State of the Dead and Hellfire Bible Studies
“For to him that is
joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead
lion. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing,
neither have they any more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. Also
their love, and their hatred, and their envy is now perished; neither have they
any more a portion for ever in any thing that is under the sun.”
Ecclesianstes 9:4-6
What happens
when we die?
This is an important question, this is one of the most
widely asked questions, and like all questions the Bible has an answer.
Why is this
important?
This is important because Satan is planning to deceive the
whole world with miracles. (Revelation 13:14) The only way Satan can deceive us
however is if we do not receive the “love of the Truth.” (II Thessalonians
2:10) Part of that is the truth of the state of the dead, and if you read on
you’ll soon see that this is in-fact a big part of it.
What is does
it mean to be alive?
In order to understand what death is we must first
understand the gift of life. To do this we go on a journey to the very
beginning of time.
Gen 2:7 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.”
·
Here we see
that life involves two things
I.
The dust of
the earth, the body
II.
The breath of
God, also referred to as a spirit (Job 27:3) the words breath and spirit
actually refer to the same thing.
Now we know
what life is, what is death?
Ecclesianstes 12:7 “Then
shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit (or breath) shall
return unto God who gave it.”
Psalms 146:3,4 “Put not
your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His
breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts
perish.”
·
Clearly when
we consult the Bible and the Bible alone we can see that death is simply a
state of sleep. Where there is no thought.
Are the dead
in Heaven praising God?
Psalm 115:17 “The dead
praise not the LORD neither any that go down
into silence.”
Psalm 6:5 “In death there
is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks.”
·
The dead
cannot praise God because they are simply asleep
Is the soul
immortal?
I Timothy 6:16 “Who only
hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no
man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
·
Only God is
immortal
Furthermore “Behold, all
souls are mine; as the soul of the father so also the soul of the son is mine:
the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Ezekiel 18:4
·
It is
interesting to note that the Bible says the word soul 1600 times but never
mentions the human soul being immortal.
·
Romans 2:7
tells us that we seek for eternal life, we would not have to seek for something
that we already have.
Is it
possible that Jesus changed all this on the Cross of Calvary?
Acts 2:29,34 “Men and
brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both
dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day…” “For David is not
ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, the LORD said unto my LORD, ‘Sit thou on my right hand.’”
·
Evidently
Jesus’ death did not change this fact because Jesus would have brought the
patriarchs to Heaven and did not. They remain dead with the exception of Moses
who was raised from the dead and brought to Heaven (Jude 9); Enoch who was
taken up to Heaven as well having never felt death. (Jude 14,15) and Elijah who
was taken to Heaven in a chariot of fire before the very eyes of Elisha. (II
Kings 2:11)
What is the
promise given to the saints?
I Corinthians 15:52-54
“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet
shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must
put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,
and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’”
I Thessalonians 4:16,17
“For the LORD Himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump
of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the LORD in the air: and so we shall ever be with the LORD.”
Revelation 20:2-6 “And he
laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and
bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him
up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till
the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a
little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was
given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that that were beheaded for the
witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the
beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads,
or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But
the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.
This is the first resurrection. (see John 5:28,29) Blessed and holy is he that
hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power,
but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a
thousand years.”
Revelation 21:1 “And I
saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were
passed away”
What is
hellfire and do people burn eternally?
To answer this question we must compare scripture upon
scripture and line upon line (Is 28:10) just like we have been, but what
becomes crucial here is that we understand the deeper meaning of texts and the
importance thereof.
Revelation 20:9-10 “And
they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints
about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured
them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day
and night for ever and ever.”
Revelation 14:11 “And the
smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no
rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever
receiveth the mark of his name.”
·
* Wow, sounds
pretty serious. We know from what we’ve just studied that the souls of ALL the
dead are in a state of sleep until the soon coming of our LORD and Savior in the clouds of glory. Obviously that
means that no one is burning in hell right now.
· *Well,
obviously there are going to be very many people who receive the beast’s mark
(Rev 13) most of the world actually. That along with all the wicked and unbelieving
multitudes throughout all the ages, there will obviously be a hellfire for
those people, the question we must ask is this, is the hellfire going to burn
eternally as in literally forever or is “for ever” a reference to a period of
time?
Exodus 21:6 “Then his
master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or
unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and
he shall serve him for ever.”
·
*Well, unless
these Israelites from Moses’ day are still slaves to dead masters despite
themselves being dead, forever clearly is being used to describe the period of
a lifetime.
I Samuel 1:22,28 “But
Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, ‘I will not go up until the
child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and there abide for ever...” “Therefore
also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the LORD and he worshipped the LORD there.”
·
*This
scripture plainly states that the term forever is being used only to describe
the lifetime of a person. The term “for ever” is blatantly not used to describe
an eternity.
Jonah 1:17; 2:6 “Now the
LORD had
prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the
fish three days and three nights…” 2:6 “I went down to the bottoms of the mountains;
the earch with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought mup
my life from the corruption, O LORD my God.”
·
*Jonah
describes his experience as having been in the great fish’s belly “for ever”
and yet we know from verse 17 of chapter 1 that he was there three days and
nights. Again the term forever means only a period of time not a literal
eternity.
Let’s dig
deeper.
Notice in Revelation chapter 20 that after the Thousand
Year Reign of the righteous with the LORD and
Savior Jesus Christ the wicked are raised from the dead. (Rev 20:7) Satan
convinces them to come against the New Jerusalem in verse 9, and in the end of
verse 9 and all of verse 10 God destroys the wicked using the hellfire. So if
hell is literally an eternal place of burning are we to believe that the saints
will forever have the wicked encamped about them burning for all eternity. What
kind of place would haven be if Christ’s very elect had to listen to the
weeping and gnashing of teeth right outside our gates for all eternity while we
enjoy the love of our Savior’s presence day and night?
Furthermore, verse 9 describes the hell fire and “devouring”
the wicked. The flames cannot devour the wicked and yet also leave them to
burn. By reading farther down into Revelation we can see more clearly God’s
plan.
Revelation 21:1 “And I
saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the old was passed away; and there was no
more sea.”
·
* God is going
to make a new heaven and a new earth for the redeemed. There is not however, a
new hell for people to burn forever and ever.
·
* At the very
least we can now see that the common consensus on hellfire is not Biblical, but
in-fact is an invention of the anti-Christ which was to stir up fear and get
people to pay indulgences and other ridiculous rights.
·
* The Bible
paints a very different picture of hellfire that is in line with the merciful
and loving character of our God and Redeemer Jesus Christ and His Father.
More
Scriptural evidence
These are just a few more of the scriptural evidences
that prove that the hellfire is to destroy the wicked. It is the embodiment of
the second death (Rev 20:6). The effect of which is eternal because there will
never be wickedness again (Nahum 1:9), and the saints will live for all
eternity with the Lovely Jesus; a privilege which the wicked have sadly
rejected. By the grace of God I pray that I am among the saints and not among
the “dogs and whoremongers and sorcerers.”
Psalm 37:10,20 “For yet
for a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently
consider his place, and it shall not be…” “But the wicked shall perish, and the
enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of
the lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.”
·
* “Yet a little
while…” “consume away…” do these beautiful texts from God’s word describe
eternal burning? They describe a necessary punishment of the wicked, one who’s
effect is forever, but they describe that the torment of the wicked has a
definitive end.
NOTE:
Psalms 37:36,38 also shed
light on the subject, and it would be very Berean of you to search this wonderful
truth out.
Malachi 4:1-3 “FOR
BEHOLD, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and
all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them
up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root
nor branch. But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise
with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the
stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the
soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.”
·
* The wicked
will clearly be utterly devoured so that it leaves “neither root, nor branch”
Isaiah 47:14 “Behold,
they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver
themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at,
not fire to sit before it.”
·
* Once the
wicked are burned up the fire goes out. They will be fully devoured by the
flame and then that’s it, there isn't even a coal to warm by.
Jude 7 “Even as Sodom and
Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner gibing themselves over to
fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example,
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
II Peter 2:6 “And turning
the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow,
making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly.”
·
* Sodom and
Gamorrha are the examples of hellfire, and they are evidently not still
burning. Nay they are very much consumed.
In closing, Jesus loves every one of us. He gave His holy life that
everyone should have a chance at a life so wholly undeserved. Jesus loves so
much, that He will not allow sin to exist forever, and Satan, and all Satan’s
victim’s will perish because they, “received not a love for the Truth.” (II
Thess 2:10) So let us my brothers and sisters love the truth; let us love Jesus
who first loved us! Search the scriptures for in them you shall find truth.
Jesus loves us far too much to watch us burn in a literally eternal fire. He
also loves us too much to allow sin to continue to exist, and because of that
He will mercifully destroy sin, and those who cling to it. Yet He will be fair,
and just in all His punishment. For His love is without match.
