Latest / Off The Kirb Ministries / Hell is Coming and It's Way Worse Than I Thought...
Transcript
- 0:00You only have one day left, not 365, not 30, one.
- 0:10But it gets worse. You're not ready to meet God.
- 0:13So when your time runs out, where do you actually go?
- 0:17There are four options, but only one is true.
- 0:20And that is why you need to look very closely, because we're
- 0:23putting the first band teaching on trial.
- 0:25Universalism, imagine this scenario.
- 0:28You love Jesus and you are a Christian, but you wake up in
- 0:32heaven only to be surrounded by people who are totally opposite.
- 0:35They laugh at Jesus, they reject him, and they say they don't
- 0:38even want to be here. If you thought that sounded
- 0:41insane, it's nothing compared to what you see next.
- 0:44Also in heaven is Satan and the demons, and they are also going
- 0:48to live alongside you forever in paradise.
- 0:51Now according to universalism, that is exactly what heaven will
- 0:55be like. In plain English, universalism
- 0:58is the belief that in the end, everyone will be saved and no
- 1:01one will go to hell because God will forgive everyone.
- 1:05OK, I could be totally wrong about this, but I do wonder if
- 1:08there's anyone listening who finds this version of heaven
- 1:11kind of appealing. So let's ask the big question.
- 1:14Is universalism biblically accurate?
- 1:17To answer that question, we need to investigate where did this
- 1:20idea come from? In the 3rd century, a church
- 1:23father named Oregon taught something called apocastasis,
- 1:26which is just just a big Greek word meaning restoration of all
- 1:30things. He believed that eventually
- 1:33God's love was so strong it would restore everything, even
- 1:37the Prince of Darkness himself. I'm not going to lie to you, I
- 1:40think Oregon was reaching way too far here, but come on guys,
- 1:44let's be neutral to Texas here and let's test the Bible verses
- 1:47he used to back up his position. All right, check this out.
- 1:50One Timothy 2 verse 4 says God desires all people to be saved
- 1:55and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
- 1:58Sounds pretty universalist, right?
- 2:00God wants everyone to be saved, no exceptions.
- 2:02But hey now Paul in Colossians 120 takes even further and says
- 2:06and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him,
- 2:10whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made
- 2:12peace through the blood of his cross.
- 2:14I'm just curious, what do you think?
- 2:17Does that mean God wants everyone saved?
- 2:19I personally do believe that the Bible teaches that God does want
- 2:23everyone in heaven, but he will not push anyone into heaven
- 2:26against their will because for love to be true love it must be
- 2:29totally free. Am I talking to any hopeless
- 2:32romantics here today? Because I for one do not want my
- 2:35wife to love me because I made her or pushed a button that said
- 2:39you will fall in love with me. No, I want her to have the
- 2:42choice to love me or the choice to reject me so that we can have
- 2:46a meaningful relationship that is real and authentic.
- 2:49And so likewise, Jesus Christ holds his hands out to humanity
- 2:53and says, come to me and I'll save you and I'll wash away your
- 2:57your sins. But at the same time, he will
- 2:59respect your choice to reject him and he will not pull anyone
- 3:03up to heaven who does not want to be there.
- 3:05Guys, I can't sugarcoat this. Jesus Christ was crystal clear
- 3:09in the Gospel of Matthew. Enter by the narrow gate.
- 3:13For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to
- 3:17destruction. And there are many who go by it
- 3:20because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads
- 3:24to life. And there are only a few who
- 3:26find find it. Only a few.
- 3:28Hmm, that doesn't sound like everyone's getting in, does it?
- 3:32May I go deeper? Revelation 20 verse 15 says.
- 3:36And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into
- 3:40the lake of fire. See what I mean?
- 3:42Some verses, they might pull you one way, but then other verses
- 3:45slam the brakes. On which path is the Bible
- 3:49really pointing to? And what is the Lake of Fire?
- 3:52Is it eternal conscious, or is it something else?
- 3:54We're going to come to that a little later, but right now,
- 3:58let's go back in time again. Because Oregon wasn't alone.
- 4:01Another respected teacher, Gregory of Nysa, also leaned
- 4:04towards universalist ideas. But in 553 AD, at the Second
- 4:09Council of Costanopa, apocotasis was officially condemned as
- 4:14heresy. The church effectively stamped
- 4:16it as case closed until it was reopened.
- 4:19In the 1800s, Universalism reemerged with an entire
- 4:23denomination formed in America called the Universalist Church
- 4:27of America. This later merged into what's
- 4:30now called Unitarian Universalism, a religion that
- 4:33openly denies hell. In 2011, it really made a
- 4:37comeback. A mega church pastor called Rob
- 4:40Bell reignited the debate with his book Love Wins.
- 4:44He simply asks, will all people be saved or will God not get
- 4:49what he wants? That question went viral.
- 4:52Bell went from a mega church celebrity to a blacklisted
- 4:55pastor who must be avoided. But over to you now.
- 4:58I want you to think about something.
- 5:00Should we open all of the prisons right now?
- 5:03I'll ask you again. Should we open every single
- 5:06prison right now and let all of the prisoners walk free on the
- 5:10streets? I for one, am glad that there
- 5:13are prisons. I am glad that there is justice
- 5:15for those who have done evil. But let's take the question even
- 5:18further. Imagine we do open all the
- 5:21prisons right now. Would you let those evil men,
- 5:24those evil women, come and live in your house, share your
- 5:27property? Would you trust them to be left
- 5:29alone with your family? I think the vast majority of us
- 5:31would say no way would I let those unrepentant men and women
- 5:34live in my house. So if you've got rules about
- 5:36who's allowed to enter into your house, why can't the God of the
- 5:39universe have rules? Who enters his house and his
- 5:42rules are you have to be covered by the blood of his Son, the
- 5:46Lord Jesus Christ. Through Jesus death on the
- 5:48cross, God the Father can meet both of his attributes.
- 5:51He is a just God, but he is also a merciful God.
- 5:55He demonstrates his justice by substituting Jesus in our place
- 5:59for our sins, so that that huge debt of sin is paid for.
- 6:03But at the same time, he is a merciful Father, extending
- 6:07unmerited forgiveness to us, though we don't deserve it,
- 6:10though we can never earn it. He can wash us clean and give us
- 6:13a new beginning and promise us heaven if we trust in the
- 6:16Saviour. I suppose what I'm really trying
- 6:18to say here is the problem with universalism is it confuses love
- 6:23with permissiveness. But God's love is holy, and true
- 6:26love doesn't just brush justice under the carpet, it provides it
- 6:30through the cross of Christ. So I think it's safe to say that
- 6:34universalism did not pass the test when we compared it to the
- 6:38teachings of the Bible. But where does that leave us
- 6:41when we look at the remaining 3 In our case, before we meet the
- 6:45second band teaching, I just want to check how observant are
- 6:49you? Did you notice that there were
- 6:51no adverts before the video? The reason is this, back when I
- 6:55started this channel nearly 10 years ago, I made the difficult
- 6:58decision not to run on helpful adverts on the channel because I
- 7:01didn't want you to be distracted from the message.
- 7:04So if you're not against seeing ad free content in the future
- 7:07and you're enjoying this video so far, please do subscribe.
- 7:11OK, Strap on your seatbelts because we're about to open our
- 7:14second case file. Purgatory.
- 7:17What is purgatory? In simple terms, Roman Catholics
- 7:20believe purgatory is a place or state where souls go after death
- 7:25to be purified before entering heaven.
- 7:27Just a minute. Catholics don't believe this
- 7:29purification takes place in hell.
- 7:31It doesn't happen on earth, and it doesn't happen in paradise.
- 7:34They believe it happens somewhere in between, in a
- 7:37source of limbo. This concept really started to
- 7:40take shape in the early Middle Ages.
- 7:42Catholic theologians like Saint Augustine hinted at the idea
- 7:45that sins not fully punished in life could be purified after
- 7:49death. By the 12th century, the
- 7:51teaching was formalized. Later, the Council of Florence
- 7:54in 1439 and the Council of Trent from 1545 to 1563 codified it as
- 8:01official church doctrine. Oh, and I nearly forgot to tell
- 8:04you about indulgences, too. You see, in medieval times the
- 8:07Church taught that prayers, good works, or even donations could
- 8:11reduce a soul's time in purgatory.
- 8:13So wealthy patrons could give money to fund cathedrals,
- 8:17monasteries, or crusades, and in return received certificates
- 8:21promising their own soul or loved ones a shorter stay in the
- 8:25flames. This made salvation feel, well,
- 8:28like it could be bought, and it sparked major opposition.
- 8:32For instance, Martin Luther, the passionate reformer, famously
- 8:36railed against it. Today, indulgences do still
- 8:39exist in Catholic teaching, but money has nothing to do with
- 8:42them. They're earned through prayer,
- 8:44charity, or spiritual acts, not coins.
- 8:47I wonder whether I should tell you this, but I was very, very
- 8:50unsure about covering this teaching of purgatory.
- 8:53In my last video on Christian denominations, many Roman
- 8:56Catholics said I misrepresented them.
- 8:59And I want to say right now, that was never my intention.
- 9:02And so when I came to this one, I didn't know whether to talk
- 9:05about Roman Catholic teaching. But here's the thing.
- 9:07It really is the big elephant in the room.
- 9:09So if you aren't Roman Catholic and you are watching right now,
- 9:12please know my aim here is certainly not to belittle
- 9:15anyone's beliefs, but to uncover biblical truth.
- 9:18And so I do. I welcome your corrections,
- 9:21insights, or clarifications in the comments section as I just
- 9:24want this to be 1 big conversation.
- 9:27With that being said, let's dive in.
- 9:29Here's the answer we all want to know.
- 9:31Does the Bible talk about purgatory?
- 9:34Well, you will never actually find the word purgatory in the
- 9:37Bible. However, Catholics still insist
- 9:39the concept is very biblical. You may already know that I
- 9:43firmly believe the Bible is complete and we do not need any
- 9:47extra text to uncover the truth of the Word of God.
- 9:50Why? Because everything we need is
- 9:52written in the 66 books of the Bible.
- 9:55However, Catholics would disagree.
- 9:57They often point to Two Maccabees 1244 to 46, an
- 10:02apocryphal book which they say proves their teaching on
- 10:05purgatory. Here, a priest called Judas
- 10:08Maccabees prays for soldiers who died with sin on their
- 10:11conscience. And according to Catholics, this
- 10:13suggests that the dead can benefit from prayers of the
- 10:17living. Interestingly, in Matthew 1232,
- 10:20Jesus does say some sins will not be forgiven in the age to
- 10:24come. People could argue that this
- 10:26implies a post death purification.
- 10:29But wait a second, just to reiterate, Protestant Bibles
- 10:32don't include Maccabees, and Jesus never gives instructions
- 10:36about a purification chamber, which would you not argue is a
- 10:39massive thing that does need describing in detail if it's
- 10:43true, instead of us just being left a guess in the dark what it
- 10:46really looks like. Before we dismiss purgatory
- 10:48completely, here's another piece Catholics often point to.
- 10:52In One Corinthians 3, verses 12 to 15, Paul talks about building
- 10:57on the foundation of Christ. Some will build with gold,
- 11:00silver and costly stones, but others will build with wood, hay
- 11:05or straw. When the day comes, fire will
- 11:08test everyone's work. If it survives, there's a
- 11:11reward. If it burns up, the builder will
- 11:14still be saved, but only as one who is escaping through the
- 11:18flames. Catholics see this as a hint
- 11:20towards purgatory, a place where imperfect parts of life are
- 11:24purified before entering heaven. I am going to choose my words
- 11:28carefully now, but is Paul describing post death cleansing
- 11:33or is he talking about refining trials we already face in this
- 11:37life? If fire is now, not later,
- 11:40wouldn't Paul's audience have understood it that way?
- 11:42And does this saved but through flames line really fit with
- 11:46Paul's other letter to the Ephesians where he emphatically
- 11:49emphasizes that salvation is by grace, not works?
- 11:54It is essential to also remember Jesus words to the man beside
- 11:57him on the cross who recognized his own sin and asked Jesus to
- 12:01remember him when he came into his Kingdom.
- 12:04So Jesus, recognizing this man's faith, said today you will be
- 12:09with me in paradise. Now, unless you and I overthink
- 12:13this sentence, I think it has a very basic reading.
- 12:16It proves to us there is no purification stop, just
- 12:20immediate fellowship with Christ when we die.
- 12:23But our next banned church teaching may offer a very
- 12:27different viewpoint to what I've just said.
- 12:30Or at the very least, we'll make you question everything you ever
- 12:33learned at Sunday school before we go there.
- 12:36We are in a kind of limbo on this whole purgatory issue.
- 12:40So between you and me guys, I can assure you of one thing.
- 12:43I am certainly not the authority on anything.
- 12:46But when I think of purgatory, it reminds me of a student who
- 12:49aced their final exam but was then told they still had to redo
- 12:53old homework or they weren't allowed to graduate.
- 12:56Would that be fair? Would that even make sense?
- 12:58Well, that's what purgatory implies.
- 13:00Jesus work gets you most of the way, but you still need an extra
- 13:04little bit of credit or God pays your bill, but then the
- 13:07restaurant owner says you must also contribute something too.
- 13:11OK, I want to make this clear. Once again, my goal is not to
- 13:14disrespect Roman Catholics, but I simply want to raise these
- 13:17questions so that we can find the truth.
- 13:19So why does purgatory, in my opinion, feel so invisible in
- 13:23the Bible? If it is real, where are the
- 13:25scriptural warnings, the instructions, or the stories of
- 13:29souls passing through? Yes, Matthew 12 and Paul's fire
- 13:32are Roman Catholic friends argue are hints, But are they enough
- 13:35to build a system that shapes centuries and centuries of
- 13:39Christian practice? All right, if you thought
- 13:42purgatory stirred the pot, wait until we test our next band
- 13:46teaching. Without further ado, let's
- 13:48investigate our third case file annihilationism.
- 13:52I am embarrassed to admit to this, but the first time I heard
- 13:55this teaching presented by a pastor at a church I used to
- 13:58attend, I dismissed it automatically as unbiblical.
- 14:02But to quote this same pastor, he said this isn't a doctrine we
- 14:05can be arrogant about thinking we don't need to consider it as
- 14:08many godly Christians and theologians down through the
- 14:12ages held this view. And the Bible has a whole heap
- 14:15of verses that you could also argue support it.
- 14:18And no, before anyone jumps to conclusions, this isn't a
- 14:22Jehovah's Witness thing. Yes they hold it, but they
- 14:25didn't invent it and you don't become AJW just by considering
- 14:28it. Otherwise, I guess I'm a vegan
- 14:30because I eat salad sometimes. But come on now, you and me need
- 14:34to talk about this. What is annihilationism and is
- 14:37it even biblical annihilationism Effectively asked the question,
- 14:41what if hell doesn't last forever?
- 14:43It's also famously been called conditional immortality, and
- 14:46it's the idea that the wicked face real, serious consequences
- 14:50for rejecting Christ. But it doesn't go on forever.
- 14:54Eventually it ends in destruction.
- 14:56In other words, they cease to exist.
- 14:59Proponents of this teaching prefer the term conditional
- 15:02immortality. See, because immortality, to
- 15:04live forever, is a gift given only to those in Christ.
- 15:08Now, later, I'm going to share which of these four band
- 15:11teachings I personally think is true.
- 15:14But right now I can see that some of you might be raising
- 15:17your eyebrows. Because let's be honest, for
- 15:19many of us, the idea of eternal conscious torment is so
- 15:23ingrained upon us that we cannot imagine any other biblical
- 15:27option. But what does the Scripture
- 15:29actually say over and over? The language used about the fate
- 15:33of the unbeliever sounds final words like destruction, perish,
- 15:38death, end, corruption. Matthew 7 verse 13 warns us of
- 15:43the road leading to destruction. John 316 says those who don't
- 15:46believe perish. Romans 6 verse 23 talks about
- 15:50the wage of sin being death. And perhaps the most convincing
- 15:53verse is Matthew 10, verse 28, where Jesus warns us not to be
- 15:59afraid of Him who can destroy your body, but fear the one who
- 16:02can destroy both your body and soul and cast you into hell.
- 16:06I am confident those of you who read your Bibles remember these
- 16:09images in Scripture about God's judgement.
- 16:12You've got the chaff getting burned up.
- 16:14We see fruitless trees cut down and thrown into the flames, then
- 16:17weeds pulled up and burned. There's bad fish who get caught
- 16:22in the net and thrown away. There's the house that's built
- 16:24on sand collapses into ruin. The world gets swept away in the
- 16:28days of Noah. And we also see the wicked
- 16:31reduced to ashes on the feet of the righteous in Malachi 4 verse
- 16:363. Again and again Scripture says
- 16:38they'll be cut off. It says in Psalm 37 they'll
- 16:42vanish like smoke. It says they will wither like
- 16:45branches thrown into the fire in John 15.
- 16:47It says in Nahum 1 they will be consumed like stubble in the
- 16:51fire. It says they will perish like
- 16:53wax melting before the flame in Psalm 68.
- 16:57It says their names will be blotted out of the book of life
- 17:00in Psalm 69. The fact is, they this we cannot
- 17:03escape it. This imagery returns over and
- 17:06over again. And yet historical voices also
- 17:09remind us that conditional immortality has had long
- 17:12standing credibility. John Stott, one of the 20th
- 17:15century's most respected evangelical theologians,
- 17:18considered the annihilation view a serious, scripturally
- 17:21defensible option. Have you heard of Anna Bias, a
- 17:25Christian writer from the early 4th century?
- 17:27Well, he noted that destruction of the wicked, not endless
- 17:30torment, was compatible with God's justice.
- 17:34This isn't just some new idea, it's actually been part of the
- 17:37conversation throughout church history.
- 17:40Hey, this next part's a little bit important, so you might just
- 17:42want to catch it. You see, I personally cannot
- 17:45pretend this isn't a very difficult question to answer.
- 17:49Is eternal despair for a lifetime of 70 years on earth
- 17:53proportional? It has made me think, is hell
- 17:56sinless? I think the obvious answer is
- 17:59no. And so therefore it's very
- 18:00likely that the Sinner will keep on sinning and sinning for all
- 18:04of eternity. I've even heard some preachers
- 18:06say that the unbeliever will continue to sin but will find no
- 18:09happiness in it because they compare it to what they could
- 18:13have had with Christ in heaven. And moreover, they will not have
- 18:16any power to stop their sin even if they wanted to.
- 18:19Am I the only one who thinks that that actually kind of
- 18:22changes everything? Let me put it another way to
- 18:25you. Is there anyone here right now
- 18:27who would think that a prisoner who reoffends whilst in prison
- 18:31keeps doing wrong whilst they're in jail?
- 18:33Does that person deserve to be let free?
- 18:36Of course not. That person should receive a
- 18:38longer sentence, and I could be way off on this one.
- 18:42But is God's judgement like that a sentence that grows endlessly
- 18:46because the prisoner keeps on rebelling and rebelling and
- 18:50rebelling for all of eternity? What goes through your mind when
- 18:54I say these things? Because I also really want to
- 18:57know. The unbeliever even want to go
- 18:59to heaven. Why would they want to spend
- 19:01eternity with a God they refuse to worship?
- 19:03And some theologians take it even further when they claim
- 19:07that the gnashing of teeth described in hell means that
- 19:10those who occupy the lower realm grow more and more angry and
- 19:13loathsome to God as eternity continues.
- 19:17CS Lewis, the author of the Chronicles of Narnia, famously
- 19:20said the doors of hell are locked from the inside.
- 19:24So the unavoidable conclusion is this.
- 19:27We can't really just dismiss all of this language of destruction,
- 19:30perish, death, and burned up branches.
- 19:32The story of Lot is nothing more than just interpretive
- 19:35gymnastics. But at the same time, there are
- 19:38arguably even more verses and biblical answers that God's
- 19:42judgement lasts forever and not just for a period of time.
- 19:45So, ready or not, it's time to confront one of Scripture's most
- 19:49challenging themes. Is hell eternal?
- 19:53As you know, this is our last banned church teaching.
- 19:55Before I tell you which of these I believed to be true, but let's
- 19:59put the doctrine of hell to the test.
- 20:01Did you know the Bible doesn't just have one word for hell?
- 20:04There are several, each showing a different side of what happens
- 20:07after death. Take the Old Testament's word
- 20:10Sheol. It basically means the grave,
- 20:12the place everyone goes to when they die, saved or unsaved.
- 20:16But it's more than a hole in the ground.
- 20:18In the book of Genesis chapter 37, we see Jacob say I will go
- 20:23down to Sheol in mourning for my son.
- 20:26I won't go into this too much. Because I have made an entire
- 20:29video on what I think the Bible teaches really happens in this
- 20:33shadowy realm. I'll leave a link in the
- 20:35description if you'd like to check out that video.
- 20:37But I do want to say this right now.
- 20:39Sheol was seen as the unseen world of the dead, a kind of
- 20:43holding place for souls, like a sort of waiting room.
- 20:46Now you may already know this, but in case you didn't, when the
- 20:49Old Testament talks about Sheol, the New Testament usually
- 20:52translates that word into Hades. But here's the key difference.
- 20:56Hades is isn't just the grave, it's a place of conscious
- 21:01torment, a realm where the soul experiences real anguish.
- 21:06An unforgettable example of this is the parable of the rich man
- 21:10and Lazarus. Now perhaps you disagree with
- 21:12this, but I personally think this is probably the only
- 21:15parable where Jesus describes something that actually happens.
- 21:19Not just a story to illustrate a point, but this is something
- 21:22real. You will probably remember the
- 21:24story right? Lazarus was a poor beggar who
- 21:26struggled in life and goes to Abrahams bosom, a place of rest,
- 21:30comfort and peace. Meanwhile, the rich man who saw
- 21:33Lazarus struggle every day, when he dies, well he finds himself
- 21:37in a place called Hades. Flames lick around him, he's
- 21:43thirsty, he's desperate and he longs that his family won't end
- 21:47up in Hades too. OK, this is something that has
- 21:50me very curious. Whilst in Hades, the rich man
- 21:54can see Lazarus across the divide.
- 21:57He can see peace, comfort and life, and yet he can't reach it.
- 22:02He can't attain it. He can't even warn his family.
- 22:05He can't turn back the clock and he can never escape.
- 22:08And the way I've always thought about it is hell will be exactly
- 22:11the same. You see, I think if this parable
- 22:14proves anything, it proves that there will be no memory loss in
- 22:17hell. When the rich man reaches out to
- 22:20Abraham from Hades, Abraham says one chilling word.
- 22:25Remember. I believe every single soul in
- 22:28hell will remember. They'll remember all the times
- 22:31they quietly laughed at the street preacher in their city
- 22:34who was crying out to them to repent before it's too late.
- 22:37They'll remember. Every time they walk past the
- 22:40church, every Bible verse they ignored, every moment they
- 22:43dismissed the words of eternal life, they will remember videos
- 22:47like this about the gospel. They'll remember.
- 22:49When their Christian friends and family members tried to tell
- 22:52them about Jesus Christ, they will remember every time they
- 22:56heard the gospel preached the good news about the Saviour who
- 23:00took their hell upon the cross, who bore all of that wrath, all
- 23:03of that fire, who turned it away from sinners and placed it upon
- 23:07himself so that the Sinner has the opportunity to be forgiven
- 23:10and to flee from that wrath and spend eternity in heaven.
- 23:15They'll remember all of these doors that were open for them on
- 23:19earth, but now these doors are shut forever in hell.
- 23:23And it doesn't matter how much they knock, it doesn't matter
- 23:26how powerfully they push, these doors will never open again.
- 23:31Before we talk about the place, the fallen angels, it would be
- 23:34so wrong of me not to simply ask you, have you gone through that
- 23:38door today whilst the door is open?
- 23:41Have you gone through it? Because the plot twist is this.
- 23:44That door is Jesus Christ himself.
- 23:47He once said, I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he
- 23:52will be saved. So if you haven't, please,
- 23:55please today walk through that door by asking Jesus to be your
- 23:59Lord and Savior because he died for your sins on the cross to
- 24:02rescue you from hell and he rose from the dead to give you an
- 24:04opportunity to have an endless life in heaven with him if you
- 24:08want it. But that's the big question, do
- 24:11you want it? So what's all this about fallen
- 24:14angels and demons? Where do they go?
- 24:16Well, have you ever heard of Tartarus?
- 24:19It pops up only once in the New Testament.
- 24:21In Second Peter chapter 2 verse 4, it says God did not spare the
- 24:26angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell.
- 24:29Or to be more accurate, Tartarus, placing them in chains
- 24:33of darkness to be held for judgment.
- 24:36In a nutshell, Tartarus is a special holding cell for
- 24:40rebellious angels. Think of it like a spiritual
- 24:43maximum security prison, but eternal and chained in darkness
- 24:47whilst you await judgement. Just a little diversion.
- 24:50But there is another word, abyss, which reoccurs throughout
- 24:54the Bible and it literally means bottomless or immeasurable pits.
- 24:59In the Bible it is often depicted as a place of
- 25:01confinement for evil spirits. The most famous example is found
- 25:05in Luke 8 verse 31 when the demons begged Jesus not to send
- 25:09them into the abyss, showing that it is is a dreaded place
- 25:12that even the darkest beings fear.
- 25:15Revelation describes the abyss multiple times as the bottomless
- 25:19pit from which locusts emerge, the place from which the beast
- 25:22rises, and where Satan is bound for 1000 years.
- 25:25Many Bible scholars believe the abyss is the same place as
- 25:29Tartarus, but even if it isn't, they both prove from scripture
- 25:32that God maintains ultimate authority over all evil spirits.
- 25:37Some confined in the abyss and others roam in the earth, but
- 25:41ultimately, ultimately all will face final judgements by him who
- 25:45is on the throne. Another name for hell in the
- 25:47Bible is what Jesus calls Gehenna.
- 25:50Surprisingly, it turns out it's also a real place on earth.
- 25:53Gehenna comes from the valley of Hinnon, right beside Jerusalem,
- 25:57and archaeology backs it up. Back in the days of King Ahaz,
- 26:00the Israelites actually performed a very evil idolatry
- 26:04here. So years later, a good king,
- 26:07King Josiah, put a stop to it and the valley became a burning
- 26:11God garbage dump, which the fires were always smoldering and
- 26:15there was a stench there that was very overwhelming.
- 26:17So when Jesus talks about Gehenna as a place of final
- 26:21consequence, he's pointing to something concretes A10
- 26:25manageable image that his listeners would have known well
- 26:27so that they would know exactly what to expect the eternal
- 26:30judgment to be like for those who reject the gospel.
- 26:33Hey, check this out. Because archaeological digs in
- 26:36the valley of Hymnon have uncovered layers of ash and
- 26:39evidence of continual fires. But I guess the strongest image
- 26:43of hell that has evoked all of the paintings, all of the
- 26:46movies, all of the literature is that image of the lake of fire.
- 26:51So this is the part of the video where things get very intense.
- 26:54Why? Because some say, Oh well, it's
- 26:56just a metaphor. But is it really?
- 26:59The Apostle John in the Book of Revelation describes fire,
- 27:03torment, separation, and honestly, I'm not sure our human
- 27:07language can even capture it fully.
- 27:09It's like there's a vast sea of flames and sulphur, and as Jesus
- 27:13said, it is a place where the worm does not die, which doesn't
- 27:17make sense if you believe in annihilationism.
- 27:20So over to you. I'll ask you again, if hell is
- 27:24just a metaphor or if the unbeliever just suddenly ceases
- 27:27to exist, why is the Bible full of descriptions?
- 27:31Like it says hell is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.
- 27:35It's a fiery furnace. It even says that it's an
- 27:38unquenchable fire because the fuel of that fire, could it be,
- 27:41is Chrysler Souls? And then the one that really
- 27:44gets me is it says it's a place where there is no rest day or
- 27:48night, which doesn't add up if the wicked do one day get
- 27:52completely destroyed. But I can hear exactly what some
- 27:55of you are saying. Many Christians who believe in
- 27:57the doctrine of annihilationism, they can argue against those
- 28:00verses above, but they really struggle to build a case against
- 28:04this next one. Matthew 25, verse 46.
- 28:08These will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous
- 28:12into eternal life. How do we untangle this verse
- 28:16when in one breath it states the unsaved will go away to eternal
- 28:20punishment and in the next breath it states the righteous,
- 28:23the saved, will go away to eternal life?
- 28:25Do you see what I'm saying here? Because the Greek, the exact
- 28:29same word for eternal life, is the same word used for eternal
- 28:32punishment. And even more astonishing, it's
- 28:35the same word used in the Bible to describe God's infinite
- 28:39eternal nature. In Hebrew it's olam, in Greek
- 28:43it's aeon. And these words don't just mean
- 28:46a really long time, they mean beginningless, perpetual,
- 28:50endless. So this verse is describing
- 28:53something as real and unending as God's own eternal existence.
- 28:57And if we are to be consistent here, if we say that unbelievers
- 29:01are not receiving punishment in hell eternally, we've also got
- 29:05to say that heaven is also going to end one day.
- 29:08And to take it even further, you would have to say that God
- 29:10Himself is not eternal, which I hope none of us would dare say,
- 29:14especially when Scripture is so crystal clear that the Lord has
- 29:17no beginning and He has no end. Before we draw a line under this
- 29:21case and decide on a verdict of which of these four options is
- 29:25really true, there's one final piece of evidence worth noting.
- 29:29What did the early Christian writers consistently affirm?
- 29:33Well, let's meet some of them. Ignatius of Antioch, Second
- 29:36Clement and Justin Martyr all spoke of unquenchable fire for
- 29:40those who reject God, whilst Polycarp and Mathias emphasize
- 29:45that even the earthly problems that we may face, they are
- 29:48nothing compared to eternal torment.
- 29:50Athena, Goris, Theophyllus and Irenaeus stressed that the
- 29:54wicked will face everlasting fire, not annihilation, and
- 29:59Tertilian and Hippolytus highlighted its unending and
- 30:03inescapable nature. And lastly, Cyril of Jerusalem
- 30:07reinforced that the consequences of the unsaved of both spiritual
- 30:11and bodily, with eternal consequences tailored to each
- 30:15person's deeds, whilst the righteous receive immortality
- 30:19and life of God across these early voices.
- 30:22And some of them knew the first apostles, they knew the Apostle
- 30:26John, they knew the disciples of Jesus.
- 30:28The message is clear from these guys.
- 30:30Eternal separation from God is real, deliberate and
- 30:34irreversible. I am sorry, but I do feel that a
- 30:38whole heap of this video has really just appealed to your
- 30:41mind. So if I may, can I talk to your
- 30:43heart for a moment as I want to share with you one of the most
- 30:47powerful poems that was ever written?
- 30:50You live next door to me. For years we shared our dreams,
- 30:54our joys and tears. A friend to me.
- 30:57You were indeed a friend who helped me when in need.
- 31:02What sadness then, my friend, to find that after all, you weren't
- 31:06so kind. The day my life on earth did
- 31:10end, I found you weren't a faithful friend.
- 31:13For all those years we spent on earth, you never spoke of second
- 31:17birth. You never spoke of my lost soul
- 31:20and of the Christ who'd make me whole.
- 31:23So I plead today from Hell's cruel fire, and tell you now my
- 31:29last desire, you cannot do a thing for me.
- 31:33No words today will set me free. But do not err, my friend again.
- 31:39Do all you can for the souls of men.
- 31:42Plead with them now, quite earnestly, lest they be cast in
- 31:47hell with me. So as I close this case file, is
- 31:52my verdict not obvious? If you're a believer, I pray you
- 31:56will warn your neighbors that an eternal conscious hell exists.
- 32:00But there is also grace, because God gives an escape route
- 32:04through Jesus Christ. And if you're not a believer,
- 32:08you've heard me tell you in this very video the message of Jesus
- 32:11Christ. And so I only have one more
- 32:13thing to say to you, my dear friend.
- 32:17Go anywhere in this world, but do not go to hell.