1. exposition
1.1. Mk 9:42 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
1.1.1. Whoever casuses one of these little ones who bleieve in me to sin
1.1.1.1. The contrast here is that instead of serving and receiving one of these little ones (i.e. insignifcant), you cause them to sin
1.2. Mk 9:43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.
1.3. Mk 9:45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell.
1.3.1. Three comparisons on life now versus life then
1.3.1.1. Pattern
1.3.1.1.1. Identify the source -
1.3.1.1.2. Take action -
1.3.1.1.3. Weigh the cost
1.3.1.2. hell
1.3.1.2.1. hebrew - ge hinnom
1.3.1.2.2. valley of hinnom
1.3.1.2.3. 2 chron 28:3 - chidl sacrifices to Molech
1.3.1.2.4. rev 22:15; 1 cor 6:9
1.3.1.3. Parallels
1.3.1.3.1. LIFE = "kingdom of God"
1.3.1.3.2. "go to" = "thrown into"
1.3.1.3.3. Hell = the unquenchable fire
1.3.1.3.4. Parallel
1.3.1.3.5. This was to motive these jewish disciples
1.3.1.3.6. thoughts on parallel
1.3.1.4. What we learn about hell here
1.3.1.4.1. Sin is the cause
1.3.1.4.2. That it is real
1.3.1.4.3. Hell is seen as the opposite of life
1.3.1.4.4. it's aweful
1.3.1.4.5. **** more than just loss of self, more than just seperation there is active punishment here - go inot, thrown into, picture is not of judge turning back and letting you do what you want, but of a judgement
1.3.1.4.6. eternal
1.3.1.4.7. A place for humans - shockign because its' made for teh devil and demons
1.3.1.5. Hell - Ghenna
1.3.1.5.1. 51See 2 Kings 16:3; 21:6; 23:10; 2 Chron. 28:33; 33:6; Jer. 7:31; 19:4-5; 32:35. Morgan, Christopher W.; Peterson, Robert A. (2009-08-08). Hell Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment (Kindle Locations 1484-1485). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
1.4. Mk 9:47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell,
1.5. vs 44, 46
1.6. Mk 9:48 ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’
1.7. Mk 9:49 For everyone will be salted with fire.
1.8. Mk 9:50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
2. background
2.1. greatest
2.1.1. Backdrop is Dan 12
2.1.2. Driven during that time by apocaplytic literature
2.1.2.1. Wisdom 3:1–10 offers a two-stage description of what happens after the death of the ‘righteous’: a story in which the present existence ‘in the hand of god’ is merely the prelude to what is about to happen: 7 And at the time of their visitation they will shine forth, and run about like sparks in the stubble. 8 They will judge nations, and rule over peoples, and the Lord will be their king for ever. 9 Those who trust in him will understand truth, and those who are loyal and faithful will remain with him in love; for his grace and mercy are upon his chosen ones.154 10 But the ungodly will receive their reward according to their own reasonings, because they disregarded the righteous, and rebelled against the Lord.155 Wright, N. T. (2003-03-17). Resurrection Son of God V3: Christian Origins and the Question of God (Kindle Locations 3931-3943). Fortress Press. Kindle Edition.
2.1.2.2. idea was the oppressed will rise and the other will be sahmed
3. fire
3.1. Joel 2:5
3.2. Nah 1:10
3.3. Ob 18
3.3.1. In the Obad. passage the Jews are the fire and the Edomites the stubble. Wright, N. T. (2003-03-17). Resurrection Son of God V3: Christian Origins and the Question of God (Kindle Location 28730). Fortress Press. Kindle Edition.
3.4. In both these cases, and even in case of fire destroying trees or such... the point is that it destroys that for which God intends. It does not necessarily destroy everything. So that God judges Israel and destroys the trees - that which htye may love or want or need. The point being is that fire in hell ruins, strips, brings an end to all that we might have thought made a name for ourselves. The judgement says it was nothing, useless, pointless
3.4.1. ez 20?47
3.4.2. jer 20:27
3.5. Re 14:9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, Re 14:10 he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. Re 14:11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”
3.6. ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell” Morgan, Christopher W.; Peterson, Robert A. (2009-08-08). Hell Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment (Kindle Location 1591). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
4. Hell in the broader scope of scripture
4.1. Terms
4.1.1. outer darkness
4.1.2. lake of fire
4.1.3. second death
4.2. qualities - debate is htis metaphorical or literal? And in that snese when description contain elements that are in tension of each other, likely methaphorical ---- But, having said this—and here is a vital point—metaphors are used precisely in order to describe realities greater than themselves. Morgan, Christopher W.; Peterson, Robert A. (2009-08-08). Hell Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment (Kindle Location 5620). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
4.2.1. separation from God - (side note: Stott defines hell as this)
4.2.1.1. 2 Th 1:9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
4.2.1.2. Mt 7:23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
4.2.1.3. Mt 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
4.2.2. it is the final and full pouring out of God's wrath
4.2.2.1. Re 14:9 And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, Re 14:10 he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. Re 14:11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”
4.2.3. Aweful
4.2.3.1. gnashing of teeth
4.2.4. dark
4.2.4.1. matt 22;13; 25;46
4.2.5. everlasting
4.2.6. spoken 12 times in the bible "HELL" and 11 from jesus himself
4.2.7. destruction of body and soul
4.2.7.1. But what is soul? Psyche?
4.2.7.1.1. not as plato viewed it
4.2.7.2. torment physical and emotional
4.2.7.3. emotional pain, emotional torment
4.3. for satan and teh demons
5. Isa 66
5.1. . In Jeremiah 7.33, for example, God describes an earthly judgment. After this occurs, “The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away.’”
5.2. BACKGROUND
5.2.1. In Isaiah 66 the prophet casts his gaze far beyond his own historical present to the eschatological renewal of heaven and earth, when people from every tribe and nation will come to Zion to worship Yahweh on his holy mountain. But Isaiah’s vision of the final day is anything but soteriologically universalist. On the contrary, from the outset he draws a stark contrast between the righteous and the wicked. On the one side are the humble and contrite of spirit and those who tremble at the word of Yahweh (Isa. 66:2); on the other are those who go through the motions of liturgical worship but reject his word and persist in evil (66:3-6, esp. v. 4). The former receive the favorable look of Yahweh (v. 2); the latter receive the due reward of their rebellion (vv. 4, 6). The former flourish and rejoice in Zion (vv. 7-14c); the latter experience the full and direct force of his fury (vv. 14c-17). Morgan, Christopher W.; Peterson, Robert A. (2009-08-08). Hell Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment (Kindle Locations 1233-1239). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
5.2.2. The chapter climaxes with the glorious picture of Yahweh displaying his glory and setting a sign (the cross!) among the nations, which rallies worshipers to find whatever means they can to bring their gifts and offerings to Zion. But when the worshipers leave the city, they pass by the city dump, where they observe the endless fire consuming the refuse and the maggots () ceaselessly eating away at the decaying corpses of those who have been unceremoniously dumped there—undoubtedly those whom Yahweh has slain in his fury (Isa. 66:16). The gaze of the worshipers has less to do with gloating over the deaths of their enemies than with recalling the fate that would have been theirs—but for the grace of God. Morgan, Christopher W.; Peterson, Robert A. (2009-08-08). Hell Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment (Kindle Location 1244). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
5.3. “Your carcasses will be food to all birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away” (Deuteronomy 28.26).
5.4. They will be there so long as there is something for them to consume, because, just like worms, that is what they do when dead bodies are involved. Here, lifeless corpses are devoured by animals. In Isaiah, lifeless corpses are consumed by worms. In Jeremiah and Deuteronomy, it is slaughter and destruction in view, and that sounds a lot like the passage at hand
5.4.1. related to rev 19 and birds of the air?
5.5. this is an imagery. Unrefined view of the dead as they had not really any concept of resucrrection until Dan 12. So here they are judged (hence killed) and then punished. That is the point - judged and punished. The point is not killed - that was the only sense. the punishment is eternal.
5.6. that time
5.6.1. The book of Judith is part of the apocrypha, the books that are accepted into the canon by the Roman Catholic Church but that are not part of our 66-book protestant Bibles. Judith 16:17 refers to undying worms that torment people forever: “Woe to the nations that rise up against my people! The Lord Almighty will take vengeance on them in the day of judgment; fire and worms he will give to their flesh; they shall weep in pain for ever” (RSV). This passage is significant because it does give an alternative possible meaning to what Jesus says in this verse about undying worms and unquenchable fire: After all, if Judith used fire and worms as a means of eternal torment, maybe that was the view Jesus was appealing to
5.6.2. In the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Rosh Hashanah, Chapter 1 (27), it is quoted in reference to eternal torment of a group of individuals. It certainly cannot be said, then, that Jesus could not have had eternal torment in mind, as this verse had been applied to the fate of eternal torment at some point near Jesus’ time.
5.6.3. This same passage also says that the eternal suffering of the worst sinners would continue “even when Gehenna will be destroyed” (27)
5.7. Rather, both refer to the destroying and ongoing ravages of maggot and flame. The grotesqueness of the image and the sternness of the warning are dependent precisely on the macabre spectacle of such horrors being ongoing. As Peter Head shows, this is the understanding of Isaiah that prevailed in Second Temple Judaism, as seen in texts from Judith, 1 Enoch, and the Sibylline Oracles.55 Morgan, Christopher W.; Peterson, Robert A. (2009-08-08). Hell Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment (Kindle Locations 1835-1836). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
6. Main tenet of annihilationsilsim
6.1. utliamtely cease to exist
6.2. some right after death, others resurrected to punishment for a season but then will be killed, perish, destroyed and in that sense did indeed suffer punishment and will perish
6.3. known as: conditionalism, conditional immortality, annihilationalism
6.4. punishment is eternal in that the consequences of those punishment is eternal or that the consequences of death is the punishment (i.e deprived of life - hence conditional)
6.5. key
6.5.1. will no expeirence torment forever
6.5.2. will cease to exist
6.5.2.1. Scripture nowhere suggests that God is an eternal torturer. It never says the damned will writhe in ceaseless torment or that the glories of heaven will forever be blighted by the screams from hell. The idea of conscious everlasting torment was a grievous mistake, a horrible error, a gross slander against the heavenly Father, whose character we truly see in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.36 Some of Fudge’s language can be set aside as overwrought Morgan, Christopher W.; Peterson, Robert A. (2009-08-08). Hell Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment (Kindle Locations 1722-1725). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
6.6. tie this to Chris Date - isa 66 - dead bodies -
7. Jesus use of hell
7.1. To demonstrate teh worth of radical repentance - cut out, pluck out
7.2. To encourage wanting the approval of God over the approval of others
7.2.1. Mt 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. // luke 12:5
7.3. To describe the pharisees
7.3.1. Mt 23:13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Mt 23:15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
8. misc
8.1. Wraht
8.1.1. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him” (John 3:36).
8.1.1.1. some might say wrath remains though not consciously experienced
8.2. quotes
8.2.1. As McKnight concludes, Jesus clearly teaches “punishment in an individual, eternal, sense.”31 Or again: “We must admit that Jesus taught the possibility and reality of an eternal, conscious punishment for Israelites.”32 Morgan, Christopher W.; Peterson, Robert A. (2009-08-08). Hell Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment (Kindle Locations 1686-1688). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
8.2.2. *** Thomas Brooks cry out, in words found also on the lips of his contemporaries: Oh, but this word eternity, eternity, eternity; this word everlasting, everlasting, everlasting; this word for ever, for ever, for ever, will even break the hearts of the damned in ten thousand pieces… Impenitent sinners in Hell shall have end without end, death without death, night without day, mourning without mirth, sorrow without solace, and bondage without liberty. The damned shall live as long in Hell as God himself shall live in Heaven.6 Morgan, Christopher W.; Peterson, Robert A. (2009-08-08). Hell Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment (Kindle Locations 5630-5635). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
9. Philosphically
9.1. the justness of punishment
9.1.1. Ge 18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”
9.1.2. Ro 3:5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)
9.1.3. Re 19:1 After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, Re 19:2 for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” Re 19:3 Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”
9.1.3.1. Re 14:11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”
9.2. Thoughts on God's justice (Sinclari Ferguson) based on Rom 2
9.2.1. (1) God’s judgments are absolutely righteous, perfectly just, and unerringly accurate.
9.2.2. (a) The judgment of God is based on truth (kata al’theian, Rom. 2:2).
9.2.3. Shows no favoritism (v11)
9.2.4. his judgemet is righrtoous (v5)
9.2.5. *** his judgmenet is intensely personal
9.2.5.1. matt 25:32; 2 cor 5:10; rom 14:12
10. Pastoral thoughts
10.1. It is easy to approach this topic as a theologian and not as a human, as a fellow sufferer under the curse of sin, as one who is often lost and rebellious .
10.2. This topic of hell is always in contrast to the joys and offers of the kingdom
10.3. Stotts words read well here, though i differ with him in his final understanding of hell
10.3.1. QUOTE : from his essay his view ... "Emotionally, I find the concept intolerable... but the issue is exegetical"
10.3.2. Re 6:15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, Re 6:16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, Re 6:17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
11. conclusion
11.1. no excuses
11.1.1. i am better than most
11.1.1.1. note that is not the issue
11.1.1.2. matt 7 warns of hell
11.1.1.2.1. Mt 7:22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ Mt 7:23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
11.1.2. God would never condemn me if he understdood my circumstances.
11.1.2.1. But he does and he offers his son
11.1.3. But that is not Jesus. He doesn't judge people
11.1.3.1. Oh he does!
11.2. Plese don't make this just a neat theological study on the doctrine of hell.
11.3. Praise - look what God has saved you from!
11.3.1. Hell is not hte gospel. It gives perspectie to the gospel. Jesus is the gospel
11.3.2. He saves us. substitutes
11.3.2.1. 2 cor 5:14-15
11.3.3. reference sinclair chapter at the end
11.4. Challenge - look what God has commissioned you for
11.4.1. 2 cor 5:14 - the love of christ compels
11.4.1.1. When Robert M’Cheyne met his dearest friend Andrew Bonar one Monday and inquired what Bonar had preached on the previous day, only to receive the answer “Hell,” he asked: “Did you preach it with tears?” That we cannot do until we have come to recognize our own great need of grace to save us from the wrath to come, the terrible nature of that judgment, the provision that God has made for us in Christ, and the calling he has given us to take the gospel to every creature in the name of the One who did not come into the world to condemn it but to save it. Morgan, Christopher W.; Peterson, Robert A. (2009-08-08). Hell Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment (Kindle Locations 5795-5798). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
11.4.2. "The gospel is not a message about hell. We ought to be on oru guard agaisnt he metnality that sees teh preachign of hell as a sure sign of "faithfulne'ss - Sinclari Ferguson
11.4.2.1. Stott called that "Schadenfreude" - delight in the misfortune of others
11.4.3. 1843 by the still young but soon-to-die Robert Murray M’Cheyne express well this view and its implications: “As I was walking in the fields, the thought came over me with almost overwhelming power, that every one of my flock must soon be in heaven or hell. Oh, how I wished that I had a tongue like thunder, that I might make all hear; or that I had a frame like iron, that I might visit every one, and say, ‘Escape for thy life!’”10 Morgan, Christopher W.; Peterson, Robert A. (2009-08-08). Hell Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment (Kindle Locations 5768-5770). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
11.4.4. 2 Co 5:18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 2 Co 5:19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Co 5:20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
11.5. Call - look at what God has put before you (unbeliever)
11.5.1. In his book Whatever Happened to Hell? John Blanchard includes a dramatic description of a multi-auto pile-up in dense fog on a major highway outside of London, England: The hazard warning lights were on, but were ignored by most drivers. At 6.15 a.m. a lorry carrying huge rolls of paper was involved in an accident, and within minutes the carriageway was engulfed in carnage. Dozens of cars were wrecked. Ten people were killed. A police patrol car was soon on the scene, and two policemen ran back up the motorway to stop oncoming traffic. They waved their arms and shouted as loud as they could, but most drivers took no notice and raced on towards the disaster that awaited them. The policemen then picked up traffic cones and flung them at the cars’ windscreens in a desperate attempt to warn drivers of their danger; one told how tears streamed down his face as car after car went by and he waited for the sickening sound of impact as they hit the growing mass of wreckage farther down the road.11 Morgan, Christopher W.; Peterson, Robert A. (2009-08-08). Hell Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment (Kindle Locations 5790-5793). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
11.5.2. Quote from Mark Dever ...