Doctrines

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The Doctrine of Hell

   Hell is found fifty-four times in the King James Bible. It is translated from the Hebrew word Sheol. Thirteen times it is associated with a literal fire which is burning continually. Most of the time it is used to describe the abode of the dead prior to the dispensation of grace.

   Interestingly enough Paul never mentions hell. Why? In this present dispensation believers do not go to the abode of the dead (paradise, or Abraham’s bosom) as they did in the dispensation of law.

What did Jesus believe and teach about hell?

Luke 16:19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: 28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

   This is not a parable! Nowhere is there any hint of this being a parable. A person has to claim it is a parable to ease their conscience because they don’t want to accept that people who die without Christ are tormented in an eternal flame as the story teaches.

   This is where we get the name, Abraham’s bosom from but that is not its name. Its name is hell and always has been. The side where Lazarus went upon his death was called paradise since the beginning.

   Notice it said that Lazarus was there in Abraham’s bosom, which simply meant he was there next to Abraham. Notice that the rich man said that he was tormented in this flame.

Truths about hell

   One part of hell has fire in it all the way down to its lowest part:

Deuteronomy 32:22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

   David was compassed with sorrow as he thought Saul would kill him.

2 Samuel 22:6 The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;

Hell is as deep as it gets:

Job 11:8 It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?

   The only thing deeper than hell or higher than heaven is God according to Job.

There is nothing that God doesn’t know about hell:

Job 26:6 Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.

   One part of hell is the abode of the wicked dead and those who have forgotten God.

Psalm 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

   One day hell will be cast into the lake of fire as its eternal home which will be an eternal torment.

Hell was not the eternal abode for the righteous:

   Both David and Christ went to hell as did all before the cross. Believers went to the paradise side while unbelievers went to the side of fire and eternal torment.

Psalm 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

   David went there and so did Christ. David went to the paradise side of hell. Christ went to both sides. One side to deposit our sins there, and the other to preach to the captives in paradise.

Psalm 18:5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me. (Same quote as 2 Samuel 22:6)

Psalm 55:15 Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.

The soul goes to hell

Psalm 86:13 For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.

   Hell has different levels, for differing degrees of punishment.   Paradise would be in the highest part of hell (the abode of the dead) while the places of torment would be in the lower parts.

More verses on hell from the old testament

Psalm 116:3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.

Psalm 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

Proverbs 5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.

Proverbs 7:27 Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.

The simple do not know the lost are in hell

Proverbs 9:18 But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.

* See the two preceding verses in chapter 9.

Proverbs 15:11 Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?

Proverbs 15:24 The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.

The torment in hell can be avoided

Proverbs 23:14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

   A parent cannot force someone to be saved, but if they raise a child the way he or she should be raised and punish them as commanded when it is necessary they can deliver his soul from hell.

   Chastisement gives a child a respect for earthly authorities and ultimately their heavenly authority.

Proverbs 27:20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

Hell enlarges itself

Isaiah 5:14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

Isaiah 14:9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

Satan shall be brought down to hell during Israel’s kingdom

Isaiah 14:15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

Israel made an agreement with hell

Isaiah 28:15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:

Isaiah 28:18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

   Israel will suffer because it broke its agreement with God, but the remnant of believers will be spared the punishment of hell.

Isaiah 57:9 And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell.

What is in hell?

Ezekiel 31:16 I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.

   One part of hell (the bottomless pit) is where Satan will be cast into while the other part (the nether parts of the earth) are where all the trees of Eden (paradise) are and it is where believers are comforted while those on the other side are tormented.

Hell is gone down into

Ezekiel 31:17 They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.

Ezekiel 32:21 The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword.

Ezekiel 32:27 And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

Amos 9:2 Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:

Jonah died and went to hell (the abode of the dead)

Jonah 2:2  And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

   Jonah died in the fish/whale’s belly and was resurrected after three days as is proven by verse two and substantiated by the two preceding verses which tell us that Jonah was in the whale’s belly for three days and nights before he decided to pray.

Jonah 1:17 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. 2:1 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly, 

   I would have prayed immediately if I was still alive, but Jonah waited for three days. Actually God waited for three days to raise Jonah from the dead, so he could be a better type of Christ.

   To attack the resurrection of Jonah is to shed doubt on the resurrection of Christ. Look at what Jesus said about himself and Jonah:

Matthew 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

   Jesus said he was as Jonah was. If you believe that Christ died and was not just lying around in the tomb as some teach waiting for the stone to be rolled away, then Jonah was in the same condition as Jesus was which was dead because he said he was as Jonah was.

   Christ was dead so and Jonah was also dead. Don’t you believe God could have raised Jonah from the dead? Do you believe he raised Jesus from the dead? I hope so because your eternity rest on the later.

Hell has enlarged itself

Habakkuk 2:5 Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:

Hell in the New Testament

   The new testament uses three Greek words to describe hell: ghenna, hades and tartaroo. Hades is used to describe the abode of the dead in the heart of the earth.

  Ghenna is used to describe the side of hell/hades where there is the torment of eternal flames, it is the place of punishment where the lost abide.

   Tartaroo or tartarus, as some call it, is the abyss were some of the fallen angels are kept for leaving their first estate.

Matthew 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

• Not hell darkness, but hell fire!

Matthew 5:29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. 30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

• See comments on this below in Mark 9:44-48

Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matthew 11:23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.See comments below concerning the two above verses found in  Luke 1o:15 and 12:5

Hell has gates

Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

   Hell has gates and the very gates of hell shall not prevail against the rock that the kingdom church of which Peter is the chiefest apostle in.

    To be a part of that kingdom church one had to believe what Peter professed in Matthew 16:17 that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God.

   That was how someone in that day entered into the kingdom church with the same profession as Peter. That is what that church was built on. People who believed what Peter believed and confessed it.

   The gates prevented anyone in the torment side of hell from leaving hell because they did not have the profession that Peter had that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God.

   There was also the great gulf that separated them. Imagine what that must be like for a moment because the rich man could see Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom even thou it was far off. What added torment to see others in bliss as you are tormented.

Matthew 18:9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

     The entering into life is the entering into the kingdom which follows the seven-year period known as the tribulation period or the time of Jacob’s (Israel’s) trouble.

   The type of life they will enter into at the onset of the kingdom is eternal life. For believing Israel to inherit her eternal promises she must have eternal life and she will during the kingdom and beyond.

Matthew 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

   A doctrine that is wrong concerning salvation will make a person a child of hell (future resident) the more zealous that “child” becomes the more a child of hell he becomes.

Matthew 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

   Damnation has varying levels of punishment Matthew 23:14, it is eternal in Mark 3:29.  

Mark 9:43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 46 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: 48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

   The entering into life is the eternal life Jesus promised to Israel in her earthly kingdom. Jesus was not speaking to believers today in the dispensation of race bgecause we already have eternal life indwelling us from the moment we trusted Christ.

   Notice that six times in this teaching on hell that Jesus says there is a fire there that will never be quenched. There is no way anyone can claim this to be a story of a parable!

   Jesus is explaining the conditions in one part of hell were all the unbelieving wicked go. Interestingly enough verses 44 and 46 are removed from most modern bibles.

   Why do the liberals delete two of these three witnesses from this passage? By the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the matter be established. Deuteronomy 19:15.

   Two of the witnesses have been silenced in modern versions so the truth on hell cannot be established from those verses.

   The liberal will then quote 2 Peter 1:20 “Knowing this first, No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation” as their defense for their justification for a fireless hell. These people are children of their father the devil.

Luke 10:15 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.

   Jesus is not teaching that a city with its houses and lands will thrust down into hell, but rather its unbelieving residents.

Luke 12:5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

   God alone has the power to cast someone into hell who did not fear him during their lifetime. To fear him of course means to believe on him as their Saviour.

Hell is divided by a great unpassable gulf:

Luke 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

Luke 16:26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

   One side is called paradise for all the believers who died prior to the current dispensation of grace and the other side is simply referred to as hell and as being in torments.

David went to Hell

(The paradise side)

• See above on what Jesus taught concerning Hell.

Acts 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Acts 2:31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

• See Psalm 16:10 above:

   The apostle of the Gentiles does not teach on hell in his epistles because a believer does not go to the paradise side of hell in this present dispensation of grace they go to heaven immediately upon their death.

   God deliberately leaves this teaching out of Paul’s epistles, so the student will immediately ask himself “has a change happened in this present dispensation and what is it.

   Paul makes it very clear that our eternity is in the heavens and to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

James 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

   James uses the fire of hell as an example that all the people understood to teach how dangerous the unbridled tongue can be.

   Just like a small fire can turn into a large forest fire which can torment everything in its midst as hell does. Why would James use the fire in hell as his example if there was no fire in hell? He wouldn’t.

2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

   Here we have the only time the Greek word tartaroo is used and translated hell. It is a special compartment in the abode of the dead/hades were the rebellious angels are held in chains of darkness.

    This is where some get the idea that hell is just darkness because many of the verses concerning the fire of hell have been intentionally omitted from them.

   This verse is speaking of the angels that fell and left their first estate and took unto themselves wives from the daughters of men.   

   Because of this perversion of God’s plan he has reserved them in a special place in hell unlike the rest of hell where they have none of the light that the fire of hell produces, and they are in changes as well.

Revelation 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

   It is Jesus Christ who is speaking here, and he alone will have the keys of hell and of death. Hell is mentioned as having gates and here are the keys to those gates are mentioned.

   The keys of death are used to release the believing residents, so they may enter into life (eternal life) in the earthly kingdom.

   The keys will also be used to open the gates of hell so that its residents may attend the great white throne judgment at the end of the 1,000-year kingdom.

   Satan will be loosed for a season and he will deceive the nations to judge all in every age that have rejected God and then they will all be cast into the lake of fire (death and hell included). See Rev 20:14 below.

Revelation 6:8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

Revelation 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

   Hell is cast into the lake of fire. Ask a liberal that believes there is no fire in hell if he believes there is no fire in the lake of fire and see what he says.

   Make sure you can show him this verse. If he still doesn’t believe in a literal fire tell him he does not believe the scriptures.

The End