Amazing Facts with Doug Batchelor

The Final Firestorm

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: AFNB

Program Code: AFNB002230S


00:02 - [Announcer] This presentation is brought to you by
00:04 the friends of the Amazing Facts Ministry.
00:07 (enchanted music)
00:09 - So what's the hottest place on Earth?
00:11 Guinness World Records list the official winner
00:14 as the Death Valley, California.
00:16 On July 10th, 1913,
00:18 the mercury there skyrocketed to 134 degrees Fahrenheit.
00:24 Some parts of Death Valley
00:25 have an average daily high of 115 degrees,
00:29 but the ground temperature can get even more intense.
00:32 In 1972, at a place called Furnace Creek,
00:36 it registered a blistering 201 degrees,
00:39 the hottest surface temperature ever recorded on the planet.
00:43 Actually, there's a good chance
00:44 there are other places in the deserts around the world
00:47 that get even hotter,
00:48 but most humans don't inhabit the hottest places on Earth
00:51 so there are no weather stations
00:53 or sensors to record the extreme temperatures.
00:56 The Bible tells us that the ultimate global warming
00:59 is still in the future.
01:00 It's the time when God will cleanse the world with fire.
01:04 The scripture says in that day,
01:06 the very elements will melt with fervent heat
01:09 and the Earth and the things that are in it
01:11 will be burned up.
01:13 Sound scary? Well, it doesn't need to be.
01:16 To find out more,
01:17 join me now as we explore the good news about Hell.
01:25 Before we get into the lesson,
01:27 we always like to begin with a storacle from the Bible.
01:31 These are Bible stories that help illustrate Bible truths.
01:35 And you find this story in the Book of Genesis.
01:38 Now the lesson is called, "The Final Firestorm."
01:43 You remember Lot and his Uncle Abraham
01:47 settled in the Promise Land.
01:48 God blessed their flocks and herds so much that
01:50 they just could not dwell together anymore.
01:53 And Abraham said, "We don't want to argue. We are brethren."
01:56 And so what happened is Abraham said,
01:58 "Lot, you go to the right hand, I'll go to the left.
02:01 "You decide where you want to go."
02:03 And it says that he lifted his eyes towards Sodom
02:06 and he directed his attention towards the valley
02:09 because there's a lot of pasture back then.
02:11 Even though the Bible's pretty clear that the men of Sodom,
02:15 and this is Genesis 13:13, were wicked exceedingly.
02:21 Now, I don't know if you're aware,
02:22 but God had actually spared Sodom once before
02:25 and they'd been rescued by Abraham.
02:26 He delivered the cities when they'd been attacked by
02:29 the Assyrian armies in the North.
02:32 God gave them another chance, but they did not repent
02:34 and they went deeper and deeper into sin and wickedness.
02:38 And eventually, God sent two angels to Lot,
02:44 said, "Get your family out of this place
02:46 "because God is going to destroy it for its wickedness."
02:49 Lot tried to persuade his grown daughters that were married
02:52 to come with him
02:54 and they thought that he was mocking.
02:55 They wouldn't take him seriously.
02:57 Finally, the angel said, "Time's almost up,"
03:00 and the angels took Lot and his two daughters
03:02 and his wife by the hand, one angel had two in each hand,
03:06 and physically pulled them out of the city and said,
03:10 "Escape for your life. Do not look behind you."
03:14 Very explicit command.
03:15 "Nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains."
03:19 And as they were going back towards the mountain,
03:22 the Bible tells us:
03:24 Then the Lord rained brimstone, that's like sulfur,
03:28 and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah
03:32 from the Lord out of the Heavens.
03:35 Later you read where Abraham said,
03:38 or it says that Abraham looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah.
03:40 There were actually four or five cities down there,
03:43 Zoar and the other were, they're very small.
03:46 But the principle cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,
03:48 and beheld the smoke of the land
03:50 which went up like the smoke of a furnace.
03:53 He saw the judgment.
03:55 Abraham was praying that Lot and his family
03:57 had made it out alive.
03:59 Now you might be a little bit apprehensive.
04:02 "Oh, Pastor Doug, you're going to be talking about Hell?"
04:06 I think you're going to be encouraged
04:07 when you find out what the Bible teaches about this
04:09 regarding the justice and the love of God.
04:11 I think I shared with you
04:13 the night that we talked about Heaven,
04:14 that there are about
04:15 twice as many people that believe in Heaven
04:17 as those who believe in Hell.
04:19 And that's understandable
04:20 because there are two incredible extremes
04:23 that are out there in the world,
04:24 and even in the church, regarding Hell.
04:28 One teaching says that
04:31 if you're bad and you die,
04:33 you go immediately to a place of everlasting torment
04:38 where you will be plunged into a Lake of Fire and brimstone
04:43 and you will have every nerve ending in your body
04:46 sensing this incredible agony and pain.
04:50 And you'll be writhing in this molten fire and brimstone,
04:54 compounded by the anguish that you could have been saved
04:56 but you are not.
04:58 And that terrible experience will not go on for a moment
05:00 or two or a minute or two, but forever and ever.
05:06 Now just the thought of that,
05:08 I think can make someone blow a gasket.
05:10 Think about that.
05:11 Who would want to burn for a minute?
05:13 Can you imagine burning for a billion years?
05:16 And then after a billion years go by,
05:17 you swim to the surface of the molten lava and you say,
05:20 "Lord, how long?"
05:21 And He laughs and says, "How long?
05:22 "You haven't even started eternally."
05:25 That's one view.
05:27 The other view is that Hell is just
05:32 the bad memories of what happened here on Earth
05:35 that are going to bother you
05:36 or that some of the wicked might be vaporized at the end,
05:42 and then they're gone.
05:44 Between these two extremes, you'll find the Bible truth.
05:47 There is a true teaching on Hell and the Lake of Fire.
05:50 You find that in Revelation 20.
05:53 You'll also find it in Revelation 22,
05:56 and all through the teachings of Jesus as well.
05:59 But we're going to find out what the Bible says.
06:00 Fair enough?
06:02 - [Congregation Member] Amen.
06:03 - To go to the first question in our lesson.
06:05 What two cities are given as an example
06:08 for the destruction of the wicked?
06:10 In our opening story, we looked at those two cities.
06:12 You read in 2 Peter 2:6:
06:16 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes.
06:20 Into what?
06:22 - [Congregation] Ashes.
06:23 - Turn them into ashes, condemned them to destruction.
06:25 Ashes, destruction.
06:27 Making them an example to those who afterward live ungodly.
06:31 So if we want to see an example of
06:32 what's going to happen to the wicked, it says,
06:34 "Look at what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah.
06:37 "They were destroyed. They were turned to ashes."
06:39 Now here's my question, are they still burning today?
06:42 - [Congregation] No.
06:43 - Well, the Bible tells us
06:44 they were burnt with eternal fire.
06:47 The results of the fire were eternal.
06:49 They're not still burning now.
06:51 They were burnt up, they were destroyed,
06:53 they were turned to ashes, never rebuilt.
06:56 So question number two.
06:59 When will the wicked be destroyed in hellfire?
07:02 Let's find out what the Bible says on that.
07:06 2 Peter 2:9:
07:08 The Lord knows how to reserve the unjust
07:11 under punishment for the day of judgment.
07:14 If you call a restaurant and say,
07:15 "I'd like to reserve a table,"
07:17 that means they're holding it for you till you get there.
07:20 And this is the same way it is with the wicked,
07:23 that people are reserved for the day of judgment.
07:26 They're not there yet.
07:27 The judgment has not happened yet.
07:29 When is that?
07:31 John 12:48:
07:32 Jesus said, "The word that I have spoken will judge him."
07:35 When?
07:36 - [Congregation] The last day.
07:38 - The last day.
07:39 In fact, I'm going to grab my Bible real quick.
07:40 If you've got your Bible or your digital Bible,
07:42 go to John 6.
07:43 I want to just show you something.
07:45 It's amazing to me people don't catch this.
07:47 John 6. These are all the words of Jesus.
07:49 Start with, oh, verse 39.
07:53 This is the will of My Father who sent me
07:54 that all He's given Me, I should lose nothing,
07:56 but raise it up the last day.
08:00 Verse 40.
08:02 I will raise him up the last day.
08:06 You go to verse 44.
08:08 No one can come to Me
08:09 unless the Father who sent Me draws him
08:11 and I will raise him up the last day.
08:13 Go to verse 54.
08:15 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life
08:18 and I'll raise him up the last day.
08:20 And I could go on.
08:21 All through the New Testament,
08:23 it is so clear that people do not receive their rewards
08:25 until the end, the day of the Lord.
08:29 It's called the judgment day, the last day.
08:31 It is future when there's this recompense that is given
08:35 to the righteous and the wicked.
08:38 You can read in Matthew 13:40.
08:41 So it will be at the end of this age,
08:44 the Son of Man will send out His angels
08:46 and they will gather together
08:48 those who practice lawlessness.
08:50 That's the evil, correct?
08:51 - [Congregation Member] Yes. - At the end of the age.
08:53 They'll send His angels to gather together the wicked,
08:57 cast them into a furnace of fire.
08:59 Okay. That can't be misunderstood.
09:01 Do the wicked experience fire?
09:03 - [Congregation Member] Yes.
09:04 - And we'll find out what happens.
09:06 But when is that? Is anyone burning in Hell now?
09:08 - [Congregation] No.
09:10 - No. The Bible says it's future.
09:13 So considering that, question number three.
09:15 If the wicked who have died are not in Hell yet,
09:19 where are they?
09:20 Well, let's let the Bible describe it.
09:22 John 5:28, Jesus is speaking here.
09:25 "The hour is coming."
09:27 He's speaking future tense.
09:29 "The hour is coming in which all who are in the graves
09:32 "will hear His voice."
09:34 These are the resurrections all, good and evil.
09:36 Future, they're going to hear His voice.
09:38 "They that have done good, the resurrection of life,
09:41 "and those who have done evil,
09:43 "the resurrection of condemnation."
09:47 And so we got the dead in Christ rise first
09:50 and then the only ones left are the dead out of Christ,
09:52 which is the lost or the wicked.
09:54 They're in a second resurrection.
09:56 Bible's very clear.
09:57 There's two distinct separate resurrections.
09:59 And again, look in Job 21:30 and 32.
10:03 The wicked are reserved for the day of doom.
10:06 He will be brought to the grave. Where is he brought?
10:08 - [Congregation] To the grave.
10:10 - To the grave. And a vigil kept over the tomb.
10:13 He's reserved, he's going to be brought to the grave,
10:15 until he comes forth in the second resurrection.
10:19 Question number four.
10:20 What is the reward or punishment for sin?
10:24 According to the Bible,
10:25 it tells us the wages of sin is?
10:29 - [Congregation] Death. - Death.
10:30 And the gift of God is eternal life
10:33 in Jesus Christ our Lord.
10:35 Now, I just need to tell you, friends,
10:37 this to me is one of the favorite sermons for me
10:42 because growing up
10:44 I didn't have a lot of religious training,
10:45 but my parents did send me
10:46 to a couple of different Christian schools.
10:48 And in those schools they said,
10:50 "If you're good," you know the principal teaching?
10:52 "You're good, you die, you go to Heaven.
10:54 "You're bad, you die, you go to the other place."
10:56 Well, I was curious.
10:57 I said, "Tell me about that other place."
10:58 "Well, you'll be thrown into fire
11:02 "and you're going to burn forever and ever."
11:06 And when I heard that, I don't remember how old I was,
11:10 I was pretty young,
11:13 I just couldn't comprehend.
11:16 I said, "You're telling me God is love in one class,
11:18 "another class you're saying that if I'm bad I go to Hell."
11:21 And I said, "Let me see if I understand this.
11:24 "Everybody sins?"
11:26 "Yeah, all have sinned except Jesus."
11:27 "So we're born with sort of a predisposition to sin?
11:30 "We didn't choose to be born. "God created us.
11:33 "And if we can't get it right,
11:35 "He's then going to burn these disobedient children
11:38 "forever and ever and ever and ever
11:41 "for the sins of one brief lifetime."
11:43 Said, "That doesn't sound fair."
11:45 I thought God was a sadist.
11:47 I turned away from God.
11:49 When I found out the Bible truth on this,
11:51 it liberated me to love God.
11:54 - [Congregation Member] Amen!
11:56 - I realized that God was a just and a loving God.
11:57 And that's why this subject was just so dear to my heart
11:59 because I know there's others out there like that.
12:02 Now if the penalty for sin,
12:04 what did we just read the penalty for sin is?
12:05 The wages for sin are?
12:07 - [Congregation] Death.
12:08 - Death. Good enough.
12:10 But what if
12:12 the penalty for sin is everlasting burning in fire,
12:14 how could Jesus pay the penalty for our sin?
12:18 He didn't pay the penalty for our sin.
12:20 He died on the cross.
12:21 He suffered, He died, He rose. See what I'm saying?
12:26 The penalty's death.
12:28 What are the only two choices for all of mankind?
12:33 The Bible tells us whoever believes in Him
12:36 should not perish but have everlasting life.
12:39 So if you do not believe, what does it say?
12:42 - [Congregation Member] Perish.
12:43 - Perish. By the way, you got a picture of Moses
12:45 holding up the bronze serpent there
12:46 because when Jesus said these words,
12:47 He was talking to Nicodemus and He said,
12:49 "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
12:51 "that whoever believed would not perish
12:54 "but have everlasting life.
12:56 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son,
12:59 "that whoever believes might not perish
13:01 "but have everlasting life."
13:02 He's very clear. Perish.
13:04 Some of you've got things in your refrigerator
13:06 because they're called perishables.
13:08 And if they're not,
13:09 some of you have things in your refrigerator
13:11 that have perished a long time ago and they're still there.
13:13 (congregation laughs)
13:15 But the reason is you try to prevent them from perishing
13:18 and otherwise, they decompose, they rot,
13:20 they turn back into the elements of the Earth,
13:22 cease to exist.
13:23 That's what it means by perish.
13:25 What will happen to the wicked that are in hellfire?
13:30 For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more.
13:33 The wicked shall perish into smoke.
13:36 They will vanish away.
13:39 The day is coming that will burn as an oven
13:41 and all that do wickedly will be stubble.
13:43 The day that comes will burn them up.
13:45 When something's burned up, what's left?
13:46 - [Congregation Member] Nothing.
13:48 - It's gone.
13:50 You shall trample the wicked
13:51 for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet.
13:55 This week Karen and I were up in the hills
13:56 and we were doing some cleaning
13:58 and we bought a refrigerator
14:00 and we had this big refrigerator box and we said,
14:02 "What are we going to do with this big old cumbersome box?"
14:03 And we said, "It rained up here, let's start a fire."
14:06 It was amazing how quickly
14:08 that refrigerator box had disappeared and blew away
14:10 when you burn it.
14:11 Perish. Good luck finding it now.
14:14 It's gone with the wind, as they say.
14:18 Where will hellfire be located?
14:21 In Granite Bay.
14:23 (congregation laughs)
14:25 And in Washington, DC.
14:27 Probably a little hotter there.
14:30 And in San Francisco.
14:34 Hellfire is on Earth.
14:37 Don't go anywhere, friends.
14:38 In just a moment we're going to return to today's presentation.
14:42 Is Hell a real place?
14:43 And if so, where is it located?
14:46 Are lost sinners burning there now
14:48 and being tortured through eternity?
14:50 Is the Devil really in charge of Hell?
14:53 The Bible clearly addresses all of these questions
14:56 and the answers might just surprise you.
14:59 We have a special free resource we'd like to give you
15:02 concerning this topic.
15:03 It's called "The Bible Truth About Hell."
15:07 This eyeopening full color magazine
15:09 will clear up your most perplexing questions about Hell.
15:12 And best of all,
15:13 it'll show you how you can have more hope
15:16 and peace in the future.
15:18 To get your free copy,
15:19 call the phone number on your screen
15:21 and ask for offer number 887.
15:24 Or visit the web address on the screen
15:26 and after you read this incredible resource,
15:28 make sure and share it with a friend.
15:31 Well, let's get back to today's presentation
15:34 and learn some more amazing facts about the Word of God.
15:38 I remember, I hope you don't buy them,
15:41 but sometimes you know at the checkout stand
15:43 they got those tabloid magazines.
15:46 And I was in line and I saw the headline,
15:50 I was real tempted to buy it
15:51 to use for a sermon illustration.
15:53 And it said, "Oil drillers in Siberia drill too deep
15:59 "and they reach Hell.
16:01 "Demons escape."
16:03 'Cause a lot of people have this idea that
16:06 the Devil is in charge of this dark cavern down there.
16:09 They got the god Vulcan, they saw a volcano.
16:11 That's where you get the word
16:13 'cause this fire would come up out of the Earth
16:14 and they thought the Devil,
16:16 they kinda got him mixed up with Greek mythology and said,
16:17 "Yeah, he's like the god Vulcan.
16:19 "He's in charge of how people get burned in Hell."
16:22 Is that what the Bible teaches?
16:23 - [Congregation] No.
16:24 - Revelation 20:9. Where is Hell going to burn?
16:27 They went up on the breadth of the Earth,
16:29 surface of the Earth,
16:30 and surrounded the camp of the saints
16:33 and fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them.
16:36 That fire rains down on the Earth.
16:39 Everywhere surrounding the New Jerusalem,
16:42 it's going to be fire raining up until it rains down
16:44 and forms a lake.
16:47 You can also read in 2 Peter 3:10:
16:51 The elements will melt with fervent heat.
16:53 Both the Earth and the works that are in it
16:56 will be burned up.
16:57 The whole surface of the planet is going to be purified by fire.
17:00 So the fire is on the surface of the Earth in the last days.
17:04 It's not a chamber off in the cosmos somewhere
17:07 and it's not down yonder in a deep hole.
17:11 It's on the surface of the Earth.
17:13 Will the fires of Hell ever go out?
17:17 You can read here in Isaiah 47:14 says:
17:21 It shall not be a coal to be warmed by
17:25 nor a fire to sit before.
17:29 It's consumed. There'll be nothing left.
17:31 The fire burns up.
17:33 I've had people say, "Yeah Pastor Doug, you're right.
17:35 "The bodies burn up.
17:36 "The bodies are consumed, the bodies turn to ashes,
17:38 "but their soul burns forever."
17:41 Maybe some of you've heard that.
17:43 Yeah, it's not a physical torment,
17:45 it's their souls that are being tormented.
17:48 But listen to what Jesus said, Matthew 10:28.
17:51 "Do not fear those who kill the body
17:54 "but they cannot kill the soul.
17:57 "But rather fear Him
18:00 "who is able to destroy
18:02 "soul and body in Hell."
18:05 What happens to that individual?
18:07 Jesus said, "Soul, body destroyed."
18:12 Perish. Ashes.
18:14 This idea of eternal torment is just a horrific teaching.
18:19 The reason I think it also bothers me,
18:21 it distorts the character of God.
18:24 The Bible says God is love.
18:27 I was up in my cave,
18:30 lived for about a year and a half like a hermit in a cave.
18:33 I used to cook my own food.
18:34 And one night while I was cooking my dinner,
18:37 my cat came in carrying a mouse.
18:41 I had a cat named Stranger
18:43 'cause he just showed up one day.
18:44 I didn't know where he came from.
18:45 He lived with me for about a year
18:47 and then he disappeared one day.
18:49 But he used to like to catch these kangaroo rats.
18:53 But you know how cats are a little sadistic?
18:55 (congregation laughs)
18:56 They like to play with their food.
18:59 And so he would catch this mouse
19:01 and then he'd be making these growling noises
19:03 and then his eyes are real big and he'd let go of it.
19:06 It would try to hop away and he'd pounce again
19:09 and then he'd let go and it would try to escape.
19:11 He'd pounce again. You ever seen this before, you know?
19:15 And I'm watching this, I'm thinking,
19:17 I felt sorry for the poor little-
19:18 Kangaroo rats are kinda cute.
19:20 They're not like your common rats or a mouse.
19:21 They kinda hop around like a little kangaroo,
19:23 got a long tail with a furry thing on the end of it
19:25 and cute little eyes.
19:29 (congregation laughs)
19:31 Long whiskers and...
19:34 And the poor thing.
19:35 I'm almost rooting for the mouse.
19:38 (congregation laugh)
19:39 And so Stranger's playing this game
19:41 and the thing in its daze and confusion and desperation,
19:45 it went to hop away
19:47 and it hopped twice and landed in my fire.
19:51 (congregation gasps and groans)
19:52 Listen to you.
19:53 I see some of you right now, looking at your face
19:56 and you're going, "Oh!"
19:57 The anguish for the mouse
20:01 for 10 seconds.
20:04 You wouldn't do that to a rat!
20:07 And yet people think God is going to do that
20:10 to His disobedient children through eternity.
20:14 For whom will hellfire be kindled?
20:17 Is God saying, "I'm going to start a fire
20:19 "and I'm going to burn all the bad people?"
20:22 Depart from Me, you cursed,
20:23 into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.
20:28 Who is it principally prepared for?
20:29 - [Congregation Member] The Devil.
20:30 - The Devil and his angels.
20:32 The Lord doesn't want anybody to be lost,
20:35 but He has no choice for the Devil.
20:36 Ultimately, it's going to be those that follow the Devil
20:40 are going to join him in his fate.
20:42 And you can read that parable where
20:44 God separates the sheep from the goats in Matthew 25.
20:49 Does the Bible phrase, "Unquenchable fire" indicate-
20:53 Now we're looking at some of the anomalies
20:54 that people get mixed up on.
20:56 Does the Bible phrase, "Unquenchable fire"
20:58 indicate that the fire never goes out?
21:00 Let's read this verse here.
21:01 Matthew 3:12, it says:
21:04 He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor,
21:08 gather His wheat into the barn and He will burn up.
21:11 Notice what burn up means.
21:13 When something's burned up what's left?
21:15 - [Congregation Member] Nothing.
21:16 - He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
21:20 I'll give you another verse here.
21:22 Look in Jeremiah 17:27.
21:25 But if you will not heed Me to hallow the Sabbath day,
21:27 such as not carrying a burden
21:29 when entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day,
21:32 then I will kindle a fire in its gates
21:35 and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem
21:38 and it shall not be quenched.
21:42 Now what does it mean when it says that
21:44 the fire is unquenchable and it shall not be quenched?
21:48 Quench is a verb. It means to extinguish.
21:51 Let me see if I can illustrate this.
21:52 And I know you might get it on the screen.
21:55 It's going to be far away for some of you here.
21:57 It's a regular pack of matches. I was surprised I found this.
22:00 Best Western, probably 30 years old.
22:02 (congregation laughs)
22:04 And I got a match here.
22:07 And I can do this very carefully here.
22:11 All right, no Fire Marshall present, I hope.
22:15 (match scratches)
22:17 All right, this is a match.
22:18 Now I am going to do my best not to quench this match,
22:24 but this match is going to be burned with unquenchable fire.
22:27 So here it is. It's burning.
22:29 I feel it. It's very real.
22:35 Woo! (congregation laughs)
22:39 Ouch.
22:40 (congregation laughs)
22:42 I'm not going to quench it.
22:43 You can't make me quench it.
22:46 I refuse to quench it.
22:49 What happened?
22:50 - [Congregation] It quenched.
22:51 - Did I quench it?
22:53 - [Congregation] No.
22:54 - Quench is a verb.
22:55 Are there any firemen in Hell quenching?
22:58 (congregation laughs)
23:00 No.
23:01 The fire of Hell is going to do its work
23:02 with an unquenchable fire.
23:04 No one can extinguish it.
23:05 Typically when something catches on fire in our communities,
23:08 we send fire people and they try to quench it.
23:10 Will there be anyone to do that in Heaven?
23:13 Or Hell is what I'm talking about.
23:15 Let's get those subjects straight. (laughs)
23:17 (congregation laughs)
23:20 When Revelation 20:10 says that
23:21 the wicked will be tormented forever and ever,
23:24 doesn't that indicate endless time?
23:26 Let the Bible interpret itself. Does that sound fair?
23:29 - [Congregation Member] Yes.
23:31 - [Doug] Let's look at another verse.
23:32 Jonah 2:6:
23:34 The Earth with her bars closed behind me forever.
23:38 How long?
23:40 - [Congregation] Forever. - Forever.
23:41 How long was Jonah in the big fish or the whale?
23:44 - [Congregation Member] Three days.
23:45 - And Jonah was in the belly of the fish
23:46 three days and three nights.
23:48 And I thought before, "That probably felt like forever."
23:52 Not only was maybe Jonah on the menu,
23:54 but he could have had appetizers that were
23:56 stinging jelly fish and squid and sea urchins
24:00 or something in there.
24:01 And he's in there with all these things flashing
24:03 and the stomach acid of a fish.
24:04 That'd be awful. Three days and three nights.
24:07 No watch to see how much time had passed.
24:08 Probably felt like forever.
24:11 And the sufferings of the wicked.
24:12 Think about it.
24:14 For the wicked who know that they've lost eternal life,
24:16 their final thought becomes an eternal thought
24:20 that they missed out on eternity.
24:24 Read in Revelation 14:11:
24:26 The smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever.
24:28 These are the verses that people often use.
24:31 When it says the smoke ascends up forever and ever,
24:33 have you ever used the expression,
24:34 "Well, I haven't seen them in forever?"
24:37 Is it literally forever or is it a figure of speech?
24:39 It's called hyperbole.
24:41 And so the Lord is saying that here.
24:42 You have to look at the context.
24:44 So what does the expression forever and ever mean?
24:48 Let the Bible explain it.
24:49 Look for instance in Exodus 21:6.
24:52 If a servant loved his master,
24:54 even after six years where he would be allowed to go free,
24:58 he went through a ritual
24:59 and the Bible says he will stay with his master
25:02 and serve him forever.
25:04 Well, forever there meant until he died.
25:07 Didn't mean that in Heaven
25:08 he's going to still be serving his master.
25:11 Forever had an end, with his death.
25:13 Samuel, 1 Samuel 1:22.
25:16 When his mother brought him to the temple
25:18 to serve in the temple, it said there he will abide forever.
25:22 Well, is he still there today?
25:24 - [Congregation Member] No.
25:25 - [Doug] No. It meant as long as he lived.
25:27 You still with me?
25:28 - [Congregation] Yes.
25:30 - And you look also again in 1 Samuel 1:28,
25:32 it tells us how long it was.
25:34 He'll serve forever.
25:35 And then it says as long as he lives.
25:37 The people who are cast into the Lake of Fire
25:39 are punished varying amounts based on what they deserve.
25:42 But they will ultimately be burned up, the Bible says.
25:45 Bible says burned up.
25:47 No more root, no more branches, ashes.
25:50 You will go forth from the New Jerusalem,
25:51 you will tread upon the wicked
25:53 for they are ashes under the souls of your feet.
25:55 Also in Malachi.
25:57 Forever and ever is a biblical expression
25:59 which means until the end of the age.
26:02 It's not necessarily an infinite,
26:04 unending length of time.
26:05 Praise God for that.
26:06 - [Congregation Member] Amen.
26:08 - [Doug] After sin and sinners are destroyed,
26:10 what will Jesus do for His people?
26:13 This is a beautiful message, friends.
26:14 Nevertheless, we, according to His promise,
26:18 look for a new heavens and a new Earth
26:21 in which dwells righteousness.
26:24 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes
26:27 and there'll be no more death.
26:29 How much death?
26:31 - [Congregation] No more.
26:32 - No sorrow nor crying.
26:34 There shall be no more pain.
26:38 How could God say there, "All things are made new,
26:42 "former things are passed away, all things are made new,"
26:44 if there's immortalized old sinners?
26:47 How can He say, "There'll be no more pain,"
26:49 if you've got this chasm somewhere
26:51 where you've got ostensibly billions of people?
26:55 'Cause we all know more people are lost than saved.
26:57 Do you know that?
26:59 Wide is the gate that goes to destruction,
27:01 narrow is the way that leads to life,
27:03 and few there be that find it.
27:05 And the idea that God would take most of the human race
27:08 and put them in a torture chamber for ceaseless ages,
27:10 screaming in agony and God says, "No more pain."
27:14 No. There will be a new universe that is pure.
27:17 There will be no more pain.
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Revised 2024-05-06