El Gusano y El Fuego / The Worm and Fire
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Introducción
Introducción
There are certain things that people living in modern times no longer believe:
We no longer believe the earth is flat. There was a time in history when people believed that if you went far enough on the sea; that there would come a point where you would simply reach the edge of the planet and fall off the edge.
In the same way, as people grow older they stop believing in Santa Clause or the Tooth Fairy.
Modern science and technology have unlocked many of the mysteries of humanity. Things that were previously unknown/mysterious have now been explained through scientific discovery.
Unfortunately, many people have also discarded a belief in:
God - There are many that think that humans over time created the concept of “god” because they could not explain the reasons behind earthquakes or other calamities. They say that humankind created the concept of God as an explanation for the force/cause behind creation.
Sin - For many, sin does not exist. There is no actual right or wrong. Right is whatever is right in your own eyes. In the same way, wrong is whatever you believe is wrong.
Eternal life - Eternal life is a figment of people’s imaginations. Eternal life is hopeful/wishful thinking. People believe that after you die you simply cease to exist.
Eternal condemnation - Since there is no sin and there is no god, then there is no reason to think that you will have to give an account for what you’ve done once you are dead.
However, although people believe themselves to be secular or non-religious they act against what they say they believe. They say there is no god, no afterlife, no sin, etc., but:
When someone dies, they usually say “They are in a better place.”
When someone does something wrong, they say “Their bad actions will catch up with them one day.”
One of the beliefs that people want to suppress/ignore is the Bible’s teaching on hell or eternal condemnation. For this reason, we will consider today what the Bible teaches about this place we call hell. We will consider:
Isaiah’s prophecy about hell
Jesus’ teaching about hell
I. La profecía de Isaías acerca del infierno / Isaiah’s prophecy about hell
I. La profecía de Isaías acerca del infierno / Isaiah’s prophecy about hell
Isaiah is a wonderful book full of prophecies about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Isaiah is called the messianic prophet because it contains many prophecies that speak about the Lord Jesus Christ - his birth, his ministry, and his death.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Por eso, el Señor mismo les dará una señal: La doncella concebirá y dará a luz un hijo, y lo llamará Emanuel.
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaias 7.14
Porque nos ha nacido un niño,
se nos ha concedido un hijo;
la soberanía reposará sobre sus hombros,
y se le darán estos nombres:
Consejero admirable, Dios fuerte,
Padre eterno, Príncipe de paz.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Él fue traspasado por nuestras rebeliones,
y molido por nuestras iniquidades;
sobre él recayó el castigo, precio de nuestra paz,
y gracias a sus heridas fuimos sanados.
Is 53.
Isaiah was used by God to show us God’s glory in saving his rebellious people through his own servant.
God would redeem his people through the death of the suffering servant.
This suffering servant would be God himself who would give his life as a ransom for his people.
Isaiah teaches us about the death sentence of the suffering servant. He would die a cruel death as he takes upon himself the sin of his people.
Isaiah is a fairly long book. It contains 66 chapters.
Is 53.
As we continue our journey reading through the Bible this last week we had to read .
I was surprised at how this book ends.
speaks about God’s greatness and about those upon whom God’s favor rests.
This is what the Lord says:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you will build for me?
Where will my resting place be?
Has not my hand made all these things,
and so they came into being?”
declares the Lord.
“These are the ones I look on with favor:
those who are humble and contrite in spirit,
and who tremble at my word.
Así dice el Señor:
«El cielo es mi trono,
y la tierra, el estrado de mis pies.
¿Qué casa me pueden construir?
¿Qué morada me pueden ofrecer?
Fue mi mano la que hizo todas estas cosas;
fue así como llegaron a existir
—afirma el Señor—.
»Yo estimo a los pobres y contritos de espíritu,
a los que tiemblan ante mi palabra.
Isaiah also speaks about the New Jerusalem where all of God’s people will dwell for all eternity.
=2
“Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her,
all you who love her;
rejoice greatly with her,
all you who mourn over her.
Mas alégrense con Jerusalén, y regocíjense por ella,
todos los que la aman;
salten con ella de alegría,
todos los que por ella se conduelen.
However, this marvelous prophecy ends with a gruesome/terrifying scene. It speaks about the people of God going outside the city to witness the results of God’s judgement.
You see, the end of history will not simply come to an abrupt halt!
History will not end with “and they all lived happily ever after”.
History will end with God’s judgment of all humanity.
God will come to judge every person that has ever lived.
See, the Lord is coming with fire,
and his chariots are like a whirlwind;
he will bring down his anger with fury,
and his rebuke with flames of fire.
For with fire and with his sword
the Lord will execute judgment on all people,
and many will be those slain by the Lord.
Is 66.15
¡Ya viene el Señor con fuego!
¡Sus carros de combate son como un torbellino!
Descargará su enojo con furor,
y su reprensión con llamas de fuego.
Con fuego y con espada
juzgará el Señor a todo mortal.
¡Muchos morirán a manos del Señor!
We may deny this will happen.
We may think that a loving God would never carry out this kind of justice upon humanity.
We may deny that God would never punish evildoers.
However, we are simply decieving ourselves.
If you get robbed, what is your first instinct?
If you get in an accident and it wasn’t your fault, what do you want to happen?
If you are the victim of abuse, what is it that you cry out for?
We cry out for justice! We want evildoers to be punished! We want those that have hurt us to be punished.
We want those who have wronged us to receive the just consequences for their evil actions.
Why would we not expect the same from the living God who is holy and just?
This brings us to the terrifying scene that the people of God go out to see.
They leave the city to a valley outside of Jerusalem (sometimes called the valley of Hinnom/Gehenna) to see a most terrifying scene:
“And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”
Entonces saldrán y contemplarán los cadáveres de los que se rebelaron contra mí.
»Porque no morirá el gusano que los devora,
ni se apagará el fuego que los consume:
¡repulsivos serán a toda la humanidad!»
This is the place where the bodies of all those that have been destroyed, by the Lord, have been laid.
Notice what they see?
They can see the died bodies, piled one upon the other.
They can see the maggots slowly eating the flesh of all of God’s enemies.
They can see the fire consume the bodies. They can see the smoke fill their air.
Notice what they smell?
Surely they can smell the rotting/burning flesh of those who would not be on the Lord’s side.
It is surely a most terrifying sight.
This same verse is quoted by the Lord Jesus in the New Testament to refer to the place of eternal punishment we commonly call hell.
And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where
“ ‘the worms that eat them do not die,
and the fire is not quenched.’
Y si tu ojo te hace pecar, sácatelo. Más te vale entrar tuerto en el reino de Dios, que ser arrojado con los dos ojos al infierno, donde
»“su gusano no muere,
y el fuego no se apaga”.
?47-48
The Lord Jesus Christ refers to the problem of sin and how we should do anything in our power to not sin.
Sin leads us to death. Sin leads us to eternal condemnation.
We should take drastic measures to deal with the problem of sin or we will be subject to the fires of hell where “the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched”.
II. Las enseñanzas de Jesús acerca del infierno / Jesus’ teaching about hell
II. Las enseñanzas de Jesús acerca del infierno / Jesus’ teaching about hell
The Lord Jesus Christ believed in hell. He taught about hell.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not shy away from the reality of hell.
The Lord Jesus Christ confirmed Isaiah’s prophecy and used it to warn the people who were living after themselves to beware of the reality of hell.
Many commentators have observed that in the entire Bible there is no one that speaks more about hell than the Lord Jesus.
So what is it that Jesus taught about hell? For this we will turn our attention to the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (). In this parable:
There was a rich man who died.
There was also a poor man named Lazarus who also died.
Upon the rich man’s death he found himself in Hades/hell.
However, the poor man, Lazarus, was carried by the angels to heaven.
In this parable we learn:
Hell is a real place.
Jesus cannot lie. He is God. If he lied, then he is not God. For this reason, we know that if Jesus spoke about the existence of this place then it must be real.
Hell is a place of physical torment.
Contrary to what many believe - hell is a place of physical suffering.
There are many that think that hell is a place where they will be able to party with their friends.
This is not the case. Based on the testimony of the rich man we read:
lk 16.23-
In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
En el infierno, en medio de sus tormentos, el rico levantó los ojos y vio de lejos a Abraham, y a Lázaro junto a él. Así que alzó la voz y lo llamó: “Padre Abraham, ten compasión de mí y manda a Lázaro que moje la punta del dedo en agua y me refresque la lengua, porque estoy sufriendo mucho en este fuego.”
The rich man is described as being in torments.
The bible tells us about his severe thirst.
He wishes to at least have his thirst quenched by dipping a finger in water and bringing it to his lips.
This man is engulfed in the flames of hell.
Hell is a place with no exit.
The man wishes for Lazarus to go to him and quench his thirst.
Lk 16.24-
So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
Lazarus cannot cross over to the man nor can the man cross over to be on Lazarus’ side.
The rich man is eternally condemned to be in this place of torment and suffering.
This is the image we receive from Isaiah - the worm never dies and the fire is never put out. Hell will continue to burn forever and ever. People will continue to suffer for all eternity.
Hell will be a place of emotional and mental torment.
People will think of all the opportunities they heard the gospel.
People will think about all those people that encouraged them to sin.
Instead of repenting and asking for forgiveness, people will continue to rebel and despise God.
The doctrine of hell is truly one of the most difficult doctrines in the Scriptures.
It is a doctrine that is difficult to accept for it accuses each one of us for we all have sinned against God.
It is a doctrine that is difficult to accept for although we may have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have many family members who have not yet believed. We have many family members who continue to despise the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Although hell is a place of physical/emotional/mental torment, although it is a place with no opportunity of relief, there is another reality about hell - hell can be avoided!
Hell is God’s just punishment for sin.
Hell is the manifestation of God’s righteous judgement upon those who have rebelled against his law and holiness.
However, the Lord Jesus Christ experienced hell upon the cross.
When Jesus was crucified God’s wrath was poured upon him.
He took upon himself all our sin. He took our rebellion, our hate, our lust, our addictions, our pride, our lying, cheating, our immorality, and experienced in his body the judgement of God for all our sin.
Jesus suffered hell on earth as he hung upon the cross.
It is for this reason, that Isaiah prophecies about Jesus saying:
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Él fue traspasado por nuestras rebeliones,
y molido por nuestras iniquidades;
sobre él recayó el castigo, precio de nuestra paz,
y gracias a sus heridas fuimos sanados.
Jesus suffered hell on earth so that we may live.
He was pierced, he was crushed, he was punished, he suffered hell in our place so that we may live!
God carried out his just punishment for our sins upon his son Jesus Christ!
It is for this reason, that salvation is only found by calling upon the name of the Lod Jesus Christ for it is he that suffered in our place.
The reality of hell should:
Drive us to our knees praying for the salvation of our family.
Motivate us to stop living a double life and serve God with all sincerity lest we in the end be found to be false believers.
Motivate us to worship God for such a great salvation that we will not be condemned but have everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord.