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‘ETERNAL’ and ‘EVERLASTING’
These two words and their variants are scattered through-out both the Old and New Testaments, and are not confined to the sayings of the Lord Jesus. The Hebrew word is Olam or Oulam, while the Greek is Aion and its derivatives. For the sake of simplicity, we will substitute its English equivalent of ‘Eon.’ THESE are the Scripture words which have been rendered Eternal, everlasting, for ever and ever, etc.
It calls for no Solomon to understand that that which NEVER ceases can only be in the SINGULAR. Therefore, IF the Hebrew Oulam or Greek Eon mean time UNending. then there could be but ‘1’ such Olam or Eon. Yet in numerous places in Scripture we find the PLURAL used! Wherefore, since we are plainly told that there are many (at least more than one) eons, then of sheer necessity is one ‘eon’ of LIMITED duration. A person need not be a Greek scholar to understand the simplicity of God’s Truth; for, the translators “let the hellcat out of the bag” when they rendered certain passages “for ever AND ever.” Since our theologians would have us believe that “for EVER” means time UNending, then it becomes quite impossible to attach to time UNending another equal period of time UNending by the words: “AND ever”. Wherefore let the unscholarly PRAISE GOD that He decreed His TRUTH to shine through – even in contorted translations like the Authorized and Revised!
Next we have the would-be ‘reasoners’ breathing sulfur and brimstone “for ever AND ever,” by postulating that since the “eternal” nature of Hell is couched in the same language as is our “ETERNAL reign” with Christ, then it follows say they – that since our life with Christ is to be ‘eternal’, so similarly must we understand the eternal nature of suffering in ‘Hell.’ This may sound plausible and be accepted when speaking to heads as empty as their own, yet the ‘argument’ does not stand up to scrutiny in the light of scripture analysis. And its disposition is simple. St. Paul (generally recognized by all Christians as an authority-by all virtue of inspiration) , writing about this very “reign with Christ,” said:
Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 1 Cor 15:24,25
There you have it in language simple enough for any child to understand, that THE REIGN OF CHRIST is to be of LIMITED duration, COMING TO A TERMINAT1ON at some future date when He shall have put down all rule, having overcome “the last enemy” – which is death. Wherefore, since in the plainest of language and indisputable terms we are told that Christ’s ‘reign’ is to be of LIMITED duration. then we are forced to admit that the self same ‘eternal’ (aonian) extent of suffering in Hell, is similar LIMITED.
To understand ‘Hell’ and the teachings of Jesus concerning it, we must first understand the composition of man. So long as we do not understand such words such as ‘soul’ and ‘spirit,’ it is utterly impossible for us to understand the Truths as revealed by God, nor yet to grasp – even in a measure – The grand purpose of ‘Hell’. It is the common error within Christendom to think of Soul and Spirit as synonymous terms. In this one terrific error rests man’s failure to understand ‘Hell’ and God’s eonian plan for man.
The Spirit-tutored Apostle wrote:
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thes 5:23
Here we behold a THREEfold man: (1) body, (2) soul and (3) spirit. The same Truth is taught back through the Old Testament. Even in the account of Adam’s creation, we find the BODY formed from the elements of EARTH, into the nostrils of which God BREATHED or EXPIRED (from within Himself) the breath of liveS and man became (or ‘GENERATED’) “a living SOUL”(Gen. 2:7). Who has ever heard, or read of God being a ‘soul,’ or yet a wind-bag? Repeatedly does Scripture speak of God as being SPIRIT, or A SPIRIT. Hence is He termed The “Father of Spirits”(Heb. 12:9); this the Apostle based on Zechariah 12:1 which declares that God “forms the spirit of man within him..”
Since we have His own revealed word that God is A SPIRIT, not a ‘soul’ nor yet a wind-bag, then He had nothing but pure, virgin SPIRIT to exude into the head of Adam as the breath or distillation of LIFE, which in turn animated the body and generated therein “a living SOUL.” Clearly has He told us that all beget their own kind. God was no exception. Since He is SPIRIT, and SPIRIT is LIFE, then he had but LIFE SPIRIT to impart into the body of flesh known as Adam. That SPIRIT did not become alive for it WAS LIFE; and that begotten spirit or portion of God-LIFE animated the physical body of Adam AND generated within him “a living SOUL. The SPIRIT within Adam was as deathless as God Himself! IT had never been ‘created.’ But to the created and fashioned composition known as Adam, God spoke saying:
“…in the day that you eat it you shall will surely die.” Genesis 2:17
Theologians and their proteges hand us the humbug of “dying away” from God in a spiritual way. Yet IF we will give God credit for being A RATIONAL PARENT, we recognize at once that He employs language His children can understand (without mental acrobatics and insults to reason). In Psalm 90:4 we are told that A THOUSAND YEARS are but as ONE DAY with God. Thus when God told Adam he would die within the ‘day,’ He was speaking from the center of His own God-consciousness, without concern over the sunrises and sunsets for fleshly man. On this basis we see that Adam’s reputed lifetime measured thus:
930 years x 24 divided by 1000 = 22.32
Hence Adam lived for 22 hours and 19 minutes of God’s ‘day.’
The physical body of Adam factually ‘died’ within the ‘day’ of his transgression. And since his ‘soul (as distinct from spirit) was a part of the created Adam, that too came under the selfsame sentence unto death. Much later the descendants of Adam had Become more conscious of their ‘souls,’ God enlarged on His declaration unto Adam;
“The SOUL that sin, it shall die” Ezekiel 18:4, 20
As we carefully study the substance of the chapter we find that God decreed LIFE unto those who would abide in righteousness, yet “the SOUL that sins, it will die.” Yet none of the righteous ever LIVED indefinitely in the physica1 body. Wherefore we are forced to conclude that God meant precisely what He said that the SOUL’ of the sinner would DIE, but that the SOUL of the righteous would LIVE.
Precisely the same Truth had God revealed through Moses, and for which objective the entire system of elaborate sacrificial rites was established. In Leviticus 17:11 we read:
“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.
Yet none of those “atoned for” Israelites lived beyond the normal expectation of life in the PHYSICAL body. God spoke of their ‘SOULS’ – and meant just that. SOUL but not ‘spirit.’
That this was the common Jewish concept in the days of the Lord Jesus is clearly perceived from the conversation He had with the lawyer. Said the latter: “‘…what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And the lord answered: “WHAT is written in the Law? HOW do you read it?”- thereby clearly implying that LIFE beyond the present world was something to be had or entered into through a certain WAY OF LIFE; and that the selfsame way of life was clearly taught in the Mosaic Law. (See Luke 10:25-26, and in verses 27-28 the thought is further strengthened and affirmed to be a positive Truth and reality by the Lord Jesus.)
To better understand the interrelationship between spirit, soul and body, let us consider spirit in its basically analogous element of FIRE (God is’ a consuming FIRE”). Fire is heat and light (God is LIFE and LIGIT). Yet a latent fire, or an uncontrolled fire is worthless (to man); it must be harnessed: it must be given an ‘engine’ or a VEHICLE for expression. Harnessed in and directed through such an ‘engine,’ fire may give off heat, light and energy, running the vast wheels of industry.
Similarly with the begotten, naked spirit-FLAMES: children of the Spirit-Father: they needed ‘engines’ or VEHICLES through which to express their dormant potentials of the God-LIFE. To facilitate this, GOD WROUGHT HIS MASTER-PIECE: the human body. Here was an ‘engine’ so marvelously fashioned that it could be used by the indwelling spirit in ten thousand ways and yet it enshrined one weakness: the susceptibility to disobedience unto the Divine Parent. Thus when the Law unto Life became broken through disobedience, the life-symphony of the body wave is also broken, leading to its speedy ‘death.’ Thus would the spirit again be precipitated back into its original NAKED estate unless it could be provided with a body surviving the physical death. This God achieved, and we are told about it in Genesis 2:7, where the God-Spirit exuded into Adam GENERATING in him a living SOUL.
Perhaps you will better understand it if we say that A TORTOISE is LIFE within a body of flesh which has a covering SHELL. It’s shell is distinctly different in substance from its body of flesh. Yet the shell is A GENERATED cover: A CRYSTALIZATION of the life processes within its body of flesh, to serve as an extra protection.
Similarly with the spirit in man: it has its body of FLESH as an engine, or vehicle in the material world. But by INVERSE process (in contrast to the exuded, crystallizing shell of the tortoise), the life forces ETHEREALIZE another body of a much finer, more attenuated substance. It interpenetrates and slightly envelopes the physical body. Within it fluxes the invisible LIFE of the physical body. And, when the material body of flesh is laid aside through death, the spirit still has this ‘engine’ by which it can ‘carry on’ in the ‘unseen’ (Hades), or soul world. We might contrast it to a person’s underwear. If caught in an accident resulting in loss of shirt and pants, the man would still have his underwear in which to get home. While the physical body is that MASTER garment built to take the stress of time and wear: it sheathes and constantly vitalizes the living ‘underwear’ (the soul-body) not visible to the ordinary vision.
Concerning this SOUL-body, God emphatically declared through His Prophet: “The SOUL that sins, IT WILL DIE. “Although we find quite occasionally that the word ‘soul’ is used to designate the person, yet we must use our God-given discernment. Since the days of Adam, increased to be news to his dependants that they were to DIE (as the consequence of sin). The Omniscient God did not spend time with His Prophet three thousand years after Adam to tell His people that they were going to DIE! But the ‘SOUL’ said He, because of SIN – would DIE. To offset this, He granted the sacrificial rites to the Israelites, showing them the conditions under which He would permit them TRANSFUSION of an animal’s SOUL-LIFE into the soul-structure of the penitent sinner, thereby providing an age-lasting (‘aonian’) SOUL-body to the obedient one under the Law. This was the ‘ATONEMENT for the SOUL” as emphatically declared in Leviticus 17:11, and elsewhere.
We have now scanned the infant SPIRIT-flame begotten by the Divine SPIRIT-fire, and how the Parent fashioned and provided His begotten ones by highly perfected two-fold ‘engines,’ through which to find experience and grow in the service of the Father’s vineyard. Yet DISOBEDIENCE to the SYMPHONY OF LIFE set up a ‘core-rot’ within the structures of both physical and soul-engines. The death of the physical, or MASTER-engine constituted a terrific LOSS to the indwelling spirit, yet IF the SOUL-body could be preserved, that would greatly mitigate the spirit’s loss of the body of flesh. To this end was the “Law of Moses” given.
NOW we are in a position to understand the words spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of His most relevant ones we shall quickly consider. Neither the lawyer nor the rich young ruler asked Him how they could escape ‘torture’ in the life beyond death: they had never heard of such an atrocious doctrine: their great Yahweh was not to them a monster. They were merely wanting to make sure about A CONTINUED CONSCIOUS EXISTENCE beyond the grave. To this He emphatically answered that the means thereto had been provided them through the Law of Moses.
“You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell?” Matthew 23:33
The above is the fury-frothing of a hate-inspired Hell clique which sought to keep the ignorant masses subservient through fear. The Lord here said nothing about ‘damnation.’ No one in the slightest familiar with Greek can find anything remotely akin to ‘damnation.’ It is a purely hell-inspired rendering by stooges of Lucifer. Here is the relevant portion of the Greek: “…apo tas kliseos tas gehennas?” Transliterated – ‘from the judgment the Gehenna’s.” The Greek ‘kriseos’ means JUDGMENT: an impartial sentence based on the facts of the case; the ‘judgment’ may be corrective, punitive or even entirely favorable; even as today Judges often mete out EXONORATING judgment. Although in the above we might infer that the ‘judgment’ might be unfavorable unto ‘serpents’ and ‘vipers’; yet we have no right to supply words for our Lord, contorting judgment into damnation!
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28
Here we see the Lord Jesus counseled His disciples to not be jittery in the presence of those able to kill the body of flesh yet after that have no power to kill the SOUL. But rather, said He, stand in awe and respect before Him Who has the power to DESTROY (‘apologia’ – disintegrate or bring to nothing) both the body and the SOUL-body in the flames of Gehhena. Observe that nothing was said about the ‘spirit.’ Naturally, when its last body (soul) is destroyed, then once more is the spirit naked yet FREE – to once more bow before its Father (Ecc 12:7).
“If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.” Mark 9:43,44
The above is – perhaps – one of the most used passages of the New Testament by those who spew fire and brimstone (forever AND ever. IF we accept the above as being the words of “the Son of God,” then we must also accept His statement that His words were not His own, but entirely and verbatim that He heard from the Father-Glory. IF so, then we must consider the words with the utmost care. For, we are not justified to postulate that the Omniscient God would speak to His children in careless language which would convey a different meaning than the thought He had in mind. Let us see what He said: “…into the fire that never shall be quenched.”
IF there is a lake of fire “prepared for the devil and his angels” (messengers), we might well suppose that its flames are enduring and not to be choked out by a spurt of water. Supposing a body falls into “Old Man River” which just keeps rolling along,” does that necessarily mean that the body must also “keep rolling along” indefinitely? Well, hardly! Wherefore, let us not be so full of the devil that we ascribe to God a meaning which He did not voice!
“…where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.
What is a worm? Do they fly in the air, roost in the trees or maybe stalk lions in the jungle? Well, hardly! A worm is among the simplest forms of life: wiggling, wriggling, tunneling in the EARTH. The worm breaks up and emulsifies the soil. Proportionately, the worm processes an immense amount of soil to extract its small requirement of energy and growth. It is the UNseen LIFE within the clod of matter, growing, emulsifying. THUS the worm becomes a beautiful portrayal of the SPIRIT within man: that LIFE which is deep within and unseen, processing immense amounts of EARTH experiences to extract its energy and slow growth; perpetually breaking up the dense carnality of its EARTH-engine (Genesis.8 2:7), emulsifying the coarseness of the earth-man’s baser propensities. The SPIRIT within man is that little LIFE-wriggler working towards the eventual and entire amen-ability (‘arable’) of the physical man to the spirit within. Surely, by no stretch of the imagination ‘can we postulate He intended the ‘worm’ to typify the body. Neither can we suppose that factual ‘worms’ are having their fill on bodies in ‘Hell’. Wherefore, since it becomes imperative to concede that HE used figurative language, we cannot seperate the ‘worm’ from the ‘spirit’ without doing violence to reason.
By this we see that the meaning of thc’ Lord’s words were almost the very opposite to that which brimstone theologians spew (for ever AND ever’. First He declared that the ‘fire’ was a SPIRITUAL fire – which could never be quenched. All factual fires (known to man) had a beginning, and have had, or will have a termination. Secondly He said that within that ‘Gehenna’ of ‘fire’, God was well able to completely DESTROY. to utterly ANNIHILATE through disintegration both the physical body as well as the soul(-body). But, said He, that SPIRIT-life deep within of which you are not scarcely aware: that ‘worm’-like spark of life within working for that sublimation of the physical body: THAT ‘worm’ within will never perish in the flames of ‘Gehenna’. When that spirit-‘worm’ has lost its clod of matter in which to live and work, then naturally it is FREE and returns to the source from whence it sprung (God).
Is there any Scripture to indicate that the spirit becomes freed? Ample! Since we are now dealing with the. words of the Lord Jesus with reference to destruction of body and soul in the fires of Gehenna, it is only right that we should consider His words for added detail:
“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.” I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.” Mat 5:25, 26
‘Plaintiff’ has been used in preference to ‘adversary’. Although the Greek ‘antidikos’ can be rendered adversary, yet plaintiff is also its meaning. Since we are prone to link the ‘adversary’ of Scripture with the Devil (satanas), it is better that we use ‘plaintiff’ here, for, the Lord was not speaking of Satan.
Almost from the opening to close of the sacred Record, we find an unceasing account of the Spirit of God PLEADING with erring, obstreperous and TRANSGRESSING man: that he may mend his ways “and LIVE”…”for why will you die, oh house of Israel? (Ezek 18:31). “My Spirit shall not always strive with man” (Gen. 6:3). NOWHERE can we establish by The Record that the Lord Jesus entered into discourses about travel, about politics nor yet about penal institutions and their practices. Were we to disregard the facts of His invariable principle-in-practice and postulate that in Matthew 5:25 He talked about lawbreakers and man-made prisons, then we have averred that He was either a babbler or an intentional deceiver! For, prisons have as yet not been made from which there can be no escape. And even in ancient and barbaric times, CLEMENCY was occasionally extended to prisoner.
Even at the time of our Lord’s mock trial, Barabbas the criminal was released from prison and set at full liberty! But emphatically stated the Lord that from the ‘prison’ of which He spoke there could be no possible escape (“by no means”), nor yet ever the slightest clemency (‘UNTIL the uttermost farthing is paid’!) Quickly AGREE with the pleadings of God’s Spirit, said He, while you still have time and the chance. For, at any time (Death needs no appointment) may you be turned over to the Great Judge, Who, having judged you (adversely), turns you over to the angel (officer) in charge to deliver you into Hell (prison), from where there is no escape UNTIL both your body and soul have been consumed in its flames (the ‘uttermost farthing paid’). By 1 Pet 3:19 we see where His disciples used the same ‘prison’ word when speaking of ‘spirits’. It is common dogma that the ‘soul’ of man is deathless and will be TORMENTED in the flames of ‘Hell for ever AND ever’. Yet emphatically is it here stated that nowhere (in Scripture) are we told that the ‘soul’ is deathless. On the contrary, God has repeated Himself in declaring that “The SOUL that sins, IT WILL SURELY DIE!” Ezekiel 18:4
To believe as you see fit is your personal privilege, yet personal ‘beliefs’ cannot alter FACTS in the slightest. IF from the Bible we gather the evidence which constitutes the foundation for ‘belief in Heaven and Hell, then by the verdict of the same Record we ought to detail our concept thereof and freely accept its unequivocal statements. What I am trying to say is, since it is recorded that God has said the ‘SOUL’ which sins shall ‘DIE’, it leaves us no right to say the ‘soul’ is deathless and shall be ‘tormented’ through time unending. Clearly are we told that we have no right to ‘interpret’ Scripture; yet man is willfully stubborn to disobey God, while others woefully gullible to believe the lies.
Revelation 14:10 speaks of the worshippers of the ‘beast’ to be tormented with fire and brimstone. Then in verse 11 we are told:
“And the SMOKE of their torment ascends up for ever AND ever.”
Are we to believe that God is to put on a magician’s hocus-pocus SHOW? Are we to believe that He is a deceiver, causing a hallucination to be seen “for ever AND ever”? IF not, then let us whole heartedly accept His word.
‘SMOKE’ is not a mirage; it is not a figment of fancy, neither is it a dream But smoke (‘capons’ in the Greek) is the visible evidence of matter in a state of rapid disintegration through high heat or fire. As yet it is not known to man that there can be smoke without an object (or matter) in the process of destruction. So far as we know, the old saying is true, “Where there is smoke, there is fire”. And where there is fire there is also destruction (disintegration). Therefore said our Lord:
“..fear him who is able to destroy (annihilate) both soul and body in Gehenna.” But Hell-inspired parrots have warped the Word of God to the vilification of a loving Father and to the disillusionment of the simple.
By Mikkel Dahl
