HELL (2)

Fire and Brimstone

PS: This is the second half of a two part post. If you have not read the first part, pls click here.

LAKE OF FIRE

The Bible is a very deliberate book and in order to understand certain words, one must observe the situations and circumstances associated with it in order to understand the context and intent. One example is 'water'. Anywhere water is being spoken of, it always points to a cleansing. A dying of one thing and resurrecting of another. It speaks of internal transformation.

This is evidenced in the flood of Noah, the Red sea, the crossing of the Jordan river, priests washing their hands before entering the temple etc. It is also associated with the number 40, whether it is written as 40 days or 40 years or 400 years. The number 40 relates to the amount of weeks a woman is pregnant before delivery. That is why after the waters of baptism it is said that a person is 'born again'.

The world was born again after the 40 day flood, Abraham was born again after crossing the spiritual Jordan river, Israel was born again after crossing the Red Sea and spending 40 years in the 'wilderness', Jesus was born again after being baptized by John and spending 40 days in the wilderness.

To understand names and numbers in the Bible, one has to study the trajectory of it and see the different elements it is related with. Only then can it be understood holistically. Another example is "the lamb", and we see this associated with those who live in obedience to God, those who give their lives in loving sacrifice for the sake of the world as Jesus did. Remember these scriptures:

'By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. ' I John 3:16

'I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ' Romans 12:1

Delving into the subject of hell and the lake of fire, it is necessary to understand the different elements related with it in order to better understand what hell actually is; in order to understand what it isn't. Our first case study is THE ROD. Let us first see what Solomon said about the ROD:

'He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.' Proverbs 13:24

By this scripture it becomes abundantly clear the intent and purpose of God's rod and discipline. The intent is love, the purpose is refinement. It is no wonder David said "thy rod and thy staff they comfort me", it is no wonder the writer of the book of Hebrews said:

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord , Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”' Hebrews 12:5-6

Now I want us to ask ourselves why Hell (Tophet) and the lake of fire, a place which people say have no business with God are DIRECTLY associated with God's breath and his rod of correction:

'For through the voice of the Lord Assyria will be beaten down, As He strikes with the rod. And in every place where the staff of punishment passes, Which the Lord lays on him, It will be with tambourines and harps;

And in battles of brandishing He will fight with it. For Tophet (Hell) was established of old, Yes, for the king it is prepared. He has made it deep and large; Its pyre is fire with much wood; The breath of the Lord , like a river of brimstone, Kindles it.' Isaiah 30:31-33

It is at this moment good to say that there is not one single concept found in the new testament that does not have its roots in the old testament. In order to understand any concept in the new testament, one must first understand its roots, its origin, in order to grasp it in its entirety. The lake of fire is a corrective place, a place that is kindled by THE BREATH (SPIRIT) OF GOD; the rod.

'But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”' Revelation 21:8

It is a place where those who refuse to willingly submit to the correction and chastening of God will be put into for healing and cleansing which they so desperately need; healing that they themselves are not able to willingly submit to. It is a place where they DIE to their old nature and begin anew.

Brothers and sisters, let it be known today that no one comes unto God with passing through the fire; no one. A cleansing must happen, a healing must happen, a transformation must happen; a death must happen. This transformation, this baptism of fire, this death, can be something we submit to willingly or something that will be done for us for the sake of love. Let us see what John said about Jesus:

'I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and FIRE.

His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”' Matthew 3:11-12

Like we explained in the the adversary 1 & 2, the idea of separating chaff from wheat is a process that must happen on the inside of us, the refining and purging process; the cleansing process. It is a process that no one escapes; no one. Before Peter began his ministry Jesus handed him over to Satan to be 'sifted' like wheat; the very same process that John says Jesus is coming to do.

We already discussed the role of Satan, the adversary, in the refining and cleansing process of man in the adversary 1 & 2. It is necessary we read that for richer context of this present discussion. In the book of Revelation we see an even more beautiful picture of what the lake of fire, hell, represents. Unfortunately, a poor translation robbed us of the true meaning and painted God as a monster. Let us see:

'he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. ' Revelation 14:10

Now the first question to ask ourselves, if God had no business with hell, why are people being 'tormented' with fire and brimstone (Isaiah 30:33) in the presence of THE LAMB? If Jesus is so loving and compassionate, why are he and his angels watching people being tormented in fire? How can this ever be a loving God?

It is truly baffling how so many people have made excuses for a scripture like this and in making excuses they unveiled their own evil and unloving nature. Of course, the idea of people who hurt us burning and being tortured for eternity is such a lovely idea to the carnal mind; an idea that can only be lovely to a person who truly has a heart void of love.

The first error in this scripture is the greek word 'basanizo' translated as 'torment'. As we have said time without number, when one approaches people A with the mindset of people B, a misunderstanding is the only outcome. The Bible suffered from this greatly at the hands of the English translators.

Touchstone (basanos)

The word 'basanizo' literally means 'to examine' or 'to test'. It is rooted in the greek word 'basanos', which is a name given to something called a 'touchstone'. A 'touchstone' is tool that a blacksmith uses to 'test' or 'examine' whether a substance is real gold or not.

When he scratches a metal upon the touchstone, the color which the metal imprints on the touchstone unveils to the blacksmith whether he has real gold in his hand or a fake one. One needs to ask, "why is the lake of fire and brimstone being associated with the testing of metals by fire?" A concept which we very well know relates with the purifying work of God on ALL his children:

'For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.' Psalms 66:10

The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts. Proverbs 17:3

'He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the Lord An offering in righteousness.' Malachi 3:3

There is no one who comes unto God without facing the refining fires of his love. One either faces it compliantly or one faces it by force and unbelievable suffering in the washing machine of hell. Isaiah shows us clearly that the same fires which burn in hell are the same fires of God's love and correction; THE ROD. The fire is God himself.

Even further, anyone familiar with the rites of ancient history and even now, knows that the burning of brimstone (sulphur) is commonly used in the purification of a material or an environment. This is due to the metaphysical aspect of sulphur, which has an aroma that is very violent towards infernal creatures; demons; metaphysical bacteria. God is the one that made brimstone (sulphur) this way.

The same applies to incense, salt, garlic, onions and a host of other natural substances. Everyone knows that garlic and onions drives snakes out of a vicinity. It is not because of the physical onion per se, but the metaphysical aspect of it. We've discussed many times how every material thing has an immaterial counterpart. That however is a different conversation.

In the time when the Bible was written, it was common practice to burn brimstone (sulphur) inside of a pan and permeate one's house with the smoke if they believed the house was haunted with evil spirits. To the average person who read the book of revelation 2,000 years ago, there was not a drop of dispute in their mind that God was speaking of a cleansing by throwing people into a lake of fire and brimstone.

This is why it is necessary that much research, study and meditations are done. A cleansing process is only bitter unto those who wish to remain dirty but a joy unto those who desire cleanliness. The lake of fire is God's mercy upon those who refuse to have mercy on their own selves. A person who rejects God, their other half, certainly does not love himself. Hell will teach such a person love and clean them.

Nonetheless, just as we much discussed in "The Wrath of God", God does not throw anybody into hell, peoples actions drag them there. Hell is made up creatures that come as a result of the abuse of the emotions and the mind. Truly, one would be astounded by the depth of human wickedness when one sees the macabre creations in hell.

The creatures in hell are an aggregate of all the negative mental and emotional projections of this entire humanity. God did not put the monsters there, we did. All 'demons' are a product of human creation, that topic however will be developed at a later time.

These things being spoken of here now are represented beautifully in the book of revelation and all across the Bible. It however is spoken of in a clouded manner, a cloud which we shall attempt dispelling for us to see. In the next part of this post we shall go a bit deeper into the subject and ask the burning question "Is hell an eternal place?"

Shalom.

Please feel free to drop thoughts, questions and comments below. It certainly will help build this conversation.