Chapter 2 of my book. In the intro to the book I relate that in my mid-20s I decided I ought to write a book about hell since my study and reflections on the topic showed that the traditonal picture of hell as handed down to me seemed to be in line neither with the straightforward meaning of Scripture nor the character of God. I wrote substantial notes at the time... and filed them away. But earlier this year I made the effort to go back over my notes and write them up in a presentable form.
“In the beginning God created heaven, earth and hell.”
Nope.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1.1)
The Scriptures never say that God created hell. Why? Because “hell” is not a separate entity, but part of God himself.
In Deuteronomy the Israelites are told,
The LORD your God is a consuming fire. (Deuteronomy 4.24)
This is quoted in Hebrews 12.29:
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire”.
God, the consuming fire, consumes all that is not holy; that is, those whose robes are not washed (compare Revelation 22.14 above).
He consumes the unholy parts of his people whom he has made holy (a “refiner’s fire”), and the entirety of those who are not holy, whose robes are not washed. There is a popular misconception in some quarters that the fate of those outside of God is eternal torment or torture. The Scriptures, on the other hand, teach that while the location of the lost is eternal, the lost themselves simply die there. That is, they cease to exist. Which brings us back to Gehenna.
Jesus says,
If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where
‘the worms that eat them do not die,
and the fire is not quenched.’ (Mark 9.42-48)
The word ‘hell’ in these verses is the Greek ‘Gehenna’. Most places in the New Testament where most popular versions have the word ‘hell’, the Greek text says ‘Gehenna’.
A book that confirmed to me that my exegesis of Scripture is along the right lines is David Pawson’s “The Road to Hell” (Hodder & Stoughton, 1992) – not because Pawson and I agree with one another but because I found his arguments for a ‘traditional’ hell wanting. However, Pawson does give a good description of Gehenna:
So how did Jesus 'picture' hell? The answer lies in the name he usually gave to it Gehenna, which means 'the valley of Hinnom'.
This is a real geographic location. a deep gorge to the west and south of Jerusalem. From it the city is visible, but most of it is invisible to the city. Few tourists visit or are even aware of it.
The valley has a sinister history. At one stage in Israel's idolatrous infidelities it became a centre for the worship of Moloch, an Ammonite deity demanding the sacrifice of live infants in gruesome orgies. Jeremiah predicted that 'the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter' (Jer 9:6).
Partly for this reason and partly because of its convenient location and depth, the valley became the city's garbage dump. The south gate facing the valley is to this day called the 'Dung Gate', which speaks for itself. All the sewage and rubbish of a large city was 'thrown into' (note that term) Gehenna.
The waste was kept down in two ways - incineration by fire of what was combustible and ingestion by worms of what was digestible. Steep cliffs confined the heat and the smell (its lowest point was too deep for the sun to penetrate). (pp 28-29)
In the passage from Mark 9 Jesus quotes Isaiah 64 where the Lord, through the voice of the prophet, says,
“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the LORD. “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.” (Isaiah 66.22-24)
The contrast in these verses is between “the new heavens and the new earth” and “your name and your descendants” on the one hand, which will endure, and “the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me” on the other hand. The new heavens, the new earth, your name and your descendants endure, whereas those who rebel against God do not endure. Those who endure look on the dead bodies of those who do not endure. The worm does not die and the fire will not be quenched: these are the agents of God’s punishment – as Pawson eloquently puts it, “incineration by fire of what was combustible and ingestion by worms of what was digestible”. But – and this is the important point – those who are consumed and ingested die. They cease to exist. The rebel has not endured.
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