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Transcript 314A — Questions Concerning Hell
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Good evening, Brother Camping. I'd like to ask you a two-part question concerning hell. Where is hell referred to in the Bible as a place of eternal separation from God? And does an unbeliever go to hell as soon as he dies?
HC: All right. Two questions are raised. First of all, where does the Bible speak of hell as eternal separation from God? I think in II Thessalonians 1 God is speaking about the return of the Lord in verse 7: "When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints." That's one passage that suggests this very strongly.
A second passage that suggests this is in Revelation 22, where it's talking about the New Heaven and the New Earth. And in verse 15 it says, "For without are dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loveth and maketh a lie." This would include all of the unsaved, who are slaves of Satan; they are outside.
Now in the New Heaven and the New Earth we have the beautiful information here that the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it (verse 3 of Chapter 22). And so the unsaved are excluded from. the presence of Gbd.
CALLER: Where does this concept of fire and brimstone come from?
HC: Where does the concept of fire and brimstone come from? It comes from the Bible. In describing hell God uses this kind of language. We find this, for example, in the Old Testament, in Ezekiel 38, for one place that comes to my mind. We read in verse 22 of Ezekiel 38: "And I will plead against him [that is, against the unsaved who have been assaulting the church and trying to silence the Gospel] with pestilence and with blood. And I will rain upon him and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him an overflowing rain, and with great hailstones, fire and brimstone. Thus will I magnify myself and sanctify myself."
The same picture is picked up in a slightly different way in Revelation 20, where it speaks of hell as a lake of fire: "Whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire" (verse 15). Or again, the lake of fire is spoken of in connection with brimstone in verse 10 of Revelation 20: "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 forever and ever."
The Bible speaks of hell as a place of burning. Now actually, it uses other language, too. It speaks of it as a place of outer darkness. It speaks of it as a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, or as a place where the worm dies not, that is, where the maggots are crawling in and out upon dead corpses.
All of these word pictures are to give us a clear indicator of the awfulness of hell, the absolute awfulness of hell. That's not a place that anyone would want to go to. In Revelation 14:10 we have this language, speaking of the unsaved: "The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever. And they have no rest, day or night, Who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." The language of hell is terrible.
Now, actually, an unsaved person does not immediately go into hell. He goes into a place called Hades, which sometimes is translated hell in the King James Bible, there to await the Judgment Day of the last day. It's really a soul sleep situation for the unsaved. For the believers, of course, when they die, in their soul they go to be with the Lord Jesus Christ, to live and reign. But for the unsaved, they simply wait in Hades.
Then at Judgment Day, when Christ returns, the graves are opened and everybody comes forth. The believers of course are caught up in the air to be with Christ. And the unsaved stand for judgment. And then, after they're judged, they're removed into hell.
CALLER: Thanks a lot.
HC: Thank you for calling. Good night.