Matters of Life and Death VI

Larry Siegle
09/29/24 - Sun AM

Link to sermon video: Matters of Life and Death VI - L Siegle

Matters of Life and Death VI

“The HELL You Say…”

(II Thess. 1:5-10)

Series:  Matters of Life and Death

Thesis:  Learning to understand and appreciate what God has set before each of us.

INTRODUCTION

1.    The title of this series is Matters of Life and Death

2.    This is the fifth installment in the series, the title of this specific message is, “The HELL You Say…”

        a.     We are exploring what happens to a person when he dies?

        b.    What does the Bible teach about life after death?

        c.     What does the Bible teach about Hell?

        d.    What about the immortality of the human soul?

ETERNAL DESTRUCTION AND NATIONAL JUDGMENT

1.    The text we just read about those events describing to these believers that relief from persecution is coming at the time of the approaching “day of judgment”

2.    This entire section (vss 5-10) is one sentence in the Greek text—the urgency of Paul to communicate what God was

        about to do.

        a.     Paul describes their “suffering” and that God takes action to “grant relief” – (persecution from Jewish leaders) (v.

               5,6)

        b.    This would come when Christ was revealed from heaven with his angels (vs. 7)

        c.     The “vengeance” would come against those who “do not know God” and on those “who do not obey the gospel”

               (v. 8).

        d.    The “punishment” would be “eternal destruction” (from the presence of the Lord) (v. 9).

        e.     The result is that Christ would be glorified in his “saints” (holy ones) (v 10).

ETERNAL CONSCIOUS TORMENT

1.    Nine out of ten commentaries use these verses at a description of Hell and what happens at death, rather than within

        the context of national judgment that was approaching in the first century—they miss the point.

        a.     In fact, this text only confirms what we have taught for the past five messages about the destiny of those in

               opposition to the things of God – being “cut off” or as Paul’s says, “punishment of eternal destruction” – not

                eternal conscious torment.

        b.    The persecution under consideration in this text was in connection with Isaac vs Ishmael (Gen. 4:21-31)

               1)    The primary issue during the transition period between the Cross and the destruction of Jerusalem was over

                       sonship and inheritance.

               2)    The “church” would emerge victorious with the promised “inheritance” (Eph. 1:11-14; 5:25-27).

               3)    It was this period of “trial” (testing) that precede the promised victory (James 1:2-4).

2.    The “day of judgment” was approaching, a day of deliverance, a day of vindication (Acts 17:30, 31)

GEHENNA AND “DIVINE JUDGMENT”

1.    There are twelve verses during the ministry of Jesus where the majority of Bible translations insert the word HELL into

        the text (Matt. 5;22, 29, 30; 10:28; 16:18; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5), and just once in the letter of

        James (3:6) – the Greek word in each instance is Gehenna.

        a.     Who was the audience Jesus was speaking to about Gehenna?  (Israel) – the Jewish nation.

        b.    Who was the audience that James addressed his letter to? (Israel) (1:1)

2.    Never once was Gehenna ever directed toward the people of the “nations” (Gentiles)

3.    The verses that unfortunately insert Hell into the pages of the NT are about the same national judgment as is the case

        with the “eternal destruction” about which the apostle Paul describes in II Thess. 1:5-10.

4.    There is nothing in our studies of the OT that provide a Scriptural foundation for the pagan concept of ‘eternal

        conscious torment’ (which developed in association with the neighbors of Israel and Hellenist influence on the church

        much later.

5.    Gehenna (valley of Hinnom) was located just “outside the gates” of Jerusalem on the southwestern side.

        a.     It had been a place where Molech and Tammuz were worshipped (II Chron. 28:1-4; 33:1-7, 9)

        b.    Gehenna had become something like a ‘trash-heap’ where the bodies of wicked people were thrown into the fire.

        c.     It represented the place of defilement and destruction – a national judgment would place the Jewish nation outside the “gates of the city” (Rev. 21:8; 22:14, 15) – “lake of fire” (final destruction).

THE WICKED WOULD SIMPLY BE “CUT OFF” AND “PERISH”

1.    The “day of judgment” described by Malachi (4:1-3, 6)

2.    John described the “day of judgment” for Israel (Matt. 3:10-12).

        a.     Everlasting punishment or everlasting life (Matt. 25:46)

        b.    The wages of sin (death) (Rom. 6:16-23)

        c.     The contrast between life and death are set before each of us!

WHAT IS THE “SOUL”?

1.    The creation account (Gensis 1 and 2) uses the word “soul” to describe the “life” of both animals and humans?

        a.    This concept is against what most of us have heard all of our lives about the “soul” as something that is separate

               and distinct from a person that leaves the body at the moment of death and continues to exist.

        b.    The Hebrew word nephesh is found in the OT (749 times) and is translated:

               1)    “soul” (416 times)

               2)    “life” (100 times)

               3)    “person” or “persons” (30 times)

               4)    “mind” “heart” “creature”

        c.     (Brown-Driver and Briggs)—“that which breathes, the breathing substance…a living being” and the word is used

               in reference to “living creatures” (Gen 1:20, 21, 24, 30; 2:19) – “every breathing thing” as it relates to the various

               animals listed in the text are what the Bible calls a “soul” – that has the “breath of life” (Gen. 2:7; 6:7; 7:15, 22)

               1)    There is no indication of what some call an “immortal soul” either in human beings or in animals.

               2)    When God formed the “body” of Adam “from the dust of the ground” and “breathed into his nostrils the

                       breath of life” he became a “living soul” (Gen. 2:7).

               3)    At the moment of “death” when the “breath of life” leaves the “body” and he “returned to the dust of the

                       ground” Adam would become a “dead soul” (Ezek. 18:4, 20)

               4)    Only those who entered into covenant relationship with God were seen as “alive” (from God’s perspective) –

                       the “land of the living” (sacred ground) is where the believers would experience genuine “life”

               5)    During the time of Joshua and the time of the conquest, every soul was to be “destroyed” (Josh. 10:38-40;

                       11:10-12) – the actual person would be “destroyed”

2.    The historical evidence suggests the notion of an “immortal soul” developed from the “nations” who were neighbors

        of Israel, the influence of Egypt, the later expansion of the Greeks under Alexander and Greek philosophers such as

        Plato, later accepted into the early church by Origen, Augustine, and was incorporated centuries later into the

        Protestant Reformation, and the Restoration Movement – (I Thess. 5:21) – “prove all things”

TWELVE VERSES AND THERE IS NO HELL TO BE FOUND—ONLY DESTRUCTION

CONCLUSION

1.    In our recent studies we have discovered some important concepts about what the Bible has to say about divine

        judgment and what happens to a person who dies outside of Christ.

2.    God is a God of love (I John 4:8), whose desire has always been to bestow the “gift of eternal life” to those who are

        willing to repent and enter into relationship with Him (II Pet 3:7-9).

3.    Life and immortality are through the gospel (II Tim. 1:8-12).

4.    We gain the essence of life by being “raised to walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3-5).

        a.    We become part of the “new creation” (II Cor. 5:17)

        b.    We become the “righteousness of God” (II Cor. 5:21).

        c.     We become “partakers of the Divine Nature (II Pet. 1:4)

        d.    We become equipped with what is necessary for life and righteousness (II Pet. 1:3)

        e.    We have access to “every spiritual blessing” in Christ (Eph. 1:3)