Dictionaries :: Concerning Redemption, Eschatology

Concerning Redemption, Eschatology: Heaven and Hell

a. New Testament usage of the words. "Heaven" used chiefly in three senses:--

1. The upper air where the birds fly.

Mat 8:20; 24:30

2. The region in which the stars reside.

Act 7:42; Hbr 11:12

3. The abode of Christ's human nature, the scene of the special manifestation of divine glory, and of the eternal blessedness of the saints.

Hbr 9:24; 1Pe 3:22.

Sometimes called the "third heaven."

2Cr 12:2

The phrases "new heaven" and "new earth," in contrast with "first heaven" and "first earth," refer to some unexplained change by which God will revolutionise our portion of the physical universe, cleansing it from the stain of sin and qualifying it to be the abode of blessedness.

b. Terms used to designate the future blessedness of the saints.

1. Literal terms:--

Life, eternal life.

Mat 7:14; 19:16,29; 25:46

Glory, the glory of God, an eternal weight of glory.

Rom 2:7,10; 5:2; 2Cr 4:17

Peace.

Rom 2:10

Salvation, and eternal salvation.

Hbr 5:7

2. Figurative terms:--

Paradise.

Luk 23:43; 2Cr 12:4; Rev 2:7

Heavenly Jerusalem.

Gal 4:26; Rev 3:12

Kingdom of heaven, heavenly kingdom, eternal kingdom, kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world.

Mat 25:34; 2Ti 4:18; 2Pe 1:11

Eternal inheritance.

1Pe 1:4; Hbr 9:15

The blessed are said to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;

to be in Abraham's bosom (Luk 16:22; Mat 8:11);

to reign with Christ (2Ti 2:11,12);

to enjoy a Sabbath of rest. Hbr 4:10,11

c. Heaven as a place

The Scriptures represent heaven as a definite place as well as a state of blessedness.

Jhn 17:24; 2Cr 5:6-10; Rev 5:6

d. Wherein does the blessedness of heaven consist as far as revealed?

1. In perfect deliverance from sin and all its evil consequences, physical, moral, and social.

Rev 7:16,17; 21:4,27

2. In the perfection of our nature.

1Cr 13:9-12; 15:45-49; 1Jo 3:2

3. In the sight of our Redeemer, communion with His person, and fellowship in all His glory and blessedness, and through Him with saints and angels.

Jhn 17:24; 1Jo 1:3; Rev 3:21; 21:3-5

4. In that "beatific vision of God" which, consisting in the ever increasingly clear discovery of the divine excellence lovingly apprehended, transforms the soul into the same image, from glory to glory.

Mat 5:8; 2Cr 3:18

e. The principal terms, literal and figurative, which are applied in Scripture to the future condition of the reprobate.

As a "place" it is literally designated by Gehenna

(Mat 5:22,29,30),

and by the phrase "place of torment."

Luk 16:28.

As a "condition" of suffering, it is literally designated by the phrases "wrath of God"

(Rom 2:5)

and "second death."

Rev 21:8

Figurative terms:--

"Everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,"

Mat 25:41

"Hell, where their worm dies not and the fire is not quenched."

Mar 9:48

"The lake which burns with fire and brimstone."

Rev 21:8

"The pit of the abyss."

Rev 9:2

The dreadful nature of this abode of the wicked is implied in such expressions as "outer darkness," the place where there is "weeping and gnashing of teeth"

(Mat 8:12; 22:13);

"I am in anguish in this flame"

(Luk 16:24);

"unquenchable fire"

(Luk 3:17);

"Furnace of fire"

(Mat 13:42);

"blackness of darkness"

(Jud 1:13);

torment "with fire and brimstone"

(Rev 14:10);

"the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever."

Rev 14:11

f. The teaching of the Scriptures as to the nature of future punishments.

1. These sufferings will consist--

a. In the loss of all good.

b. In all the natural consequences of unrestrained sin, judicial abandonment, utter alienation from God, and the society of the lost.

2Th 1:9

c. In the positive infliction of torment, God's wrath abiding upon those who do not believe.

Jhn 3:36

2. The Scriptures also establish the facts that these sufferings must be--

a. Dreadful in degree.

b. Endless in duration.

c. Proportioned to the deserts of the subject.

Mat 10:15; Luk 12:47,48

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Jhn 3:16