Hellfire
Lesson
8
Marking
code: HF
Marking Color: Brown
Key Text: 2 Peter 3:7,10-12
- 2 Peter 3:7, 10-12.
The Bible is clear that the earth
is destined to be destroyed by fire
in the day of the judgment. Hell is
real. However, is it burning now? Is
anyone burning in hellfire today? Is
the devil doing God’s will by
being in charge of hell and the
torture of the lost? God’s
reputation-His very character-is at
stake in this question of hellfire.
- 2 Peter 2:9. The
punishment of the unjust (the lost)
is reserved until the Day of
Judgment. The wicked do not begin to
burn in hell at death.
Matthew
13:30, 38-42. The tares are burned at the
harvest, at the end of the age.
Matthew
25:31-34, 41, 46. The wicked are condemned at
the Day of Judgment when Jesus comes.
Revelation
20:7-9, 14; 21:8. Fire destroys Satan, his
angels, and the wicked at the end of the
millennium.
Job
21:30,32. The wicked wait in their graves for
the day of doom.
- Malachi 4:1-3. The
wicked will be burned to
ashes-completely annihilated. They
will not go on burning throughout
eternity.
Zephaniah
1:18. God will make a “speedy
riddance” of the wicked.
- Matthew 3:11, 12. Doesn’t
the Bible speak of
“unquenchable” fire? Yes.
But “unquenchable”
fire simply means fire that
can’t be put out-or
‘quenched.” It doesn’t
mean that the fire won’t go out
by itself when it has consumed
everything that is combustible.
Jeremiah
17:27; 2 Chronicles 36:19-21. God predicted
Jerusalem would be burned with
“unquenchable” fire due to
apostasy. This prediction was fulfilled, but
that fire is not still burning. It could not
be put out-until it burned out after
consuming everything there was to be
burned.
Jude
7. Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah suffered
“eternal” fire, but they are not
still burning. “Eternal” and
“everlasting” often mean, “as
long as it is possible for something to
last.” It is like when we say “I
will love you forever.” We mean,
“as long as it is possible to
love.”
Jonah
2:6. “Forever” in this case meant
‘three days.”
1
Samuel 1:22,28. “Forever” in this
case meant for Samuel’s lifetime.
2
Thessalonians 1:9. “Everlasting
destruction.” The destruction lasts
forever; sinners will never live again.
However, they are not being destroyed
forever-burning forever.
- Matthew 10:28. Jesus
said that hell will destroy the
sinner completely both body and soul.
- Romans 6:23. The
wages of sin is death-not eternal
life in hellfire. Eternal life is
God’s gift to the redeemed. In
contrast, the end result of sin is
death-eternal death, never to live
again.
- Ezekiel 28: 18, 19.
Satan himself will be destroyed;
he will become ashes and never exist
again.
- Nahum 1:9. Sin
itself will be destroyed; it will
never arise again.
Revelation
21:4.
- Ezekiel 33:11. God
has no pleasure in the death of the
wicked. For the wicked, to burn
throughout eternity in hellfire would
be torture to a God of love.
John
3:16-19.
HF-End.
