The Final Judgement and Hell

Final Judgement

all people will be held accountable for their deeds and stand before Christ to receive their eternal reward or punishment.

all people will be held accountable for their deeds and stand before Christ to receive their eternal reward or punishment.

Revelation 20:11–15 ESV

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:12–15 NASB95

And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Acts 17:30–31 ESV

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Romans 2:5 ESV

But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

Nature of the Final Judgement

Jesus will be the Judge

2 Timothy 4:1 ESV

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:

John 5:26–27 ESV

For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.

Unbelievers will be Judged

Revelation 20:12 ESV

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

Unbelievers will be judged in degrees

Revelation 20:12–13 ESV

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.

implies degrees of judgment

Luke 20:47 ESV

who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

Luke 24:47 ESV

and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

Believers will be judged

,

Romans 14:10 NASB95

But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

Romans 14:12 NASB95

So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.

Believers will be judged to evaluate and bestow various degrees of reward

John

John 5:24 ESV

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 5:24 ESV

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Romans 1 NASB95

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Romans 8:1 ESV

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Micah 7:19 ESV

He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

ans 8

Psalm 103:12 ESV

as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Psalm 103.12

Angels will be judged

2 Peter 2:4 ESV

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;

Hell

“a place of eternal conscious punishment for the wicked” - Wayne Grudem Systematic Theology, pg. 1149

“the place of the dead after death in which the wicked endure eternal punishment and the total absence of God” - Donald Mckim Dictionary of Theological Terms

“Place of God’s final retributive punishment” -Evangelical dictionary of biblical theology

Biblical Support

Matthew 25:30 ESV

And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Phillips, T. R. (1996). Hell. In Evangelical dictionary of biblical theology (electronic ed., p. 338). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

Matthew 25:41 ESV

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Mark 9:43 ESV

And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.

Revelation 14:9–11 NASB95

Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

Eternal Conscious Torment

“Divinely instituted penalty of endless suffering, including banishment from God’s blessed presence.” - Evangelical dictionary of biblical theology

This view has been traditionally held by the church

this view seems to be in concordance with the biblical evidence

Evangelical dictionary of biblical theology

this view is in line with God’s attributes of Justice and Holiness

Annihilationism: another view of Hell

Two Views

The wicked have suffered the penalty of God’s wrath for a time, God will “annihilate” them so that they no longer exist.

Conditional Immortality: God created people so that they only have immortality if they accept Christ as Savior. Those who do not accept Christ simply cease to exist after death.

Support of Annihilationism

Biblical references to destruction of the wicked (;

1 Thessalonians 5:3 NASB95

While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.

The apparent inconsistency of eternal conscious torment with God’s love

The apparent disproportion between sins committed in Time and punishment that is eternal.

the fact that the continuing presence of evil creatures in God’s universe will eternally mar the perfection of a universe that God created to reflect his glory

Against Annihilationism

Destruction does not necessarily imply cessation

God may love his creation with respect to their moral agency

“sin against the Creator is heinous to a degree utterly beyond our sin-warped imaginations’ ability to concieve of” We then have no right to question or recommend a punishment for sin.

God’s triumph and punishment over evil reflect his Glory

How do we respond?