Jeremiah

1. Jeremiah Hinnom Valley & Hell

3. “…if you call your brother a worthless fool you will be in danger of going to the fire of hell.” (Matthew 5:22) • Geenna (Greek); Gehenna (English) • Valley of Hinnom; a valley south of Jerusalem

4. “The people of Judah have done an evil thing. They have placed their idols, which I hate, in my Temple and have defiled it. In Hinnom Valley they have built an altar called Topheth, so that they can sacrifice their sons and daughters in the fire. I did not command them to do this---it did not even enter my mind. And so, the time will come when it will no longer be called Topheth or Hinnom Valley, but Slaughter Valley. They will bury people there because there will be nowhere else to bury them. The corpses will be food for the birds and wild animals, and there will be no one to scare them off.” (Jeremiah 7:30-33)

5. “I am going to do this because the people have abandoned me and defiled this place by offering sacrifices here to other gods---gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah have known anything about. They have filled this place with the blood of innocent people, and they have built altars for Baal in order to burn their children in the fire as sacrifices. I never commanded them to do this; it never even entered my mind. So then, the time will come when this place will no longer be called Topheth or Hinnom Valley. Instead, it will be known as Slaughter Valley. In this place I will frustrate all the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. I will let their enemies triumph over them and kill them in battle. I will give their corpses to the birds and the wild animals as food.” (Jeremiah 19:4-7)

6. “Hinnom Valley on the south side of the hill where the Jebusite city of Jerusalem was located…” (Joshua 15:8, 18:16) • “Ahaz became king at the age of twenty, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years…he did what was not pleasing to the LORD and followed the example of the kings of Israel. He had metal images of Baal made, burned incense in Hinnom Valley, and even sacrificed his own sons as burnt offerings to idols, imitating the disgusting practice of the people whom the LORD had driven out of the land as the Israelites advanced. (2 Chronicles 28:1-3; 2 Kings 16) • “King Josiah also desecrated Topheth, the pagan place of worship in Hinnom Valley, so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter as a burnt offering to the god Molech.” (2 Kings 23:10)

7. “Topheth [a place to be spit on]—the place of burning—has long been ready for the Assyrian king; the fire pit is piled high with wood. The breath of the LORD, like fire from a volcano, will set it ablaze.” (Isaiah 30:33) • “The LORD'S angel went out and killed 185,000 soldiers in the Assyrian camp. When the Judeans got up early in the morning, they saw all the corpses.” (Isaiah 37:36)

8. “As they leave, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me. The worms that eat them will never die, and the fire that burns them will never be put out. The sight of them will be disgusting to all people.” (Isaiah 66:24) • “…the most misunderstood, misused and misapplied passage in the Bible on [the subject of] hell. We must read the context…

9. “This symbolic picture of the future reflects an actual incident that Isaiah describes in chapter 37…’when the people got up the next morning – there were all the dead bodies!’ (Is. 37:36). In chapter 66 Isaiah anticipates the same scene on a massive scale at the end of time. In this prophetic picture, as in the historical event of Isaiah’s day, the righteous view ‘the dead bodies’ of the wicked. They see corpses, not living people. They view destruction, not conscious misery. Discarded corpses are fit only for worms (maggots) and fire – both insatiable agents of disintegration and decomposition.

10. To the Hebrew mind, both worms and fire signify disgrace and shame (Jer 25:33, Amos 2:1). Worms and fire also indicate complete destruction, for the maggot in this picture does not die but continues to feed so long as there is anything to eat…This passage of Scripture says nothing about conscious suffering and certainly nothing about suffering forever.” (Two Views of Hell, pg 32)

11. Tradition: The garbage dump in Jesus’ day where the fires were continuously burning • “If that is so, his hearers would have known Gehenna as an abhorrent place where maggots and fire raced to consume the garbage, refuse and offal dumped there each day.” (Two Views of Hell, pg 42)

12. “The first-century Jewish historian Josephus says that this valley was heaped with the dead bodies of Jews following the Roman siege of Jerusalem in A.D. 69-70.” (Two Views of Hell, pg 42)

13. Sheol • 65 times in the OT • KJV: • “hell” (31) • “the pit” (33) • “the grave” (3) • ASV: “Sheol” • NIV: “grave” • Literally, “gravedom”; “the realm of the dead” • Greek: “Hades”

14. Jacob: “All his other sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, "No, I will mourn for my son until I die." This is how Joseph's father cried over him.” (Gen 37:35) • David: But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. Selah (Psa 49:15) • Job: "If only you would hide me in the grave…” (Job 14:13)

15. The “Soul” • “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.“ (Genesis 2:7 KJV) • “Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7 NRSV)

16. “The ancient Hebrews had no idea of an immortal soul living a full and vital life beyond death.. Human beings, like the beasts of the field, are made of "dust of the earth," and at death they return to that dust (Gen. 2:7; 3:19). The Hebrew word nephesh, traditionally translated "living soul" but more properly understood as "living creature," is the same word used for all breathing creatures and refers to nothing immortal.” • What the Bible says about Death, Afterlife, and the Future, James Tabor

17. “Mortal man…” – 92 times in Ezekiel

18. “The only thing I could say for sure is that hell means separation from God. We are separated from his light, from his fellowship. That is going to be hell. When it comes to a literal fire, I don’t preach it because I’m not sure about it. When the Scripture uses fire concerning hell, that is possibly an illustration of how terrible it’s going to be – not fire but something worse, a thirst for God that cannot be quenched.” (Billy Graham)

19. “They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:42) • “The heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:12)

20. Two types of fire

21. Two types of fire • “Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu…disobeyed the LORD by burning before Him the wrong kind of fire…So fire blazed forth from the LORD’s presence and burned them up, and they died there before the LORD…Then Moses called for…Aaron’s cousins…He said to them, ‘Come forward and carry away the bodies of your relatives from in front of the sanctuary to a place outside the camp.’”

22. “So they came forward and picked them up by their garments and carried them out of the camp, just as Moses had commanded.” (Leviticus 10:1-5 – NLT)

23. “Because the LORD your God is like a flaming fire.” (Daniel 4:24) • “God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:29)

25. “The glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai…And the glory of the Lord appeared to the Israelites like devouring fire on the top of the mountain.” (Exodus 24:16-17 – GN)

26. “Whenever Moses went into the Tent of the LORD’s presence to speak to the LORD, he would take the veil off. When he came out, he would tell the people of Israel everything that he had been commanded to say, and they would see that his face was shining. Then he would put the veil back on until the next time he went to speak with the LORD.” (Exodus 34:34-35 – GN)

27. “Moses and Aaron went into the Tent of the LORD's presence, and when they came out, they blessed the people, and the dazzling light of the LORD's presence appeared to all the people. Suddenly the LORD sent a fire, and it consumed the burnt offering and the fat parts on the altar. When the people saw it, they all shouted and bowed down with their faces to the ground.” (Leviticus 9:23-24)

28. “When King Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and burned up the sacrifices that had been offered, and the dazzling light of the LORD's presence filled the Temple. Because the Temple was full of the dazzling light, the priests could not enter it. When the people of Israel saw the fire fall from heaven and the light fill the Temple, they fell face downward on the pavement, worshiping God and praising him for his goodness and his eternal love.” (2 Chronicles 7:1-3)

29. 2 Reactions to God’s “fire” • “As wax melts in front of the fire, so do the wicked perish in his presence. • But the righteous are glad and rejoice in his presence; they are happy and shout for joy.” (Psalms 68:2)

30. “The sound of their voices made the foundation of the Temple shake, and the Temple itself became filled with smoke. I said, ‘There is no hope for me! I am doomed because every word that passes my lips is sinful, and I live among a people whose every word is sinful. And yet, with my own eyes I have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.’ Then one of the creatures flew down to me, carrying a burning coal that he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs.” (Isaiah 6:4-6)

31. “He touched my lips with the burning coal and said, ‘This has touched your lips, and now your guilt is gone, and your sins are forgiven.’ Then I heard the Lord say, ‘Whom shall I send? Who will be our messenger?’ I answered, ‘I will go! Send me!’” (Isaiah 6:7-8 – GN)

32. “But the LORD says, ‘Now I will do something and be greatly praised. Your deeds are straw that will be set on fire by your very own breath. You will be burned to ashes like thorns in a fire. Everyone, both far and near, come look at what I have done. See my mighty power!’” (Isaiah 33:10-13)

33. “The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: ‘Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?’ He who walks righteously and speaks what is right…” (Isaiah 33:14-15 – NIV)

34. “The LORD Almighty says, ‘The day is coming when all proud and evil people will burn like straw. On that day they will burn up, and there will be nothing left of them. But for you who obey me, my saving power will rise on you like the sun and bring healing like the sun’s rays. You will be as free and happy as calves let out of a stall.” (Malachi 4:1-2 – GN)

35. Lucifer • “I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire.” (Ezekiel 28:14 – NLT) • “You defiled your sanctuaries with your many sins and your dishonest trade. So I brought fire from within you, and it consumed you. I let it burn you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching.” (Ezekiel 28:18, NLT)

37. In the Old Testament, who kindles the fire of hell? • “Scripture indicates that every sinner kindles for himself the flame of his own fire, and is not plunged into a fire which has been previously kindled by someone else or which existed before him.”Origen of Alexandria

38. "An eternally-burning hell preached from the pulpit, and kept before the people, does injustice to the benevolent character of God. It presents him as the veriest tyrant in the universe. This widespread dogma has turned thousands to universalism, infidelity and atheism." Review and Herald, May 13, 1862

39. “This is not an act of arbitrary power on the part of God. The rejecters of His mercy reap that which they have sown. God is the fountain of life; and when one chooses the service of sin, he separates from God, and thus cuts himself off from life…They receive the results of their own choice. By a life of rebellion, Satan and all who unite with him place themselves so out of harmony with God that His very presence is to them a consuming fire. The glory of Him who is love will destroy them.“ DA 763-764 (1898) • “The light of the glory of God, which imparts life to the righteous, will slay the wicked.“ (DA 108)

40. “…the sea of glass mixed with fire” (Revelation 22:4).