Let's look at some of the terms associated with the wrath of god and punishment after death. First the lake of fire, aka the second death. This phenomenon is found exclusively in Revelation chapters 19, 20, and 21. The rest of the authors of the bible appear to be unaware of its existence. Wikipedia suggests that the lake of fire in Revelation is directly related to the fire of gehenna mentioned by Jesus. However, gehenna is not mentioned in Revelation and it does not have any history of being referred to as a lake.
Fire is mentioned as an instrument of god's wrath so many times in the Old Testament that I don't have the time and inclination to go over every instance. It is often paired with sulfur, which is called brimstone in the KJV. Brimstone or sulfur appears seven times in the Old Testament. 1. In Gen 19:24 it rains down on Sodom and Gomorrah. 2. Deut. 29:23 refers again to Sodom and gomorrah. 3. Job 18:15 talks of fire and sulfur at the home of a wicked man. 4. Psalm 11:6 says "on the wicked he (god) will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur. 5. Isaiah 30:33 says a place called Topheth has been prepared for the king with a large pile of firewood, ready to be set aflame by the breath of the lord, which is like a torrent of brimstone.
Pause there. Apparently Tophet is associated with the valley of Hinnom or Gehenna. I did not know that. Besides the mention in Isaiah, Jeremiah also refers to it a couple of times, in chapters 7 and 19, and says it is a place of foreign gods, or Baal, where innocent children were burned as sacrifices. 2nd Kings 23:10 says it was where children were sacrificed to Moloch.
Back to brimstone in the OT: 6. Isaiah 34:9 speaks of a day of god's vengeance when Edom's streams will be turned into pitch and the dust into burning sulfur. The fire will not be quenched night and day, its smoke will rise forever. This is in the midst of a quite bloody diatribe against all "the nations." 7. Ezekiel 38:22 says god will rain hail, and burning sulfur on the armies of Gog and many other nations. Apparently Gog isn't actually a real place or group of people. It may be a metaphor for enemies of god. The rain of sulfur must be metaphorical too. You can't rain real sulfur on a metaphor.
In the New Testament, the only sulfur/ brimstone not in Revelation is in Luke 17:29. Which is just referring to Sodom and Gomorrah.
A sulfur passage in Revelation we did not cover yet is found in chapter 14. There we find the lamb, presumably jesus, standing on mount zion with 144,000 people who had his name and god's on their foreheads. Then there is a kind of heavenly musical concert which only the 144,000 can hear. These people are special. They are men who have never "defiled" themselves with women, which made them pure. (Good grief!) I guess saint Peter won't be one of them, since he was married. They had never lied and were blameless. 144,000 perfect men? Excuse me while I laugh. These perfect men were purchased and offered as firstfruits to god and the lamb. Hmm. Sounds like human sacrifice to me. Revelation chapter seven tells us that the 144,000 are twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Next in chapter 14, an angel flies around the earth proclaiming the hour of judgement has come. A second angel yells that Babylon the great has fallen. A third angel says that anyone who has worshipped "the beast", who is not Satan, will drink the wine of god's fury and will be tormented with burning sulfur IN THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY ANGELS AND THE LAMB! "And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever." There will be no rest for them. Lovely imagery, huh?
Showing posts with label Judgement Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Judgement Day. Show all posts
Monday, January 15, 2018
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Hell part 6
Now we come to the word Hell/hades as found in The book of Revelation. Revelation is the youngest book of the bible and written in almost purely metaphorical/symbolical apocalyptic imagery. The author is simply "John." Noone is quite sure which John he is. The book's place in the biblical canon, as well as its purpose and meaning, has been disputed throughout the centuries. We will not go into much of that here today.
The passages with hades translated to hell in the KJV:
*Rev. 1:18-Here the author sees a vision of a fantastical person who calls himself "The Alpha and the Omega"(the first and the last), "The Living One" (because he was dead but now he is alive forever and ever! Two evers make it longer.) He goes on to say he holds the keys of death and hades. This being is presumed to be Jesus. His words are in red in my NIV study bible. In Matthew 16:18 we saw Jesus say the gates of hades would not prevail, now we see his resurrected self saying he has the keys to hades. Does hell/hades actually have a gate with keys to unlock it? Job 38:17 also talks about gates of death.
*Rev. 6:8- In this passage, the author is telling about his revealed vision. There is scroll with seven seals (magical number!) being opened by a Lamb that looked like it had been slain. (Jesus, duh.) As each seal is opened something incredible happens. Seals one through four produce four horsemen. The first is a conquering king on a white horse. The second represents the violence of war on a red horse. The third represents inflation and scarcity on a black horse. The forth seal is opened and the author says he saw a pale horse and its rider was Death; Hades/hell was trailing behind him. These four horsemen were given power over 1/4 of the earth to kill by the sword, famine, plague, and wild beasts. Interesting note: the pale horse that Death rode on was actually a sickly green color. The greek word here is chloros.
*Rev. 20:13,14- This is in a famous passage about the supposed day of judgement. We read about all the dead standing before a great white throne. There were open books which held records of what the dead had done. The sea, death, and Hades/hell gave up all their dead and each person was judged according to what he had done. (Not according to what he believed?!!) Then, Death and Hades/hell were thrown into the lake of fire! What? Hades/Hell is not actually the lake of fire itself? It looks like hell/hades was just the holding place for the dead, just like Sheol. Ah, but we are not done. The lake of fire is "the second death." There was also a special book among the record books, the book of life. If anyone's name was not found in the book of life, they were thrown into the lake of fire!
What is this book of life, and who will not be in it? Ex. 32:32 Yahweh tells Moses "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book." Daniel 12:1 talks about a book which has names written in it, but it is unclear if it the same book. Malachi 3:16 speaks of a "scroll of remembrance" in which was written the names of those who feared Yahweh and honored his name. Is that the same thing?
Who will be thrown into the lake of fire? Rev. 21:8 says it is "the cowardly, the unbelieving (uh oh), the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters, and all liars." Their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur- the second death. "He who overcomes" will not be hurt by the second death." (Rev. 2:11) But what does it mean, to overcome? We find clues in the first paragraphs of Rev. 20. Let's look at them next time. There are no more passages with the word hell/hades, but there is plenty of descriptive stuff about afterlife punishments. It seems that this "second death" is what we should really fear, not hell.
The passages with hades translated to hell in the KJV:
*Rev. 1:18-Here the author sees a vision of a fantastical person who calls himself "The Alpha and the Omega"(the first and the last), "The Living One" (because he was dead but now he is alive forever and ever! Two evers make it longer.) He goes on to say he holds the keys of death and hades. This being is presumed to be Jesus. His words are in red in my NIV study bible. In Matthew 16:18 we saw Jesus say the gates of hades would not prevail, now we see his resurrected self saying he has the keys to hades. Does hell/hades actually have a gate with keys to unlock it? Job 38:17 also talks about gates of death.
*Rev. 6:8- In this passage, the author is telling about his revealed vision. There is scroll with seven seals (magical number!) being opened by a Lamb that looked like it had been slain. (Jesus, duh.) As each seal is opened something incredible happens. Seals one through four produce four horsemen. The first is a conquering king on a white horse. The second represents the violence of war on a red horse. The third represents inflation and scarcity on a black horse. The forth seal is opened and the author says he saw a pale horse and its rider was Death; Hades/hell was trailing behind him. These four horsemen were given power over 1/4 of the earth to kill by the sword, famine, plague, and wild beasts. Interesting note: the pale horse that Death rode on was actually a sickly green color. The greek word here is chloros.
*Rev. 20:13,14- This is in a famous passage about the supposed day of judgement. We read about all the dead standing before a great white throne. There were open books which held records of what the dead had done. The sea, death, and Hades/hell gave up all their dead and each person was judged according to what he had done. (Not according to what he believed?!!) Then, Death and Hades/hell were thrown into the lake of fire! What? Hades/Hell is not actually the lake of fire itself? It looks like hell/hades was just the holding place for the dead, just like Sheol. Ah, but we are not done. The lake of fire is "the second death." There was also a special book among the record books, the book of life. If anyone's name was not found in the book of life, they were thrown into the lake of fire!
What is this book of life, and who will not be in it? Ex. 32:32 Yahweh tells Moses "Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book." Daniel 12:1 talks about a book which has names written in it, but it is unclear if it the same book. Malachi 3:16 speaks of a "scroll of remembrance" in which was written the names of those who feared Yahweh and honored his name. Is that the same thing?
Who will be thrown into the lake of fire? Rev. 21:8 says it is "the cowardly, the unbelieving (uh oh), the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters, and all liars." Their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur- the second death. "He who overcomes" will not be hurt by the second death." (Rev. 2:11) But what does it mean, to overcome? We find clues in the first paragraphs of Rev. 20. Let's look at them next time. There are no more passages with the word hell/hades, but there is plenty of descriptive stuff about afterlife punishments. It seems that this "second death" is what we should really fear, not hell.
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