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A Letter from Uncle Jack
What
is Hell Italics
are my comments Have you ever heard comments like
these [Oh go to hell, or May the fires of hell consume you] When we speak of
hell, do images of people being burned up come into our mind. We wonder will
they be burnt up as in a moment or will they burn for many days, Which is a
concept that as a rule Adventists do not believe in. Does it make any difference
if one burns for many days or forever, after the first day one might get used to
it. Reading from the SP. "Some are destroyed as
in a moment, while others suffer many days. All are punished
"according to their deeds." The sins of the righteous having been
transferred to Satan, he is made to suffer not only for his own rebellion,
but for all the sins which he has caused God's people to commit. His punishment
is to be far greater than that of those whom he has deceived. After
all have perished who fell by his deceptions, he is still to live and
suffer on." If we stop and look at this
statement you will notice that all have perished who fell by his deceptions,
nowhere is it saying that all have been burnt. After Satan is also destroyed
then God brings on the cleansing flames. Many people have died by fire for their
faith. Does that mean they have already gone through hell? No! and the reason is
that they were never separated from the source of life. They died with the hope
and belief that God would resurrect them when He comes the second time. "In the cleansing flames the
wicked are at last destroyed," {dead are completely
burnt up} " root and branch,--Satan the root, his followers the
branches. The full penalty of the law has been visited; the demands of
justice have been met; and Heaven and earth, beholding, declare the
righteousness of Jehovah." {GC88 673.1} If the wicked do not suffer burning
in hell, What then is their punishment? In order to find the answer we have to
look at the life of Christ, from the time He entered the garden of Gethsemane on
Thursday to when He died on the cross. Christ did not go to hell, He went
through hell and He did it for everyone on this earth, the wicked
will experience some of that which Christ went through. "In the Garden of Gethsemane
Christ suffered in man's stead, and the human nature of the Son of God staggered
under the terrible horror of the guilt of sin, until from His pale and quivering
lips was forced the agonizing cry, "O my Father, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me." . . . Human nature would then and there
have died under the horror of the sense of sin, had not an angel from heaven
strengthened Him to bear the agony. . . . Christ was suffering the death
that was pronounced upon the transgressors of God's law. " {AG
168.2} "It is a fearful thing for
the unrepenting sinner to fall into the hands of the living God. But never was
this proved to so great an extent as in the agony of Christ, the Son of the
infinite God, when he bore the wrath of God for a sinful world.
It was in consequence of sin, the transgression of God's law, that the Garden of
Gethsemane has become pre-eminently the place of suffering to a sinful world. No
sorrow, no agony, can measure with that which was endured by the Son of God.
" {AG 168.3} "The agony which Christ
endured, broadens, deepens, and gives a more extended conception of the
character of sin, and the character of the retribution which God will
bring upon those who continue in sin. The wages of sin is death, but the
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ to the repenting, believing
sinner." {AG 168.4} "Oh, was there ever suffering and
sorrow like that endured by the dying Saviour! It was the sense of His
Father's displeasure which made His cup so bitter. It was not bodily suffering
which so quickly ended the life of Christ upon the cross. It was the crushing
weight of the sins of the world, and a sense of His Father's wrath. . .
. The fierce temptation that His own Father had forever left Him caused that
piercing cry from the cross: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me?" {AG 170.4} I would recommend you read for your
self the hell that Christ went through In the book "God’s Amazing
Grace" page 168-170 which these quotes are taken from. The problem some say is that there
are quotes in the Great Controversy and in the bible that say the wicked will
suffer burning until they are dead. Let us look at the references in the GC. To
actually see what the bible and the SP. Say. The Great Controversy pages 655-657 "The people see that they
have been deluded. They accuse one another of having led them to destruction;
but all unite in heaping their bitterest condemnation upon the ministers.
Unfaithful pastors have prophesied smooth things; they have led their hearers to
make void the law of God and to persecute those who would keep it holy. Now, in
their despair, these teachers confess before the world their work of deception.
The multitudes are filled with fear, We are lost!" they cry,
"and you are the cause of our ruin;" and they turn upon the false
shepherds. The very ones that once admired them most, will pronounce the most
dreadful curses upon them. The very hands that once crowned them with laurels
will be raised for their destruction. The swords which were to slay God's people
are now employed to destroy their enemies. Everywhere there is strife and
bloodshed. {GC88 655.4} wherever
there is bloodshed there is death "A noise shall come even to the
ends of the earth; for the Lord hath a controversy with the nations: he will
plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the
sword." [JER. 25:31.] For six thousand years the great
controversy has been in progress; the Son of God and his heavenly messengers
have been in conflict with the power of the evil one, to warn, enlighten, and
save the children of men. Now all have made their decision; the wicked have
fully united with Satan in his warfare against God. The time has come for
God to vindicate the authority of his downtrodden law. Now the controversy is
not alone with Satan, but with men. "The Lord hath a controversy with the
nations;" "he will give them that are wicked to the sword."
{GC88 656.1} The mark of deliverance has been set
upon those "that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done."
Now the angel of death goes forth, represented in Ezekiel's vision by the men
with the slaughtering weapons, to whom the command is given: "Slay utterly
old and young, both maids, and little children, and women; but come not
near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary." Says the
prophet, "They began at the ancient men which were before the house."
[EZE. 9:1-6.] The work of destruction begins among those who have
professed to be the spiritual guardians of the people. The false watchmen are
the first to fall. There are none to pity or to spare. Men, women, maidens, and
little children perish together. {GC88 656.2} At this point in the last day of
events no one has yet been burned to death , but all have been destroyed by the
sword. "The Lord cometh out of his
place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also
shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain." [ISA. 26:21.]
Remember when the Lord punishes, He
withdraws His protection. "And this shall be the plague
wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem:
Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes
shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their
mouth. This could be describing Hiroshima
in Japan when the atom bomb exploded over that city. I am sure swords will not
be the only instrument of war being used. And it shall come to pass in that day
that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay
hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against
the hand of his neighbor." [ZECH. 14:12, 13.] In the mad
strife of their own fierce passions, and by the awful outpouring of God's
unmingled wrath, fall the wicked inhabitants of the earth,--priests, rulers, and
people, rich and poor, high and low. "And the slain of the
Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of
the earth; they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried." [JER.
25:33.] {GC88 656.3} According to this statement all the wicked will
be destroyed by their own hands. As you remember God’s unmingled wrath is the
total withdrawing of God’s protection from the wicked. At the coming of Christ the wicked are
blotted from the face of the whole earth,--consumed with the spirit of his
mouth, and destroyed by the brightness of his glory. Christ takes his people to
the city of God, and the earth is emptied of its inhabitants. "Behold, the
Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down,
and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof." This is describing the first coming
of Jesus but then it goes on to describe again the end of sin on this
earth. "The land shall be utterly
emptied, and utterly spoiled; for the Lord hath spoken this word."
"Because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the
everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that
dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are
burned." [ISA. 24:1, 3, 5, 6.] {GC88 657.1} Did you notice that the
land has been emptied of all and utterly spoiled before the burning happens. The Great Controversy pages 671-673 This is a recap of what we read on
pages 655-657just like Gen. Chapter 2 is a recap of Gen. Chapter 1 only worded
some what differently. Notwithstanding that Satan has been
constrained to acknowledge God's justice, and to bow to the supremacy of Christ,
his character remains unchanged. The spirit of rebellion, like a mighty torrent,
again bursts forth. Filled with frenzy, he determines not to yield the great
controversy. The time has come for a last desperate struggle against the King of
Heaven. He rushes into the midst of his subjects, and endeavors to inspire them
with his own fury, and arouse them to instant battle. But of all the countless
millions whom he has allured into rebellion, there are none now to acknowledge
his supremacy. His power is at an end. The wicked are filled with the same
hatred of God that inspires Satan; but they see that their case is hopeless,
that they cannot prevail against Jehovah. Their rage is kindled against
Satan and those who have been his agents in deception, and with the fury of
demons they turn upon them. {GC88 671.2} Saith the Lord: "Because thou hast
set thine heart as the heart of God; behold, therefore I will bring
strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their
swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.
They shall bring thee down to the pit." "I will destroy thee,
O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. . . . I will cast thee
to the ground. I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee."
"I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that
behold thee. . . . Thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any
more." [EZE. 28:6-8, 16-19.] {GC88 672.1 This was a prophecy of how Satan
would be no more not as to how he would be destroyed. God destroys by removing
His protection. "Every battle of the warrior is
with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with
burning and fuel of fire. "The indignation of the Lord is upon all nations,
and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he
hath delivered them to the slaughter." "Upon the wicked [Is it possible He is talking about
the dead since He has already utterly destroyed them and because they have been
delivered to the slaughter]. he shall rain quick burning coals, fire
and brimstone, and a horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their
cup." [ISA. 9:5; 34:2; PS. 11:6 (MARGIN).] Fire comes down from God out of
Heaven. The earth is broken up. The weapons concealed in its depths are drawn
forth. Devouring flames burst from every yawning chasm. The very rocks are on
fire. The day has come that shall burn as an oven. The elements melt with
fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein are burned up.
[MAL. 4:1; 2 PET. 3:10.] The earth's surface seems one molten mass,--a vast,
seething lake of fire. It is the time of the judgment and perdition of ungodly
men,-- {I
do not have a problem with this statement if it is read in the right setting,
when God cleanses the earth He can and will use every instrument of destruction
He wants to.] "the day of the Lord's vengeance,
and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion." [ISA. 34:8; PROV.
11:31.] {GC88 672.2} The wicked receive their
recompense in the earth. [ISA. 34:8; PROV. 11:31.] They "shall be stubble;
[That means no more, they are dead] and the day that cometh shall burn
them up, saith the Lord of hosts." [MAL. 4:1.] Some are destroyed as
in a moment, while others suffer many days. Isn’t
it beautiful that through out this whole experience one cannot blame God in any
way that He personally destroyed anyone. They all destroyed themselves while
they were going through their hell experience. Some as in a moment others for
many days. The devil for many more days. Not by fire , but through an experience
like Christ went through which will be worse than death by fire. The Dragon inspired the Beast to
burn up heritics, Are we to believe that God uses the same tactics? Jer. 7; 33-34 Jer. 8 ; 2-3 Two quotes that are very encouraging " It is God that shields
His creatures and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. But
the Christian world have shown contempt for the law of Jehovah; and the
Lord will do just what He has declared that He would–He will withdraw His
blessings from the earth and remove His protecting care from those who are
rebelling against His law and teaching and forcing others to do the same.
Satan has control of all whom God does not especially guard. He
will favor and prosper some in order to further his own designs, and he will
bring trouble upon others and lead men to believe that it is God who is
afflicting them." GC 589 Prophets and Kings, 176.
"Christ will never abandon those for whom He has died. We may
leave Him and be overwhelmed with temptation, but Christ can never turn from
one for whom He has paid the ransom of His own life." In view of the fact that Christ died
for all men, this statement is saying that it is impossible for Christ to turn
away from anyone. Men turn away from God. God cannot turn away from men. That is
impossible. If these statements are true then God would never destroy
one single person, since the Devil is in control of all the wicked. That would hold true for every
sinner that we claim God has destroyed. Since they would not be under the
control of the Devil at that point. God and Heaven alone are infallible |
