Here is one problem with understanding the verses about eternal
punishment – they use metaphors, and some of the metaphors are even opposites:
·
And the sea gave up the dead who were in it,
Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each
one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown
into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And
if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into
the lake of fire. (Re 20:13–15; 14:9–11; 21:8)
Is it literally death? Many verses associate hell with “destruction,”
which sounds like annihilation:
·
Their end is destruction, their god is
their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. (Php
3:19; 28)
·
They will suffer the punishment of eternal
destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his
might (2 Thessalonians 1:9)
Other verses equate hell with “darkness”:
·
These are waterless springs and mists driven by
a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. (2
Peter 2:17; Jude 6, 13; Matthew 8:12; 22;13; 25:30)
What understanding can we derive from these varied descriptions
of hell? Besides the use of metaphors, these descriptions might also be
pointing to various degrees of eternal punishment ranging from annihilation to
the torments of darkness or fire. Perhaps both? Indeed, there are several
verses that support the idea that there will be degrees of hell:
·
“But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the
day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you…But I tell you that it will be
more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.” (Matthew
11:22, 24; Luke 12:47-48; 2 Peter 2:21)
All of this leads us to acknowledge that we only are given
partial glimpses of “hell,” and that we are far away from having anything near
a comprehensive understanding of eternal judgment. Even if hell is just annihilation
for some, it is still a dreadful consequence. Another verse equates eternal
judgment with eternal regret:
·
In that place there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the
kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. (Luke 13:28)
Is hell a matter of conscious suffering or is it the eternal
consuming of their dead bodies. Isaiah seems to raise the latter possibility:
·
“From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to
Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the LORD. And they
shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against
me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and
they [their bodies?] shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.” (Isaiah 66:23–24; Mk
9:44–48; Revelation 14:9-11)
However, according to Jesus, there is a fate worse than
death:
· And do not fear
those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy
both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)
Perhaps Jesus was only pointing to the eternality of death? We can
conclude from all of these verses that hell is a never-ending punishment,
whether conscious or unconscious. In any event, hell should represent a terrifying
threat:
· For if we go on
sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no
longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment,
and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside
the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How
much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has
trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the
covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews
10:26–29)
Whatever our confusion about the nature of hell, we are still
mandated by a loving concern to warn as the Scriptures do.
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