- XIX. Does The Bible Teach Eternal Life In Hell?
(Continued)
- B. Does The Bible Give
Examples Of “Everlasting, Unquenchable Fire?”
- NOTE:
- In this section the original Greek
or Hebrew (in italics and parentheses) follows it’s english
equivilant.
- To help with ones understanding
of the terms “eternal fire” and “unquenchable fire?”
Consider the following records of history:
- Jude 1:
- 7 Even as Sodom and
Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving
themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are
set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of
eternal (aionios) fire.
- NOTE:
- Here the Bible clearly states that
this is an example of eternal fire. This is the same Greek word that is
used for everlasting fire and everlasting punishment as used in Matthew
18:8 and Matthew 25:41 and 46.
- Genesis 19:
- 24 Then the Lord rained
upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of
heaven;
- 27 And Abraham gat up early
in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord:
- 28 And he looked toward Sodom and
Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and
beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as
the smoke of a furnace.
- 29 And it came
to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that
God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow,
when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.
- 2 Peter 2:
- 6 And turning the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an
overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after
should live ungodly;
- Luke 17:
- 29 But the same day that
Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from
heaven, and destroyed them all.
- NOTE:
- Sodom and Gomorrah suffered the
“vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 1:7) and then turned
“into ashes” (2 Peter 2:6). We know God did not remove the
cities to another location because Abra-ham could see the smoke (Genesis
19:28). The cities were destroyed and are an example of “eternal
fire” (Jude 1:7).
- Jeremiah 17:
- 27 But if ye will not
hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden,
even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will
I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces
of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
- 2 Chronicles 36:
- 19 And they
burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and
burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the
goodly vessels thereof.
- 20 And them
that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they
were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of
Persia:
- 21 To fulfil the word of the
Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her
sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil
threescore and ten years.
- Jeremiah 52:
- 12 Now in the fifth month,
in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the
guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,
- 13 And burned the house of the Lord, and
the kings house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of
the great men, burned he with fire:
- NOTE:
- Obviously the fire did go out and
Jerusalem was rebuilt seventy years later.
- The apparent meaning of “shall not be
quenched” is: When the Lord pronounces a judgment of fire on
something, that fire can not be put out until it has burned everything
up, leaving only ashes.
- 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, nor fire to sit before it.
- NOTE:
- What sinners will be unable to
deliver themselves from is the unquenchable, eternal, everlasting fire.
The fire will continue to consume everything that is wicked until it is
completely destroyed and turned to ashes.
- When the fire has gone out, the results will
be unchanged through-out eternity.
- Revelation 21:
- 4 And God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain: for the former things are passed
away.
- The wicked will have gone into
“everlasting punishment,” not everlasting punishing.
- Matthew 25:
- 46 And these shall go
away into everlasting (aionios) punishment: but the
righteous into life eternal.
- No one can quench the fire until it has completed its task.
- Isaiah 1:
- 31 And the strong shall
be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn
together, and none shall quench them.
- The effects of the fire will be eternal and everlasting.
- When one interprets these texts as: the
results of “everlasting and eternal fire” last for eternity and
that “unquenchable fire” can not be put out until it burns out;
then there is no longer any contradiction with the other texts but
agreement.
Dwight Waterhouse is the compiler of this information. Please feel free to send your comments and questions. David Waterhouse is the Webmaster. You can reach both of us at the same E mail
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