Last week, we were looking at Revelation 21. I am just going to read the first verse. It says in Revelation 21:1:
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
We looked at this verse. It is kind of interesting and unusual that God emphasizes that there is “no more sea,” because He said:
…the first heaven and the first earth were passed away…
This would include the sea. It would include all of the oceans and everything else, because they are all part of this world. However, of all of the things that God could have emphasized, He emphasized the sea:
…there was no more sea.
Then we looked at the last couple of verses of Isaiah 57. We read in Isaiah 57:20-21:
But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
“The wicked are like the troubled sea” and the sea is “no more.” When God destroys Heaven and when He destroys earth, the “sea” is no more.
We have recently learned “time” in relation to the timeline of history that has led us to the date of May 21, 2011 being Judgment Day, and we have learned “judgment.” Once we finally learned the timeline, the next thing that we learned was judgment.
It is actually coming up on about three years since we started learning about this. It was in November of 2007 that Mr. Camping of Family Radio first began to teach about annihilation. I remember because we all huddled around and asked each other, “Is this possible? How could it be that there is no place called ‘hell’ and that God is not going to create a place called ‘hell’?” It just did not seem possible with all of the verses that we thought taught eternal damnation.
Yet, as we went along, we began to have our eyes opened wider and clearer, and so we began to understand many of these verses. Once we learned that the door shuts on May 21st, we began to understand that the verses that seemed to teach about a place called “hell” were actually referring to five months of torment.
For example, if we go to Luke 13:24, where it says:
Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
I will just quickly mention that this is never the case in this world. In this world, many seek to enter in the broad way; few there be that go the strait way.
But it says here:
Strive to enter in at the strait gate…
This is the narrow way. It continues:
…for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
Where are they? Where are all of these people who are seeking to enter in only through the way of the Bible and only through the Word of God? Today, there are many who go any and every other way, that broad way that leads to destruction. This is the typical way and the normal way. When are there going to be many who seek to enter in?
This will happen on May 21, 2011. On that day, it will be revealed. God will have taken His people up. At that point, the idols of those left behind will be cast “to the moles and to the bats.” At that point, they will want to obey God. At that point, they will want the narrow way; they will want that strait way, the truth that they have plentifully available right now in abundance.
But man in his pride and in his arrogance knows better than God, and so he just puts it off. Another day comes and another day comes and then another day. Before he knows it, it will be May 21st; it will be here. At that point, God will have proven this. At that point, man will be able to see this with his physical eyes and, therefore, he will believe it. At that point, he will know that this is true.
So on that day, he will seek to enter in, just like Esau. It was not until after the blessing was given to Jacob that Esau desperately wanted the blessing, “Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father.” This is what will be occurring on that day, because it will be too late. It will be too late then. God says regarding Judgment Day, “The mighty man shall cry there bitterly.”
This is the nature of man. It is always after the fact, after the judgment. This is like Israel after the spies gave the evil report. At that point, Israel did not want to go into the land. Once God pronounced His judgment on them and told them that they would have to wander in the wilderness for forty years, one year for each day that they searched out the land, it was then that Israel and the spies decided that they were willing to go into the land; it was then that they changed their minds. However, at that point, God told them that the door had been shut and that this opportunity was over. After they were told that they would have to wander in the wilderness, it was then that they tried to go into the land; but God was not with them. They were easily rejected by the inhabitants of the land, because they did not have the strength of God. This is the nature of man.
So Luke 13:24-28 says:
Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door…
Here, God is telling us exactly when many will seek to strive to enter in at the strait gate. It will be on May 21st, the day that the door shuts. It continues on to say:
…and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.
This is the point at which time there will be the “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” There will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” once the door is shut, but we understood this to refer to hell. This was what we believed would be happening in hell forevermore.
However, once we learned that on May 21st the door would be shut, then we saw that the “weeping and gnashing of teeth” would commence at this point in time. It would not be in a place called “hell,” except we could say that hell will be on earth for this period of five months. This would be a place where hell will exist, but God is not going to create a whole world called “hell.” He has no intention of doing this.
If we go to Psalm 104:35, it says:
Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more…
Revelation 21:1 said, “There was no more sea.” Isaiah 57:20 said, “The wicked are like the troubled sea.” Here it says, “Let the wicked be no more.” There will be “no more sea” because there is annihilation; there is total destruction.
Go to Psalm 37:9-10. It says:
For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon JEHOVAH, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.
In the Bible, we read of “the blackness of darkness for ever.” If you were going to describe nothing, nonexistence, how would you describe it? You would describe it as “the blackness of darkness for ever,” nothing. This is all that we can picture when we try to think of nothing. You close your eyes and it is all dark, or maybe you look into the dark night and you see nothing; and so God uses this to describe what He will do to all of the unsaved who are in the world. We had thought that there would be a place for this, but we were wrong and God has corrected us.
Let us go to 2 Peter 3 and we will look at one verse. 2 Peter 3:10 says:
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
In the past before we learned about annihilation, do you think that you ever believed in annihilation? There were a few who did teach and hold to this doctrine of the annihilation of the sinner. You can find their writings, but there were not many. Most people throughout the church age taught eternal damnation in a place called “hell.” But did you ever believe in annihilation? The answer is: yes, you did and so did I.
Before we learned about annihilation almost three years ago, we believed in the annihilation of this universe, did we not? We believed in the annihilation of this world. We believed in the annihilation of animals, of plants, of rocks and trees and grass and seas. We believed in the annihilation of everything that was in this creation, except one thing: man. This was the teaching all throughout the church age. This world would be annihilated. This whole creation would be destroyed.
I remember people being upset about this because their dog would cease to be. I remember calls into the “Open Forum” program on Family Radio where people would become upset when they learned that their dog was not going to Heaven. Mr. Camping would explain, “No, when your dog died, he ceased to be. That was it, he is no more. There is nothing left of your dog.”
It is kind of strange, is it not, that we believed that the only thing that would not be annihilated was man who was made in the image of God, the most honorable of God’s creatures, the highest of His creatures, the best of His creatures?
We thought that God would take this creature, man, and abuse him and torture him and destroy him forever and ever and ever and ever, while we rightly recognized that everything else would be annihilated. We correctly understood that everything in this world would be annihilated, and yet we were wrong about man. We were wrong about the nature of God and His goodness and His love and His kindness. He is not going to throw man into a place called “hell” forevermore.
Look again in the second part of 2 Peter 3:10, where it says:
…the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
The Greek word that was translated as “works” is ergon. It is a plural word: works. This is not referring to buildings. This is not referring to houses. This is not referring to man’s creative artwork or any of his architectural designs. This is not referring to any of these things. This word for “works,” ergon, is normally a word that is associated with spiritual things.
For instance, we read that “a man is not justified by the works of the law.” This is ergon. Or, “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform [or finish] it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
These “works” are not physical. They are on another level. In Galatians 5, God speaks about “the works of the flesh”: lust, envy, pride, etc. You cannot grab hold of these things. They are on a spiritual level.
If we go to 1 Corinthians 3, we find this word used there also. God likens His salvation plan to different things. On one hand, it is like a vineyard that is producing fruit and He likens Himself to a husbandman. On another hand, it is like the building up of a wall, like in Nehemiah, or it is like the building of a city where we are all “lively [living] stones.” This idea is found in 1 Corinthians 3:10-12, where we read:
According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
Is God really looking at building with these materials upon Christ, physically? No, we know that this is spiritually pointing to those who are true believers, typified by “gold, silver, precious stones” and those who are not true believers, the “wood, hay, stubble.” This is the work that is in view.
Then we read in verse 13, 1 Corinthians 3:13:
Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
2 Peter 3:10 speaks of fire: “the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up”; and here in 1st Corinthians 3, God is looking spiritually at people. He is looking at people. Some people turn out to be “gold, silver, precious stones,” which is a “good work” by Christ. Other people turn out to be “wood, hay, stubble,” and they are going to be burned up:
Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it…
On May 21, it will be revealed who the wheat is, who the tares are, who the sheep are, who the goats are, who the gold is, and who the hay is. This is definitely going to happen. We will know who Jacob is and who Esau is, who Cain is and who Abel is. Every man’s work will be revealed on that day. We are going to absolutely know 100%, because all of God’s people will go up and all of those who are not His will remain for the burning. The tares will be bundled for the fire.
So here, this day will “try every man’s work of what sort it is.” Then we read in 1 Corinthians 3:14-15:
If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
This is the same word ergon. This relates “work” with people who hear the Gospel and who either become saved or who remain unsaved. The Bible tells us, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” This is what this “work” is referring to.
If we look at 1 Corinthians 9:1, it says:
Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?
The Apostle Paul was a missionary to the Corinthians. Were they not his “work,” his ergon? These are the “works” that will be burned up along with the whole earth on October 21st of 2011.
Actually, what is going to happen to this world is going to happen to the people who are left in this world. We know that the world is going to be annihilated. We know that the universe is going to be annihilated and everything in it: the animals, the plants, the oceans. But what about the people? The people, the “works,” will also be burned up.
Go to Isaiah 51:6. It says:
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke…
This is what we read in Revelation 21:1. The heavens and the earth are passed away at that point, and then the new heaven and the new earth will be created. The heaven and the earth are passed away and there will be no more sea; and “the wicked are like the troubled sea.”
So Isaiah 51:6 is looking at this same day. It continues:
…for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner…
This says “in like manner.” So the heaven and the earth are being annihilated.
I do not know anyone who thinks that this earth is going to endure into eternity. It is not. The Bible clearly and obviously states that this world will be destroyed. The world will perish. The universe will perish. Man will perish. He will be cut off and be no more. The wicked will be no more. God says that in the very day in which a man dies, “his thoughts perish.” God also tells us that man is “like the beasts that perish.”
This is horrible because man is not a beast. He was made “in the image of God.” He was created to be the highest of God’s creation. It is an honorable thing to be made in God’s image; but honorable man will die like a frog or like an insect or like a dog or like a cat. The beast die and that is it; so, too, man.
Some people tend to be kind of bold since they have heard that there is no eternal damnation. They, therefore, think that they do not have to worry about anything. Their attitude is, “I can do five months standing on my head.”
Can they? This is going to be an awful time, just an awful time. I do not know anyone who would willingly want to burn his little finger, let alone be in an awful five months of torment. Who would want to willingly go into this and experience this?
Yet there is a way of escape for God’s people. We do not know who they are, but we do have time to go to Him before we perish.
Let us turn to Deuteronomy 25. You have probably heard Mr. Camping refer to the first three verses of Deuteronomy 25 recently. It says in Deuteronomy 25:1:
If there be a controversy between men…
This is speaking of a “controversy.” This word is also translated as “contention.” It is also translated as a “cause” or as a “suit,” like a lawsuit. It is most often translated as “strive,” as when men strive together, like when Lot’s herdmen strived with Abraham’s herdmen. It is a contention; there is a matter to be settled.
It is like the story of the two harlots. One of them overlaid her baby and her baby died, so she took the other woman’s baby and said that it was her own. They were both making claims that the baby was theirs. They went before Solomon and Solomon was to give judgment. After hearing the case, they both continued to claim that the baby was theirs; and so he called for a sword. They brought a sword and he told them to cut the baby in half. But the mother of the baby yearned for her child and asked that the baby not be killed but just be given to the other woman. A mother’s love would much prefer even for a wicked woman to have the baby than for the baby to be dead and destroyed. The other woman, however, was willing to have the baby cut in half. This proved the wisdom of Solomon. Of course, obviously, the other woman was the mother. If she was not, she should have been; because to be willing to have the baby cut in half was a horrible thing.
By the way, speaking of eternal damnation, it is a thousand times more horrible to desire that someone be in hell than it would be for that woman to have desired to have that baby be cut in half. This is an awful judgment and if this is an awful judgment, who would want babies and children who died as infants to spend an eternity in a place called “hell,” suffering forevermore? If so, then do not be too hard on the woman who wanted the baby cut in half. If you are desiring “hell,” this is far worse. It is greatly worse.
So Deuteronomy 25:1 says:
If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment…
This is the context. It is judgment. It continues:
…that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.
It is a matter of judgment to try to find out who is righteous and who is wicked.
If we look at Matthew 13:48-50, it says:
Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
So God is going to make a distinction between the just and the wicked at the very end on Judgment Day, and Deuteronomy is setting the context of judgment between the righteous and the wicked. The righteous are to be justified; the wicked are to be condemned.
It goes on to say in Deuteronomy 25:2-3:
And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number. Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.
This speaks of “forty stripes.” This is the Law of God, the Word of God. The whole Bible is a Law Book, and the Law says that in a matter of controversy where judgment is going to be made between the wicked and the righteous, stripes may be given to the wicked—but only forty. There cannot be forty-one or any number above forty.
The Jews understood this and took this literally. The Apostle Paul was hated by them. If the Jewish authorities would have wanted to beat anyone without limit, it would have been Paul. They whipped him fives times. In 2 Corinthians, Paul says, “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one”; that is, they gave thirty-nine because they did not want to accidentally go over the number forty. Fives times Paul was whipped by the Jewish authorities; and even though they desired greatly to keep whipping him, they had to refrain themselves because this was the Law. The Law of God set a limit on judgment. Therefore, someone cannot just continually, eternally, forevermore be beaten. This is not lawful and it is not legal in terms of the Bible.
Is God subject to His own Law? Yes. It says in Psalm 138:2:
…for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
God’s Word is the Law and it is magnified above all His name. He will not do anything contrary to the Bible. He cannot, else He would be breaking His own Law.
Even when Jesus needed to be a high priest in order to offer up Himself, He could not just say, “Alright; now I am a high priest and I am going to offer up Myself.” Since Jesus was of the tribe of Judah and not of the tribe of Levi, God was so careful and so particular that the Law be followed that He had to insert into history Melchizedek. It was not something that He just thought He would do or wanted to do; it was something that He had to do. He needed a high priest who was not after the order of Levi. Jesus could not be both of the tribe of Levi and of the tribe of Judah, and it was necessary for Him to be of the tribe of Judah. Therefore, for Him to legitimately be a priest, there had to be a Law.
Notice that we do not find this inserted into the Pentateuch, into the Ten Commandments or into the Law Book, as some people think of the first five books of the Law. God did not just insert this as a commandment, as a Law to be obeyed, but He inserted this into history, which proves that the whole Bible is a Law Book.
In Galatians 4, Paul raises the question, “Do ye not hear the law?” Then he goes on to recount how Abraham had two sons. He was recounting history and it was history from the book of Genesis. But the question was, “Do ye not hear the law?” This is because all of the Bible is the Law.
So God put Melchizedek into history, and this man was Christ making an appearance in history. The only time that Melchizedek shows up is in Genesis 14. He is just suddenly on the scene after Abraham and his servants do battle with the kings in the valley of the slime pits or the valley of salt. Abraham wins this great victory and rescues his nephew Lot. He goes and gets all of the people and all of the things out of Sodom and out of the cities of the plain, and then he gives tithes of all to Melchizedek, the King of Salem, who was Christ Himself, the King of Peace. Abraham pays tithes to Melchizedek, but God points out in Hebrews 7 that Levi was “out of the loins of Abraham.” This, therefore, demonstrated the greater priesthood of Melchizedek over Levi.
God did all of this just so Jesus could be legally a high priest to offer up Himself. This is how careful and meticulous it is for God to follow His own Law. He will not do anything contrary to His own Law.
So for someone to say that to not exceed forty stripes is just referring to one particular Law of Israel and that it has nothing to do with God’s judgment at the end and His wrath upon sinners is wrong. This is completely wrong.
Actually, the second mention of the word “stripes” in Deuteronomy 25:3, where we read:
…lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes…
This is also translated as “plague” in the Old Testament. It is not just the word “stripes”; it is also translated as “plague.” This is also like the New Testament word that is translated as “stripes” in Luke 12. The Greek word is plege (play-gay’). We can hear how similar this is to “plague.”
In Revelation 22:18, where we read:
…If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
They are subject to the “stripes” that are written herein.
This is the same word that is translated as “stripes” in Luke 12:48. Let us start in verse 42. We read in Luke 12:42-46:
And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him…
Or, it will catch him “as a thief.” It continues:
…and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
Many theologians relate this to the end and eternal damnation, but look at Luke 12:47-48:
And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
There will be stripes. There will be many stripes or there will be few stripes, but there will be stripes; and yet there is a limit on the number of stripes. There is a set boundary of forty, no more.
So we cannot say that God will throw someone into a place called “hell” and whip them and whip them and whip them. How many times could you whip someone into eternity? How many times must a person be whipped before you exceed the boundary of the Law of God?
God is using a figure of speech with the number forty, as far as relating this to His judgment. Of course, this does not mean that He is going to literally whip everyone with stripes. It is just that He has set a limit on judgment itself.
How can we understand that there will be some who will be beaten with more stripes and some who will be beaten with less stripes? Well, the “more” will get the forty stripes; they will get the max. But is it not true that a judge can also command that someone be beaten with twenty stripes or with thirty stripes? They are still being beaten with stripes, but they are not getting the maximum limit. When God relates those who knew their master’s will and prepared not, they are the ones who will get the “more” stripes. Those who did not know their master’s will, they will get the “less” stripes.
I think that we understand that we are being told and forewarned of our Master’s will. We know what is going to come. Therefore, if we know what is going to come but we do not prepare ourself, we are not ready, we are not saved. We are going to be left behind and we will get the maximum number of stripes. That is, when God raptures His people, when He takes His resurrected and raptured people into Heaven, all those left behind will be those who are getting many stripes and those who are getting few stripes; and yet they will all be getting stripes. Those that get the most will certainly be those who thought that they were going to be raptured, those who thought they were Christians.
Also, I do not think that it is going to be very pleasant for children, for family members, for people who have been hearing this and hearing this and hearing this for so long leading up to this day, because the torment certainly is going to be, “I was told and told and told in advance. I knew about this and I did not do one thing. I did not even try to read the Bible. I did not even try to go to God and to beseech Him for mercy. I just followed my friends. I just followed my own mind, actually.” Full responsibility falls on each individual, and so “I just did want I wanted to do. I did not listen and I did not believe it.”
Well, the merciful thing, the merciful thing is that it comes to an end. It comes to an end. The fives months will end and then that is it. There will be no more sea, no more wicked. There will be no more creation. This creation will be gone and God will recreate a new heaven and a new earth.
This is something to be thankful for. We feel grief for our family members and friends and neighbors and co-workers. We know many of these people who are going to experience these five months of torment. But can you imagine the burden if we thought that this was forever? Can you imagine how you would feel if God in His mercy had not revealed to us how good He is and that He is going to destroy man, that it is not forever? It is not forever into eternity, and this is a very real comfort to each child of God.
Let us stop here.