Hellfire
Lesson 8
Marking code: HF
Marking Color: Brown
Key Text: 2 Peter 3:7,10-12
- 2 Peter
3:7, 10-12. The Bible is
clear that the earth is
destined to be destroyed by
fire in the day of the
judgment. Hell is real.
However, is it burning now?
Is anyone burning in hellfire
today? Is the devil doing
God’s will by being in
charge of hell and the
torture of the lost?
God’s reputation-His
very character-is at stake in
this question of hellfire.
- 2 Peter
2:9. The punishment of
the unjust (the lost) is
reserved until the Day of
Judgment. The wicked do not
begin to burn in hell at
death.
Matthew 13:30, 38-42.
The tares are burned at the harvest,
at the end of the age.
Matthew 25:31-34, 41,
46. The wicked are condemned at the
Day of Judgment when Jesus comes.
Revelation 20:7-9, 14;
21:8. Fire destroys Satan, his
angels, and the wicked at the end of
the millennium.
Job 21:30,32. The
wicked wait in their graves for the
day of doom.
- Malachi
4:1-3. The wicked will be
burned to ashes-completely
annihilated. They will not go
on burning throughout
eternity.
Zephaniah 1:18. God
will make a “speedy
riddance” of the wicked.
- Matthew
3:11, 12. Doesn’t
the Bible speak of
“unquenchable”
fire? Yes. But
“unquenchable” fire
simply means fire that
can’t be put out-or
‘quenched.” It
doesn’t mean that the
fire won’t go out by
itself when it has consumed
everything that is
combustible.
Jeremiah 17:27; 2
Chronicles 36:19-21. God predicted
Jerusalem would be burned with
“unquenchable” fire due to
apostasy. This prediction was
fulfilled, but that fire is not still
burning. It could not be put
out-until it burned out after
consuming everything there was to be
burned.
Jude 7. Likewise,
Sodom and Gomorrah suffered
“eternal” fire, but they
are not still burning.
“Eternal” and
“everlasting” often mean,
“as long as it is possible for
something to last.” It is like
when we say “I will love you
forever.” We mean, “as long
as it is possible to love.”
Jonah 2:6.
“Forever” in this case
meant ‘three days.”
1 Samuel 1:22,28.
“Forever” in this case
meant for Samuel’s lifetime.
2 Thessalonians 1:9.
“Everlasting destruction.”
The destruction lasts forever;
sinners will never live again.
However, they are not being destroyed
forever-burning forever.
- Matthew
10:28. Jesus said that
hell will destroy the sinner
completely both body and
soul.
- Romans
6:23. The wages of sin is
death-not eternal life in
hellfire. Eternal life is
God’s gift to the
redeemed. In contrast, the
end result of sin is
death-eternal death, never to
live again.
- Ezekiel 28:
18, 19. Satan himself
will be destroyed; he will
become ashes and never exist
again.
- Nahum 1:9. Sin
itself will be destroyed; it
will never arise again.
Revelation 21:4.
- Ezekiel
33:11. God has no
pleasure in the death of the
wicked. For the wicked, to
burn throughout eternity in
hellfire would be torture to
a God of love.
John 3:16-19.
HF-End.
