The studies on the second coming of Christ and man's condition in death lay the foundation for this study. If you are not familiar with those studies, it would be best to study them first. (Except as noted all Bible references are from the NKJV.)
BEFORE CHRIST RETURNS AGAIN THIS EARTH WILL BE ALMOST DESTROYED BY SELFISH MEN AND THEIR WARS. AT THE SECOND COMING CHRIST WILL RESURRECT ALL THOSE WHO DIED IN FAITH BELIEVING IN HIM. THESE PEOPLE, WITH THOSE BELIEVERS WHO LIVE TO SEE CHRIST COME, WILL LEAVE THIS EARTH TO SPEND 1000 YEARS WITH CHRIST AND GOD THE FATHER AND THE ANGELS IN HEAVEN.
WHEN CHRIST LEAVES THIS EARTH WITH ALL OF THE RIGHTEOUS PEOPLE, THE FEW WICKED PEOPLE WHO ARE LEFT BEHIND WILL QUICKLY KILL EACH OTHER. THAT WILL LEAVE ONLY SATAN AND HIS ANGELS ALIVE ON THIS EARTH FOR THE MILLENNIUM.
AT THE END OF THE 1000 YEARS, CHRIST, WITH ALL OF HIS PEOPLE WILL RETURN TO THIS EARTH.
JUDE 14-15 "Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, 'Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all', to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." When Christ returns to earth with all His saints, His feet will touch down on the Mount of Olives. The mountain will divide and become a plain for the Holy City.
ZECHARIAH 14:4-5 "And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south. Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee As you fled from the earthquake In the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Thus the LORD my God will come, And all the saints with You." The Holy City, New Jerusalem, will descend from Heaven.
REVELATION 21:2 "Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."
The wicked will be raised from the dead to face judgment. Satan will be loosed, because now he will have someone to control. Satan and his angels have spent 1000 years on this earth, while the saints were in heaven, and the wicked were in the unconscious sleep of death.
John 5:28-29 "'Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice' and come forth; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."
REV 20:4-5 "And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection."
The wicked, led by Satan, will try to overthrow the Holy City. God will then destroy all of the wicked by "fire".
REV 20:7-9 "Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them."
All of the wicked, of all nations will be destroyed suddenly. All rebels including Satan and his angels are burned up leaving only ashes. The damaged old earth is also cleansed by the fire.
II PETER 3:7,10,12 "But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?"
ISAIAH 29:5-8 "Moreover the multitude of your foes Shall be like fine dust, And the multitude of the terrible ones Like chaff that passes away; Yes, it shall be in an instant, suddenly. You will be punished by the Lord of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise, With storm and tempest And the flame of devouring fire. The multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel, Even all who fight against her and her fortress, And distress her, Shall be as a dream of a night vision. It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams, And look; he eats; But he awakes, and his soul is still empty; Or as when a thirsty man dreams, And look; he drinks; But he awakes, and indeed he is faint, And his soul still craves: So the multitude of all the nations shall be, Who fight against Mount Zion."
See also ISAIAH 1:28-31; NAHUM 1:5,6,9,10
NOTE: God has combined two prophecies into one. In Ezekiel28 the destruction of the King of Tyre is also a prophecy of the destruction of Satan. In Isaiah 14, the destruction of the king of Babylon is a prophecy of destruction of Satan. In Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Zephaniah, Zechariah 14, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans is parallel with the last destruction of the wicked. In the book of Nahum, God's prophecy of the destruction of the Assyrians is also a prophecy of the final destruction of the wicked. In the new testament, Matt 24 and Mark 13 are predictions made by Jesus of the destruction of Jerusalem in 71 AD by the Romans. But they are also predictions of the last events prior to His second coming. Most Bible prophecies have more than one application or fulfillment. Peter's use of Joel 2 in the Pentecostal sermon (Acts 2:14-21) would be another new testament example. V. 19-20 were fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem in 71 AD by Titus, but they will be fulfilled again just before the return of Christ, and perhaps again, at the final destruction of the wicked after the millennium.
EZEKIEL 28:12-19 (The lamentation for the King of Tyre is also a lamentation for Lucifer.)
NOTE: that is from your own thoughts and actions.
JAMES 1:15 "Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death."
ISA 14:12-15 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit." (YES, EVEN SATAN WILL DIE!)
EZEKIEL 28:18 Satan is turned to ashes on the earth.
MALACHI 4:1,3 "'For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,' Says the LORD of hosts, 'That will leave them neither root nor branch. You shall trample the wicked, For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet On the day that I do this,' Says the Lord of hosts."
OBADIAH 16 "The wicked shall be as if they had not been."
MATT 3:12 "He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
PROVERBS 10:25 "When the whirlwind passes, the wicked are no more, but the righteous have an everlasting foundation."
PSALM 37:10 "Yet a little while and the wicked will be no more, you will look carefully for his place, and he will not be."
PSALM 104:35 "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more."
ISAIAH 47:13-14 "Behold they have become like stubble, fire burns them; there will be no coal to warm by, nor a fire to sit before." (THE FIRE WILL FINISH IT'S WORK.)
JEREMIAH 10:11 "The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens."
The final cleansing fire of Hell burns up more than just wicked people, the Devil and his angels. It burns up the sinful old earth and the sun, moon and the planets in our solar system.
REV 21:1 "Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea."
II PETER 3:7,10,12 "But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
II PETER 3:5,6,7 compares the end of this world with the destruction of the world by the flood.
Example Story: The molten core of the earth is broken up. The earth is a vast lake of molten lava. The Holy City floats safe, just like the ark of Noah floated on the water when the "fountains of the deep were broken up" at the time of the flood.
NAHUM 1:5,6,8 The mountains quake before Him, The hills melt, And the earth heaves at His presence, Yes, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, And the rocks are thrown down by Him. But with an overflowing flood He will make an utter end of its place, And darkness will pursue His enemies.
NAHUM 1:9 "What do you conspire against the Lord? He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time."
After the fire has consumed the wicked and the earth, God will create a "new heavens and a new earth."
II PETER 3:13 "Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells ."
REV 21:1 "Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea."
REV 21:5 "Behold, I make all things new."
ISA 65:17 "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind."
ISA 66:22 "'For as the new heavens and the new earth Which I will make shall remain before Me,' says the Lord, 'So shall your descendants and your name remain.'"
MATT 5:5 "Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.."
REV 22:12 "Behold I am coming quickly, and My reward is with me, to render every one according to his work."
MATT 16:27 "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His father with His angels; then recompense every man according to his deeds."
II PETER 2:9 "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." NO ONE IS BEING PUNISHED NOW!!
REVELATION 20:7, 9, 10 "When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released out of his prison..." "And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them." "And the Devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire..."
MATT 13:40-42 "As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth His angels and they shall gather out of His Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire..."
See Diagram
REV 20:9 "And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them."
EZEKIEL 28:18 "Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; it has consumed you. And I have turned you (Satan) to ashes on the earth in the eyes of all who see you."
PROVERBS 11:31 "Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner."
God Himself is the eternal, glorious "fire" that cannot be put out. His presence is joy to the righteous whose hearts are in harmony with Him, but consuming fire to selfish hearts. Like sound which fractures crystal, the presence of God destroys evil.
PSALM 50:3-5 "May our God come and not keep silence; Fire devours before Him, and it is very tempestuous around Him,...Gather My godly ones to Me, those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. And the heavens declare
His righteousness, For God Himself is judge."
ISAIAH 33:10-16 "now I will arise, says the Lord, now I will be exalted, now I will be lifted up. You have conceived chaff, you will give birth to stubble; My breath will consume you like a fire. And the peoples will be burned to lime.
Like cut thorns which are burned in the fire.
Sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling has seized the godless, who among us can live with continual burning? He who walks righteously, and speaks with sincerity. He who rejects unjust gain, and shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe;"
DEUT 4:24 "For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God."
HEBREWS 12:29 "for our God is a consuming fire."
The wicked have corruptible mortal bodies when they are raised after the 1000 years, whereas the saints have new imperishable bodies like Christ's after His resurrection.
LUKE 24:36-39; JOB 19:26; PSALM 17:15; I COR 15:42-44; PHILL 3:20,21
MATT 28:2, 3, 4. A Legion of soldiers fell as dead men from the brightness of just the one angel, who came to call Christ from the tomb.
II THESS 2:8, 9 When Jesus returns the wicked will be slain with brightness of His coming.
EX 33:20 "But He said, You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live."
LEV 10:1-6 Nadab and Abihu came into the sanctuary with censers filled with their own incense and "fire went out from the Lord and devoured them."
COMMENT: Notice in LEV 10:5, "they carried them out by their tunics." The "fire" which "devoured them" did not consume them completely. We may want to consider another element in the Revelation 20:7-10 story of the
"fire" which "came down from heaven and devoured them."
Satan deceives the nations of resurrected wicked. He gathers them for a last, all out attack, to try and take the New Jerusalem. What kind of weapons do you think will be built under the inspiration and direction of Satan, using the ultimate in star wars technology. And when these weapons are fired, what total world destruction will result? EZEKIEL 22:31 "'Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads.' says the Lord God."
WHAT WORDS IN SCRIPTURE ARE TRANSLATED "HELL"? WHAT DO THESE WORDS REALLY MEAN?
Old Testament: "Sheol": the unseen state or the grave
"Hades": the unseen world or the grave
These two words simply mean the state of death. They are not associated with a place.
New Testament: "Gehenna": Vale of Hinnom, a burning garbage dump just outside Jerusalem.
MATT 3:12 "He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire".
MATT 25:41 "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:
MATT 25:46 "And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
MARK 9:43-48 "To hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched - where the worm never dies, and the fire is not quenched".
REVELATION 14:11 "The smoke of their torment ascendeth forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night".
REVELATION 20:10 "The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."
First: God Himself is an unquenchable fire.
Second: The record of sin with it's devastation, and the record of God's saving love will be open to all the universe for eternity.
Third: Consider carefully:
ISAIAH 34:5-11. And in the same verse it also says the land "shall lie waste: and uninhabited. In the fulfillment of this prophecy the fire obviously went out.
In SAMUEL 1:22-28 "forever" meant as long as he lives."
In JONAH 2:6 "forever" meant parts of three days in the great fish.
If you will consult the Young's Analytical Concordance, looking at the Greek phrase for the words "forever and ever" you will see an * asterisk. At the bottom of the page by the asterisk you will note the words "This phrase has not been clearly translated." If the Bible experts do not presume to translate it then how can we say exactly what it means.
Christ's use of the phrase follows His very consistent pattern of quoting from the Old Testament, and His use of familiar objects. (MARK 9:43,44)
1. SODOM AND GOMORRAH are not still burning. They were destroyed as an example of "eternal fire". GEN 9:24; II PETER 2:6; JUDE 7; LAMENTATIONS 4:6
2.II CHRONICLES 36:19-21 predicts JERUSALEM'S DESTRUCTION BY THE BABYLONIANS.
JEREMIAH 17:27 is another prediction of that same event. Jerusalem was burned with "unquenchable fire". But it is not still burning.
MATT 3:12 says that "unquenchable fire" will "burn up the chaff". (God is the fire, and He is unquenchable.)
3.PSALM 73:12-18 David laments the apparent success of the wicked, until he enters THE SANCTUARY. Then he says that he "understands" what will be the end of sinners. The burnt offering, which was consumed to ashes is the only thing in the sanctuary service, which represented sin; It is a type or symbol of the final destruction of sin and sinners. They will be consumed to ashes.
PSALM 37:20 "But the wicked will perish; And the enemies of the Lord will be like the fat of lambs (a reference to the burning of the fat of the animal as a sin offering in the sanctuary service) they vanish--like smoke, they vanish away." (NAS and NIV translations say "glory of the pastures" rather than "the fat of lambs". The "glory of the pastures" was livestock to a Jew, not flowers.)
4.THE REBELLION OF KORAH - The destruction by fire from the cloud completely consumed the 250 Princes.
NUM 16:35
ROMANS 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
ROMANS 6:16 "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or obedience unto righteousness?"
ROMANS 8:13 "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."
I JOHN 5:11-12 "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."
JAMES 1:15 "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
JOHN 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
JOHN 6:40 "And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."
JOHN 11:25-26 "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, (sleeping in the grave in the first death) yet shall he live (He will live again in the resurrection.) .: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." (Never die the "second death", which the wicked will die.)
LUKE 20:35-36 "But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection of the dead... Neither can they die anymore." (The wicked will die again in the "second death".)
REV 2:11 "...he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death."
REV 20:6 "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall reign with him a thousand years."
REV 21:8 "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."
EZEKIEL 18:26 You can die twice.
1.We reject the teaching of eternal torment because it claims that the lost will continue living forever which is contrary to Scripture's plainest testimony:
"The soul who sins shall die" (EZEKIEL 18:20).
2.We reject the teaching of eternal torment because it robs us of our God of love and substitutes a being whose wrath is never appeased. "His mercy endures forever." PS 107:1
3.We reject the teaching of eternal torment because it cannot be reconciled with the picture the Bible gives of Christ.
4.The redeemed, who will have a part in the final judgment, could never condemn fellow human beings, their loved ones, to unending torture. Their sense of justice could never permit such an atrocity. "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? (I CORINTHIANS 6:2)
5.Eternal torment imposes a punishment all out of proportion to the crimes committed. (JOHN 5:30) "I judge: and my judgment is just", Christ tells us.
6.Eternal torment for the wicked would cast a shadow forever over the happiness of the redeemed. The Bible says "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes" (REV. 7:17)
7.We reject the teaching of eternal torment because it demands that an eternal plague of sin taint God's universe and makes it impossible for God to eradicate sin completely from his domain: "Through death He (Christ) might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (HEB 2:14)
8.Eternal torment would immortalize sin, suffering, sorrow, and pain. God's promise is that these things will be no more. "And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying neither shall there by any more pain; for the former things are passed away." (REV 21:4)
9.The teaching of eternal torment vilifies God's character and makes Him into a monstrous agent of Satan. God would have to miraculously sustain the lives of the lost in an aimless and endless punishment. Hence God would, in reality, become worse than Satan himself.
10. We reject the teaching of eternal torment because of the fruit it has brought forth here on earth. It has caused untold thousands, like Robert Ingersoll to turn their backs on God and become His bitterest opponents. Moreover, it has caused thousands of others to do unspeakable things to their fellow humans in the name of God. Many who led out in the infamous Inquisition of Europe and the witch-hunts of early America were religious men who believed they were carrying out the will of God. These devout persecutors tortured "heretics" in order to save their souls from eternal damnation in the flames of hell.
HIS MERCY ENDURES FOREVER PS 107:1
For further study into the reasons why God destroys the unrepentant wicked human beings along with Satan and his angels, please see the study entitled "What is the Wrath of God?"
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