Truth Magazine

By Jim McDonald

Among the many blessings of eternal nature that faithful Christians expect to receive is to be in God’s presence. While we know not yet what we shall be, -we know that, if he shall be manifested, we shall be like him, for we shall see him, even as he is” (1 Jn. 3:2). Such a passage as this doubtlessly inspired the words of the familiar hymn: “Face to face with Christ my Savior, face to face, what will it be?” God has promised that there we will dwell in his presence and that he and the Lamb will be our eternal light (Rev. 21:23).

Such promises are pregnant with comfort! Paul believed that to depart and “be with Christ” was far better for him than to dwell in his uncertain, troubled state (Phil. 1:23). When he wrote to strengthen the Thessalonians, because some had had loved ones to die, the assurance he gave them was that when Jesus comes: “. . . the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we that are alive, that are left shall together with them be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16-17). Jesus sought to assuage his Apostles’ sorrow by assuring them that although he was going away, it was but to prepare a place for them: he would come again to receive them unto himself that where he was, there they might be also (Jn. 14:1-3). Such a hope was not intended exclusively for the Apostles: Paul said that his hope of the crown of righteousness would be equally realized by “all them that have loved his appearing (2 Tim. 4:8).

Who can comprehend what it will mean to be in the presence of God? Such is as incomprehensible as is the watchful, providential care God extends to us in this present life. The Psalmist said: “Such knowledge is too high for me, I cannot attain unto it” (Psa. 139:6). The Christian is confident that God’s caring, attentive eye is on him even now for his eye is on the sparrow, he clothes the lilies of the field: surely he cares; he sees and supplies the needs of his children! We demonstrate littleness of faith when we forget these things (Matt. 6:30). David viewed God as his Shepherd, furnishing his needs, protecting him from danger, watching as he slept: ready to guide him through death’s dark passageway (Psa. 23). With such refreshing hope and blessings arising like water from a spring, David was prompted to exclaim: “My cup runneth over” (v. 7). Christians draw comfort that even now we “dwell” in his presence and in David’s anguished, penitential prayer he earnestly besought God, “Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy Spirit from me” (Psa. 51:11).

But to dwell in God’s eternal presence! Ah, like the eternal character of God we cannot fathom such: such a mixture of thoughts and emotions would surely rush through our soul; our whole being! Awe, fear, wonder, joy and peace all because we will be home, no longer strangers and pilgrims! Earth’s struggles, sacrifices, persecutions, disappointments with self and others; tears, doubts: we can cast all these aside with Paul as “light, momentary afflictions”(2 Cor. 4:17). We will join Abraham and others of his faith in the city they (we) sought, a city without foundation, whose builder and maker is God. Above all, God, our eternal, loving Father, will be there! “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and he shall dwell in them and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them and be their God: and he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more” (Rev. 22:3-4). To be in God’s eternal presence might be somewhat similar to the comfort a sick child draws from mother’s presence at his bedside; the frightened child’s assurance by his father’s presence in a darkened bedroom; to the bridegroom as he sees his beloved make her way to him down the aisle; to the college student turning in the drive way to see her parents standing at the door to meet her; to the parents when all their brood: children and grandchildren, sit down at a table laden with the bounties of life, hold hands and give thanks: all this and more. Truly: “in thy presence is fullness of joy” (Psa. 16:11). Fulness of joy: every happy, joyful expectation realized in God’s presence!

What utter emptiness, loneliness and despair then must sweep upon the faithless when that awful sentence is sounded: “Depart from me, ye accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 15:41). To depart from Christ will mean banishment from his presence: a warning uttered by Paul who wrote that Jesus would render “vengeance to them that know not God and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus: who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thess. 1:7-9). All attendant joys to be experienced by the faithful will be unrealized by the faithless: forebodings, like mountains, will weigh down upon them in their wretched state.

Banished from his presence, banished from his care. We may be oblivious to God’s care now much as was Israel in Isaiah’s day (1:3). Still, whether we are thankful or unthankful; conscious or unconscious, God’s care is there sustaining, filling our lives richly with blessings. But that care will be removed in hell: we will suffer for our own devices, removed from the care we knew on earth.

Banished from his presence, not allowed to sing the new song; the song of Moses and the Lamb; the song of redemption: never privileged to blend our voices with earth’s redeemed ones for such a song I could not sing: I rejectea that redemption offered me by the Savior.

Banished from his presence, never again to cast our petitions into his ears whom once we knew would both hear and answer: the only response we could expect to receive will be silence; broken silence by shrieks and piercing wails of others who share the same fate as we: we rejected his call, there he will reject our calls.

Banished from his presence, no strength for my anguished state. No hope for future betterment, no relief from pain, no release ever from the state I chose for myself by rejecting the gospel and tasting for a little while, the pleasures of sin.

Divorce all punishment inflicted unon us in hell from simple banishment from his presence and the latter would be anguish overwhelming! God forbid that such ever be our plight! Oh, brother, sister: let us live and serve God; let us serve and help each other; let us so live, labor and love that never do we hear these tragic, fateful words: “Depart from me!”

Guardian of Truth XXXV: 19, pp. 586-587
October 3, 1991

By Tom O’Neal

Everyone believes in hell; no one at his funeral wants the preacher to indicate he went to hell, nor does the family of any deceased want the preacher to preach their love one there.

However, there are many people who deny the reality of hell. They think God is too good to send people to hell, that people don’t do enough bad to be sent to a place of punishment and that the place called hell in the Bible is only a figment of man’s fertile imagination.

Survey on Hell

When I was a young preacher there was a survey made concerning hell. George H. Betts surveyed 700 preachers and 200 theological students to find only 53 percent believed in hell. Those theological students are filling pulpits today! Of 1,309 ministers and students in five theological seminaries, 53 percent of the preachers and I percent of the students believed in hell. Of 100 theological students surveyed only 29 percent believed in hell. The late Episcopal bishop, James A. Pike said hell was a “myth.” (All information in this paragraph from Redbook Magazine, August, 1961.)

The Jehovah Witnesses think hell is the grave. “Hell, sheol and hades means mankind’s common grave” (Let God Be True, p. 99). “Hell means the grave” (Where Are The Dead? by J.F. Rutherford, p. 21).

We should weep as we read the words of the former preacher for the Broadway Church in Lubbock, Texas, and former President of Pepperdine University in California when he said, “A man can stand many stresses from within if he has harmony within his soul. For years I have lived with a developing pressure because of my intellectual conflict with the fundamentalistic dogmas and doctrines of the Church of Christ. For years, it has been increasingly difficult for me to accept the simplistic assumptions of the hellfire and brimstone fundamentalists which most preachers in this church teach” (Los Angeles Times, January 28, 1976, pp. 1,24,26).

Among us we should not forget Ed Fudge who departed the faith a few years back and wrote a book that denies the Bible teaching on hell.

U.S. News Article

The March 25, 1991 issue of U.S. News and World Report devoted several pages to the subject of hell. Some statements from this article are significant.

(1) “By most accounts it (hell, TGO) has all but disappeared from the pulpit rhetoric of mainline Protestantism” (p. 56).

(2) Kenneth S. Kantzer, a former Christianity Today editor confessed “he hadn’t preached a sermon on hell in more than three decades” (p. 56).

(3) Martin Marty, University of Chicago professor said, “Hell has disappeared and no one noticed. . . If people really believed in hell, they wouldn’t be watching basketball or even the TV preachers. They’d be out rescuing people” (p. 56).

(4) C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying, “Hell was not made for men” (p. 60).

(5) Mary Kraus, pastor of Dumbarton Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. said, “My congregation would be stunned to hear a sermon on hell” (p. 60).

(6) John D. Crossan of Chicago’s DePaul University said, “Once we discovered we could create hell on earth it became silly to talk about it in a literal sense” (p. 60).

(7) Avery Dulles, professor of theology at Fordham University in New York said, “It’s quite possible that no one will really go there” (p. 60).

(8) “In modern Judaism, the idea of a literal hell has been widely rejected since the 18th century Moses Mendelssohn, an influential German philosopher, propounded the idea that eternal punishment is inconsistent with God’s mercy” (p. 63).

In response to the above, letters were published in the April 8, 1991 issue. In one letter, one said they had “given very little thought to hell” and a preacher said “a burning everlasting hell has no redemptive purpose at all” (p. 8).

Christ and Universalism

Universalism teaches all will be saved, none will be lost in hell. However, this is not what Jesus Christ, the Son of God, said. One can not deny hell and be a Christian, a follower of Christ. He taught (1) there is such a place and, (2) people will go there.

The King James Version translates the Greek words hades, gehenna and tartaroo with the one word – “hell.” The American Standard Version makes a distinction in the uses of these words.

(1) Hades. In Matthew 11:23; 16:18; Luke 10:15 and 16:23 the King James says “hell” while the American Standard says “hades.”

In Acts 2:27 and 31 the King James Version says Christ went to “hell” while the American Standard Version says “hades.”

In Revelation the word is used four times (1:18; 6:8; 20:13,14) and is translated “hell” by the King James and “hades” by the American Standard.

Of hades, Vine says “signifying all-receiving” (v. 2, p. 187) and Thayer says “the nether world, the realm of the dead . . . the common receptacle of disembodied spirit” (p. 11).

From Luke 16:19-31 we learn of two men in hades, yet the beggar was in “Abraham’s bosom” (v. 22) where he was “comforted” but the rich man was in “torments” (vv. 23,25). In hades separating these two was “a great gulf fixed” (v. 26). Abraham’s bosom is the same as “paradise” (Lk. 23:43).

(2) Tartarus. The place in hades where people are “tormented in this flame” is called “torments” or “tartarus” (2 Pet. 2:4).

(3) Gehenna. This is the word translated hell twelve times in both the King James and American Standard Versions. Eleven of those times it is used by the Lord. See Matthew 5:22,29,30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15,33; Mark 9:43,45,47 and Luke 12:5 for the Lord’s usage and then James 3:6 for the one other usage in the New Testament.

Jesus Speaks of Hell

Jesus said “hell fire,” people will be “cast into hell,” that people can be a “child of hell,” that people will receive the “damnation of hell” and that the fire of hell “shall never be quenched.”

Jesus said, “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me” (Jn. 7:16); “the truth, which I have heard of God” (Jn. 8:40); “I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him” (Jn. 8:26); “as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things (Jn. 8:28). “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak . . . . Whatsoever I speak therefore even as the Father said unto me, so I speak” (Jn. 12:49-50).

Jesus further said, “Whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that went me” (Mk. 9:37).

Therefore, when one rejects the teachings of Christ about the place he called hell, one also rejects the voice of God, his Father in heaven.

In the hereafter there are only two places all men will spend eternity – heaven or hell. Which will it be for you . . . and me?

Guardian of Truth XXXV: 19, pp. 580-581
October 3, 1991

By Edgar J. Dye

God’s vengeance is affirmed in the Scriptures as a fact of the past (Jer. 5:1-9; 2 Pet. 2:4-6; Jude 5-7), as a present reality (Rom. 13:1-5; 1 Pet. 2:13,14; Jude 6), as a future possibility (Matt. 25:31-46; Rom. 2:1-11; Heb. 2:1-3; 10:28-30; Rev. 20:10-15; 21:8), and always as something which belongs only to him (Deut. 32:35; Psa. 94:1; Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30), which has been, is, and will be executed by him according to his will.

Defined

Vengeance is defined by Thayer, 194, as “to avenge one’s blood on or at the hand” (Rev. 6:10; 19:2); “a revenging; punishment” (Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30; Deut. 32:35); “the punishment of one” (1 Pet. 2:14) “. . . render vengeance on one” (2 Th. 1:8). Vine (I, 90), says it is used “in 1 Th. 4:6, of God as the Avenger of the one who wrongs his brother, here particularly in the matter of adultery.” Take note that vengeance is not the same as revenge or that which men delight in when they have received some injury at the hands of their fellow-men, and hence is never right, but ever condemned by God Almighty.

Vindicated

God’s vengeance is vindicated as being holy and righteous in its character which is in harmony with his infinitely holy and righteous nature. God’s vengeance proceeds “out of justice,” not, as often with human vengeance, out of a sense of revenge for injury or merely out of a feeling of indignation. For Divine judgments are holy, “true and righteous” (Rev. 16:7), and absolutely free from many element of self-gratification or vindictiveness by way of taking revenge in the exercise of it.

In Romans 3:5,6 Paul’s treatment of the reasonableness and righteousness of the question of God’s vengeance is concise and conclusive in recognition of its belonging to God’s justice in dealing with men in sin and disobedience to his holy will. He also reminds us of the righteousness of it in 2 Thessalonians 1:6 by declaring that “it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you” (or to the troublers), just as it is a righteous act of God to recompense “to you who are troubled rest.” This tribulation is further identified in vv. 8,9, 10 as the Lord “in flaming fire taking vengeance on them,” and as a punishment “with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power,” “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels . . . when he shall come to be glorified in the saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in that day” (cf. Rom. 2:5-11).

Thus Divine vengeance is the avenging of sin, which is essential to upholding divine justice in righteousness. As just Judge of the world, God must avenge transgressors of Divine law.

God is declared to be a God of “goodness and severity,” a holy, righteous and just Being who blesses the faithful with “life eternal,” while at the same time he will punish the unbeliever and evil doer with “everlasting punishment” (Rom. 11:26; Matt. 25:46; Rom. 1:18-20; Col. 3:1-6,23,24; Rev. 21:8).

Vengeance to our minds has a tendency to convey a meaning which makes it unsuitable for application to God. Men often find it very difficult to separate personal feeling and unrestrained passion from it. Perhaps studying about the family avenger of Numbers 35, the revenger of blood, will help men understand divine vengeance. That family revenger took vengeance; but he imported no personal feeling into his vindication of outraged family sanctities. Vengeance was the solemn duty of his position, office and relation.

Remember, God is not only the lover of holiness but the hater of all sin (Prov. 6:16-19). With all the fervor of his infinite love and the majesty of his unlimited power he approves and rewards holy and righteous activity, Also, with all the fervor of his justice and severity he disapproves and abhors all evil and in justice takes vengeance on it.

Past Examples

Jeremiah 5:1-9 reveals Jerusalem as a profligate people ripe for God’s vengeance as a past example illustrating the reality of it. For since no upright or godly person could be found there (vv. 1,2); since all were spiritually incorrigible (v. 3); since all were insolently impious (vv. 4,5); since there was no ground for pardon or pity in their case (vv. 7,8); and since all this necessitated direct punishment and destruction, God’s vengeance would fall upon them (vv. 6,9).

Jude offers three examples of God’s vengeance. The first (v. 5) is that of the unbelieving Israelites in the wilderness. He reminds them of how God dealt first in mercy, “how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt,” then he dealt with them in judgment taking vengeance on them, for “afterward he destroyed them that believed not.” His vengeance overtook them by means of plague, fire, serpents, earthquake and sword, with all except those twenty years old and under being destroyed in the wilderness. The second example (v. 6) is the case of the fallen angels. The existence of evil angels is elsewhere expressly asserted, being spoken of as “angels that sinned” (2 Pet. 2:4), as devils “who enter(ed) into men” during the personal ministry of Christ (Lk. 8:30), and as beings to be judged by the saints (1 Cor. 6:3). Because they revolted and defected from God or “kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation,” they have been “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” Thus there is a present vengeance of God in that they are “kept” – presently “kept in everlasting bonds under darkness.” And there is a future vengeance because they are presently kept “unto the judgment of the great day.” The third example (v. 7) of God’s vengeance is the case of the cities of “Sodom and Gomorrah . . . suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” because of “giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh,” and have been “set forth for an example” to all – including you and me – of God’s hatred of sin, to express his desire to prevent our ruin (cf. Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11), and to warn of the inexcusableness of all who sin in the face of such examples.

Peter (2 Pet. 2:5) adds to this number the case of the ungodly world of Noah’s day who suffered God’s vengeance in being destroyed by the flood (cf. Gen. 6-8). Additionally, there are many other examples of God’s vengeance: Leviticus 10:1,2; Numbers 11:1-3; 16; Joshua 7. Let us be grateful to God for such timely warnings against sin!

Present Warnings

Romans 13:1-5 and I Peter 2:13,14 teach that civil rulers of our day bear from God a certain delegated power to punish present-day public offences – to “avenge” evil; they are sent of God “for vengeance on evildoers.”

Romans 2:6,8,9; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10; Hebrews 10:24-31; 12:28-29; and Revelation 21:8 all contain solemn warnings that God’s vengeance in Divine justice will be recompensed to those who “know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,” “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance.” That is, at his second personal coming.

There will be no escape from it as punishment for sin, so say Proverbs 11:21; Matthew 10:28; 23:33; Romans 2:3; Colossians 3:25; Hebrews 2:1-3; 12:25. Divine vengeance is most assuredly in store for all transgressors of divine law who die in their sins. Furthermore, it will be eternal punishment in hell, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels (Dan. 12:2; Matt. 10:28; 18:8,9; 25:41; Mk. 9:44-46; Rev. 14:10; 20:10).

Concluding Thoughts

Divine vengeance is never inflicted without ample warning, for God wants all to be saved (I Tim. 2:3-6; 2 Pet. 3:9-15). It is based on the highest and holiest principles of justice and equity consistent with the very nature of God. But God’s vengeance in the final judgment at the last day through Jesus Christ, his Son, will be a terrible awakening to the impenitent wicked.

The Scriptures reveal the fact of God’s vengeance in the past and present. They issue solemn warnings of it in the future at the final judgment which reminds us of the certainty of it, the nature of it, the time of it, the duration of it and the terribleness of it.

But thanks be to God’s grace, love and mercy there is a divine plan whereby all men can escape the experience of it: His scheme of human redemption through the blood of his Son by means of the gospel of Christ, revealed in Scripture in terms simple and plain enough for all to understand, believe and obey and thus be saved eternally by grace through faith.

Guardian of Truth XXXV: 19, pp. 590-591
October 3, 1991

By Ron Halbrook

Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire (Jude 7).

Jude plainly says that Sodom and Gomorrah are a sign or symbol of eternal fire. How did these cities come to represent the horrible fate of eternal torment? How is this symbol used in God’s Word?

How Sodom and Gomorrah Became A Symbol

The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah were the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham, the son of Noah (Gen. 10:6-20, v. 19). Abraham lived about 1800 B.C. and descended from Noah’s son Shem. The journeys of Abraham carried him from Ur to Haran, to Bethel in Palestine, to Egypt, and back to Bethel. In this vicinity, Abraham and Lot, his nephew, prospered with their flocks and herds until it seemed necessary to separate. Bethel is twelve miles north of Jerusalem. Looking toward the east from the higher ground of Bethel, one could see Sodom and Gomorrah in the plain of Jordan. The whole region was well watered, “as the garden of the Lord” (Gen. 13:10). Lot moved into this region, “but the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly” (v.13).

Sodom and Gomorrah were located near and confederate with three other cities (Admah, Zeboim, and Bela also called Zoar), all in the vicinity of “the vale of Siddim,” which Moses said many years later “is the salt sea” (Gen. 14:1-3). King Chedorlaomer of Elam conquered these five cities. When they rebelled against him later, he raided them and took many spoils of war and many captives, including Lot. When Abraham heard of this, he led 318 of his men in pursuit of Chedorlaomer, caught up with him at Dan, and rescued all the possessions and people which had been taken (Gen. 14:1-16).

When Abraham returned, he was met by the King of Sodom and his allies, and by Melchizedek, who was both the “king of Salem” and “the priest of the most high God.”

In the presence of these kings, Melchizedek blessed Abram in the name of “the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies unto thy hand.” Abram gave to this king and priest “tithes of all” things in his possession, i.e., God was honored with a portion of the booty recovered. Abraham refused to accept from the king of Sodom “a thread even to a shoe latchet” lest the king should say, “I have made Abram rich” (Gen. 14:17-24).

In spite of the exceeding wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah, through Abraham and Melchizedek God manifested himself, extended his patience, and provided an opportunity for these cities to repent.

God sent angels in the form of men as messengers to Abraham, declaring his intention to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah “because their sin is very great.” No doubt thinking of Lot, Abraham pled for God to spare Sodom if only fifty righteous souls could be found in it. Then he went down to forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty, and ten! God agreed to spare the city each time but, alas, not even ten could be found (Gen. 18:16-33). Think of it! Out of all the cities of the plain, ten righteous people could not be found!

As recorded in Genesis 19, God sent the messengers to warn Lot in Sodom to escape for his life. Lot graciously received them, but the men of the city demanded Lot to relinquish his visitors to them for the purpose of abusing them in homosexual practices. The Sodomites were so perverted that they violently beat upon Lot’s door, threatened him, and then persisted in their demands even after the Lord struck them blind! Lot, his wife, and his two daughters believed the angels’ warning that they had come to destroy Sodom, but “he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law” (v. 14). Lot, his daughters, and his wife dreaded to leave their friends and loved ones behind when the time came, but the messengers persuaded them and literally pulled them by their hands to lead them out, “the Lord being merciful to him” (v.16).

The angels granted Lot’s request to spare the little town of Zoar, to which he fled. As he fled, his wife violated the angels’ command that no one look back, “and she became a pillar of salt” (v.26).

Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground (Gen. 19:24-25).

We can only imagine what went through Abraham’s mind when he looked off into the distance “toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace” (v.28).

From that day until this day, Sodom and Gomorrah have symbolized God’s fierce hatred of all immorality, especially the sin of homosexuality, and the horrible ruin brought upon the sinner by God’s wrath. The grave of Sodom and Gomorrah is not covered with fertile soil bearing grass, forests, and crops like other cities of antiquity. No, its grave is covered by the Salt Sea, the Dead Sea. This sea is not noted for delicious fish, nor its shore for beautiful flowers. Where there was once a veritable garden of the Lord and a thriving population, now “there are great quantities of salt, with deposits of bitumen, sulphur, and nitre on the shores of the Dead Sea.” This depressing depression “has the earth’s lowest surface, 1290 feet below sea level,” and its “water’s depth attains 1300 feet.” The Dead Sea’s “salt concentration reaches 25 percent, four times that of ocean water. Magnesium bromide prevents organic life; the climate is arid, and the heat extreme” (see “Gomorrah” and “Dead Sea” in The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary, 1963).

The Symbol in the Old Testament

God has utilized this symbol of his wrath over and over throughout the history of the world. Moses lived about 1400 B.C., 400 years after Sodom was destroyed. Through Moses God warned the Israelites that if they turned their backs on him, the heat of his great anger would turn their land into another Sodom and Gomorrah:

And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath (Deut. 29:23).

In such a time, it would be said of God’s people, “For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah” (32:32).

Amos prophesied in the mid-700s B.C. concerning the sins and approaching judgment of Israel. God had chastised Israel in several ways, such as by destroying some of its cities through wars or natural calamities. “I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning.” Israel must “prepare to meet thy God” for a final judgment (Amos 4:11-12).

About 750 B.C., Isaiah sorrowed over the apostasy of Judah, and said that the Lord had “a very small remnant” left who served him, lest “we should have been as Sodom” and Gomorrah (Isa. 1:9). Isaiah then compared the brazen wickedness of both the people and the rulers of Judah to the shameless conduct of Sodom and Gomorrah (Isa. 1:10; 3:9). Though God would eventually use Babylon to punish his own people, he would then punish Babylon for its pride and excessive violence “as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah” (Isa. 13:19). Sodom represents brazen evil followed by the judgment of God from which none can escape.

The prophecies of Zephaniah (about 630-625 B.C.) foretell God’s universal judgments against many nations, including his own people. Turning his attention to the east, the Lord declared, “Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation” (Zeph. 2:9). Sodom and Gomorrah represent the horrible punishment brought about by sin, however God may execute his judgments.

During the late 600s and early 500s B.C., when Judah was collapsing and going into Babylonian captivity, Jeremiah said her prophets committed immorality, walked in lies, and caused the people to persist in sin. Such prophets are like Sodom, and the people like Gomorrah (Jer. 23:14). The sin and punishment of Jerusalem are said to be so shocking as to be greater than that of Sodom, which was overthrown “in a moment” without the hands of men (Lam. 4:6). Thus, Sodom symbolizes sudden and divine punishment. God likens his judgments against Edom and against Babylon to the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah: “no man shall abide there” (Jer. 49:18; 50:40). Thus, Sodom symbolizes utter ruin and desolation.

Ezekiel prophesied as Judah went into Babylonian captivity. He emphasized the shame of Judah’s sins by saying she was the sister of Samaria and of Sodom, but her sins were worse than theirs (Ezek. 16:44-59). Judah exceeded “the iniquity of thy sister Sodom” in such sins as pride, materialism, idleness, and abuse of the poor. Such sinful attitudes and conduct led to the “abomination” for which Sodom was finally destroyed (vv. 49-50). Sodom reminds us that such sins always lead downward to destruction.

The Symbol in the New Testament

Jesus taught that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was a literal, historical event, not a myth, parable, fable, or fairy tale. When Jesus stressed the importance of being watchful and prepared for God to exercise judgment, he referred to the historical events of “the days of Noah” and of “the days of Lot.”

Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all (Lk. 17:28-29).

Then, he added, “Remember Lot’s wife” (v. 32). Jesus referred to the destruction of Sodom on a specific day (“the same day that Lot went out of Sodom”), by a specific means (“it rained fire and brimstone from heaven”), and with a specific result (“destroyed them all”). Jesus used Sodom to reinforce the lesson that men must take seriously God’s warning of judgment.

When Jesus sent his disciples out on the limited commission, he said of those people who refused God’s Word, “Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city” (Matt. 10:15; cf. Mk. 6:11; Lk. 10:12). Jesus made the same statement concerning cities which heard his teaching, saw many “mighty works” which confirmed the truth of his teaching, and still “repented not.” Capernaum would be brought down from its exalted position to the suffering of the wicked in hades, just as Sodom was (Matt. 11:20-24).

Sodom had heard the truth, and seen it confirmed through Abraham and Melchizedek. This opportunity should have brought Sodom to repentance, but they hardened their hearts against it. The people of Capernaum had heard the truth, had seen it confirmed by Jesus Christ himself, and yet had hardened their hearts. In rejecting the fuller revelation and greater blessings of the gospel, they made themselves worse than Sodom. Such comparisons were designed to impress the people with the shame and disgrace of their sins, and with the certainty of God’s judgment against them.

Notice that Jesus taught that the people of Sodom were not annihilated. They are in hades, awaiting the final judgment. They will be raised from the dead to give an account of themselves “in the day of judgment.” The people of Capernaum and all other people will be there. When Jesus says, “It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city,” he does not mean that the Sodomites will be excused and exonerated, nor that hell will be cooler or shorter in duration for them than for others. Sodom is symbolic of the certainty of God’s wrath against sin, and of the utter and awful punishment brought about by sin.

Sodom is the preeminent example of God’s wrath. To say that someone’s sins are worse than Sodom’s, or that it will be “more tolerable” for Sodom, does not make Sodom’s punishment any less certain or severe. It simply underscores the absolute certainty and awful severity of the punishment promised in the comparison!

Jesus came to warn of judgment to come, but also to save us from it. He told his Apostles to preach salvation from sin and eternal torment:

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned (Mk. 16:15-16).

“He that believeth not shall be damned” means that hell is real. When Jesus comes again, he will judge the world and deliver his people (Acts 17:31; 2 Thess. 1:7-9).

When Jude warned against the subtle and corrupt influence of apostates and their doctrines, he also warned that they lead men to destruction in the day of judgment. He underscored the certainty and the severity of divine judgment with three examples: the Jews “that believed not” during the wilderness wanderings, the angels who fell and who are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day,” and finally Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 4-7).

Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire (v. 7).

Following a similar pattern which points to Sodom as the preeminent example, Peter warned against false teachers and the judgment to come by pointing to three examples: the angels, Noah’s generation, and finally Sodom and Gomorrah (2 Pet. 2:1-8).

And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly (v. 6).

When God rained “brimstone and fire” upon Sodom, He literally turned the city “into ashes” (Gen. 19:24; 2 Pet. 2:6). He did it in such a fashion as to demonstrate that this fire came from God, not from man. Whether men like it or not, God destroyed Sodom in such a way as to memorialize for all time his hatred of immorality, especially homosexuality. Furthermore, he sent such a horrible, unrelenting, unquenchable fire as to necessarily imply “the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 7). The fire of God’s anger pursued the Sodomites on earth, still torments them in hades, and will punish them throughout all eternity.

The spirit of Sodom is still alive, but is doomed to defeat. In establishing the church, God sent out men to reveal the gospel and to spread it throughout the world. In an effort to destroy the church, Satan killed many of these faithful witnesses to the truth of the gospel. John pictured the scene of this slaughter in these words: “and their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified” (Rev. 11: 8). The city which serves Satan is immoral and obstinate like Sodom, binds people in sin as Egypt bound the Jews, and rejects the truth and its author. The witnesses and the cause of truth were raised. Christ conquered his enemies, and the city fell. The last book of the Bible reminds us of the symbol given in the first book. The spirit of Sodom is doomed to utter and eternal defeat.

Whether the lusts of Sodom attract us, or its wickedness afflicts us, let us remember that it is “set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 7). It is the sign and symbol of eternal torment!

(For further study, see Halbrook, “Eternal Punishment,” The Doctrine of Last Things: Florida College Annual Lectures, 1986, pp. 114-137.)

Guardian of Truth XXXV: 19, pp. 594-596
October 3, 1991