ESCHATOLOGY PART 1

eschatology is the study of last things we will do this in two parts in part one will study the final state of the saved which is known as heaven and the final state of the lost or hell and the second part will study the Second Coming and millennium the tribulation and rapture the first part is also known as personal eschatology and the second part is known as general eschatology for lesson 14 part 1 of eschatology our objectives are 1 identify the correct understanding of the intermediate and final state of the saved to identify the correct understanding of the intermediate and final state of the lost 3 right answers to various objections concerning the evangelical view of Hell the final state of the saved that is heaven we'll look at the biblical basis for the intermediate state the theological basis for the intermediate state the biblical basis for the doctrine of heaven and finally we'll answer some questions about heaven first the term heaven and the Greek or a nas is used at least in three ways the first way is for the atmosphere of the earth as in Matthew 6:26 it's also used for stars what we would call space Matthew 24:29 the third way in which it is used is for the abode of God Paul refers to this as the third heaven or paradise in 2nd Corinthians 12:2 and 4 paul says i know a man in Christ and here he's referring to himself who fourteen years ago whether in the body I do not know or out of the body I do not know God knows such a man was caught up to the third heaven was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words which a man is not permitted to speak and this abode of God in reference to heaven is used in at least two senses one it is used for the present or intermediate state this is the bliss of departed spirits this intermediate state is when believers die now the body goes to the grave but the soul that separates from the body survives consciously apart from the body and is immediately in the presence of God this intermediate state only covers between the death of the person and the resurrection and this intermediate state does not involve annihilation of the person or even unconscious sleep the second sense in which it is used as heaven is used for the future eternal state which the Bible calls the new heaven and new earth the future eternal state is when soul and body are combined again together in a glorified permanent state in this future eternal state the three senses in which the word heaven are used in scripture are combined together again to describe the future eternal state as a new heaven and a new earth that is not under the curse but is just as real as it is now and our future eternal state will contain humans that are in glorified immortal bodies that will dwell on the earth hence the popular notion of heaven being a state of spiritual existence with no bodies and apart from the earth is a very foreign understanding to scripture the biblical basis for the intermediate state first we need to look at the nature of death death as defined in Scripture is the moment that the soul leaves the body as we've seen in genesis 35:18 and it came about as her soul was departing for she died and James 2:26 says the body without the Spirit is dead the soul survives the death of the body in a disembodied state and the body returns to dust but the soul is gathered to a person's loved ones this is described for the saved as a place of peace Jesus called it Abraham's bosom and Luke 1622 and Paradise as a place of conscious bliss in the term gathered together in Genesis 25 8 a great get-together of the spirits as Genesis 4933 teaches when Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons he drew his feet up into the bed breathed his last and was gathered to his people and as Jobe expressed in 1925 as for me I know that my redeemer lives and at the last he will take his stand on the earth hence there's no hint in scripture in the intermediate state of non-existence or unconsciousness annihilation or even soul sleep and since we've studied in anthropology the powers of the soul and the higher intellectual abilities stay intact between death and the resurrection but it is also important to point out that the soul is incomplete or naked without the body and it must be an intermediate state awaiting a future state of completeness or wholeness when the resurrection takes place Luke 2:16 22 through 24 now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom and the rich man also died and was buried in Hades he lifted up his eyes being in torment and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom and he cried out and said father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue for I am in agony in this flame Jesus before this passage teaches a series of parables in which he uses fictional figures that are not named except in a generic sense to tell or to teach a spiritual truth that is relevant to living on the earth here in Luke 16 Jesus here in Luke 16 Jesus reverses everything now the setting is the afterlife the spiritual state in which we are disembodied and the people all of a sudden are given real names such as Lazarus and hence that which is truly a spiritual state of existence is depicted in very concrete terms and while it teaches a literal truth about the afterlife the language that is used must be taken as physical descriptions that are relating spiritual or immaterial existence to us in Luke 23:43 Jesus while on the cross says to the thief truly I say to you today you shall be with me in paradise which is a clear reference to the place of saved departed souls who are in bliss in the abode of God in acts 7 56 and 59 behold I see the heavens opened up and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God they went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said Lord Jesus receive my spirit this instance of the first Christian who is martyred Stephen clearly expects his spirit to be received into the presence of God first Corinthians 5:5 I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus pierre-paul exercises church discipline on a sinning Christian recognizing that his flesh will be destroyed if he continues in his sin but recognizing that his spirit will be saved and in the presence of the Lord in Paul in Philippians 1:21 and 23 to 24 for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain but I am hard-pressed from both directions having the desire to depart and be with Christ for that is very much better yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake here Paul struggles with the desire to be in the presence with Christ but realizes that his presence here is necessary for the ministry that he is providing to those around him at Hebrews 12:22 through 23 but you have come to Mount Zion into the city of the Living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to myriads of angels to the General Assembly and Church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all into the spirits of the righteous made perfect so if this is the intermediate state for believers now since the New Testament the question arises what became of saints before Christ that is those who trusted in the Messiah in Old Testament times where did they go some theologians have taught that she ole the place of departed spirits had a compartment for Old Testament Saints and this is where Old Testament Saints went and then when Christ died he took them all to heaven since Christ was the first fruits or the first to enter Heaven at his ascension however there seems to be quite a few problems with this teaching Luke 16 we should recognize as a gulf between heaven and hell there are not two sections of Sheol and the only gulf that is mentioned cannot be traversed in Ephesians 4 which is used to defend this view is not taking Old Testament Saints to heaven but instead it is taking evil forces captive by the death and resurrection of Jesus in the background for this is clearly Psalm 68 in which David is defeating real physical enemies and is taking them captive and in 1st Peter 3:19 this is about Christ announcing his victory to the Fallen spirit world of angels not to Old Testament Saints or doing anything with Old Testament Saints and we should recognize that Paul clarifies what is meant by Christ being the firstfruits since according to 1st Corinthians 15:22 it is Christ who is the first to go to heaven in a glorified body the Apostles Creed which is not Scripture and some manuscripts does describe Christ as descending into hell however the earliest editions of the Apostles Creed do not have this phrase in it hence with little support of this theory it is best to take that Old Testament and New Testament Saints together await their resurrected bodies in the intermediate state as Hebrews 12 23 teaches to the General Assembly and Church of the firstborn who are enrolled heaven and as 1st Thessalonians 4 13 through 17 teaches those who are asleep first including Old Testament Saints will rise first then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we shall always be with Lord the biblical basis for the resurrection of the body in order for the human being to be complete there must be a future point at which soul and body are reunited as 2nd Corinthians 5 1 through 4 teaches the soul without the body is naked hence the human person to be complete must be reunited with a resurrected body since as we have argued elsewhere the image of God includes the body and matter is good and the Bible consistently throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament teaches that there are two resurrections to take place one of the saved or the just that is the righteous and the other of the unsafe or the unjust the unrighteous in the Old Testament Daniel 12:2 says many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake those to everlasting life but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt identifying here the two resurrections that are to take place and Jesus is teaching in John 5 28 to 29 do not marvel at this for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come forth those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment here again emphasizing the two resurrections to take place Paul also in 1st Corinthians 15 21 through 26 identifies the two stages or resurrections that are to take place both of these resurrections are physical resurrections in the sense that they involve the glorified body in revelation 20:4 through 6 the Apostle John teaches then I saw Thrones and they sat on them and judgment was given to them and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the Word of God and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years the rest of the Dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed this is the first resurrection blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection over these the second death has no power but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years there are two resurrections of the righteous at the beginning of the millennium and the unrighteous at the end of the millennium or the thousand years both are physical resurrections and during the thousand years those who are raised in the first resurrection will reign with Christ and resurrection means that the body will again come to life since the soul does not die the body will need to be raised and reunited with the soul such that the whole human person is reconstituted those that are raised at the second resurrection after the Millenium will experience a second death that is they will face eternal separation from God but such separation will involve the whole person soul body unity the nature of the resurrection body for believers this is numerical identity and Jesus is the model for our resurrected body such that just as his scars suffered in his mortal body will also be present in his immortal body according to John 2027 it will be a body of flesh and bones according to Luke 24:39 it will be able to eat food Luke 24 42 and it will be touchable or tangible since it is physical according to matthew 28:9 this does not mean that the body has all the same particles in fact we know that our cells or particle of our current bodies change about every seven years such that even the particles that our bodies are composed of right now are not the same particles that they were seven years or so ago but the particles are numerically the same that is where our particles are individuated by our soul or our form are the same whether it is our mortal bodies or our immortal bodies and they are material bodies since we are called out from the dead in terms of the Resurrection Luke 24 45 and as Paul teaches we are sown perishable but raised imperishable according to first Corinthians 1542 and the term body or in greek soma always means a physical body for it is the power of Jesus that transforms our bodies according to Philippians 3:21 and our resurrected bodies being in the pattern of Christ's and like a Christ will be glorified bodies according to Philippians 3:21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself it will have mobility or movement according to acts 1 10 through 11 in which the angel said this Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven and it will have agility perhaps even the ability to move through physical barriers which may have been the case with Jesus's body in John 20:19 and it certainly as Paul teaches in 1st Corinthians 15:44 be supernaturally or spiritually dominated in terms of power since only material bodies are buried only material bodies are raised is a serious error if not heresy to hold that Jesus's resurrection body was not material or physically immediately upon his resurrection and even of unbelievers resurrected bodies the same terminology is used with expect to them being immortal that is they must also be raised to an immortal state in order for them to live evermore and the same terms are used in Revelation 20 with respect to unbelievers the rest of the Dead will come to life and Jesus taught that both the soul and body would be punished in Hell on Matthew 10:28 and that the duration of this would be forever Matthew 25:41 so they also must be put into a state in which they can endure as a soul body unity forever and since the body too is in the image of God it must be resurrected forever since if it is not then God did not win over death in the devil a reverse physical death for all people so unbelievers must be resurrected any body so that they can live and remain in their chosen destiny forevermore as Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15 26 the last enemy that will be abolished is death the theological basis for the intermediate state God's omnipotent and omni-benevolent God can cause because he is omnipotent or all-powerful the soul to survive death since he can do anything that is not impossible and causing the soul to survive death is something that is possible for him to do and it is not impossible for the creator of souls to sustain their existence even after death since he is their originating and the sustaining cause of the soul and God will do this because he is all good since Christ is before all things and in him all things hold together and philosophically we can point out that the higher powers of reasoning with respect to the soul are not dependent upon the body in the form which is the soul has the power of individuation of the matter which of course is the arrangement of the body hence it is possible because of God's omnipotent and omni-benevolent that he will reconstitute the soul body unity forevermore and man is in the image of God since we are in the image of God to Genesis 1:27 God cannot annihilate his image since that would be an act of God against God or God attacking what has his image such an annihilation is a denial of God's omnipotence II hence God preserving his creation that is in his image is very reasonable and the resurrection of the body also has a theological basis since God is omnipotent he can resurrect our bodies since God is omnibar Evelyn he will resurrect us and make us complete because of his mercy hence his mercy saves us not only now from the pain of non-existence but will save us also forevermore from the pain of non-existence as well and God's omniscience Christ's resurrection manifest the victory over death and the devil as dr. geyser says in his systematic theology they did crucify him that is Christ and God and His infinite wisdom allowed it in order to defeat sin and restore his creation the biblical basis for the doctrine of heaven the constitutes of heaven are the triune God according to revelation 4 2 & 8 immediately I was in the spirit John says and behold a throne was standing in heaven and one sitting on the throne holy holy holy is the Lord God the Almighty who was and who is and who is to come and good angels are there and of course redeemed humans are there after these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could count from every nation in all tribes and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes and palms were in their hands an eternity should be understood as duration without beginning or end but heaven should be understood as beginning with no end or better described as everlasting the duration of heaven of course is everlasting or eternal God and God alone is eternal the rest of the constitutes of heaven should be understood as EV eternal that is able to be connected to the eternal God but also able to be connected to that which is temporal or not eternal and eternality should be understood as duration without either beginning or end being God alone but heaven of course should be understood as beginning with no end or everlasting in heaven of course is the hope we have of eternal life according to Titus 1:2 which God has promised long ago and God of course cannot lie revelation 5:13 says in every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and Dominion forever and ever the biblical basis of the nature of heaven heaven is described as a place that is better than our current earth conditions for as Paul says to depart and be with Christ is very much better it is a place of no sorrow according to revelation 21:4 and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will no longer be any death there will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain the first things have passed away there will be no curse upon the earth revelation 22 3 there will no longer be any curse and the throne of God and the lamb will be in it and as bondservants will serve Him there is no darkness for revelation 21:23 says and the city has no need of the Sun or the moon to shine on it for the glory of God has illumined it in its lamp is the lamb it is a place of no sickness or pain as we read in Revelation 21 for there is no death and it is a place of perfect bodies according to 1st Corinthians 15:51 53 for the perishable must put on the imperishable and this mortal must put on immortality it is a place with many dwelling places as Jesus said in my father's house are many dwelling places it is a place of perpetual worship where the angels or living creatures never cease from saying holy holy holy is the Lord God the Almighty who was and who is and who is to come it is a place of everlasting service according to Revelation 22 3 it is a grand reunion as 1st Thessalonians 4:13 through 18 says for this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep it is a place of a great heavenly wedding and I saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God made ready as a bride adorned for her husband it is a place of a celestial City Hebrews 12:22 the heavenly Jerusalem in the myriads of angels it is a place of perfect knowledge for Paul says we know in part and we prophesy in part but when the perfect comes the partial will be done away with it is a place of moral perfection it is a place of indescribable beauty and glory as Paul says it is inexpressible in word in revelation 21 18 through 21 the material of the wall was Jasper and the city was pure gold like clear glass the foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone in the 12 gates were twelve pearls each one of the gates was a single pearl and the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass the nature of such depictions is to take the most beautiful things that we know to exist on earth and describe heaven in those terms but even such terms pale in comparison to the actual experience of what heaven is where we know in part and we prophesy in part but when the perfect comes the partial will be done away with heaven will be the place of the beatific vision the beatific vision comes from the beatitude means happy this is the ultimate fulfillment of all divine aspirations it is the final cause or end of man and it is only possible by supernatural act of God since it is beyond all human capacity to achieve according to John 1:18 no one has seen God at any time the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father he has explained him Moses in Exodus 33 requested to see God I pray you show me your glory and God said I myself will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you but God said you cannot see my face for no man can see me and live then the Lord said Behold there is a place by me and you shall stand there in the rock and it will come about while my glory is passing by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by then I will take my hand away and you shall see my back but my face you shall not see but in mortal man will see God according to Revelation 22 for they will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads Psalm 17 15 says as for me I shall behold your face and righteousness I will be satisfied by your likeness when I awake and seeing God is the fulfillment of all divine aspiration it brings direct and perfect knowledge beloved now we are children of God and it has not appeared as yet what we will be we know that when he appears we will be like him because we will see him just as he is hence we will no longer know God indirectly through creation as in Romans 1:20 but our knowledge of God will be unmediated our knowledge of God will no longer be analogous for now we see in a mirror dimly but then face to face now I know in part but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known this does not mean that we will be infinite as God as infinite that's impossible we will always be finite we will not know God as God knows himself but we will know God as a perfect man knows God as we were originally intended to know God in the garden as dr. geyser says we will perfectly apprehend God but we will never completely comprehend him such an experience of course brings the perfect love of God since Matthew 22:37 is truly fulfilled the beatific vision makes sin impossible it fulfills our freedom it gives us true freedom which is the freedom to only do good beholding absolute good or absolute goodness overpowers any attraction or desire for the unholy or sin and this is an experience only for believers those who are resurrected to be judged and cast into the eternal lake of fire do not experience the beatific vision Hebrews 11:6 says and without faith it is impossible to please him for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek Him this brings a permanent and dynamic state to our existence and in this state our potential 'ti becomes completely actualized as Thomas Aquinas says final and perfect happiness can consist in nothing else than the vision of the divine essence to make this clear two points must be observed first that people are not perfectly happy so long as something remains for them to desire and seek secondly that the perfection of any power is determined by the nature of its object now the intellect attains perfection insofar as it knows the essence of a thing and for perfect happiness the intellect needs to reach the very essence of the first cause as Gary Gulag Ranjha says we are told that our final destiny consists in beholding God immediately face to face and as he really is even as he knows so that it the beatific vision consists also and loving him even as he loves himself hence our finite essence will pass through the infinite essence of God into the extent that finite creatures are capable we will know everything about everything God is immutable but not in mobile likewise in heaven we will be immutable though finitely immutable perfect without being immobile or static God is the unmoved mover but he is not an unmoving mover in fact as pure actuality he is the most active being in the universe is pure actuality having no potentiality and in our glorified state our souls will be perfected finitely pure act but we will be able to be connected to God the eternal as well as to movement hence we will have bodies that will be glorified mobile and agile just as Christ was in his glorified body and hence God will still be the unmoving mover of all things holding everything in existence for all of eternity dr. geyser says in his systematic theology likewise when we reach the most godlike state of absolute perfection possible via the beatific vision we do not become less active but more active we will not be God's frozen Chosin we will be his mobile millions actively worshipping and serving him nevertheless our action will not be that of striving but enjoying not of seeking but of treasuring what was found our minds will be active not in searching for truth but in rejoicing over the infinite truth discovered an Arviat if ik state we will not be less active but we will be more active since our souls will be perfect completed actuality in a finite sense we will be able to be connected to God eternally but also connected to change in motion questions about heaven here we want to ask some basic questions about heaven offer biblical answers and also to ground any speculative answers in a theological understanding will there be babies in heaven notice that we're not asking here do infants that die go to heaven that answer we have already given as being yes but here we're asking will those infants that die and go to heaven exist as babies in heaven the answer to that is probably not since heaven is a place of maturity and perfection and those who die in infancy will be granted maturity in heaven will we have physical bodies and the answer to that is a categorical yes as Philippians 3:21 says Christ will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory our resurrection body will be like his or Christ's resurrection body hence just as Christ was able to move in his resurrection body so we will be able to move in our resurrection bodies all the things that we see Christ doing in his resurrection body we will be able to do as well will we eat in heaven yes but we will do it for enjoyment not sustenance it will be for pleasure not out of necessity but we see that Christ did eat in John 21 13 and he did also promised that he would eat with his disciples in Matthew 26 29 where he said I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you and my father's kingdom hence our glorified bodies will not be dependent on food and it also may be the case that our bodies in a glorified state may not be dependent on other things as well because in our glorified state they will be dominated and empowered by the Holy Spirit as Paul teaches in 1st Corinthians 15 will we recognized loved ones in heaven the answer to that is yes Moses and Elijah were recognized by the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration matthew 17 3 the disciples that saw Moses and Elijah never knew them on earth had never met them yet they were able to recognize them immediately as to who they were hence even in the intermediate state teaches in first Thessalonians 4:15 we will retain a personal identity Paul says for this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air and so we shall always be with the Lord will we be married in heaven Jesus teaches in Matthew 22:30 for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven so there is no marriage there are no ceremonies and there is no sexual relations in heaven for Paul teaches in Romans 7 - for the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living but if her husband dies she is released from the law concerning the husband so then if while her husband is living she is joined to another man she shall be called an adulteress but if her husband dies she is free from the wall so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man hence there is no marriage or procreation in heaven how many people will be in heaven well we can say safely that there will be as many people in heaven as God can bring there without violating their free choice since we know from Scripture that it is God's desire that all be saved but of course this cannot be against someone's free will or free choice someone asked about Matthew 7 13 through 14 that says enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and there are many who enter through it but the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life in our few who find it however BB Warfield argued with respect to this passage that it is referring to the immediate and local response of Jesus's message in his day and may very well say nothing about the universal statistics of heaven in fact no number is stated in Scripture some have tried an analogy with angels in which one-third were lost and that perhaps humanity will place that one-third but even this does not give us a precise number we might also consider the mortality rate may very well be half of those conceived in a great revival before Christ's return may make heaven greatly populated is heaven a place or a state of mind what we could say that a right or correct state of mind that is correct doctrinal teaching and a correct heart can certainly lead to salvation but heaven is much more than a state of mind it is a real place as Jesus said in John 14:2 through 4 in my father's house are many dwelling places and as we've seen in Revelation it is a new heaven and a new earth hence it is much more than correct or right thinking or a state of mind where is heaven located well heaven is the abode of righteous human souls and angelic spirits that are always in continuously in the presence of God as Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 5:8 we are of good courage I say and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord and of course here we need to divide the answer to the two ways that heaven is used in scripture for the intermediate state this may either be located in the space/time world as it was Christ who ascended up into the heavens making him hidden from us even though it is still in our space-time world or it may be in another dimension as Luke 24 31 may be suggesting when it says that their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he vanished from their sight and the answer for the eternal state is that it is on the earth that is the new earth in 2nd Peter 3:12 2:13 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat but according to his promise we are looking for new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells so this present earth and the heavens above will melt with intense heat but not to the point of ceasing to exist but for the purpose is of purification so that it can then be used again not under the curse of God in which righteousness will dwell in Revelation 21 1 through 2 then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth passed away and there is no longer any sea and I saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God made ready as a bride adorned for her husband one of the biggest misconceptions in our culture as well as the church is that our eternal existence in heaven will not be on earth heaven will be right where we are now only in a purified state dwelling in righteousness with glorified bodies in all likelihood we will keep our ethnicity maybe even our languages which everyone will understand or there may be even more advanced ways of communication spiritually speaking our existence in the perfected earth with no curse glorified bodies and perfected Souls will enable us to take the resources of the earth and to use them on a level that has unknown under the cursed earth today will everyone be equally blessed or rewarded in heaven well we can say that everyone will be fully blessed but not equally everyone's cup will be full and running over but not everyone's cup will be the same size from Scripture we know that our temporal obedience and faithfulness ultimately determines our reward in eternity 1st Corinthians 3:13 each man's work will become evident for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work if any man's work which he has built on it remains he will receive a reward if any man's work is burned up he will suffer loss but he himself will be saved yet as through fire in in Revelation 4:10 it speaks of the 24 elders likely believers at this point who fall down before him who sits on the throne and war him who lives forever and ever and they will cast their crowns that is their rewards before the throne such a reward may in fact refer to the capacity that we will have to love and to serve God eternally in eternity and all of our rewards are ultimately to bring glory and honor to God such reward and blessing may very well correspond to a greater level of knowing God through the beatific vision that is some humans will be closer to God than other humans because of their reward or their inheritance in heaven will we experience time in heaven some say yes for the language of Revelation speaks of day and night forevermore however this very well may be an earthly expression of what we know to describe a state of existence that we do not yet know and so some have said no we will be changeless perfection finite changeless state is ever eternal and how can you change perfection or make it better however as we've seen with Christ resurrected body it moves in time is just a measurement of change so if things move they change an in our dev eternal state we can be connected to change or to movement but like Christ our souls are completed potential 'ti finitely pure act hence our souls do not change since they're perfected but such Souls can certainly be connected to glorified bodies that do move will we learn and morally improve in heaven some say yes citing Ephesians and 1st Peter where it speaks of the manifold wisdom of God being made known even in the heavenly places but even these verses do not explicitly say that we will learn or morally improve in heaven and given the nature of heaven it seems better to hold that we will not learn or morally improve at heaven since heaven is a place of perfection not of progress since the perfect has come the partial has been done away with in heaven is a place of receiving not working Earth is the place for working since we receive a reward in heaven heaven completes and finalizes what is done here and now on the earth as Matthew 16:19 says I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven and as we've seen the beatific vision results in perfection the ultimate experience of God's infinite nature since in that we are given all knowledge about everything that we can know as finite human beings and are made morally perfect the dr. geyser shows in this chart moral perfection on earth can be compared to moral perfection in heaven dr. geyser says in his systematic theology we will know everything our finite capacity will allow us to know directly through the infinite mind of God as he knows the entire universe in and through himself so will we know the universe by virtue of knowing everything directly in and through his mind essence hence with effortless ease we will be able to explore the entire universe and so far as it is finitely possible such exploration will not be that of ceaseless discovering but of endless delight in that we have already discovered in God the final state of the lost or hell here we cover the biblical basis and theological basis for hell the nature location and duration of Hell and then answer some objections to hell there are a few different terms that are used for Hell in the Old Testament Hebrew she means the unseen world it is used most frequently for the grave but on occasion it is used for the unseen world where spirits are such as Psalm 917 where it says the wicked will return to Sheol a clear reference to the intermediate state of those who are unsaved the most common Greek term used in the New Testament for hell as Hades which means the departed wicked spirits which is most frequently used for the intermediate state of departed wicked spirits also the term Gehenna which is also translated Hell in the New Testament Jesus made reference to this when he said and whoever says you fool shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell this word is taken from the valley of Gehenna which is a putrid dump that burned perpetually in the time of Christ also the Greek word cartero used in 2nd Peter 2:4 as a reference to the eternal damnation of fallen angels in Greek literature this was used as a subterranean place that was even lower than Hades and finally the phrase lake of fire is used in the New Testament for the eternal state of the Lost that is both death and Hades a reference to the body and the soul are cast into the lake of fire as revelation 20 14 through 15 says death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire this is the second death the Old Testament does teach about Hell as we saw in Psalm 917 but also Psalm 16:10 through 11 says for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol nor will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay which is a clear reference to the fact that the Messiah did not go to hell or she'll in Isaiah 66 24 then they shall go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against me for their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched and they will be in abhorrence to all mankind which is a description of Hell in Daniel 12:2 as we've seen mentions both resurrections many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will wake those who everlasting life but the others to disgrace in everlasting contempt and the Old Testament does teach on Hell in the New Testament we see that Jesus teaches on hell more than anyone else Jesus said in Matthew 10:28 do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell clearly a reference that the whole person soul body unity will be in hell in Matthew 25:41 then he will also say to those on his left depart for me accursed ones into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels and there's other New Testament teaching on hell Paul teaches on Hell and second Thessalonians 1 7 through 9 these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power revelation 2:11 he who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches he who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death and the Old Testament the New Testament teaching by Jesus himself and other authors of the New Testament are unanimous and teaching that there is a hell in which those who are not saved will be condemned in the intermediate state and someday at the great white throne judgment in Revelation 20 it says and the sea gave up the Dead which were in it and death and Hades gave up the Dead which were in them and they were judged every one of them according to their deeds then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire this is the second death the lake of fire the theological basis for hell God's sovereignty demands a hell evil frustrates good and since God is all good he must quarantine evil fourth there were no Hell in which evil could be quarantined there would be no final victory over evil for his Corinthians 15:20 4 says then comes the end and when he hands over the kingdom to the God and father when he has abolished all rule and all authority and power for he must reign and Coe he has put all his enemies under his feet the last enemy that will be abolished is death and Jonathan Edwards says the eternal holy God cannot tolerate any sin how much more than a multitude of daily sins and thought word and deed this is all compounded by the fact that we reject God's eminence mercy and add to this man's readiness to find fault with God's justice and mercy and we have abundant evidence for the need for hell therefore if we had a true spiritual awareness we would not be amazed at Hell's severity but at our own depravity hence God's sovereignty and eternal holiness demands that there be a help God's justice also demands that there is a hell God is just as we know from Romans 2 and God will do what is right according to Genesis 1825 and it is also clear from Scripture that not all evil is punished in this life for Psalm 73 3 says for I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked therefore it is necessary to punish the wicked after this life in order to maintain God's justice for if the wicked are not punished in this life and God is just then they must be punished in the next life again from Jonathan Edwards it is a most unreasonable thing to suppose that there should be no future punishment to suppose that God who had made man a rational creature able to know his duty and sensible that he is deserving punishment when he does it not should let man alone and let him live as he will and never punish him for his sins and never make any difference between the good and the bad as God's nature demands that if man will not accept his payment and satisfaction provided by God for his sins that he must be punished and also God's love demands a hell we know from first John 4:16 that God is love and love is persuasive but it cannot force people to love him forced love is a contradiction we love because he that is God first loved us according to first John 4:19 and those who do not wish to love God must be released and separated from him as anyone knows who has loved someone and not been loved back such love cannot be forced and while God still causes their being in existence in hell he has no relationship with them whatsoever since they have willed this he no longer pursues them their will is permanently bent against or away from God for they have been given their desired end which is themselves instead of God and human depravity demands a hell the just punishment for sin against the eternal God is eternal punishment as Isaiah 59 7 says their feet run to evil and they hasten to shed innocent blood their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity devastation and destruction are in their highways they do not know the way of peace and there is no justice in their tracks they have made their paths crooked whoever treads on them does not know peace in Romans 3 19 Hall says now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God is the unrepentant depraved rebellion against a flawless unblemished holiness deserving of God's wrath the answer theologically is yes human dignity also demands that there is a hell God created humans free and cannot force people into heaven against their free choice as Jesus said in Matthew 23 37 jerusalem jerusalem who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her how often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings and you were unwilling and even God cannot force people against their will to come into heaven and it's the only option before him is to give them their will to be separated from him as CS Lewis says there are only two kinds of people in the end those who say to God thy will be done and those to whom God says in the and dye will be done and the cross of Christ implies a hell why the cross why did Jesus have to suffer and die on the cross unless there is a hell to save people from if there is no hell to shun then Christ death upon the cross of course was in vain if all of humanity is not on the path to final in eternal separation from their Creator their first cause and the cause of their being that which was intended to be their final end then Christ's work on the cross is meaningless hence what Christ did accomplished on the cross clearly implies that there is an eternal hell Christ's work is robbed of its eternal significance unless there is an eternal hell that sinful souls need to be delivered from as dr. geyser says in his systematic theology we can tell ourselves that it would be wonderful if there were no hell or no final day of judgment at which we will be held accountable for all our deeds but we should not fail to note that all of this is exactly what we naturally want to be true hence the very notion that there is an idea in us that does not want there to be a hell or the very fear that we have of Hell in us should be taken as an indication that there is a hell the nature of Hell it is a horrifying reality described in scripture in various ways it is like being left outside in darkness a wandering star a waterless cloud a perpetual burning dump a bottomless pit and everlasting prison a place of anguish and regret it could also be described as CS Lewis does as a great divorce that is a great gulf that is fixed between heaven and hell according to Luke 16:26 hell is depicted as eternal fire the fire of hell is real but it is not necessarily physical since as we've seen even the unsaved will be resurrected in a physical body that will be immortal real physical fire would likely have no effect upon them but nonetheless he'll is depicted as eternal fire the fire is real but it is not necessarily physical since we will have imperishable physical bodies and as we've seen the unsaved who are raised at the great white throne they too will be given imperishable bodies or immortal bodies and their suffering in Hell is compared to the burning of physical fire as revelation 20 13 through 15 says and death and Hades that is the body that is in the grave and the soul that is in Hades in the intermediate state gave up the Dead which were in them and they were judged every one of them according to their deeds and death and Hades soul body unity together were thrown into the lake of fire this is the second death the lake of fire and we should note that there are many figures of speech that are used to depict Hell and if they're taken as being literal then they result in contradictions such as hell is described as having flames yet it is also described as darkness hell is described as a dump but it is also described as a bottomless pit hence these need to be taken as figures of speech but this should not take away from the horrifying reality of what hell is like it is through these figures of speech that we discover and come to an awareness of the horrifying reality of what hell is like hence a person who burns with physical fire is the closest comparison that can be made to what hell is truly like L is not torture God does not torture people in Hell hell should not be described as torture that is pain inflicted from without against one's will God does not torture anyone in hell and hell God gives people what they want which is eternal separation from him but it can be described as torment that is self-inflicted by one's own will hence SCS Lewis says the door to hell is locked from the inside they come to realize that the fixed state of being in hell is all that they want the torment that they undergo is living with the consequences of their own bad choices and the torment is the anguish that results from realizing that they use their freedom for evil and chose wrongly and since all change and all movement with regards to their developing nature must come to an end this is the permanent state that they must be in everyone in Hell will know that the pain that they undergo is self induced and not being caused by God the location of Hell there are relational terms used with respect to hell but they do not need to be taken as spatial hell is described as under the earth in Philippians 2:10 and it is outside the heavenly City in revelation 22:15 Paul says that hell is away from the presence of the Lord in 2nd Thessalonians 1 7 and 9 as hell is the opposite or other direction from God the duration of Hell since God is eternal hell must be everlasting that is a beginning but no end the same word that is used for everlasting life Ionian is the same word that is used for Hell and it has no ending for Jesus in Matthew 18:18 referred to it as eternal fire and of course God is eternal spirit as well according to Hebrews 9:14 and there is no means of escape after arriving as we learn from Jesus's teaching in Luke 16:26 for the rich man and Lazarus realize that between them there is a great chasm fixed so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able and that none may cross over there to us in annihilationism of course is contrary to the omnium benevolence II of God it is inconsistent with an all-loving God for him to snuff out of existence souls that do not do what he wishes them to do and such would also be contrary to the nature of humans who of course are created in the image of God and as they exist in a soul body unity even in hell bear His image which God because he is all loving and all good cannot attack or destroy and just because they are suffering this does not justify annihilation any more than one is justified in killing a child because they are in pain there is no comparison to be made between non-existence and existence being granted the mercy of existence is always better than to not exist here we want to answer some objections to hell gleaning from both biblical and theological studies why punish people in hell why not reform them for heaven we must understand that God does try to reform people it's called life here on earth as 2nd Peter 3:9 says the Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness but is patient toward you not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance and after this life comes the reckoning according to Hebrews 9:27 hell is not the place to reform people it is for the Unruh formable and the unrepentant god of course according to 1st Timothy 2:4 desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth but this can only happen during this life since it is during this life that they can choose and change their mind in their will with respect to God this of course assumes that the person in hell would want to leave hell and be saved without Christ but this of course is impossible once we reach the stage of completed potency being finitely pure act all of our decisions are made and the person has permanently chosen to be in hell away from God and the person that is in hell hence the person who is in hell not only cannot be reformed they do not want to be reformed and of course God cannot force free creatures to be reformed against their will as CS Lewis says to be cured against one's will is to be put on a level with those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will to be classed with infants imbeciles and domestic animals and God must treat us according to our nature and will since we are rational beings his punishment of us must be proportional to our nature some object that eternal damnation for temporal sins is overkill however only everlasting punishment will suffice for sins against the eternal God sin against an infinite God is infinitely evil and worthy of infinite punishment and sins of course committed in time temporally speaking are perpetuated against God eternally and of course forcing people into heaven would be hell or even worse than hell for them since they would be where everyone is loving and praising the one that they want to permanently and finally avoid and of course annihilating them would be an attack on God's own image and hence would be against his very nature against his omni-benevolent see ultimately without an eternal separation of evil from good in hell there could be no heaven or an eternal preservation of good and of course this question ignores the final end of man the final end of man is to know and love God forevermore in a permanent state that is the beatific vision and if that is not the choice of some then everlasting separation from their end is the only option is it right or just to send people to hell when they can't help being sinners sin sends people to hell for two reasons one because they are bent towards sin with respect to their nature and they choose to sin or their will the sin nature does not force them to sin they still choose to sin as Agustin says we are born with the propensity to sin and the necessity to die everyone must be held responsible for their decision to accept or reject God's offer of salvation which includes salvation from sin and its final penalty it is not only right and just it is the only option given the fact that they have rejected it the only remedy for their sinful condition how can we be happy in heaven knowing a loved one is in hell notice that this question assumes that we can be more merciful than God which of course is impossible God is mercy and God has done everything possible to woo humanity to himself God is happy in heaven yet he knows not everyone will be there we likewise because of our experience of the beatific vision will be happy in the same way that God is and for the same reason that God is for example we can be happy eating knowing that others are starving if we have offered them food but they have refused to eat as CS Lewis says what some people wrongly say on earth is that the final loss of one soul gives the lie to all the joy of those who are saved the demand of the loveless and the self imprisoned is that they should be allowed to blackmail the universe that till they consent to be happy on their own terms no one else shall taste joy that there's should be the final power that hell should be able to veto heaven is invalid why did God create people he knows would go to hell this question assumes that non being or non existence is better than being or existence but these two cannot be compared to one another existence is infinitely better and infinitely greater than non-existence and by God's mercy he gives us existence which can't even be compared to non-existence Jesus has statement about it being better if Judas had never been born in mark 14 21 is a strong expression or a strong statement about the severity of his sin it is not a comparison of being two non-b and the fact that not all people will win in the game of life or be saved in the end does not mean that life should not be lived or existence should be done away with it is better to have loved all the people of the world as John 3:16 says and have lost some did not to have loved them at all some object that hell has no redeeming value but we would reply that it does ultimately hell glorifies God it is an awesome punishment that befits the nature of an awesome God God reclaims the majesty that the wicked have refused to return to him hence the punishment fits the crime and all human beings whether actively in heaven or passively in Hell are useful to God by bringing him Majesty to his perfect justice and righteousness the eternal and final separation of God from evil triumphs good over evil all that opposes God all of his enemies are brought into subjection under Christ so that evil and all that opposes God no longer contaminates good we must remember who God is there is no higher being than God we have not sinned against another creature or even a strong angel who just rules or governs our world this is the creator sustainer and mover of all motion the efficient and final cause of all creation you can't kill him or make him go away he is everywhere and he is all-powerful he alone deserves the title of Awesome and everything he does including hell has valued some object why not annihilate sinners instead of consciously tormenting them it is because the punishment fits the crime we are not animals or beasts and God does not treat us like animals or beasts we are created rational beings and those who go to hell have sinned against God and rejected his solution and payment for their sin hence God is not a father who would kill his rebellious son just for not doing what he wishes and it is more merciful for God to allow us to choose our own way even if it is against his will than to force his will upon us and some object that hell is contrary to the mercy of God here we must realize that God's mercy and pain and suffering are not incompatible in this world or in hell mercy and God is not a changing passion or an emotion that somehow overcomes his justice and righteousness it is compatible with his justice and righteousness those in heaven will be conformed to God's eternal vantage point we will love what he loves and we will hate what he hates freely and permanently and since God is not inconsistent in his attributes it follows that God is not unmerciful to allow hell in the end God will have done everything possible to save people and since he cannot make their decision for them or force a free decision hell is compatible with his mercy the merciful thing to do is to give them what they finally desire as their end the reason hell is so awful is that humans and he'll never reach their intended end that is God everything created has God as its efficient and final cause but people in hell are directed away by their will from their final cause and eventually this must be made permanent and this we call Hell this is compatible with the nature and attributes of God

Channel: Doug Potter

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Keywords: Eschatology

Id: 4vOqfYWiVHc

Length: 73min 28sec (4408 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 09 2017