who go to hell go to hell by their choice, and God respects those choices. God would not respect the dignity of man if he always corrected every wrong choice that we made. He says, you can plant corn, you can plant strawberries, but if you plant corn, strawberries will grow anyway. You see, that's just God overriding whatever we choose to do. God says, you can plant corn, you can plant strawberries, and what you sow, you will reap. The doctrine of hell, you see, basically, is God saying to those who would not pray, thy will be done. It is God saying, then thy will be done. Because those who in this life say, I don't want to live with you, God, I don't want to follow your will, I don't want you around. I remember Jean Paul Sartre in his autobiography Words talked about how he hated the idea that God was looking at him all the time. He collared the Holy Spirit in the basement one day and threw him out. When people don't want God in their lives, God will verify their choice. And he will say, then so be it, then your will be Done. Depart from me, ye who work iniquity. And fifthly, the good news about Hell is that God honors our human choices through all eternity. He does not impose a reversal of what we have chosen. There is bad news about hell though. Of course. And that's what I want to leave you with. The bad news is this. We all deserve it. This terrible place I've described is where I should go when I die, and you too. And so the Bible would teach you to flee from the wrath to come. It may not be popular these days to preach hellfire, but I'm preaching it. I'm telling you the truth of God's word is that is where you will end up if you do not embrace Christ as your only hope in life and death. Flee from the wrath to come. And how should you respond to this news about hell? Thank God for his mercy in Christ against the black picture of Hell. You can understand the bright, glorious picture of the mercy of God. That though we all should go there, Christ went for his people instead. And I think when we present this doctrine, we would do well to remember to present it with humility. So often I think the doctrine of hell has gotten a bad name. Not just because it's a difficult emotional doctrine, but because Christians present itself righteously. And I would warn you against that. The doctrine of hell is not something to be flippant about. It's not something to be superior about. It's something to be very humble about. And lastly, always present this doctrine with urgency. I'm going to leave you with this thought. If you believe what I've been teaching, you wouldn't be in this class and be looking at these Bible verses unless you did believe this. If you believe this, if you really believe this dreadful doctrine of the outer darkness, the undying worm and the unquenchable fire, and the weeping and wailing and the gnashing of teeth and the lake of fire into which body and soul will be cast. If you really believe that, how can you possibly be silent? How can you not tell people of the way of escape that's been provided for us? Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we come to you and we ask you that you would humble our hearts before you. That you'd help us to bow our minds to you and accept the teaching of your word, your self revelation, and not to prefer our own thinking or our own attitudes and feelings and our own evaluations to your holy and true Word. I pray, Lord, that you'd help us to be faithful in understanding the doctrine of everlasting damnation as it's taught from COVID to cover. In your word, I pray that we would respond appropriately to it. That we not only defend it as a matter of truth in the scriptures, but that we personally would flee from that wrath and embrace the Savior and thank you for your mercy. That we would open our mouth to speak to others, to tell them how they can escape the dreadful judgment that awaits them. I pray that you'd help us to do that, not with a self righteous sense, but with true humility, with the spirit of graciousness, even as you have shown us grace in our own lives. We thank you again for telling us the truth, that we might know how to respond and that in telling us the truth you also set us free. For it's in Jesus blessed name we pray. Amen.

This recording has been released into the public domain by the Bonson Institute. Duplicate application, sharing and distribution is encouraged. For more information about the life and Ministry of Dr. Greg L. Bonson, visit our website, bonsoninstitute.com where we aim to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.