The Reality of Eternal Punishment
Jealousy is a Husband’s Fury – Proverbs 6:34
I SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD
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 hands 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)
II LICENTIOUSNESS (Compromise) PROVOKES JEALOUSY
Rather, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not
want you to have fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you
cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we
stronger than He? 1 Corinthians 10:21-22
“Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, least we drift away. (subtle
drifting through compromise). For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression
and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape (the reality of eternal punishment) if we neglect
so great a salvation …” Hebrews 2:1-3
A. Deuteronomy 31:30 “Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this
song until they were ended.” Deuteronomy 32 is a prophetic song. It’s a song that contains information about the
jealousy of God and eternal punishment. The Lord is going to raise up singers and fill the earth with the songs of both the
kindness and the severity of God.
B. Deuteronomy 32:15 “…And scornfully (treated lightly) esteemed the Rock of his salvation.” The Rock of his
salvation is Christ. The jealousy of God and eternal punishment is about the light treatment of Christ and the power of the
Cross.
C. Deuteronomy 32:16 “They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods.´ (When foreign Gods or idols were
worshiped in the secret places of their hearts). With abominations they provoked Him to anger.” When we read idols
we must not just imagine little statues. Idols also refer to worshiping or agreeing with darkness in the secret places of our
hearts.
D. Deuteronomy 32:17 “They sacrificed to demons, not to God, (they put their affections upon drinking from spirit
of this age) to gods they did not know.” (they set their affections upon gods of whom they did not understand their true
nature.) This is one of the realities we see in the Book of Revelation where the earth will give themselves over to demon
worship, and then in Revelation 9, God exposes the true nature of the very demons they are worshiping, and they are seen
as violent, filled with hatred, and bent on destruction.
E. Deuteronomy 32:18 “Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, (they forgot the reality of salvation. They
forgot the reality of love and they treated it lightly.) And have forgotten the God who fathered you.” At the center of the
reality of the lake of fire is the issue of love. The subject of the lake of fire is about the subject of love.
F. Deuteronomy 32:19 “And when the LORD saw it, He spurned (rejected with disdain) them, because of the
provocation of His sons and His daughters.”
G. Deuteronomy 32:20 “And He said: “I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, for they
are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith.” The issue of sin is about not choosing God; for whatever
is not from faith is sin. God did not create sin. Sin came about with Lucifer did not choose God. (Romans 14:22;
Hebrews 11:6)
H. Deuteronomy 32:22 For a fire is kindled in My anger, and shall burn to the lowest hell; it shall consume the earth
with her increase.
I. In Hebrews 10:26-31 the writer of Hebrews is equipping, encouraging, strengthening and warning the saints of the
reality of the jealousy of God.
For if we sin willfully (persistent compromise can lead to apostasy) after we (born again believers) have received
the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of
judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries (the reality of the lake of fire). Anyone who
has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse
punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot
(Isaiah 63:3) counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the
Spirit of grace? (As though the grace of God was a cheap washcloth). For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is
Mine, I will repay”, (Deuteronomy 32:35) says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:26-31)
III 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 a 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 life.
“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 ill
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 lawlessness 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 become immediate recipients of the unrestrained vengeance of God. 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 will now be augmented because we will live in a superior state (resurrected bodies),
conscience, memory and unsatisfied lusts. They 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.
IV EATING THE SCROLL – THE LAKE OF FIRE IN OUR SPIRITUAL DIET
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. Ezekiel 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. (Isaiah 26:9)
V BEGINNING THE JOURNEY TO EAT THE SCROLL
A. Ezekiel 2:9 The invitation comes, but we must continue to posture our heart before the Lord. There was a hand
stretched out to me; and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. Ezekiel 2:10 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.
B. Ezekiel 3:1 Moreover He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; … eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of
Israel.”
C. Ezekiel 3:2 So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll.
D. 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.
E. Ezekiel 3:3 And He said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this croll that I give you.” So I ate, and it
was in my mouth like honey in sweetness.