In Psalm 9 the word of God states very clearly the wicked meaning the wicked who don't turn to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Messiah) in this life will be turned into hell. This scripture also states that the nations that forget God will also be turned to hell meaning many of these nations and their culture will be turned to hell when they forget God and adopt much in their culture of the flesh, the ungodly world system and the devil. The scripture from Psalm 9 of this verse of those individuals and entities destined for hell is as follows:
The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. Psalm 9:17
In this scripture Jesus urges in the strongest terms for people to have a reverential or holy fear of Him and God the Father to avoid living a life that leads to everlasting punishment or destruction in hell. This is opposite to some of the indifferent, proud, self-sufficient, mocking or irreverent attitude common with many people these days (as predicted) with respect to God, Jesus and God's Word - the Holy Bible and to some extent to genuine Christians. This fear of God and Jesus is also in contrast with having primary fear to earthly or human persons that however mighty or cruel they are can't destroy body and soul in hell like God and Jesus can and will to those who have no or little holy fear of him that leads to obedience to him, and worship and awe of him and his word and his way of salvation and service. The word destroy here means to fully destroy or perish or lose but also to mar. This does not mean that God will put the ungodly out of existence in hell in the life to come but that there soul and body will be in a state in continuous and eternal agony or torment or suffering just as the righteous will be in a state of eternal life, glory and joy and rest. The suffering of the lost will also be conscious of this torment as the righteous in heaven will be of God's blessing. I hope you reader if you have not trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour already will as soon as possible acknowledge your sin to God in Jesus' name and ask Jesus to be the payment for all your sin and sins when he as God in a perfect although genuine human man bore all your sins when he died in your place on the cross and conquored death on the third day later when he rose from the dead. There is no other way to escape an eternity of suffering in body and soul in hell which we all deserve for our sin against God and our fellow humans. The scripture reference of this verse warning against lack of revential fear of God and Jesus that can lead to everlasting, continuing destruction or suffering in hell in Matthew 10 is as follows:
(Jesus said) And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Gospel of Matthew 10:28
In the Gospel of Matthew 13 the Lord Jesus Christ gives the parables of the Kingdom of God which are a main part of his revelation of the Christian church and the present age which started at Pentecost and the sending of the Holy Spirit and that will end with the rapture of the Church. However these parables also talk about believers and pretend believers in the tribulation following the Church age or in the 7 year 70th week of Daniel when God will again work through Israel rather than the Church but will still save people based on faith in Jesus as one's Lord and Saviour but then will be mixed with elements of the Law of Moses. Although most of the parables that Jesus shared in Matthew 13 or elsewhere in the gospels he did not give the interpretation he did for this one as well as the parable of the sower and the soils so there can't be too much room for dispute of the interpretation of this parable. The sower of the good seed in this parable is the Son of man which was a title Jesus often gave for himself and originates in the sense he used as a term for the Jewish Messiah or Christian Christ or Saviour from Daniel 7:13-14 referring to His coming to establish God's kingdom on earth. The field is the world or mankind or the human race. The good seed are the children of the kingdom meaning those who acknowledge we are sinners and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour. That is those who are true or Bible believing Christians in this present age or believers among the Jews or Gentiles (nations) in the tribulation. The tares are the children of the wicked one or those who don't acknowlege they are sinners are haven't trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. However they might and often do say they are Christians or followers of Christ but they will say they aren't sinners and think they can get to heaven by good works or good merit or partly by good works or good merit of their own instead of trusting totally in Jesus Christ to save them from their sins and their acknowledged nature of essentially sinners that can't save ourselves. The enemy that sowed them (the tares) is the devil (either directly or through other demons). The harvest is the end of the world (end of the age). This means that although all the true Christians will be caught up to heaven at the rapture near the end of time before Jesus comes to set up his kingdom there will be a mixture of true and false believers in the Lord Jesus Christ until the end of the times of the Gentiles or of history dominated by the nations as has been characteristic for much of the present Church age and will be characteristic of the following 7 year 70th week of Daniel or tribulation. After the rapture of the church many more people will trust in Jesus of those left behind by the witness of the 144,000 witnesses who will be Jews that believe in Jesus who will also be left behind to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. The harvest will occur at the end of the tribulation. The reapers will be the angels (holy angels). Jesus says as the tares shall be gathered together to be burned in the fire so shall it be at the end of the age. The tares are the unbelievers or false believers. Tares are grain plants that outwardly to some extent resemble wheat but don't have as good quaility grain as wheat and aren't as good for food. The fire there is a picture of hell and the fire in hell. I urge the reader to take this very literally and not merely as a picture of either being totally consumed in hell for unbelievers or just enduring some of God's anger for unbelievers in hell. What I think the Lord Jesus here clearly means is that unbelievers or false believers at the end of the tribulation will be case into literal hell fire that they will endure consciously and physically as well as spiritually until they are cast into a similiar but worse and eternal counterpart of the lake of fire at the end of time or after the last judgment of the great white throne after the millennial kingdom or messianic kingdom as described in Revelation 20. The expression the end of the world in verse 40 also means the end of the age not the end of the physical world which would use the Greek word cosmos. The word used here is eon which means age. The earth will continue for just over 1000 years beyond this time for the 1000 year Messianic Kingdom or Millennial Kingdom then also this present earth will pass away to make way for the new earth. At the end of the age or of the times of the Gentiles especially of the last 70th week of Daniel or tribulation part of it the Son of man (Jesus) will send forth his (holy) angels and they will gather out of his kingdom (the earth) all things that offend (either inanimate things like pollution and evil works of men such as building or property used against or without thought of God such as for covetousness, idolatry or immorality or this also could mean people who don't turn from their sins and trust in Jesus. Them who do iniquity (lawlessness) clearly means people who don't trust in Jesus and turn from their sins by the end of the age (times of the Gentiles) at the end of the tribulation at Jesus' second coming in power and great glory from heaven to the earth to judge sin and the unrepentant people and to set up God's kingdom fully on earth. Then Jesus says he cast those who do iniquity and perhaps those who offend (who offend him, God and genuine believers in him) into a furnace of fire (hell). Jesus said there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. This last statement of Jesus shows clearly unbelievers won't be consumed or burnt up and annihilated in hell but will be able to endure its flames although with much torment and horror. This statement of Jesus also exposes the lie that hell will be a big party or time for enjoyment and self-indulgence for unbelievers. Jesus says that then the righteous will shine forth in the kingdom of their Father. Jesus is here talking especially of believers in Him and His Father (God) who survive the tribulation and stand for faith in Him and refuse to worship or take the mark of the beast despite a price of death for anyone who stands up to Satan's man the antichrist or beast in the tribulation as mentioned in the beginning of Revelation 20. Jesus then urges people to hear with understanding in their hearts what he is saying. The righteous will first reign with Jesus in the Millennial Kingdom or Messianic Kingdom then in eternity. Those who take part in the rapture or who die in Christ before that time will also join in this reign with Jesus. I urge the reader to trust in Jesus as soon as possible to avoid the furnace of fire. We need to trust in Jesus that he died for our sins on the cross and rose again from the dead to give us new life and to belief in him in this way according to the Bible with all our heart and then we can be sure of full salvation and eternal life including not having to fear ending up in hell because Jesus was judged on the cross for our sins if we receive him. The scripture reference of the explanation of the wheat and the tares including the tares being unbelievers who will be gathered up by the holy angels at the end of the tribulation and cast into the furnace of fire or hell as will all those who die in their sins or without Christ before that is as follows:
Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world (age); and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. Gospel of Matthew 13:36-43
As I am interested in astronomy, especially planets and space exploration, I continue to be a member of The Planetary Society and sometimes listen to their weekly internet radio program Planetary Radio on their website at http://planetary.org. I listened last night to their program for Monday, January 26, 2009 mostly for the item about the discovery of methane on Mars and the possible implications for life. However something near the end of the program from a Biblical or Christian viewpoint was almost as interesting even though the Planetary Society makes no claim or intent as far as I know to be Christian or Biblical. Anyway there was a segment I think in the questions and answers about the prevalence of the heavy metal iridium in the solar system especially on the asteroids and on earth and why it is much more common on asteroids than on earth. The responsdent from the Planetary Society said there is still much iridium on earth but it is not on the crust very much but has an affinity with iron and most of it probably sunk down to the core of earth in the early days of formation of earth. That is possible also from a creationist perspective so I don't object to that. What he said next is what really caught my attention. He said that another element that has an affinity to iron is sulfur and that much sulfur probably went down with the iron to the core of the earth and still remains there. This would certaintly be consistant with the Bible or views based on the Bible that picture sulfur and brimstone (which is another name for sulfur) in a fiery hell at the heart (core or at least inner part) of the earth.
This angel here in Revelation 14 is announcing the doom probably starting at the end of the tribulation and beginning of the Millennial Kingdom with the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (Messiah) of the people in the tribulation who worshipped the beast (antichrist) or his image or received his mark in their forehead or right hand. The angel says these people will be tormented with fire and brimstone the latter being another name for sulfur. Whether this place is hell or the lake of fire is not really specified but probably hell also has fire and brimstone if the brimstone coming from the creatures from the bottomless pit in Revelation chapter 9 is any indication. If the place in Revelation 14 is hell it will still be emptied into the lake of fire at the great white throne judgment in Revelation 20 at the end of the Millennial Kingdom. If the place described in Revelation 14 is already the lake of fire then it could be in existence for some time and could possibly be in the heart of the earth as well. I couldn't find yet any of the references in the gospels or elsewhere in the bible that mention brimstone being the place of the condemned but these references in Revelation 9 and 14 and the face brimstone is often used for God's judgment also in the Old Testament would make this a distinct possibility. The angel warns that those who worship the beast (antichrist) or his image or take his mark in their forehead or right hand will have no rest day or night forever and that it is by keeping the commandments or God and having faith in Jesus Christ (which implies not worshipping the beast or his image or taking his mark) that people who seek God's will (the saints) will be able to avoid going into this place of fire and brimstone forever. I would therefore urge the reader to be faithful to God and be on guard against the deception or force of the beast (antichrist) but best yet in these last days of the age of grace or church age to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ that he died on the cross for your sins and rose from the dead to give you new life so you can be born and indwelt of God's holy spirit so you can be taken at the rapture (catching up) of the Church to meet the Lord Jesus in the air and then with him to heaven just before the tribulation starts so you won't have to risk enduring the persecution of those who become believers or saints (not Christians) on earth after the rapture of the Church that will all be in heaven during the tribulation and come back from there to earth at the end of the tribulation with Jesus. The scripture reference from from Revelation 14 of the place of condemnation burning with fire and brimstone (sulfur) for those who follow the beast (antichrist) and Satan rather than God and Jesus is as follows:
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. Revelation 14:9-12
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