Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: — | Date: September 22, 2019 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Take your Bibles, please, and turn to Isaiah chapter 66, which is where we will begin this evening. We’re continuing our series on death and life after death, and we have come to the section on the eternal state of the lost, which is the doctrine of hell. We’ve done a survey of the biblical descriptions of hell, and we come this evening now to look at this awful subject, very sobering subject: hell as unending punishment.

In the mid to late, I guess it was 19th century—I forget the exact year—a debate was proposed. This is long before we had what we have now, the Perspectives and Views books that we have, where people will write from various perspectives and then debate with one another, and each chapter is the interaction of the various views. So before that, this magazine called the North American Review proposed a debate that they would publish to have a representative of one who believes in the teaching of eternal or endless punishment and then have someone who does not hold to that and have them debate it together and they would publish their respective pieces.

Henry Ward Beecher was going to write the essay denying the doctrine of endless punishment, and William G. T. Shedd was assigned to write the essay upholding the traditional doctrine of endless punishment. They were to send their essays into the North American Review, and then they would pass them on to the others, and they would then give their responses and so on. Well, William G. T. Shedd finished his essay first, sent it in to the North American Review. They sent that on to Henry Ward Beecher, and Beecher sent a telegram back to the North American Review, backing out of the assignment, and he said—his words were something very close to this: “I’m no longer going to take this assignment. Shedd is too much for me. I now have to believe in endless punishment myself.”

Now, the point of that little illustration is not that William G. T. Shedd ended up writing one of the best books on endless punishment that has been written. It is a marvelous book, but that’s not the point. The point of it is that the biblical teaching is just so overwhelmingly clear on this doctrine that if you’re going to enter into discussion, it gets very difficult at all to deny it. However repulsive it may seem to you naturally, and whatever questions you may have about the justice of endless punishment—which by the way we will take up next time at some length; it’s something that needs to be expounded—but it is, we have to see that this is just such an abundantly clear teaching in the Scriptures.

Until recent centuries it was universally held by all professing Christians, Roman Catholic and Protestant, and not necessarily because it’s pleasant, but because it is so inescapable. And then came the Enlightenment, and then came liberalism, and then came the loss of the authority of Scripture, and then came the loss of the high view of God and so on. Now there have been several options that have been proposed to escape this teaching of endless punishment.

Common Objections And Alternative Views

Generally, the objections to endless punishment in hell have one or usually both of these two ideas running in the background. One: God is too good to punish someone forever. And then two, just the flip side of that: man or sin is not that bad that it warrants endless punishment. Now those two ideas are not always stated exactly like that, but they are almost always at least lurking in the background.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time dealing with the objections to endless punishment. I’ll have to deal with some of that. I think that gets kind of boring very fast, but I will have to deal with some of that. Most of our time this evening will just be looking at the biblical teaching on the subject, but we will have to spend some time looking at the alternative views and the objections that they have. You can keep them in the back of your mind as we go through the scriptures on it.

The various options are: one, universalism, and that is everyone is saved, and that is that. God saves everyone. Some of them might have some doctrine of hell, which ends up being a Protestant type of purgatory where they end up going to heaven, but universalism teaches that everyone, at least eventually, will be saved. That has never been a majority position of any kind. It’s had a difficult time making it with Christians simply because the New Testament statements with regard to the fate of unbelievers is so very clear.

Another option besides universalism is what’s called conditionalism or conditional immortality. And the idea there is that immortality is not intrinsic to the human soul. It is something that’s conferred only in Christ. And so if you die without Christ and you’re lost, you’re gone, that’s it, you’re extinct, that’s the end of it. If you die in Christ, well, then you can live forever in heaven. Conditionalism, conditional immortality.

A third option, and this is the most popular of them, and that’s the view of annihilationism. It formerly was a doctrine that was held only by the cults. Seventh-day Adventists have taught it. The Jehovah’s Witnesses have taught it—something that has only been taught in those kinds of contexts—but in recent generation or so now, even some professing evangelicals have embraced this view of annihilationism. And the idea is that, yes, the soul continues to exist, but at some point after death, the soul is extinguished in punishment in hell. If you die in Christ, you are saved forever and you’ll enjoy the presence of God forever. But if you die without Christ, eventually you will be annihilated. And so the denial of endless punishment. So it affirms, annihilationism affirms punishment, but it denies that it’s unending. Well, you can keep those in the back of your mind and we may make some reference to them as we go.

The Unending Experience Of The Wicked

Look at Isaiah chapter 66. This is a passage that we saw last time, verses 22 to 24: “For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring in your name remain. From new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord. And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worms shall not die and their fires shall not be quenched. and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

Now this passage, as I mentioned last time, we have described for us the final separation of believers and unbelievers. We have in the context the description of what things will be like in the end, and that is specifically called here the new heaven and the new earth. And what he is telling us in this last verse here is that the unbelievers will not share in the new creation. Instead, they will be judged. That judgment will not be disciplinary. It is a judgment of punishment. And it says here specifically, “their worms shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

So he’s describing here an unending experience of the wicked in contrast to the unending experience of the blessed, of the righteous. Just as on the one hand, the righteous dwell in the presence of God in the new heaven and the new earth, glory, so also the unrighteous will continue to exist forever, but in a state of punishment. Their worm will not die and the fire shall not be quenched.

Now this is an important passage because, as you’ve probably already noticed, Jesus makes allusion to it. You can keep a hand here if you want to glance back at it to compare, but look over at Mark chapter 9. Mark chapter 9, a passage I’m sure you’re familiar with. And notice verse 43: “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.” There’s the reference back to Isaiah, the unquenchable fire. “And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye then with two eyes to be thrown into hell where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”

There’s the reference back to the Isaiah passage. Jesus takes it at face value. This is an unending punishment where the worm, whatever that symbolizes—the metaphor here is of a worm, a maggot of some kind feeding on the dead bodies. It’s an awful picture, but it says it never dies. The idea is that it’s continually feeding on the corpse, and just to make it clear, the fire is not quenched. By the way, there’s a reference to this in John the Baptist as well, Matthew chapter 3, where he says he will come and will burn with unquenchable fire. The chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire.

Now, the annihilationists will have to look at this and say, well, the fire never goes out, but that doesn’t mean that the person is not extinguished. Well, I think the plain reading of it is obvious enough. Their worm does not die, and the fire is never quenched. The idea is that it always has fuel to burn.

Now if you want to look back to Matthew chapter 18, we have a parallel passage where Jesus speaks of this again, but he uses some other language with it as well. Matthew 18 verses 8 and 9: “If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the,” notice the expression, “eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away, it is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.”

Now notice we have here virtually the same saying that we saw in Mark chapter 9. In Mark chapter 9, the expression was, “the fire is not quenched.” In Matthew chapter 18, the expression is “eternal fire.” Each of these expressions interprets the other. Now, eternal fire, if you want to be really woodenly literal in the way you translate it, it’s the fire of the age. You remember the biblical perspective. There’s two ages: this present evil age that’s marked by fallenness and sin and misery; then there’s the age to come when all of God’s purposes are realized. There are no ages following, there’s just the two ages, and so the fire of the age is clearly the fire of the age to come, just like eternal life, life of the age, is the life to be experienced forever in that age to come. The parallel again is there: there’s eternal life versus eternal death, eternal fire, and it is called explicitly in Mark chapter 9, citing Isaiah chapter 66, “the fire is not quenched.” And then we have a parallel expression in verse 9 here: “the hell of fire.”

Another passage, look at Daniel chapter 12. This is a very explicit one as well. Daniel chapter 12 verses 2 and 3: “But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Again, notice the parallel here. We have here the resurrection of all of the lost. We have their being described, spoken of here in terms of their awaking, which by the way indicates their conscious existence as well; they awake. And we have here the final separation of the ungodly and the godly in the resurrection. And we have these two contrasting, endless experiences. On the one hand, you have everlasting life, life of the age to come, life in the presence of God, life forever. And then on the other hand, there’s shame and everlasting contempt.

Everlasting life versus shame and everlasting contempt. The idea of contempt there is just what it says. It’s an aversion. It’s an abhorrence. Everlasting contempt is that they will be the continued object of horror. Everlasting contempt. I’m not sure how annihilationists could handle this. I don’t think it’s enough to say, well, they could be extinguished because they are the object of continue, the continued object of horror. It is everlasting contempt. Not that they are annihilated, but they forever are the object of contempt and horror. Fairly plain, I think.

All right, now back to the New Testament. Look at Matthew chapter 25. Again, a passage that we saw last time. Matthew 25, verse 41. You remember here that Jesus is speaking his parable, which I went through in a hurried way on a Sunday morning recently, through these parables. This is the last one, the parable of the final judgment, the separation of the sheep and the goats. And notice verse 41, Matthew 25: “Then he will say to those on his left, depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire.” There’s our expression again. “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” And verse 46: “these will go away into,” here’s the expression, “eternal punishment. but the righteous into eternal life.”

Now, a few expressions here. Verse 41: “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” The eternal fire is the expression we have, the fire of the age, the fire of the age to come. There are no ages after it. It’s that one that lasts forever, eternal fire. This could only be understood by the Jews who heard Jesus as someone who would be then hopelessly lost forever. And that was the accepted teaching by the way of the Jews.

Verse 46, we have another expression clearly related and it interprets the other. What is eternal fire? It’s eternal punishment. Punishment that continues forever. Not extinction, not annihilation, but an eternal unending punishing. So again, we have the parallel: life of the age to come versus the punishment of the age to come. Unending life versus unending punishment. And then verse 41 again, notice another detail here: “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” That is, you will be thrown into the fire that was prepared specifically for the devil and share in the punishment that he receives. You followed him here, you will follow him there.

Now, keep this verse in mind, verse 41, “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Keep that in mind and look over at Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20. And here we have, at the end of the book now, the apostle John defining for us what that hell prepared for the devil and his angels is like. Revelation chapter 20 verse 10. We’ve had the return of Christ, we’ve had the attending judgment of the beast and the false prophet. And now he’s dealing with Satan.

Verse 10: “the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever.” And then, verse 14: “then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death. the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” So we have this expression repeated over and again, the lake of fire. But notice how it is described in verse 10: “the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

Tormented day and night forever and ever. I don’t know how the doctrine of endless punishment could be stated more specifically and more plainly and more unmistakably than this right here. Tormented day and night forever. This is the lake of fire where here in Revelation the devil will be thrown. In verses 14 and 15, all of the unrighteous dead are put there with him, and that is what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 25 with reference to the goats. They will be thrown into the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

And if you’d like one more in the book of Revelation, look back at chapter 14, Revelation 14, verses 9 through 11: “And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on its forehead and his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath poured full strength into the cup of his anger. And he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of his holy angels and the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment,” notice this, “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image and whoever receives the mark of its name.'”

Again, I don’t know how it could be made more plain that we have hell described here as a place of wrath, a place of vengeance, a place where God brings justice on those who have rejected him and followed the beast, and he says that wrath is without ending. The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. Now the annihilationist has to say here, well, that’s just the smoke. In other words, it’ll smoke forever. It’s clearly not the intent of the passage is that they will be punished forever. And in fact, that is how the next phrase explains it: “They are given no rest day or night.” The punishment is forever and without ever any relief. Rest never comes. So it’s not just forever and ever, but it’s specifically the smoke of their torment. The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they will never, he says, never experience relief from it.

So we have a number of expressions that we’ve seen in these passages. There are some others that you’re familiar with, I think. Just for review: “their worms shall not die.” “The fire is not quenched.” We have the expression, “the unquenchable fire.” “Everlasting shame and everlasting contempt” is the expression in Daniel. We have “eternal fire,” “eternal punishment.” “Eternal destruction” is a passage I didn’t take time to look to in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Revelation 14, “their smoke rises forever” and they are “tormented day and night forever.” I think these passages are abundantly clear that this is plainly a teaching of Scripture that the punishment of hell continues forever and forever.

The Implications Regarding The Clarity Of Jesus’ Teaching

Now, a couple of things I need to say in a minute, but let me just take up one, one argument that the annihilationists like to use in this regard, and that is the passages—well, let’s take one. Look at Matthew chapter 10. You think, okay, this language is so clear. How could anyone get around it? I understand why they may want to get around it, but how could they get around it?

In Matthew 10 verse 28: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Now what the annihilationist likes to do here is take that word “destroy” and milk it for all it’s worth. Destroy means to annihilate, and there that’s what Jesus affirms is the annihilation of the soul and the body. And the problem with that is that this Greek term here used, translated “destroy,” just doesn’t mean that. And there’s a host of passages in the New Testament where this word is used where it obviously cannot mean that. I won’t take time to turn through them. Let me just give you a flavor of it.

By the way, one of the standard Greek lexicons by a man named Thayer—it’s no longer one of the standards, he’s been outdated, but it was a standard for years and what’s significant in this regard to it is that Thayer was a Unitarian. He’s got no theological axe to grind, and when he defines this Greek term translated here, “destroy,” he describes it as eternal, endless, as punishment. It is a wrecking, a ruining, a destroying in that sense that goes on continually forever.

So for example, in Matthew—if you want to just write these down—in Matthew chapter nine, verse 17, Jesus has that little parable of the old and the new wineskins. And he speaks of the old skins. When he put the new wine in the old wineskins, the old skins are “destroyed.” Same word. That obviously does not mean and cannot mean annihilate. It just means they’re ruined. We have the same idea in Matthew chapter 26 where Jesus says those who take the sword will “perish” by the sword. Same word, perish. Perish by the sword obviously does not mean annihilate; it just means wrecked, ruined, killed.

In Luke chapter 15, the same word is used repeatedly there in an interesting way, and Jesus, you remember, gives the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son. Throughout that, this expression “lost”—the lost sheep, the sheep that was lost—is the same word here translated destroyed. So we have: “If a man having a hundred sheep has lost one of them,” there’s the same word, “does not leave the 99 open country, goes after the one that’s lost, and then rejoice with me. I have found the sheep that was lost.” Obviously it doesn’t mean annihilate. Well, I could go on and on with this. The word doesn’t mean annihilate, and to make it mean that in Matthew chapter 10 is just special pleading, and it will never, never work.

The teaching then of scripture is very clear on this, that the punishment of hell is unending. It goes on and on and on and on. Now the question of “why” is the question we’ll take up next time. And it is something that’s extremely important that we look at. Justice does require it. And we’ll see how that works out.

Let me give just a couple of entailments here of all of this. How would an annihilationist view of hell square? What would the implications be with regard to these passages that we’ve seen, particularly in the teaching of Jesus? And I mentioned William G. T. Shedd at the beginning. He makes that point in his book, and I’m just going to read you a paragraph. I don’t like to read a whole paragraph like this often, but I think it’s worth doing. His point here is this: what are the implications regarding the clarity of Jesus’ teaching and the clarity of Scripture itself if the annihilationist position is true?

“Let the reader now ask himself the question: do these representations and this phraseology make the impression that the future punishment of sin is to be remedial and temporary? Are they adapted to make that impression? Were they intended to make this impression? Is it possible to believe that the holy and divine person who uttered these fearful and unqualified warnings 1800 years ago, respecting the destiny of wicked men and devils, knew that a time was coming when there will be no wicked men and devils in the universe of God and no place of retributive torment? Did Jesus of Nazareth hold in the esoteric doctrine of hell a different view from the final state of the wicked from which the common and natural understanding of his language would convey to his hearers and has conveyed to the great majority of his readers of all time? Did he know that in the far-off future a day would come when those tremendous scenes which he described—the gathering of all mankind, the separation of the evil from the good, the curse pronounced on the former and the blessing on the latter—would be looked back upon by all mankind as an unsubstantial pageant that has now faded, and a dream that is past, and a watch in the night?”

I think it’s a good question. It’s a fair challenge to put out. You look through these teachings of Jesus. They are so plain and so vivid and so awful. There’s just no mistaking of it that if you want to say that in the end the wicked will be annihilated, it has awful implications on the teaching of Jesus himself.

This is an awful, awful subject. It is one of those doctrines that just bends the mind to try to grasp the awfulness of sin—so awful as to say that the punishment of sin continues forever and ever and ever without ever letting up. If you are without Christ, you ought to be very, very afraid of death. Jesus’ teaching is plain. The dead, without Christ, perish and will experience his wrath forever, forever, forever, and without ever any hope of relief.

What an awful thing. On the other hand, what a great appreciation for Christ this ought to give us that he took in his own body the infinite wrath of God himself in our place for the infinite evil of the infinite sin that we had committed against God. Let’s bow together in prayer. Let’s stand and be dismissed in prayer. Pastor Greg, would you pray for us, please?

“But in heaven, we thank you that you have told us sobering and terrifying as that truth will be for men and women outside of Christ. We pray that it would do its job, first and foremost here in this congregation, to stop and to alert anyone with doubts concerning their own spiritual status. We’ll correct that immediately tonight in humility and loyalty before your throne of grace. We thank you that you do have the throne of grace and that you are favorable in delivering me to come to you. Then we pray that it would fuel our concerns and prayers for our extended family and friends and for the advance of the gospel to our neighbors and co-workers and fellow students, many of whom are in the category of that broad way that leads to destruction. I pray that we will be the watchmen sent by God in this province to turn many of them out of that way into the straight and narrow way that leads to heaven. Thank you for your Word of God tonight.”