Does God Predestin People to Hell? - A Response to Gavin, Part III

This study is clearly becoming very dense, and we still have not yet left Pastor John’s first preliminary statement. I mention this now because I would hope that you can begin to see how disingenuous this very first preliminary is, truly. The man offers this preliminary statement casually and swiftly, as if it’s odd for you to be thinking that God is unjust for sending people to hell. Though we have now cited and considered more than 130 verses that, when properly translated, provide more than enough evidence to the fact that it is not odd, but rational, for a moral mind to feel unsettled by such a grotesque display of torture, when there are surely more efficient and justifiable demonstrations of His power available.

For example: is Pharoah, the Pharoah who had the ten plagues inflicted on him, currently burning in hell? Most Christians, without batting an eye or skipping a beat, and without one verse from the original Greek scriptures to accurately prove their claim, will say “yes” (and I’m sure Pastor John is included in this category.)

My question is this: If God is righteous, and He clarifies that death, to Him, is the most extreme and final punishment of all man’s flesh (Rom. 1:32,) then how is it fair, or loving, in any capacity, for Pharoah to have ten plagues ruin his kingdom, and then go to hell? Though it was God who hardened Pharoah’s heart (Rom. 9:16-18,) Pharoah must suffer God’s action in hell for all eternity??

Worse still, what is this argument really saying? That it is more just for man to work themselves into an eternal hell than to be given a temporary experience of evil, that they may learn love by the end. Man would rather fail of his own accord than recognize God’s sovereignty!

We’ve been conducting a word study on ‘unseen.’ Let us consider the next two in the list of verses with this word, being Acts 2:27 and 2:31. First, here is the bulk of the full passage, Acts 2:25-31, in the KJV:

For David speaketh concerning him, ‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:

Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.’

Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

Did you try reading all that?

Yes? Then I’m sure we can both attest to the same thing:

What a crock of shit.

The KJV speaks here like a four-year old that keeps tripping over himself, trying and failing excitedly to tell a story, jumbling all the details but trying its hardest. This is not how God talks, because God’s not a four-year old. I mean, come on! Look, it was a different era, so I can excuse the ‘speaketh’ nonsense. But ‘rest in hope?’ Surely you won’t tell me God is this foolhardy, that we must hope something happens? As if God might not be able to accomplish His goal?? And what is this nonsense about David in hell?? Sure, he is speaketh-ing concerning the Christ, but in context, his soul is in hell? That’s where King David’s soul belongs?? Then, while saying his soul (the soul, the combination of his body and spirit, so his literal presence) is in hell, at the same time he is dead and buried, and his body is still on earth??? Tell me, please, reader, that you are not so willing to accept such schlock because someone you love just said it was true one day??

God, the KJV makes me want to stab each page with Twizzlers. Look at the harmonious Concordant Version:

For David is saying to Him,

‘I saw the Lord before me continually, Seeing that He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.

Therefore gladdened was my heart, And exultant my tongue. Now, still my flesh also shall be tenting in expectation, For Thou wilt not be forsaking my soul in the unseen, Nor wilt Thou be giving Thy Benign One to be acquainted with decay.

Thou makest known to me the paths of life. Thou wilt be filling me with gladness with Thy face.’

Men! Brethren! Allow me to say to you with boldness concerning the patriarch David, that he deceases also and was entombed, and his tomb is among us until this day.

Being, then, inherently, a prophet, and having perceived that God swears to him with an oath, out of the fruit of his loin to seat One on his throne, perceiving this before, he speaks concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither forsaken in the unseen, nor was His flesh acquainted with decay.

Read it carefully. Read it twice. Read it a third time! Take it seriously. This is God we’re talking about. This needs to be as accurate as possible, or we’re misrepresenting Him. Do you see the capitalizations put in their proper place? We don’t have to guess now about ‘who is who.’ The verses, translated properly, say much more concerning David and Christ!

I don’t have much to say about the verses in their context (there is a solid article by H.W. Martin that covers the passage, in Unsearchable Riches Vol. 14, p. 269-277.) The reason Peter is quoting this passage is because, in the verses prior (2:22-24,) the spirit that was dominating Peter highlighted the fact that Christ had died, was entombed, and was roused the third day by God. Verses 25-31 are the proof of the statement, rooted in Psalms.

What I want to focus on are the two uses of “unseen,” which are critical to understanding what is truly said concerning Christ’s death. As we studied previously, death is a return. The flesh goes back to the soil, and the spirit goes back to God. So, it follows that Christ’s flesh goes back to the soil (which, in this case, He is entombed,) and His spirit goes back to God (which Christ Himself confirms happened in Luke 23:46 – “Father, into Your hands am I committing My spirit.”) Thus, His soul, the combination of His flesh and His spirit, is no longer seen. God did not forsake His soul in the unseen. As we have been given zero indication thus far that ‘unseen’ is code for fiery burning torment, we have zero reason to believe that God tortured His Son in such a fashion at this moment.

That this passage is being used to prove the death and resurrection of our Lord, and the unseen is referenced in the passage, we can see the death is the entrance to the soul being unseen, and resurrection is its exit. This is absolutely not exclusive to this passage. Here are six (yes, six) other passages by which the word ‘unseen’ is used in the Old Testament, in relation to the soul. First is Psalm 16:10, the verse that was quoted in Acts–

For You shall not forsake my soul in the unseen; You shall not allow Your benign one to see corruption.

Here’s Ps. 30:3–

O Yahweh, You have brought my soul up from the unseen; You have preserved me alive from descending to the crypt.

Ps. 49:15–

Yea Elohim, He shall ransom my soul from the hand of the unseen, For He shall take hold of me.

Ps. 86:13–

For Your benignity over me is great, And You have rescued my soul from the unseen beneath.

Ps. 89:48–

What master could live and not see death? Could his soul escape from the hand of the unseen?

And, finally, Proverbs 23:14–

You shall smite him with the club And so rescue his soul from the unseen.

Clearly, the soul, the combination of body and flesh, is subjected to the unseen. This is not, then, some location for disembodied spirits, as is commonly taught with ‘hades’ in Greek mythology, or in Baptist/Calvinist churches.

It is the place of the soul, no longer seen by man. Is it seen by God? I dunno, probably. But God doesn’t say that ‘hellfire’ or ‘damnation’ is in this unseen. He has made it abundantly clear that the dead know nothing, that it is a return to lifelessness. When God says He saved you, it is the unseen that He is saving you from, not hell. He is saving you from no longer existing, and not only that, but will also contrast the relative sorrow of mortality with the permanent beauty of immortality (1 Cor. 15:53.)

*   *   *

When considering the topic of hell, someone always has to bring up Revelation. The book holds the difficult task of presenting to us the final seven years of this eon, predicted earlier in Daniel 9:25-27, giving us a full display of God’s indignation against the earth – first giving us a political indignation (Rev. 4:1-11:18,) and then revealing the religious indignation (Rev. 11:19-20:15.)

The book is considered to be one of, if not the most ambiguous book ever written, and millions of interpretations are rampant all over the earth today. This is, of course, because this book contains Satan’s failure, and if there’s one thing Satan does not want you to be confident in, it’s the fact that he lost at Calvary. So, the verses here have been radically misinterpreted, misrepresented, and mistranslated, in order to mask Satan’s defeat.

And, of course, this books carries four different uses of ‘unseen.’ Given the extremely epic nature of this prophecy, it is easy for fantastical theories to arise with a word like ‘unseen.’ This is, in many parts, because the book proclaims ‘the end of the world,’ even in Greek, and of course everyone is darkly fascinated by the topic. But, because many people read Revelation before the rest of the other books, or perhaps blaze through the first majority of Bible verses before to reach this book, the result is thus. People read the last book and try to use it to contextualize the rest. And why wouldn’t you? It’s what we do with every other book. You theorize on character motivations until the end of the book, and then interpret your result after. It’s an efficient and simple way to appreciate any storytelling form, whether it be a movie, show, book, poem, sock puppets etc.

Nevertheless, this is not how you read Scripture. His is a living organism. Man is severely underestimating just how serious God is when He says “The living word” in Heb. 4:13. Yes, it’s Christ, but come on. Every last verse, each and every word, the tiniest mark, the whole of the Scriptures – this is Christ. The text is full, can’t you tell? Each and every last word matters. Every notation, every hidden detail, every line of the text carries with it a wealth of truth. You understand, there are people that have found numeric consistency in each letter, and have found a mathematic rhythm to the text. It’s called gematria, if you want to study it. There are people who have spent a decade on Genesis 1:1, and have learned a new detail each and every day. This is the first verse. The entire Scriptures must be understood in their context, but only in their context.

What does this have to do with Revelation? Well, you can’t:

a)     Ignore everything that came before

b)    Ignore the fundamental laws of language (such as: literal if possible

c)     Pretend your interpretation would be better than God’s (Who does interpret His own figures in this book, as we will see by the end of this article.)

As the letter is a living organism, as is the rest of Scripture, we will be viewing the passages in Revelation in relation to the sum whole, while keeping a careful eye as to what is literally said. If we do this, we will have little to no trouble apprehending the truths laid out in the following passages.

Let us begin with Revelation 1:18. This passage occurs in the prophecy portion of Revelation, which covers Rev. 1:14-3:22. By Rev. 1:18, John has not yet imparted Christ’s message to the first ecclesia (which begins in Rev. 2:1.) He is still describing Christ as the Prophet.

Christ begins speaking in Rev. 1:17, so here is 1:17-18 in the KJV:

And [Christ] laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me,

Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

As you should know by now, the word ‘hell’ here is ‘unseen,’ and considering everything we have studied so far, makes complete sense concerning our Lord. Here it is again, in the Concordant:

And [Christ] places His right hand on me, saying, “Do not fear! I am the First and the Last, and the Living One: and I became dead, and lo! living am I for the eons of the eons. (Amen!) And I have the keys of death and of the unseen.

Much different message. Christ has the complete authority to judge, being the One that became dead. It is a temporary, not permanent, judgment, per the phrase “eons of the eons.” Moreover, the fact that He holds the keys of death and of the unseen shows us that, again, death is the entrance into, and resurrection is the exit from, the unseen. As we read from Paul in 1 Cor. 15:26, death will be abolished, or rendered inoperative, freeing all from ‘the unseen,’ saving all (1 Cor. 15:22-28.) This highlights the true relativity of this passage. It is a powerful, but temporary, display of power during Christ’s reign.

The next passage is Revelation 6:8. By this time, we are in the throne section of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, so it is, admittedly, much more difficult for me to briefly provide context without having to prove too many statements (not because I feel like being disingenuous in any way, but because the task of doing this is just too taxing given that there are 8 billion interpretations of this book.) In Rev. 6:7, the fourth animal walking around God’s great white throne opens the “fourth seal.” This is the first seal that is opened in the second half of Revelation, with 1,260 days (42 months, 3 ½ years) left to go before the start of the millennial kingdom (Rev. 20:1.) Here’s Rev. 6:7-8 in the KJV:

And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

If you’ve never read Revelation before, you’d be forgiven for not having a clue as to what’s going on here. Even my brief explanation included words that may be foreign to you – or, perhaps, you have read the book, and you’ve reached your own personal theory as to what “The great white throne,” “the fourth animal,” and “fourth seal” means. Because of this, I’m going to say something crazy.

Are you ready? I know you’re not ready for this.

Before theorizing about God’s word, take Him at His word. So there’s a great white throne? Okay! Until He gives us reason to believe that these things should be metaphors or imaginative words with no set meaning, we should be perceiving a great white throne, as John says he perceives.

With this simple grammatical rule in mind – literal, if possible, while looking at a proper translation of the text, we should be able to apprehend the passage, right?

Let’s try it. Rev. 6:7-8–

And when It opens the fourth seal, I hear the voice of the fourth animal saying, “Come!”

And I perceived, and lo! a greenish horse, and the name of him who is sitting upon it is Death, and the Unseen followed him. And jurisdiction was given them over the fourth of the earth, to kill with the blade and with famine and with death and by the wild beasts of the earth.

The ‘greenish horse’ here is actually one of the four horsemen, the last one. He is the… most intense one, in my opinion, and it makes sense, considering the fact that the final 3 ½ years comprise of direct, divine warfare between mankind’s powers and God.

I’m going to say something kind of crazy to you:

We have been given no reason to believe that this isn’t literal.

No, I’m not joking! John really saw a greenish horse! He was perceiving things (five times this word is used in chapter 6 alone.) He was asked to write down exactly what he saw. Many people like to theorize that ‘he was seeing helicopters’ and ‘planes, trains, automobiles!’ and ‘the U.S.!’ Guys: he was seeing a greenish horse. God, in all His wisdom and power, should surely be capable of sending a vision of a greenish horse to John one day.

However – much of the debate among scholars in the body of Christ lies under what exactly each object and event represents. While this can be a fun debate for many, it is just as frustrating if you see God clearly explain a figure, and then watch a friend completely ignore it because they believe their explanation is better than God’s. It’s a tricky situation, but the truth is that much of what God says here, He very much explains, whether it’s within other parts of Scripture, in the immediate context of the passage, or explained earlier or later in the book, God will oftentimes explicitly explain what the object represents.

With that, I’m not here to make many claims on what each and every object represents, because that’s another subject. We do need to understand the color of each horsemen, however, as well as what this represents. So, here you are:

-         Horseman 1 (I name him ‘Jim.’) He’s on a white horse. The white horse is representative of the false “white knight” imagery that the antichrist brings (and contrasts our Lord’s true descent on a white horse, later in chapter 19.) He is found in Rev. 6:2. You can tell that he is representative of ‘false Messiahs’ when studying parallel passages in Matt. 24:6, Mark 13:7, and Luke 21:8. In this, you can begin to recognize that, while John literally sees horsemen, they are figures for topics Christ already discussed. John is simply contextualizing them. The spirit of the horseman is real, whereas the literal imagery of him riding with a bow and a wreath is the figure.

-         Horseman 2 (I name him ‘Flamey-o.’) He’s on a fiery red horse. He represents bloody war. He is found in Rev. 6:4. You can tell that he is representative of battles, and tidings of battles, when studying parallel passages such as Luke 21:9.

-         Horseman 3 (I name him ‘Lame-o.’) He’s on a black horse. He is holding a pair of ‘balances’ in his hand, and represents the famine that will follow the war. You can tell that he is representative of famine when studying parallel passages such as Matt. 24:7, Mark 13:8, and Luke 21:11.

-         Horseman 4 (I name him ‘Sick-o.’) He’s on the green horse, and he’s the verse we’re covering above. He represents the sickness that follows the famine, and again, his seal kicks off the second half of Revelation’s 7-year period. You can tell that he is representative of this sickness when studying parallel passages such as Luke 21:11 (“and pestilences.”)

Now that we have a cursory, basic (and I mean, really basic) understanding of what’s happening in Revelation 6, we can properly apprehend the second half of the sentence. While the literal horseman is representative, the spirit of Death and Unseen are literal. In contrast to this famine, happy is he who dies by the sword, for he dies swiftly. The use of Unseen is representative of a spirit that will end up using this sickness to take a fourth of the world, per the end of the verse.

One thing that we can absolutely confirm is that this verse is not referencing an eternal hell, because we are speaking of a fourth of the earth, and popular Christian theology proclaims that unbelievers spend an eternity in hell – of which there are far more unbelievers than believers, even by Christianity’s standards. Unbelievers make up closer to three fourths of the earth, not one fourth.

*   *   *

That was a much longer section, but I feel it was necessary to break down this section of Revelation to prove that hell is not being referenced in the passage (well, maybe ‘hell on earth,’ I guess, but not in that way that Christianity presumes.)

There are two more passages that reference the unseen, and they are both found in Revelation 20. To understand them, we must again glance at the structure of Revelation, that we don’t rip a verse out of context.

You can accurately break down Revelation into three distinct sections that each repeat themselves twice. The “Revelation of Jesus Christ” (which is the full name of the letter) is, by definition, revealing Christ to His chosen, Israel. He is broken down in three different regards – as the Prophet, as the Potentate (King,) and as the Priest. As such, we can loosely structure Revelation as such:

-         Christ as Prophet – 1:4-3:22

-         Christ as Potentate – 4:1-11:18

-         Christ as Priest – 11:19-20:15

You can then reverse the structure for the last two chapters, breaking down Christ’s place in the Day of God (the final eon, concerning the new heavens and new earth.) Observe:

-         Christ’s Temple (Priest) – 21:1-27

-         Christ’s Throne (Potentate) – 22:1-5

-         Christ’s Message to the Ecclesias (Prophet) – 22:6-17

Recognizing that the book has a structure erases much of its mystique. The chapter we will be looking at, the end of Revelation 20, takes place during an unveiling of Christ as Priest, as religious authority, culminating in His right to judge. At the beginning of chapter 20, after Christ was unveiled and slaughtered His remaining enemies on earth (using birds – yes, birds, and this is literal – Rev. 19:21,) Revelation 20 begins with Satan finally getting what’s coming to him, being subdued in what the Greek calls the “submerged chaos.” The Greek word for “submerged chaos” is abyssos, and it is again a location that mankind is never said to be thrown into. This is not a study on the ‘submerged chaos,’ but you can conduct a similar study to the one we are conducting right now, with a proper translation, and find that God’s use of the word never denotes an eternal torment for any man.

Revelation 20 continues with a brief description of the resurrection of those who did not take the wild beast (the final governmental/religious power on the planet,) or worship its image (mark of the beast,) and clarifies that these folk will be ruling the 1,000 year kingdom with Christ (Rev. 20:4.)

Rev. 20:5 says something fascinating, now, that I think is important for us all to consider, especially in relation to the topic of hell:

(The rest of the dead do not live until the thousand years should be finished.) This is the former resurrection.

Huh! So the dead do not live. The notion that, when one dies, they are somehow still conscious is affirmatively proven false here, in that dead people do not have the breath of life. This is further affirmed by Ecc. 9:5, where the word of God says “The dead do not know anything.” If the dead do not know anything, and they are not living, then how are billions of people alive right now, burning in hell??? Here’s another pointed question: If the dead do not know anything, and they are not living, then how are any dead people now alive in heaven??? And, my favorite question: If the dead are not living, then why is apostate Christendom praying to the disciples (“Saint Peter said–” said what? Said what??)

Moreover, we now have a proper explanation as to what the ‘former resurrection’ is, as well as its proper context. God says that ‘the second death’ has no ‘jurisdiction,’ no ‘authority,’ over those who are a part of the ‘former resurrection.’ The second death is a topic we will be covering in more detail momentarily, as it is used three times in this chapter. We have no reason to break the grammatical law of ‘literal, if possible’ here, so the second death is literal. There will be a second absence of life. A second “return.” How and when will this occur? Let’s read on and find out.

Israel’s promised millennial kingdom lasts for a thousand years (Rev. 20:6.) After this occurs, Satan is loosed out of his jail, that ‘submerged chaos’ (Rev. 20:7.) When this happens, Satan gathers up the nations around Israel’s kingdom and marches against their citadel. In response to this, God has fire descending from heaven, devouring Satan’s army (Rev. 20:8-9.)

So that you understand I’m not speaking nonsense, I will now quote the first 9 verses in the CLV, to clarify the context, before we discuss the second half of the chapter:

(1-3) And I perceived a messenger descending out of heaven, having the key of the submerged chaos and a large chain in his hand. And he lays hold of the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the Adversary and Satan, and binds him a thousand years. And he casts him into the submerged chaos and locks it, and seals it over him (lest he shouls still be deceiving the nations) until the thousand years should be finished. After these things he must be loosed a little time.

(4-6) And I perceived thrones, and they are seated on them, and judgment was granted to them. And the souls of those executed because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who do not worship the wild beast or its image, and did not get the emblem on their forehead and on their hand- they also live and reign with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead do not live until the thousand years should be finished.) This is the former resurrection. Happy and holy is he who is having part in the former resurrection! Over these the second death has no jurisdiction, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will be reigning with Him the thousand years.

(7-9) And whenever the thousand years should be finished, Satan will be loosed out of his jail. And he will be coming out to deceive all the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to be mobilizing them for battle, their number being as the sand of the sea. And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and surround the citadel of the saints and the beloved city. And fire descended from God out of heaven and devoured them.

Verse 10, now, says something in both the KJV and the CLV, that has led billions to believe in the eternal torment of man. Here, first, is the KJV:

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Look, if this were true, then God is no better than his worst enemy. Satan has no mercy on humanity, and has not from the beginning (1 John 3:8.) If this is Satan’s character, why would God treat His enemies the same way?? Especially with Christ, the Image of God, talking so much about turning the other cheek (Matt. 5:38-39,) and Paul talking about treating your enemies with kindness and love (Rom. 12:17-21??) Last I checked, God’s heart does not change. The idea that it suddenly should with Satan is, again, disingenuous reasoning on man’s part. “Forever and ever” is simply a mistranslation, here, and should read:

And the Adversary who is deceiving them was cast into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the wild beast and where the false prophet are also. And they shall be tormented day and night for the eons of the eons.

For more information about the phrase ‘eons of the eons,’ please read the study of the word ‘eons’ I conducted during my Romans series, found here:

#32. Romans - Let's Talk About the Eons

#33. Romans - Let's Talk About the Eons, Part II

#34. Romans - Let's Talk About the Eons, Part III

#35. Romans - Let's Talk About the Eons, Part IV

The phrase ‘lake of fire’ is used five times in Revelation, three times in this chapter. I am going to cover this phrase as well, because many people like to make the assumption that ‘lake of fire’ is a location of eternal torment. Nevermind the fact that ‘lake of fire,’ in Greek, is not the same as ‘unseen.’ These people are not looking to genuinely teach about Scripture, but assume based on their personal theology, and their personal belief as to how God should be dealing with evil (as if they know better!)

As before, we have no reason to believe that the lake of fire is not literal. Many people get this right. What they assume, however, is that the lake of fire is eternal. They draw on the Mark 9:42-28 passage to prove this, but as we’ve covered already, the word “Gehenna” is what is used, and the worms in Gehenna are said to not be dying. This is not the ‘lake of fire,’ then, because Satan is not going to be transgressing in the kingdom, to be cast into Gehenna – he will be in the submerged chaos during this time.

After the millennial kingdom, however, and after he is loosed and the fire descends, he will be cast into this lake of fire. The wild beast and the false prophet will both also be cast into this lake of fire. It is these three here that are said to be tormented for the eons of the eons. He is tormented day and night during this time.

Notice that this verse does not say, “Satan and his followers will be tormented day and night!” This is an addition, an assumption, based on human reasoning. To compare your atheist neighbor Fred to the king of lies is, frankly, concerning – not because of Fred’s atheism, but because of your extremism!

I’m talking about this for good reason. The final 5 verses of this chapter are a comprehensive overview of Judgment Day, and they have been abused in the worst ways imaginable by man. Here’s the remainder of the chapter, Revelation 20:11-15, in the KJV–

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosover was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

It should come as no surprise to you by now that the KJV suffers a multitude of translational errors, particularly on this topic, making it difficult to apprehend the original Greek. What I will say is that if there were any sense of consistency among modern theologians, then Revelation 20:14, where “hell is cast into the lake of fire,” should be considered fully. If hell is cast into the lake of fire, then the two are undeniably different. And, if hell’s reign ends, even in the corrupted KJV text, then why are we assuming that hell is eternal??

Don’t take this crap, please. God is smarter than man. Here is the CLV, translating the same passage harmoniously:

And I perceived a great white throne, and Him Who is sitting upon it, from Whose face earth and heaven fled, and no place was found for them.

And I perceived the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. And scrolls were opened. And another scroll was opened which is the scroll of life. And the dead were judged by that which is written in the scrolls in accord with their acts.

And the sea gives up the dead in it, and death and the unseen give up the dead in them. And they were condemned, each in accord with their acts. And death and the unseen were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death - the lake of fire. And if anyone was not found written in the scroll of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.

The unseen gives up the dead in it. The unseen. This, like Rev. 6:8, is a figure of speech, but here it’s clearer given the context. Individual people will be cast into the lake of fire – this is evident by Rev. 20:15. And, immediately before this, we’re told that death and the unseen give up the dead in them. This here cannot be literal. Remember how we’ve been saying, “Literal, if possible?” Remember how that’s how you read? So it follows that if a literal statement can’t be followed here, then it must be a figure to include all the bodies and souls of the dead. “Death” considers the bodies, and “unseen” considers the souls. Then, ‘death’ and ‘unseen’ are disposed of, put to death in the second death. The only death that will remain after Judgment day will be in the second death.

Throughout this entire series, I have continually stuck to the original Greek. I have now presented to you each and every use of ‘hell’ in the New Testament. Can you honestly tell me, with the understanding that the word ‘eternal’ is ‘eon,’ and with the realization that there are three mistranslated words here that people have translated ‘hell,’ that eternal conscious torment is being taught in the Bible? At one point, one must ask – why is hell thrown into the text like this? Why is it heralded so much if it’s not actually there?

The KJV is, simply, an adulterated text (2 Cor. 4:4.) The text has been bastardized by fraudulent workers, who present themselves as workers in Christ (2 Cor. 11:12-15.) It is a text presented by the government, by King James, and is not inspired by the spirit of God. If hell, if eternal torment, were truly present, then God is documenting, now the greatness of His Son, but the failure of His Son – He is unable to save people if most spend an eternity in hell. If hell is where the unbelievers go, then God loses the vast majority of His creation to Satan. He loses the war, and Christ died for very little, if anything.

Does that sound right to you? The God that’s concerned with making sure even the tiniest sheep isn’t lost forever (Luke 15:4-7,) the God that makes it rain where no man is (Job 38:25-27,) the God Who is teaching all (Matt. 5:45, Ecc. 1:13,) the God that says all of His creatures are ideal and none of them are to be cast away (1 Tim. 4:4,) the God that calls Himself the Savior of all (1 Tim. 4:10,) the God that says He loves you (1 John 4:8, 4:16, Matt. 6:26) – this God would burn someone because they said or did something He didn’t like, while actively hiding the truth from them?? That does not sound like a loving God, sorry to say – that sounds like a child who couldn’t get his way. It sounds, for all intents and purposes, like Satan, trying to fool you into thinking that God cannot save all, out of some pompous sense of morality (when in contrast, God proves that He is humble through Christ – Phil. 2:5-8.) We would do well to drop this lie, as God is very clearly capable of all.

*   *   *

And so what we have learned…

-         Acts 2:25-31 does not document some in-depth journey Christ had in hell (there would be events to share, if that were the case,) but a clarification that Christ, the Son of God, was truly dead, His soul having spent three days ‘unseen.’ Most don’t believe this, as they believe Christ is God, and God does not actually die. Peter is not actively dispelling such a lie, in the context, but God is.

-         Ps. 16:10, 30:3, 49:15, 86:13, and Prov. 23:14 document that everyone, regardless of their moral compass, is subject to death, placing their soul in the unseen, just as Christ was. It highlights His obedience unto death, in being just.

-         When God says “I am your Savior,” He is rescuing your soul from the unseen

-         Scripture is a living organism (Heb. 4:12.)

-         All of Revelation is contextualized by Daniel 9, and lasts seven years (Dan. 9:25-27)

-         Revelation has a set structure – it is not a ‘stream-of-conscious-thought’ type of book where events happen at random.

-         Christ is unveiled as a ‘Prophet’ in Rev. 1:14-3:22

-         Christ, during the eons, has the keys to death and the unseen (Rev. 1:18)

-         Christ is unveiled a a ‘Potentate,’ or ‘King,’ in Rev. 4:1-11:18

-         The four horsemen passage is covered from Rev. 6:1-8, and covers four separate events that will play out on earth. We compared and contrasted various passages in which Christ discusses the meaning of these figures

-         John truly perceived these four horsemen in a vision. They represented events, and the spirits of the horsemen are real, but he literally saw four horsemen

-         We broke down the four horsemen and the events they represent, and covered the various passages from Christ’s teaching about the final seven years of this eon

-         The spirit of Death and Unseen in Unv. 6:8 are real, while ‘death’ and ‘unseen’ are themselves figures. This is derived by context (and, I failed to note that there are definite articles in front of both ‘death’ and ‘unseen.’ In Greek, when a definite article is placed in front of a word, it usually denotes a proper name – in this case, the spirits referenced are named ‘Death’ and ‘Unseen.’ Regardless, Christ owns them (John 16:33.)

-         Christ is unveiled as ‘Priest’ in Rev. 11:19-20:15

-         We briefly covered Revelation 20, including the wrap-up from this eon (19:20-21,) the binding of Satan for the eon (20:1-3,) the former resurrection (20:4-6,) the loosing of Satan at the end of the next eon (20:7-8,) the destruction of Satan’s army by fire (20:9,) the torment of Satan, the wild beast, and the false prophet in the lake of fire (20:10,) Judgment Day (20:11-13,) the emptying of ‘death’ and ‘unseen’ (20:13,) the discarding of ‘death’ and ‘unseen’ (20:14,) and the explanation as to what the lake of fire is for mankind (20:15.)

-         The lake of fire is not hell, as we read in the KJV that “hell is cast into the lake of fire.” If ‘hell’ were the ‘lake of fire,’ then ‘hell’ gets cast into ‘hell,’ which is not a pattern of sound words

-         The lake of fire is ‘the second death,’ per Rev. 20:14. Death = return of body to soil (Gen. 3:18-19,) and return of spirit to God (Ecc. 12:7, Luke 23:46.)

-         The dead do not live – Unv. 20:5. Hard to be ‘eternally consciously tormented’ if you are not living (Ecc. 9:5)

-         Abyssos, in Rev. 20:1-3, is not ‘hell,’ but an abyss. The CLV calls it a ‘submerged chaos,’ but honestly, you could call it ‘Grandma’s House’ for all I care; there is no reference to mankind burning in ‘abyssos’ eternally. It is framed as a prison for Satan during the millennial kingdom.

-         What the KJV claims lasts ‘forever and ever,’ the Greek states ‘for the eons of the eons.’ This is a proper translation, and there are many instances in Scripture that make way more sense when ‘eons’ are considered. If God were to torment Satan forever and ever, then He is no better than Satan, having no mercy on His enemies (and He would be a liar, because He calls Himself merciful)

-         Because of its various mistranslations, false assumptions, and poor reasoning, the KJV is an “adulterated text” (2 Cor. 4:2.)

(to be continued)

- GerudoKing