THE REALITY OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT
I. INTRODUCTION
A. “Sinners in the hands of an angry God” was a message preached by Jonathan Edwards during the first great awakening.
1. “It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment, but you
must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery. When you look forward, you shall see a
long forever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will
absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all. You will know certainly that
you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless
vengeance; and then when you have so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner,
you will know that all is but a point to what remains. So that your punishment will indeed be infinite. Oh, who can express
what the state of a soul in such circumstances is! All that we can possibly say about it, gives but a very feeble, faint
representation of it; it is inexpressible and inconceivable: For "who knows the power of God's anger?" (1 Corinthians
10:22 Paul asks the question: “Are we stronger than He?”). How dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly
in the danger of this great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the dismal case of every soul in this congregation that
has not been born again, however moral and strict, sober and religious, they may otherwise be. Oh that you would
consider it, whether you be young or old!
2. There is no want (no lack) of power (He is omnipotent) in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men's
hands cannot be strong when God rises up. (The strength of man will fail, the wicked will utterly collapse under the mighty
and heavy hand of God’s vengeance) The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands.
-He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a
great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel, who has found means to fortify himself, and has made himself strong by the
numbers of his followers. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defense from the power of God.
Though hand joins in hand, and vast multitudes of God's enemies combine and associate themselves, they are easily
broken in pieces. (He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The LORD shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak
to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure: Psalm 2:4-5) They are as great heaps of light chaff
before the whirlwind; or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames. We find it easy to tread on and crush
a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by:
thus easy is it for God, when he pleases, to cast his enemies down to hell. What are we that we should think to stand
before him, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown down? (Sinners In The Hand
of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards)
B. Two key passages concerning the Lake of Fire and the reality of eternal punishment
“Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives
his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out
full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy
angels and in the presence of the Lamb. (Isaiah 66:24) And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever;
and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
Revelation 14:9-11
“The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And
they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose
face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great,
standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead
were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were
in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his
works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” Revelation 20:10-14
II. THE STIGMA OF THE GOSPEL.
“For I am not ashamed (stigma) of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes,
for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written,
“The just shall live by faith.”(Habakkuk 2:4) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…” Romans 1:16-17
A. The three-fold stigma of the gospel when proclaimed with apostolic authority.
1. It is the power of God to salvation
2. In it the righteousness of God is revealed
3. For the wrath of God is revealed. (Temporal, eternal punishment)
B. There is necessity for tenderness of heart in the proclamation this message.
C. This message is not proclaimed as an excuse to be rough with the Bride of Christ. One does not want to talk about
this subject because there is some unresolved anger against the church or because of some hidden frustration. This
subject is not meant as an opportunity to vent.
D. This is a troubling and somewhat unsettling subject to speak on because Body of Christ for the most part does
not know what to do with the fierceness of the Judge and the subject of the wrath of God.
E. Tertullian in his debate against Marcionism about the subject of eternal punishment said “A better god has been
discovered, who never takes offence, is never angry, never inflicts punishment, who has prepared no fire in hell, no
gnashing of teeth in the outer darkness! He is purely and simply good. He indeed forbids all delinquency, but only in word.”
F. God is more then a sympathetic humanitarian.
G. The revelation of the knowledge of God is the only true solution to understanding eternal punishment.
“For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with
the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding…” Colossians 1:9
H. The subject of eternal punishment is the least talked about subject. The solution to understanding the reality is being
filled with the knowledge of His will (Col 1:9) and throwing ourselves at the mercy of God’s majesty and asking the Holy
Spirit to release a revelation of who God is and what God is like.
I. The solution is not coming up with philosophical ideas, rooted in humanism. Our un-renewed minds mixed with the
spirit of this age have let us to come up with warped conclusions about good and love.
J. Not believing in hell is contrary to the revelation of God’s love and His goodness. The answer to the question,
“How can a good God send people to hell, or create a hell, or allow people to go to hell?” simply is, “Because He is a
good God.”
III. BEHOLD THE KINDESS AND THE SEVERITY OF GOD
“Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you
continue in His goodness.” Romans 11:22
A. The wrath of God is the most talked about emotion of God, because it reveals God’s perfect hatred for sin.
There is no fellowship with darkness in Him. There is no darkness in Him. The reality of eternal punishment reveals
God’s utter despising and hatred for the realm of darkness.
B. “Like batteries, we are to be connected to the negative and the positive.” (Hal Lindhart)
C. In meditating on the reality of eternal punishment we encounter God’s fierce commitment to all that is good and
called love. This reality is significant to equipping our hearts to hate what God hates.
D. We are to hate sin with a perfect hatred …
“For they speak against You wickedly; Your enemies take Your name in vain. Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate
You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.”
Psalm 139:24-25
1 “After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor
and power belong to the Lord our God! 2 For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great
harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.”
3 Again they said, “Alleluia! Her smoke rises up forever and ever!” 4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living
creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, “Amen! Alleluia!” 5 Then a voice came from the
throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!” 6 And I heard, as
it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying,
“Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the
Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” Revelation 19:1-8
IV. PREACHING THAT PRODUCES TREMBLING (JOEL 2:1)
“ Blow the trumpet (proclamation) in Zion, and sound an alarm (proclamation) in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants
of the land tremble (fear of the Lord); for the day off the LORD is coming, for it is at hand…” Joel 2:1
A. There is great need for preaching that produces trembling.
B. We want to become a people who preach the word with authority, causing the people of the land to tremble.
V. ETERNAL PUNISHMENT IS CONNECTED TO THE BRIDAL PARADIGM
“For jealousy is a husband’s fury; therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.” Proverbs 6:34
“For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come.” Isaiah 63:4
A. The bridal paradigm enhances the reality of the lake of fire.
B. The bridal paradigm is the paradigm through which we see and experience the entirety of the kingdom of God
C. In the bridal paradigm, eternal punishment, the lake of fire, is defined by Proverbs 6:34.
VI. BASIC DEFINITIONS
A. In the original text there are five different words used to describe the underworld. The KJV translates all these
words as hell.
1. Sheol - Old Testament
2. Hades - New Testament
3. Gehenna – New Testament
4. Tartarus – New Testament/ only used once II Pet 2:4
5. Abysso – New Testament
B. Sheol is the place that is commonly known as the place of the dead. It is the only word in the used in the OT for
the place of the dead. It is believed that Sheol had three basic categories of chambers. Sheol is literal place located
in the earth.
. One was a chamber of torment for the wicked and unredeemed
2. One was a prison of demons. 2 Peter 2:4
3. One chamber was chamber of rest before the cross – Abraham’s bosom (Lk 16: 19-31)
4. The glorious news is that when Jesus died on the cross and said, “It is finished,” the righteous were delivered from
Abraham’s bosom, and Jesus, when He ascended, led captivity captive and ascended into the heavens.
B. Hades -
1. Born again believers do not go to Hades, but go to heaven. The wicked and the unredeemed do go to the
chambers of torment, of Sheol, which the New Testament now refers to as Hades.
2. Hades is the chambers of Sheol minus Abraham’s bosom
3. Hades contains Tartarus, 2 Peter 2:4, where demons are imprisoned, and it includes the chamber of temporal
torment.
4. Hades is the county jail and the lake of fire is federal prison.
5. Hades is a place of temporal punishment of the soul. It is the county jail of the spirit realm until the great
sentencing of the divine Supreme Court (Daniel 7:9-10). Then the unredeemed and the devil and his angels and the
antichrist will go to federal prison to be tormented in the lake of fire forever.
C. Gehenna –
1. Gehenna is also known as the valley of Hinnom, which is a literal place southwest of Jerusalem. Jesus is used this
place to speak and point to the reality of eternal punishment thus the Lake of Fire
2. Gehenna was the place where the nation of Israel, in the days of Manasseh, raised up an altar to Molech.
Molech was a demon god to whom they sacrificed babies. The generations later were so horrified that they desecrated
the place, and Gehenna became a huge garbage dump.
3. Gehenna became a place where filth, dead animals, dead corpses, worms; anything that needed to be disposed
of was thrown into that place and burned. Jesus pointed to that place and said, “This place is a prophetic picture of a
transcendent reality called the lake of fire.”
D. Tartarus –
1. Tartarus is a compartment of Hades is a place where demons, disobedient spirits are in prison, and chains of
darkness bind them up.
2. It is out of the bottomless pit in Revelation 9 that hoards of demons are released on the earth.
3. These demons will be used as instruments of judgment by God to inflict torment on those who receive the mark
of the beast, or those who are not born again on the earth.
VII. THE HUSBANDS FURY-THE TORMENT OF BODY AND SOUL
“having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the
dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth—in Him.” Ephesians 1:9-10
“For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the LORD, “So shall your
descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, And from one
Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the LORD. “And they (the redeemed) shall go
forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, and their
fire is not quenched. (Lake of Fire). They shall be abhorrence to all flesh. Isaiah 66:23-24
“For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” Deuteronomy 4:24
“ Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—
those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of
condemnation.” John 5:28-29
"Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the
LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and
abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no
means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third
and the fourth generation” Exodus 34:5-7
A. There is a difference between Hades and the lake of fire. Hades is a temporary horrifying merciless torment of the soul.
It is truly experienced and it is unbearable torment. The Lake of Fire is the torment of body and soul forever.
B. The lake of fire is a spiritual and material reality. (related to the convergence of Ephesians 1:9) It is place where
God’s unrestrained vengeance against darkness, sin and rebellion throughout eternity is revealed when God has
summed up all in things in the realm of heaven and earth in His Son.
C. The condition, in which the human soul dies, is the condition in which it is raised. The soul that is sown in
unrighteousness will reap death and the soul that is sown in righteousness will reap live.
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh
will of the flesh reap corruption, (eternal punishment/Isaiah 66:24) but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap
everlasting life.” Galatians 6:7-8
“Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God
leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for
yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who “will render to each one
according to his deeds”: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and
immortality; but to those who are self-seeking (the nature of sin) and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—
indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the
Greek…” Romans 2:4-9
D. The Lake of Fire exists because of the mystery of lawless in that humans who choose unrighteousness on this side of
eternity will enter into the fullness of their choice and will forever choose darkness. Sin cannot stand in the presence of God.
E. In the Lake of Fire, the glory of God checks sin, God marks iniquity. (Psalm 130:3) As the wicked choose sin and
choosing sin they will forever, the will become immediate recipients of the unrestrained vengeance of God forever.
I believe that their capacity and resolve for darkness will increase while getting met by ever increasing waves of the
vengeance of God. The wicked will increase in their anger against God (weeping and gnashing of teeth)
F. In the Lake of Fire the righteousness of God is revealed forever against the wicked stubborn refusal to repent
forever and go deeper into their agreement with darkness.
G. Forever we will see how right God is and was in His dealings with humans in relation to darkness.
H. The desires of the wicked have now will be augmented because we will live in a superior state (resurrected
bodies), conscience, memory and unsatisfied lusts. The will be tormented by their lust, others, themselves, demons
and the glory of God.
I. The fullness of the glory of God includes the reality of the lake of fire. He will be the Alpha and the Omega for
the righteous and the wicked. He will be holy exhilaration for the righteous and holy torment for the wicked. As the alpha
and the omega he will be satisfying or torturing. The Lake of fire is not the absence of God but rather is the fullness of
God with unrestrained vengeance.
J. Eternity is when God has summed up all things in heaven and earth in His Son in order that the full personality of God
might be expressed. In eternity God will no longer restrain who He is. He will be Himself in full both in the realm of the
natural and the realm of the spirit. The glory of God, which includes His vengeance against darkness, will be revealed.
VIII. EATING THE SCROLL-THE LAKE OF FIRE IN OUR SPIRITUAL DIET
8 “But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat
what I give you.”
9 Now when I looked, there was a hand stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it.
10 Then He spread it before me; and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were
lamentations and mourning and woe.” Ezekiel 2:8-10
A. The subject of eternal punishment is a necessary diet for prophetic messengers. In this hour, I believe we must
begin to feed ourselves on the reality of eternal punishment.
B. Ezek. 2:8 But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; (don’t
ignore the reality of the severity of God, tremble at His word. The invitation of the Lord: “Open your mouth (open your
heart) and eat what I give you.”
C. The Lord gives Ezekiel a scroll that is written inside and out, and it contains lamentations, mournings and woes.
The exhortation and invitation of the Lord is, “Eat what I give you”
D. The Word of God is filled with lamentations, mournings, and woes, not just related to the temporal judgments of God,
but also related to God’s eternal punishment,
E. The temporal judgments are major speed bumps to slow the earth down and consider the reality of the lake of
fire. One of their purposes is to slow down the earth and to bring in the great harvest (Isa 26:9)
F. The Lord gives an invitation, but we have to continue to be before Him to look. It takes Divine enablement to eat
of the scroll. God caused Ezekiel to eat of the scroll. God wants to help us every step of the way of how to begin
unpacking this mysterious doctrine called the jealousy of God.
1 “Moreover He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” 2 So
I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll.
3And He said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your
stomach with this scroll that I give you.” So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness.” Ezekiel 3:1-3
IX. THE LAKE OF FIRE : THE TERRITORY OF THE WICKED
1 Come near, you nations, to hear; And heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, The world and all things
that come forth from it. 2 For the indignation of the LORD is against all nations, And His fury against all their armies; He
has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter. 3 Also their slain shall be thrown out; Their stench
shall rise from their corpses, And the mountains shall be melted with their blood. 4 All the host of heaven shall be
dissolved, And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; All their host shall fall down As the leaf falls from the vine,
And as fruit falling from a fig tree. 5 “ For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; Indeed it shall come down on Edom,
And on the people of My curse, for judgment. 6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, It is made overflowing with
fatness, With the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
And a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7 The wild oxen shall come down with them, And the young bulls with the
mighty bulls; Their land shall be soaked with blood, And their dust saturated with fatness.” 8 For it is the day of the
LORD’s vengeance, The year of recompense for the cause of Zion. 9 Its streams shall be turned into pitch, And its
dust into brimstone; Its land shall become burning pitch. 10 It shall not be quenched night or day; Its smoke shall
ascend forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; No one shall pass through it forever and ever.
Isaiah 34:1-10
3 But Esau I have hated, And laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness.” 4 Even
though Edom has said, “ We have been impoverished, But we will return and build the desolate places,” Thus says
the LORD of hosts: “ They may build, but I will throw down; They shall be called the Territory of Wickedness, And
the people against whom the LORD will have indignation forever. 5 Your eyes shall see, And you shall say, ‘ The
LORD is magnified beyond the border of Israel.’ Malachi 1:3-5