30. Eternal Punishment And Reward

Eternal Punishment

Outside Jerusalem in the time of Christ there was a valley which had been made a disposal place for the city's refuse. Known as the Valley of Hinnom, or "Gehenna" in the Greek, it burned continually. The English translation is "hell". Christ applied this term to the place of punishment in eternal fire after death. There is another Greek word which is translated hell in the King James Version which should not be confused with Gehenna. It is "Hades", meaning "the unseen world" in the abode of the dead. Confusion of Gehenna and Hades has led some to conclude that hell is simply physical death instead of everlasting fire. In most translations Hades is rendered as "Hades" instead of "hell" and the difficulty is removed. All uses of "hell" in this lesson refer to Gehenna.

What is hell like? Christ describes it as a furnace of fire. "They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth... This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."(Matt. 13:42, 49, 50) Hell, then, must be a place of conscious suffering rather than of annihilation as some believe. Christ emphasizes this in saying, "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out."(Mark 9:43, 44)

Since the fire will never go out, hell must be everlasting. "Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels... Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. (Matt. 25:41, 46) Although a fire, it will be a place of absolute darkness. "But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."(Matt. 8:12)

If possible, hell is described even more vividly in Revelation. "The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur."(Rev. 19:20) Some reason that the fire cannot be literal and hence that hell cannot be so bad. Regardless of what may be the nature of the fire, we are told that it is a place of torture. This is the important thing. "And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be TORMENTED day and night for ever and ever."(Rev. 20:10) Torment denotes excruciating pain. It also implies that the one suffering will be conscious. And John further teaches that this conscious anguish will never end. Who will inhabit this place? "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars - their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."(Rev. 21:8) Hell is here called "death" to denote the eternal conscious separation from God and from everything which is good.

Some suppose that between heaven and hell there is purgatory where those whose lives are neither extremely good nor extremely evil will suffer until they have atoned for their sins at which time they will go to heaven. Pleasing as this idea may be, there is absolutely no mention of purgatory in the Bible.

Eternal Reward

One of the most beautiful descriptions that can be found is that of the eternal home as portrayed in the last two chapters of Revelation. Yet is it impossible for mere words to give an adequate description of the beauties and glories of that home of the soul called heaven.

In heaven is the holy city - the New Jerusalem. It is foursquare, around which is a wall with twelve gates, three on each side. The foundations of the wall also number twelve and are of twelve kinds of precious stones. Each gate is a pearl. There is a street in the city of pure gold appearing as transparent glass. A river proceeding out of the throne of God runs through the midst of the city. On each side of it is the tree of life which enables one to live forever and which bears twelve kinds of fruit. Since God Himself is there we find no temple in that eternal home. But those who are permitted to inhabit it will be privileged to look upon the face of God and worship Him.

In contrast with this earth, nothing in heaven is unpleasant or distasteful. There is no sorrow, no pain, no death. The tears shed in this life will all be taken away. It is a place of continual joy and of rest for the weary. The gates of the city are never closed since there is no night there. The New Jerusalem is lighted, not by sun or moon, but by the glory of God and Christ. And since heaven is eternal and there is no death, there will be no need to reckon time.

Will we know our loved ones in heaven? No passage clearly answers this. Some think that Matthew 8:11 indicates that we will. It reads, "I say to you that many will come from the east and west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jack in the kingdom of heaven."

Our resurrection will be in a spiritual body rather than a physical one.(1 Cor. 15:44) Since none of us has ever seen a spiritual body we cannot know exactly what it is like except that it is incorruptible and will not die. We do know that we will bear the image of Christ. "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2)

Which Will Be Your Choice?

The choice of heaven or hell for your destiny is in your hands. It is the choice of accepting or rejecting Christ. Only faithful Christians will inhabit that eternal home. All others will be consigned to the place of everlasting punishment. It is our hope that through this series of lessons you have been led to a better understanding of God's word and that as a result your hope of life everlasting has been made more sure.