LOCATION, TIME, AND OBJECT OF THE LAKE OF FIRE.
By Mordecai May
WHERE is the hell formerly depicted in such vivid, awful colors, now rarely mentioned in popular pulpits? An interesting question, truly, doubly so at the present time, when millions who use profane language are thoughtlessly consigning, so far as their words go, their fellows to the place of torment; and other millions, who would shudder to even hear profanity, are still in doubt as to whether they will cast anchor in the haven of eternal rest, or receive their portion of fiery torment with Satan and his angels. And yet it is a simple fact that there is no such place as hell, in the generally-accepted idea. As a place where wicked men, women, and children are suffering tortures, hell has no existence at all. But, having made this proposition, I must proceed to show that it is true, and, first of all, will request the reader’s patience while I ask some general questions. Knowing that “God is love,” that love is the very essence of all His wonderful attributes, the very summing up of His character, can you believe that, for a few years of misspent life here, a man, a woman, nay, even a child, is to suffer the agonies of fiery torment, ever tossing amidst the fiery billows; and that the end for which he is praying, cursing, blaspheming, shall never come—to all eternity? Can you believe that the great God, who “so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” could take pleasure in permitting this torture to commence just as soon as the breath leaves the body, even tho the judgment day was yet in the future, in some cases thousands of years? Can you believe that some of your dearest friends, whose society you loved, whose conversation charmed you, with whose souls your own seemed in almost perfect harmony, are now in this lake of fire, wishing for a drop of water to cool their tongues, expecting nothing from the day of judgment but that their doom will be sealed to all eternity? This, and worse, is what the Puritans taught, and what many are teaching to-day in the name of the God of love; but, O, how the thought must pain His great heart of love, that ever His character should be so misrepresented! Many among Protestants still hold to this wicked doctrine in all its fiery horror, and those among them who can not endure the thought of it, have patched up a sort of a Protestant purgatory to take its place. But the fact is there is neither a burning hell nor purgatory in existence now, never were any such places, and, as far as purgatory is concerned, never will be; would to God there would never be any need of the lake of fire. Those who have been educated to believe that such a place really exists, with all the horrors it involves, are loath to believe it all a delusion, and fly to the Scriptures to find arguments with which to crush this new-fangled doctrine. But the Scriptures, diligently studied and compared, are found to be entirely opposed to the horrible doctrine of eternal torment and misery. The word “hell” occurs in the Authorized Version of the Bible a great many times, and, while in many instances it refers to time past and present, in none of these instances does it refer to the lake of fire, except, possibly, in the parable of Dives and Lazarus, which, however, being a parable, proves nothing on the point. The word comes in most cases from the Hebrew sheol or the Greek hades, meaning a covered place, and is often translated “grave,” or “pit,” and was never intended to signify a place of punishment. See Cruden. On the other hand, there are a few places where the word “hell” is translated from the Greek gehenna, and this has reference to the place of future punishment of the wicked, including the devil and his angels. See Matt. 25:41; Rev. 20:10–15. Note that these events occur after the wicked are judged; and, further, note the marginal rendering of “hell” in Rev. 20:13; and in verse 14, that death and hell are cast into the lake of fire. Thus it is very evident that “the lake of fire” of verse 14 is not the “hell” of verse 14, or even a portion of it, for the less can not include the greater; but this word “hell,” in both verses, is from the original hades, and should be translated grave. So death and the grave are cast into the lake of fire. Thus when the work of the fiery torrent is ended, all the wicked, including Satan, will be utterly consumed (Eze. 28:19; Mal. 4:1, 3; Heb. 2:14); there will never be any more death, and consequently no grave, in any part of the universe of God to all eternity. This is the only possible meaning of the passage, “Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire;” and this is in perfect harmony with the other scriptures, two of which I quote: “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” 1 Cor. 15:26. “There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.” Rev. 21:4. Now it is very evident that if the lake of fire continued in existence forever, and the wicked continued to live and burn in it, as is being and has been taught for some centuries, there would be sorrow and crying; there would be pain just as long as such conditions should exist; and the words of the text referred to would never come true. But we know that the time will come when the universe will be clean; for the Bible says so. Every creature in the universe will be heard saying, “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” Rev. 5:13. And is it not reasonable to believe that the mighty God, the only Potentate, He by whom the universe was created, and by whose power it still exists, has reserved to Himself the power to erase the blot of sin from the fair face of the universe when the fulness of time shall come? It seems like an insult to His infinite wisdom to believe otherwise; for could we conceive it possible for God to continue to give the breath of life forever to those who were cursing Him with every breath they drew, whose existence was nothing but the extremest misery to themselves and all who knew of their plight, and that all this must be perpetuated eternally, because, forsooth, the great All-Father forgot Himself so far as to give immortality to every soul before testing them to see if it would be a blessing or a curse to them, by such a conception we impeach the wisdom and goodness of God, and charge Him with such folly as only short-sighted man could be guilty of. No; rather let us believe, as the Scriptures plainly teach, that, if God “gather unto Himself His Spirit and His breath, all flesh [from which His breath is withheld] shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.” Job 34:14, 15. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Eze. 18:20. “Fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matt. 10:28. We have found, then, that hell, as the antithesis of heaven, as the reward of the wicked, does not exist now, never has existed, and never will exist till the great judgment day. And while those of the wicked who are living at Christ’s second coming will receive a preliminary foretaste of the pangs of hell when they are destroyed by the brightness of His coming, and while, for the succeeding thousand years, Satan and his angels will suffer such pangs of remorse as will fit them to welcome death as a release, yet it must be conceded that the lake of fire and brimstone has no existence till, at the end of the great day of the Lord, which is over a thousand years long, the city of God descends to the earth, and Satan and the wicked encamp against it. Then, after every individual in the encompassing hosts has seen and acknowledged his guilt, and the justice of God in refusing him any portion of His Son’s inheritance, fire comes down from God out of heaven, and devours them. See Revelation 20; Isa. 30:33. How long, then, does this place of punishment exist? We know there will immediately revert to the minds of many, certain texts which speak of everlasting burnings, everlasting punishment, smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, etc.; but the Scriptures as a whole, as well as the character of our loving heavenly Father, harmonize only with the fact that these passages indicate eternal results to those who are the objects of the punishment, burnings, torment, etc. Certain cities in Abraham’s time suffered the vengeance of eternal fire. Jude 7. What then? Does the fire still exist?—No; for the Dead Sea covers the plain where they once stood; and eternal fire evidently means fire that lasts till all is consumed that is perishable.5The wicked are compared to wood, hay, stubble, fat of lambs, tares, chaff, and other perishable substances. How long, then, till the work is accomplished?—Only a short time comparatively. Thus, while hell, as a place of punishment, may well be regarded with dread by the sinner, it exists but once in all of God’s creation; the time is in the future; the duration, very short; the place is on this earth; and the city of God dwells in the midst of these everlasting burnings, whose work is soon ended. There comes forth, as a result of this fire, new heavens and a new earth, free from the taint of sin, pure as gold fresh from the crucible, seven times purified. And, O, dear reader, let us see to it that we learn to love God now, become reconciled to Him by the death of His dear Son; that when that awful moment comes, and the wicked are cast into the lake of fire, we may be safe in the golden city, secure from all harm! And then, as the new heavens and new earth burst into view, clothed with such beauty as mortal eyes never beheld, what glad songs of triumphant praise will ascend to our Creator and Redeemer from every soul!