EIGHT CHARACTERISTICS OF HELL FROM REVELATION 14--Part I

(This is a re-post of an article that first appeared in November of 2007. It is re-posted here for your convenience)

"THEREFORE WAIT FOR ME," DECLARES YAHWEH,
"FOR THE DAY WHEN I RISE UP TO SEIZE THE PREY.
FOR MY DECISION IS TO GATHER NATIONS,
TO ASSEMBLE KINGDOMS,
TO POUR OUT UPON THEM MY INDIGNATION,
ALL MY BURNING ANGER;
FOR IN THE FIRE OF MY JEALOUSY
ALL THE EARTH SHALL BE CONSUMED." Zephaniah the prophet, chapter three, verse eight.

Part 1 of 4 from Revelation 14:9-12.

This study of hell is based on the words of John written in Revelation 14. The focus will be on verses 9-11, which says, "9And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.'

I. Hell Is One of God's Great Passions. IN THE CROSS HAIRS.
Hell is the result of God's passionate anger toward us. He desires to punish all sin and all sinful people.

God hates all who do iniquity.--Psalm 5:5. As a result, He is bent on punishing men. See verses 8, 10, and 19 in Revelation 14. The Greek word thumos is used for the passion of sexual immorality in verse 8. Add the prefix epi and the word becomes the common Greek word for lust. So thumos is definitely a word that denotes a deep, gripping desire. Next look to verse 10. There we read in the ESV, "...he will drink of the wine of God's wrath (thumos) poured full strength into the cup of His anger..." In verse 19 we read, "So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath (thumos) of God." Oddly, the common Greek word for God's anger is used here only at the very end and the first word for God's anger is thumos. Why not use the more straightforward word? Why use this very unusual word, that usually means passion or desire?

When God uses this word this way in Scripture it refers to only the most severe anger, a passionate, deep anger that lasts and burns. It appears in 12:12 to describe the passionate longing of Satan to destroy the earth. It appears in 14:8 to describe the lust of sexual immorality. In 14:10. 15:1. 15:7, and 16:1 it signifies God's wrath. This word also appears in some of Paul's writings and refers to the most severe wrath of either God or men.

Let's take a look at these passages translating thumos in its primary meaning:

14:10--...he will also drink the wine of God's passionate longing poured full strength into the cup of His anger..."

15:1--Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the passionate longing of God is finished. (So, evidently God is waiting in passionate expectation to punish all sin on the earth. He looks forward to the day when He will send all the wicked into destruction.)

15:7--And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the passionate longing of God Who lives forever and ever...

16:1--Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the passionate longing of God."

As longingly and as passionately as the immoral man desires the fulfillment of his depraved lusts, God desires to squeeze the lifeblood out of the wicked. This is personal. God is no unfeeling sheriff's deputy that has to give you a ticket because it's His job and you were speeding. You have hated him and He has hated you. His passionate longing is for your punishment.

II. Hell Is Punishment. NO EXCUSES.
Interestingly, the announcement of the third angel in verse 9 starts with the word "if." "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives the mark upon his forehead and upon his hand,..." If a man is evil in his thoughts and actions, he will be punished with the punishments listed. Verse 10 reads, "...indeed, he will drink out of the passionate wrath of God, which has been poured out unmixed in the cup of His wrath and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb."--my translation.

God is not evil. We are. The torments are not a whim. They have a purpose.

In other words, the evils that God will inflict on humanity on that day will be in response to the evils men have done in thought (the forehead) and in deed (the hand.) Indeed, the Bible tells us that all are sinful. In Jeremiah 8:6 we read, "I have paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly; no man relents of his evil, saying, 'What have I done?' Everyone turns to his own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle." Why does a horse rush to its own death in war? Because he has a master who has trained him to do so. And he does so without thought or regret because he knows no other course. He has been mastered. Even so man has been mastered by sin. We know of nothing but our basest instincts, lusts, passions, and drives. We will eat and wipe our mouth on our filthy sleeve. We will take a virgin and think nothing of the bastard child or the wasting disease. We will kill our neighbor with knife, gun, or tongue because we just want to. We are men and we are vile.

Just as the war horse drives into a phalanx unaware that this will be his last day to run, even so men without God do not have a thought of their impending destruction. Like the horse who ignores his impending death to obey his master, men stuff down any quivering of conscience and the briefest thought that God's avenging retribution may fit their actions so they may obey the sins that have mastered them. God is not mocked. He is ignored like a man ignores the stench of an open sewer.

But He is hated more.

III. Hell Is Public. THE DISPLAY OF THE DAMNED.
It is often said, that hell is the absence of God for all eternity. That's a lie. In hell men will wish to get away from the God Who is torturing them. But they won't be able to. Instead, those in hell will see the redeemed in glory, cared for by their loving Father Who is, in turn, their fierce and eternal enemy punishing them forever. Hell is the absence of God's love, the ever presence of His passionate, destructive, white hot, long awaited, satisfying wrath.

Part of hell's punishment will be public humiliation in front of all the angels, God, and all the people who go to heaven. And all of them will give hearty approval of your punishment. Isaiah 66:24 and Romans 9 tell us something of this as does the story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16:19-31. There we read this:

There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24And he called out, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame." 25But Abraham said, "Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us." 27And he said, "Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28for I have five brothers —so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment." 29But Abraham said, "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them." 30And he said, "No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent." 31He said to him, "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead."

While the rich man was in torment in Hades, the saints saw him and he saw them. In heaven, the saints, the holy angels and God Himself will see the torment of the wicked. And while there will be a chasm between them, the very nature of the torment and the individuals being tormented will be evident daily to the residents of heaven. In Revelation 14:11 God says, "And the smoke of their torment will go up forever and ever..." (my translation) Smoke is something no one can ignore. Everyone smells it. This was written to a culture familiar with campfires and fireplaces. The smell of smoke was everywhere. The smell of burning flesh was common to a society who sacrificed animals. It was also death that expunged sin to the Jews. Now we know that only the death of the sinner can cover sin and cleanse God's creation. At Calvary, Jesus became sin for us. For those who reject Him, their sin remains. Their eternal death, not the death of Christ, will be required. And all in heaven will be eternally aware of you, your torment, and exactly why it's just that you suffer--if you remain without Christ.

Going back to Revelation 14:10, we read, "Indeed, he will drink of the wine of the passionate wrath of God, which has been poured out full strength in the cup of God's wrath and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb."

The most bitter irony of all eternity will be the fact that those who despised the God Who died for them, the God Who suffered so they did not have to, will find Himself satisfied only by the suffering they will do for eternity. The utter stupidity of their choice will be in their face forever. The saints they hated will look upon their suffering and know that God is just. The angels who ministered to the saints as they suffered will wonder at the justice of God toward the sinful, and His mercy for the repentant. They may look at the just punishment of the wicked, and then turn their heads to look over their shoulders and be amazed that God's elect are not in the flames as well, because they will know that the saints were once as evil as any resident of hell. Thus, they will not understand the kindness and justice of the amazing I AM. And the saints will share their incredulity. All heaven will have no choice but to fall to the ground in awe-filled worship!

It is not amazing that God sends men to hell. It is amazing that He chooses even one for mercy.

Isaiah 66:24 says, "And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against Me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh." This is a description of the final state of the damned. They will be a curiosity to the saints. The writer describes three things that will fascinate the survivors. First, "their worm shall not die." Whatever that means, it denotes the destruction of the damned in some form. The destruction will never quit. Second, "their fire shall not be quenched." Like the rich man and Lazarus, the suffering man will make a pitiful figure, but, just as Lazarus was unable to help the rich man, no saint will be able to help any sinner in hell. Yet the saint will be unable to forget the sinner. His suffering and the fact the it will be forever, will eternally grab the curiosity of the saint--an eternal reminder, perhaps, that the saint ought to be ever grateful to His Elector. The third reason the saints will not be able to forget the sinners is that "they will be an abhorrence to all flesh." Whatever pity the saint may feel for the sinner will be overshadowed by revulsion at the utter sinfulness of the damned.

We, in our societies, know of people so evil they disgust us. In eternity, when the redeemed are completely changed, the friends and relatives we once loved, not being changed, but still in their sin will disgust us so that we will have no problem when God condemns them. Instead, the saints will be glad. To the suffering sinner who once ostracized the saint, the tables will be turned. He will be the outcast. Cast out from heaven, from life, and from any comfort. He will be a laughing stock and something which will cause all of creation to turn up its nose.

Romans 9 gives us another snapshot of the public nature and the humiliation of the suffering of those in hell. Verses 19 through 26 are both glorious for the saint and a fire alarm for the sinner:

"19You will say to me then, 'Why does he still find fault? For who can resist His will?' 20But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, 'Why have you made me like this?' 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23in order to make known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory— 24even us whom He has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25As indeed he says in Hosea,

'Those who were not my people I will call "my people,"
and her who was not beloved I will call '"beloved."'
26 'And in the very place where it was said to them, "You are not my people,"
there they will be called(AM) "sons of the living God."'"

Did you catch verse 22? "What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
in order to make know the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy which He has prepared beforehand for glory..." God not only has the right to save whomever He wishes, and to destroy whomever He wishes just because He is our Creator, but He has done just that. And He has done so for a reason. That reason is to golrify Himself. This will be evident in eternity as all creation wonders at the just punishment of the wicked as it shows just how powerful God must be to clean the formerly wicked saints.

It is this very contrast between the wickedness of man justly punished and the mercy He bestows upon the chosen whom He saved for no other reason but to show off His power to creation that will be the greatest wonder of creation! So here we see punishment has two functions. First, it is to punish the wicked. But second, it is to glorify God by showing His most powerful miracle--the forgiveness of the repentant. As with all of God's creation, its primary purpose is the glory of God.

Yes, the wicked will glorify the God they hate by being tormented by Him forever.

COMING UP:

IV. Hell Is Permanent. NO BACK DOOR.

V. Hell Is Painful. NO RELIEF.

VI. Hell Is Personal. GOD KNOWS YOU.

VII. Hell Is Certain. NO WAY OUT.

VIII. Hell Is Appropriate and Measured. NO APPEAL.