Introduction Surprise! Many people don’t believe in hell. Skeptics: e.g., Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell. Religionists: Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists, Christadelphians, WWCG, etc. Lord’s church: Edward Fudge, F. LaGard Smith, Homer Hailey, etc.

Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard Mark 9:43-48

Whistlin' Past the Graveyard Hell is real If heaven is real, so is hell. If hell is a myth, so is heaven! Matt. 25:46 Have you seriously contemplated the reality of hell? Or, are you “whistling’ past the graveyard”?! Matt. 10:28; 7:13-14 Whistlin' Past the Graveyard

Whistlin' Past the Graveyard Hell is terrible Some believe the biblical descriptions of hell are overstated. Hell from the Greek word gehenna : Valley used by apostate Jews for child sacrifice: 2 Chr. 28:3; 33:6 Came to be Jerusalem’s garbage dump: 2 Kgs. 23:10-14 To say the biblical descriptions of hell are overstated is blasphemous! 11 of 13 times hell is used, Jesus uses it! Whistlin' Past the Graveyard

Whistlin' Past the Graveyard Hell is terrible The horrific nature of hell seen by three of its aspects: Origin of the Greek word gehenna : child sacrifice, dead and putrefying bodies, etc.: 2 Chr. 28:3 Described as a “lake of fire” : Rev. 20:10, 14, 15; 21:8 Other descriptors of hell: (A)“a furnace of fire” (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43); (B) “a flaming fire” (2 Thess. 1:7-10); (C) “baptism of fire” (Matt. 3:11-12); (D) “unquenchable fire” (Mk. 9:43-48). Whistlin' Past the Graveyard

Whistlin' Past the Graveyard Hell is terrible Is it any wonder hell is characterized by: “weeping” “wailing” “gnashing of teeth” Matthew 8:12; 13:50; 25:30 How can the burning never stop and our bodies not be consumed? All raised from the dead will be given new, immortal, incorruptible bodies: Jn. 5:28-29; Acts 24:15; 1 Cor. 15:22, 52-53 All will be given “bodies” suited to the environment of eternity (heaven or hell): Phil. 3:20:21; 1 Jn. 3:2; 1 Cor. 15:35-43 This great truth helps us understand passages like Matthew 10:28 Whistlin' Past the Graveyard

Whistlin' Past the Graveyard Hell is eternal Hell would be bad enough if it lasted only seconds, but it lasts F-O-R-E-V-E-R! Jesus equates “hell fire” with “everlasting fire” : Matt. 18:8-9 Jesus contrasts “everlasting punishment” with “eternal life” : Matt. 25:31-46; Rom. 16:26; Heb. 9:14; 2 Pet. 1:11; Rev. 1:18 Both “everlasting” and “eternal” from the same Greek word: oinios ;  both mean exactly the same thing! Whistlin' Past the Graveyard

Whistlin' Past the Graveyard Hell is eternal The apocalypse: Hell is as long as heaven! Rev. 14:10b-11 Recall Mk. 9:43-48: “the fire that shall never be quenched—’Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” The fire is “not quenched” ; it is perpetual! “not quenched” (asbestos) closest synonym is ainios, eternal, everlasting! (Arndt & Gingrich) Whistlin' Past the Graveyard

Whistlin' Past the Graveyard Hell is eternal Quibble: the wicked are “destroyed” (i.e., annihi-lated) in hell: Matt. 10:28 “to destroy” is from Greek apollumi : sometimes translated “perish,” “lose,” and “lost.” Not one single instance in NT where apollumi used to mean annihilation in its strictest sense. Whistlin' Past the Graveyard

Whistlin' Past the Graveyard Hell is eternal Consider appollumi in the following passages: Parable of the “lost sheep”: Lk. 15:3-10 Prodigal son: Lk. 15:11-32 Wineskins Matt. 9:17 The lost: Lk. 19:10 The perishing: 2 Cor. 4:3 Those “destroyed” will “go into perdition” and be “tormented day and night forever and ever” : Rev. 17:8, 11; 20:10 Whistlin' Past the Graveyard

Whistlin' Past the Graveyard Hell is eternal Respected Greek scholars: Matt. 10:28 Vine: “The idea is not extinction but ruin, loss, not of being, but of well-being.” Robertson: “Destroy here is not annihilation, but eternal punishment in Gehenna.” TDNT: “destroy…definitive destruction, not merely in the sense of extinction of physical existence, but rather of an eternal plunge into Hell.” Thayer: “to devote or give over to eternal misery.” Whistlin' Past the Graveyard

Whistlin' Past the Graveyard Conclusion You will spend eternity somewhere? Only two choices: heaven or hell. The overwhelming majority will be in hell: Matt. 7:13-14 That’s not what God or Jesus wants for you: Ezek. 33:11; 2 Tim. 2:4; Jn. 3:16; Lk. 19:10 Make no mistake: Judgment is coming! Acts 17:30-31; 2 Pet. 3:9-11; 2 Thess. 1:7-9; Matt. 25:31-46 Are you ready NOW? 2 Cor. 6:2 Whistlin' Past the Graveyard