I know it is Titled the "Doctrine of Hades", but forget that as it answers U Q. right away & provides good support Info too! Enjoy! John
DOCTRINE OF HADES OR SHEOL
A. Definition and Etymology.
1. The Hebrew word SHEOL originally meant in post-Biblical
Hebrew the deep parts of the sea. But both Sheol and the Greek
word Hades are used to refer to anything that is subterranean and
large. Therefore, they are used for the vast subterranean place
of the departed dead of the human race and the abode of certain
fallen angels.
2. Both Sheol and Hades are mistranslated "hell" which adds
to the confusion.
3. HADES is used from classical times and before for the
underworld and the realm of the dead.
4. Sheol is sometimes used for the grave, as in Gen 37:35,
42:38; 1 Sam 2:6 and other passages.
5. The dying are said to go to Sheol, which is not the
grave, but to the underpart of the earth. This is a reference to
the soul, Num 16:30; Ezek 31:15, 17.
6. Prior to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, all human
dead went to Sheol or Hades where two compartments were designed
to receive them. Old Testament believers went to Paradise or
Abraham's Bosom. Unbelievers went to Torments.
7. Those who are believers in the Old Testament are said to
be delivered into the power of Sheol, Hos 13:14; Ps 49:16.
8. However, since the resurrection of Christ, Old Testament
believers have all been transferred to the third heaven as a part
of the triumphal procession.
THE HADES CHART
_____________________________________________________________
| PARADISE |
|(for Old Testament believers only; empty since the resurrection
of Christ)|
|_____________________________________________________________
| A GREAT GULF FIXED
|
|_____________________________________________________________
| TORMENTS
|
| All unbelievers who await the Great White Throne judgment, then
are cast | | into the lake of fire. It is a place of fire.
Unbelievers resurrected | | from here in the second
resurrection. |
|____________________________________________________________
| TARTARUS
|
| The prison for the fallen angels of Gen 6, 1 Pet 3 and Jude 6.
|
|_____________________________________________________________
THE ABYSS
|
| Criminal angels are held here until the middle of the
Tribulation. |
| Abaddon, the toughest of all fallen angels next to Satan, is
here. |
|__________________________________________________________
B. The Resurrection of the Soul of Jesus Christ from Hades.
1. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, two categories of
divine power were used.
a. The omnipotence of God the Father sent His human
spirit in heaven back to His body in the grave. Thus the Father
became an agent in the resurrection, Acts 2:24; Rom 6:4; Eph
1:20; Col 2:12; 1 Thes 1:10; 1 Pet 1:21.
b. The omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit sent His
soul from Hades back to His body in the grave. Thus the Holy
Spirit became an agent in the resurrection, Rom 1:4, 8:11; 1 Pet
3:16.
2. The principle is that the power that raised Jesus Christ
from the dead is now available to every Church Age believer as a
member of the royal family of God. Eph 1:19-20, "And what is the
surpassing greatness of His power to us who have believed for the
working of His superior power, which [superior power] He [God the
Father] put into operation [made operational] by means of Christ
when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right
hand in heavenly places."
3. The same omnipotence of God will raise the Church Age
believer at the Rapture of the Church. 1 Cor 6:14, "Now God has
not only raised the Lord, but He will also raise us through His
power."
a. If our soul and spirit are already in heaven, God
the Father will provide our resurrection body.
b. If we are alive as a part of the Rapture generation
on earth, God the Holy Spirit will provide our resurrection
body.
C. Scriptural Documentation for Sheol or Hades.
1. Eph 4:9, "(Now this doctrine that ascended, what does it
imply, except that He also went down into the lower regions
[Sheol or Hades] of the earth?"
2. Job 11:7, "Can you discover the depths of God? Can you
discover the limits of the Almighty? It is as high as the
heavens; what can you do? Deeper than Sheol; what can you know?"
In other words, Sheol is used here for the location of all Old
Testament believers.
3. Isa 14:9, "Sheol from beneath is excited over you to
meet you when you come."
4. 1 Sam 2:6, "The Lord kills; the Lord makes alive. He
brings down to Sheol and He raises up."
D. The Four Compartments of Sheol or Hades.
1. Paradise is where the Old Testament believers resided
after death before the resurrection of our Lord.
2. Torments is where all unbelievers reside, Lk 16:23.
3. Tartarus is where certain fallen angels, called BENI HA
ELOHIM in Gen 6, reside.
4. The Abyss contains demons who transgress the boundaries
of the human race.
a. The Abyss is the location of the demon king,
Satan's right hand man, called Abaddon. He will have quite a
future in the Tribulation. Abaddon is mentioned once in the New
Testament and nine times in the Old Testament. In Rev 9, he
breaks out of this jail with the help of Satan who has now been
cast out of heaven and can never return there again.
b. Demons who indwelt a man asked our Lord not to send
them to the Abyss.
E. Paradise or Abraham's Bosom.
1. Paradise or Abraham's Bosom is a part of Sheol or Hades
where all the Old Testament believers went immediately after
death. Once departed from the body, their soul and spirit went
to Paradise.
2. David wrote a thanksgiving psalm regarding his
deliverance from death. In Ps 116, he states that had he died,
his soul would have gone to Sheol.
a. Ps 116:1, "I love the Lord because He hears my
voice and my supplications." God in His grace spared David, who
should have died.
b. Ps 116:2, "Because He has turned His ear to me, I
will call on Him as long as I live." This states briefly that
his prayer has been answered. He is grateful that he is still
alive.
c. Ps 116:3, "The cords of death entangled me, and the
terrors of Sheol came upon me. I found distress and sorrow." He
was dying miserably.
d. Ps 116:4, "Then I called on the name of the Lord,
`O Lord, I beseech You, deliver my soul.'"
e. Ps 116:5, "The Lord is gracious and righteous; our
God is full of compassion."
3. In David's prophecy of Ps 16:10, he said, "You will not
abandon my soul to Sheol, neither will You permit Your Holy One
to undergo decay." a. Notice that David makes a
distinction between the grave where the body is located and
Paradise or Abraham's Bosom where the soul is located.
b. David is not speaking about himself, for his body
has undergone decay. His soul went to Paradise after he died.
David was prophesying about the soul of the humanity of Jesus
Christ in Hades after His physical death.
c. No Old Testament believer could go to the third
heaven until Jesus Christ had been judged for his sins on the
cross. At that point, the Old Testament believers were all
transferred in a triumphal procession into the presence of God in
heaven.
d. Today, after the cross, when any believer dies, his
soul and spirit is absent from the body and face to face with the
Lord in heaven.
4. We know Ps 16:10 does not refer to David but is a
prophecy referring to Jesus Christ because it is quoted by Peter
in Acts 2:27. "Because you will not abandon My soul to Hades,
nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay." This verse is then
interpreted in Acts 2:31. "He [David] looked ahead and spoke of
the resurrection of Christ, that He was neither abandoned to
Hades nor did His flesh have time to suffer decay." Our Lord
only spent three days in Hades.
5. Paul also interprets Ps 16:10 in the same way in Acts
13:35. "Therefore, He also says in another place [Ps 16:10],
`You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.'" Paul
explained what that meant in Acts 13:36-37. "For David, after he
had served the purpose of God in his own generation, died, and he
was buried among his ancestors and he did undergo decay. But He
whom God raised did not undergo decay." This is a reference to
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, with emphasis on the fact that
His human soul returned to His body in the grave by the power of
the Holy Spirit before His body could decay.
6. 1 Pet 3:18, "For Christ also died once and for all, the
righteous as a substitute for the unrighteous, in order that He
might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh but
made alive by means of the Spirit."
7. Where in Hades did the soul of our Lord go? The answer
is found in Lk 23:39-43. "And one of the criminals who was
hanging there hurled insults at our Lord, saying, `Are you not
the Messiah? Deliver yourself and us!' But the other criminal
answered and rebuked him, saying, `Do you not respect God, since
you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed
justly, for we have received what we deserve for our deeds; but
He has done nothing wrong.' Then he kept repeating to Jesus,
`Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.' And He
replied to him, `Today, you will be with Me in Paradise.'"
a. Even all the criminals knew the message that our
Lord Jesus Christ was the Messiah and the Savior.
b. Again, Paradise is the first compartment of Hades.
8. Eph 4:9, "(Now this doctrine that He ascended, what does
it imply, except that He also descended into the lower regions of
the earth?)"
a. This refers to our Lord's human soul which went to
Paradise after His physical death.
b. The soul of our Lord in physical death joined the
souls of all the Old Testament believers already there, i.e., all
believers who had died during the Old Testament plus all who had
died during the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union, which would
include Lazarus and John the Baptist.
c. In resurrection, the soul of Jesus Christ was
returned to His body in the grave by the omnipotence of God the
Holy Spirit.
9. The resurrection of Jesus Christ resulted in
transferring all the believers in Paradise into the third heaven.
Eph 4:8, "Therefore, it [Ps 68:18] says, `When He ascended into
heaven, He led a host of captives [Old Testament believers] in a
triumphal procession from a state of captivity, and He gave gifts
to men."
a. No believer resided in heaven until Jesus Christ
was judged for our sins and was resurrected. That is analogous
or tantamount to the triumphal procession.
b. The explanation of this is given in Matt 27:51-53.
"And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to
bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split, and the
tombs were open, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen
asleep were resuscitated. And coming out of the tombs, they
entered into the holy city and appeared to many." c.
This passage tells us the time when all believers who had died
were transferred from Paradise in Hades to the third heaven or
"New Paradise." To show this transfer was occurring, some were
permitted to come out of their tombs, take their former bodies in
resuscitation, and announced it in the city.
10. Paul visited the third heaven after he was stoned to
death, and he saw these believers there, 2 Cor 11:25ff.
a. On the occasion when Paul was stoned to death, he
was permitted to visit the third heaven or new Paradise before he
was resuscitated and returned to the earth.
b. Paul describes his experience in heaven in 2 Cor
12:2-4. "I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago -- whether
in the body, I do not know, or out of the body, I do not know;
God knows -- such a person was caught up into the third heaven.
I knew such a man -- whether in the body or out of the body, I do
not know; God knows -- how he was caught up into Paradise, and he
heard inexpressible doctrines which a person is not permitted to
speak."
(1) Fourteen years previous would have been
around 57 A.D. when Paul was in Lystra.
(2) Paul's experience here was to show that in
the Church Age, we do not go to Paradise in Sheol after our
death, but all believers since the resurrection of Jesus Christ
go directly to heaven at the point of physical death, with the
exception of the Rapture generation.
F. Torments.
1. Torments is the residence of all unbelievers since the
beginning of time.
2. Ps 9:17, "The unbelievers will turn to Sheol just as
nations who forgot God."
3. Why is anyone in Torments, destined to be judged at the
Last Judgment? Jn 3:18, "He who believes in Me is not judged;
but He who does not believe has been judged already because he
has not believed in the uniquely-born Son of God." The only
reason a person goes to Torments, later to be condemned to the
Lake of Fire, is because he has rejected Jesus Christ as Savior.
4. The first resurrection is for believers only and is
formed of four companies.
a. Alpha company is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
b. Bravo company is the resurrection of the Church at
the Rapture. Since rank has its privileges, the royal family is
next in resurrection.
c. Charlie company is the resurrection of all Old
Testament saints and Tribulational martyrs at the end of the
Tribulation.
d. Delta company is the resurrection of all millennial
saints at the end of the Millennium.
5. The second resurrection is for unbelievers only and
occurs after the Gog and Magog Revolution at the end of the
Millennium. At that point, "Hades will deliver up its dead."
Those dead are located in Torments. They will stand before our
Lord seated on the Great White Throne.
a. The unbelievers will not be judged on the basis of
their sins, because their sins were already judged on the cross,
and the law of double jeopardy applies.
b. Rev 20:11-15 makes very clear the basis for their
indictment. Two sets of books are opened.
(1) The Book of Life contains the names of
believers only. Anyone who dies without believing in Jesus
Christ has his name blotted out of this book.
(2) The Book of Works lists all an unbeliever's
good works. Yet in their totality, they all add up to -R
(relative righteousness). -R cannot have fellowship with +R
(perfect divine righteousness), so they are condemned to the Lake
of Fire forever.
c. The Lake of Fire was designed for the fallen
angels. Man was created to resolve the angelic conflict. Those
people who go the way of fallen angels, rejecting Jesus Christ,
will share the Lake of Fire with fallen angels forever.
6. Lk 16:19-31 is not a parable, but is a true story.
Parables never mention proper names. Furthermore, parables are
always identified or explained as parables. The narrative in Lk
16:19-31 is a true story, entitled "Dead Men Tell Tales." This
true story describes the first and second compartments of Sheol
or Hades during the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union.
a. Three perspectives are given in this passage.
(1) The perspective of life, verses 19-21.
(2) The perspective of death, verse 22.
(3) The perspective of Sheol or Hades after
death, verses 23-31.
b. Verse 19 introduces a wealthy unbeliever. "Now
there was a certain rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple
and fine linen, and he lived in luxury every day."
(1) There is nothing immoral, wrong, or sinful
about being rich. That is an evil philosophy which has extended
into communism. There are certain problem solving devices
connected with being rich and having an abundance of possessions,
just as there are certain problem solving devices connected with
being poor. In other words, there are no set of circumstances in
life that are free from problem solving devices.
(2) There is no excuse for the rich lording it
over those less fortunate, and there is no excuse for the poor
envying the rich.
(3) When a nation has rich people, it means that
nation follows the principles of free enterprise, which are a
part of the laws of divine establishment. Therefore, having
wealth in a nation is a good and healthy sign that the nation is
doing well and right, rather than poorly. The idea of
redistribution of wealth is an evil that enslaves the masses, as
illustrated by those under the domination of the Russian
experiment since 1917.
(4) One of the great problem solving devices of
being rich is to ignore the fact that there is life after death.
Many become self-indulgent, and forget Mk 8:36-37, "What shall it
profit a person if he gains the whole world and loses his own
soul? Or what shall a person give in exchange for his soul?" So
they give no thought to eternity and life after death. Yet time
is just a drop in the bucket compared to eternity.
(5) Hence, the tendency of the wealthy person is
to ignore the fact that only through personal faith in Jesus
Christ can an individual have eternal life. "What shall a person
give in exchange for his soul?" In other words, there is no way
you can buy your way into heaven. Jesus Christ purchased our
salvation on the cross, as taught by the doctrine of
redemption.
(6) Like anything else in life, money has it
problem solving devices and money has its benefits. Money often
creates illusions, e.g., money means happiness or security, or
that money can buy anything. That is not true. Money cannot buy
eternal life, happiness, love, or virtue. It is not true that
you are happy because you have money or miserable because you are
poor. Happiness and misery are not based upon one's economic
status. People with very little can be extremely happy; people
with very much can be very miserable, and visa versa.
(7) Those who lust for money become a slave to
money. But those who acquire wealth through the grace of God
have discovered how to make money their slave. But the person
who regards money as his #1 priority in life becomes a slave to
money. Apply the priority principle. You concentrate on
whatever is your #1 priority. Then you organize your life around
priority #1. Therefore, you organize your thinking around
priority #1. This determines the outcome of your life.
(8) The rich man in verse 19 spent all his
concentration, time, and life on self-indulgence. Therefore, the
Mk 8:36-37 says to him, "What shall it profit a person if he
gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what shall a
person give in exchange for his soul?"
(9) Some of the most important things in life
cannot be purchased with money, such as eternal life, +H or
sharing the happiness of God, love and virtue. Again, those who
lust for money become slaves to money, and it's one of the worst
categories of slavery in the world. This principle applies to
power as well. Those who lust for power are slaves to power, but
those who acquire power through the grace of God can enjoy it
without abusing it or stepping beyond their capacity for it.
(10) Matt 6:24 says "No one can serve two masters.
For he will either hate the one and love the other, or he will
hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and
Mammon [the god of riches]."
(11) Mk 10:25, "It is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of the needle [small gate in the main gate
through which only a man could pass] than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God." Rich people and poor people are saved
exactly the same way, by faith in Jesus Christ. So why is this
true? Because the rich man tends to be preoccupied with himself
and his life on this earth to the extent that he has forgotten
about eternity. He is not interested in Jesus Christ.
(12) This man is described as dressing well and
living in the lap of luxury. There is nothing wrong with
dressing well and there is nothing wrong with luxury as such.
There are problem solving devices with wrong emphasis on status
symbols of life, money, power, success, approbation, pleasure,
material things, luxury, social life, sex, health; i.e., anything
that takes precedence over Bible doctrine.
(13) The wealthy unbeliever enjoys life so much
that he forgets about death and eternity. He forgets Heb 9:27,
which says "It is destined for mankind to die once, but after
this the judgment."
(14) So this rich man lusted for wealth and became
the slave to wealth. As a slave to money and pleasure, he had no
time for the Gospel until it was too late, i.e., after he died.
c. Verse 20 introduces a suffering believer. "And a
certain poor man named Lazarus who had been thrown down at his
gate, covered with sores [cancerous ulcers],"
(1) Lazarus had been thrown or cast at the rich
man's gate, and he would lie there until he died. When our Lord
gave this message, Lazarus was already dead. If Lazarus were
still alive at the gate of the rich man, the perfect tense of
BALLO would have used. But the pluperfect tense indicates that
he eventually died there. The perfect tense looks back on the
past from the standpoint of the present. The pluperfect tense
looks back on the past from the standpoint of the past.
(2) The passive voice of BALLO indicates that
Lazarus was acted upon by a cruel mob: they just tossed him away
there. Lazarus was helpless and couldn't move from that spot.
We see the great cruelty of man toward helpless man.
(3) The verb BALLO in the passive voice is
intransitive, meaning that it makes a complete affirmation in
itself and does not require a direct object to complete its
meaning. The passive voice means Lazarus didn't produce or
participate in the action; he was a victim of the action. Hence,
this was cruel and unnecessary treatment. It was violence
against the weak and helpless.
(4) The mob didn't like Lazarus, and the mob
didn't like the rich man. Evil men do not discriminate; they
despise the rich, the poor and the helpless.
(5) The dramatic perfect tense of the verb ELKOO,
translated "covered," is used to bring a past event vividly and
dramatically into the present. The Narrator describes the past
event in such a way that his readers are led to think for a
moment that they are present and witnessing this terrible
treatment of Lazarus and his body covered with ulcers.
(6) The passive voice means Lazarus didn't
deliberately acquire these sores; it was something that happened
to him.
(7) There is a definite parallelism between
Lazarus and Job. Both were mature believers facing evidence
testing, but with different results.
(a) Job lost and regained in time; Lazarus
lost and regained in eternity.
(b) Both were covered with sores and ulcers.
Hence, both Job and Lazarus had loss of health and were
maltreated by people because they were repulsive to the eyes of
the beholder.
(c) Both Job and Lazarus had loss of health,
but there was a difference. Job recovered his health and lived a
long time. Hence, Job emphasizes living grace in evidence
testing. Lazarus never recovered his health and eventually died.
Hence, Lazarus emphasizes dying grace related to evidence
testing.
d. Lk 16:21, "And he kept desiring to be fed with the
crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table; besides,
even the dogs were coming and licking his sores."
(1) In other words, Lazarus was normal; he still
had normal desires. When he was hungry, he desired food. He was
so terribly hungry that he simply desired the crumbs that fell
from the rich man's table. Because he was starving, Lazarus was
normal and had an intense desire for foods. Even crumbs from the
table would have been wonderful.
(2) The only friends Lazarus had were dogs who
had much more compassion than the rich man and his friends or the
mob and their cruelty.
(3) Remember that Lazarus was suffering for
blessing, a suffering which glorified God to the maximum; a
suffering that makes Lazarus one of the great all-time believers,
recognized as such by our Lord.
(4) Lazarus was totally isolated from any form of
human companionship or human compassion. Therefore, it was so
important for him to use problem solving devices, such as
doctrinal orientation, grace orientation, personal love for God,
impersonal love for all mankind who treated him so cruelly, +H
(sharing the happiness of God), a personal sense of destiny, and
occupation with the person of Christ.
(5) The intensity of his suffering is noted in
the phrase "he kept on desiring to be fed with the crumbs which
were falling from the rich man's table." The fact that he was in
great pain did not in any way slow down his appetite.
(6) Note the total suffering of Lazarus under
evidence testing.
(a) Lack of basic necessities of life: he
had no food, no shelter, and virtually no clothing so that his
skin was exposed for all to see.
(b) Lazarus had none of the things the rich
man had. No one even cared for him except dogs. It's amazing
how dogs can be so compassionate and sympathetic toward people
who are suffering, whereas rational people, in the cruelty and
vile evil of their old sin nature, have absolutely no compassion.
(c) Lazarus had loss of health, and real
pain.
(7) Lazarus was cut off from any form of love,
friendship, or compassion. In fact, he experienced only cruelty
from people. People ostracized him, rejected him, and ridiculed
him. Though he was totally helpless and weak, they pushed him
around and threw him around, and finally tossed him at the rich
man's gate. Lazarus' only compassion came from dogs.
(8) But Lazarus was a mature believer and
realized the importance of his suffering. He would demonstrate
to both mankind and angels the importance of eternity compared to
time. In contrast, the rich man was demonstrating daily that to
him, only time was important; eternity didn't matter.
(9) We apply to Lazarus 1 Cor 10:13, "No testing
has overtaken to you but such as is common to mankind. But God
is faithful, who will not permit you to be tested beyond what you
are able to bear, but with the testing, He will also provide a
solution, a way of escape, so that you may be able to endure it."
Therefore, Lazarus did not complain or fall apart, even though he
had normal desires.
(10) Solomon was a believer who had everything in
life, and yet he was very miserable. Lazarus was a believer who
had nothing, but he was very happy with +H. Lazarus demonstrates
the principle of being happy without having anything at all. For
while Lazarus had nothing, he had the problem solving devices,
like +H, and used them.
(11) If Lazarus had been depressed, he would have
had no appetite. The very fact that he had an appetite indicates
he was functioning under the ten problem solving devices.
Lazarus was a normal person under extreme and intense suffering
for blessing. Therefore, he was not depressed or unhappy. His
desire for even crumbs from the rich man's table indicated how
normal he was, having an appetite in spite of suffering.
Most people in such situations become depressed and have no
appetite at all. The fact that Lazarus was hungry not only
indicated that he was normal, but that he was handling his
situation through the use of the problem solving devices.
(12) Lazarus suffered to demonstrate the
importance of eternity compared to time. Time is just a drop in
the bucket compared to eternity, according to Jas 4:14. Time is
the only opportunity to have eternal life. 2 Cor 6:2, "Now is
the time to accept Christ; now is the day of salvation." It
takes only one second in time to believe in Jesus Christ, yet the
rich man didn't even take that one second to do so; Lazarus did.
We do not know the original status quo of Lazarus; we only know
what he faced before he died and entered Paradise.
(13) Time is the special opportunity for the
believer to glorify God, and to demonstrate to the angels the
greatness of God's justice, wisdom, and grace policy. Phil 4:11,
"Not that I speak on the basis of want, for I have learned to be
content whatever the circumstances may be."
(14) Time is the mechanics for resolving the
angelic conflict. Lazarus was one of the greatest testimonies to
angelic creatures as to what is important in life.
(15) For the believer, time is the opportunity to
glorify God, and to demonstrate to angels the greatness of God's
justice and wisdom.
(16) Lazarus and the rich man have now been dead
for over 2000 years. If we could interview them in their eternal
state this is what they would say.
(a) Question: "Lazarus, how do you feel
about your suffering at the rich man's gate and the abuse you
took prior to that?"
Answer: "It was nothing. Time is just a drop in the bucket
compared to eternity. Now I have billions and billions of years
to enjoy the most indescribable and fantastic blessings of the
eternal state."
(b) Question: "Rich man, how do you feel
about your lifetime of wealth, influence, power, and pleasure on
earth?" Answer: "I regret every second of my prosperity and
power, for it blinded me to my need of eternal salvation, a
relationship with God, which I could have had both in time and
eternity. And yet I must take the responsibility for my own
decisions and my own perspective."
(c) From this, we can distill the soliloquy
of the rich man in Hades.
"I would do anything to change places with Lazarus. For
over 2000 years, I have been tormented in the flames of Hades. I
curse the good times that blinded me to the importance of
eternity. The horrors of my eternal state have erased all the
pleasures of my lifetime, and the worst is yet to come. I
understand that I will be resurrected, stand before a Great White
Throne, face Jesus Christ whom I rejected, and be judged and cast
into the Lake of Fire. It is unbearably hot here in Hades, but
it will be a billion times worse when I am cast into the Lake of
Fire.
"Why, oh why didn't I listen to the Gospel when I had the
chance? Why didn't I even stop once at my own gate and speak
with that terribly and horribly abused man, Lazarus? Why didn't
I stop and talk to him? If I had, he would have given to me the
Gospel, and perhaps I would have responded and then I would not
be in this horrible place. I did hear the message of both Jesus
and John the Baptist, His herald. But I paid no attention; I
laughed it off and went on my way.
"Woe is me forever and ever and ever and ever."
e. Verse 22 gives the perspective of death. "Now it
came to pass that the poor man died, and he was carried by angels
into Abraham's Bosom [Paradise]; then [some time later] the rich
man also died and was buried."
(1) Lazarus was a believer in the dispensation of
the Hypostatic Union. He was a mature believer, and therefore he
departed from his body under the principle of dying grace.
(2) Note, however, that there was no burial of
Lazarus. His body was not even taken to a potter's field. That
would bother the superficial Christian. Yet what happens to your
body after you leave it is of absolutely no consequence. You
will never occupy that body again. Perhaps Lazarus' body was
discovered dead several days after he was already in Paradise.
Perhaps they simply threw his body in the garbage cart. So what?
What happens to the body is of no consequence.
(3) It was the custom of the ancient world to
gather the bodies of the poor and either dump them in the garbage
or burn them, or bury them in a potter's field. When the bodies
were repulsive, they didn't make it to a potter's field, but were
usually dumped in the garbage heap outside the town. The garbage
heap outside of Jerusalem was called Gehenna, a large area where
garbage was burned. Gehenna became one of the synonyms for hell.
(4) But the soul and spirit of Lazarus are absent
from the body and, as it were, "face to face with the Lord."
Lazarus was probably carried by the pursuivant angels to
Abraham's Bosom. These were special angelic officers in the
angelic college of heralds.
(5) Being very wealthy and prominent as a
personality, the rich man probably had a very unusual and
ostentatious funeral with a beautiful coffin and mausoleum,
attended by numerous mourners, including five brothers who were
also unbelievers and who inherited his money. But the rich man's
soul was sent to Torments, the second compartment of Hades.
f. Verses 23-26 is the rich man's dialogue and call
for help. Verse 23, "And in Hades, he [rich man] lifted up his
eyes, being in Torments, and he saw Abraham far away and Lazarus
[in his bosom] at the place of honor."
(1) In Torments means there is already a prelude
of suffering before the Lake of Fire.
(2) The noun KOLPOS means chest, bosom, or
breast. However, it is actually used for a place of honor at a
meal. So this doesn't mean Lazarus was actually lying on
Abraham's bosom, but was in a place of honor. This indicates
that Lazarus died as an invisible hero.
(3) So Lazarus was carried into a place of honor,
called Abraham's Bosom, the place of Jewish believers who
attained spiritual maturity. Abraham is the father of the new
racial species called the Jew. Therefore, Abraham is designated
as the place of honor. Jesus Christ is called the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who are the regenerate descendants of
the new racial species.
(4) Jesus said to the dying Gentile thief,
"Today, you will be with Me in Paradise," Lk 23:43. Therefore,
both Gentile and Jewish believers entered into the compartment of
Hades called Paradise after their death. However, one section
was a place of honor for the Jewish believers who attained
spiritual maturity. Lazarus was one of the great heroes of
Israel of all time.
g. Verse 24, "And he [rich man] screamed and said,
`Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may
dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I
am in agony in this flame.'"
(1) The rich man was also a Jew, but he was a
Jewish unbeliever. Abraham is the father of the entire Jewish
race, and in that sense the rich man was right in calling him
"Father Abraham."
(2) "Have mercy on me" was something Lazarus
never said at the gate of the rich man. As a mature believer, he
accepted the events of his life as being exactly what God wanted.
He demonstrated that to be totally impoverished, in maximum pain,
and rejected by everyone so that only dogs have any compassion as
a part of evidence testing is the ultimate honor to one of the
greatest believers of Old Testament times!
(3) Apparently there is no water in Torments, for
there is no necessity for water there. But the rich man still
can only think in terms of life. Even after his death, he cannot
think in terms of eternity. (4) Unbelievers after
death can experience and feel the pain of fire and everything
associated with it. They will feel that pain of burning for all
eternity because they reject Jesus Christ as their Savior. And
it never stops hurting.
(5) Though he understands he is suffering in
fire, all he wants is water. Yet the answer to his suffering
could only be found in time, through personal faith in Jesus
Christ. Notice that this is a real flame and real fire, and it
never stops hurting.
(6) Why is the rich man asking for this relief,
instead of asking what can be done to get him out of there?
Because the rich man heard John the Baptist and Jesus Christ and
others give the Gospel. He knew when he rejected Christ what to
expect; now it's all come to pass.
(7) While Lazarus suffered at his gate wanting
only water and food yet using the problem solving devices, the
rich man had all the food and water he could want and walked by
Lazarus without compassion. It is amazing how uncompassionate
evil people are always the first to want mercy though have no
mercy for others, but are totally indifferent toward them.
(8) The bodies of Lazarus and the rich man both
lie in graves, and their souls reside in Sheol or Hades. Lazarus
as a Jewish believer resides in the place of honor in Paradise
called Abraham's Bosom. The rich man as a Jewish unbeliever
resides in the second compartment of Hades, called Torments,
waiting for the second resurrection when he will be transferred
to the permanent Lake of Fire.
(9) Note that the soul never sleeps; only the
body sleeps in the grave. Note that the soul can see and
recognize people after death without the use of the body. The
rich man had no problem recognizing Lazarus who was flung at his
gate. This teaches the important principle that the soul has the
ability to see and recognize others beyond the grave.
Furthermore, the soul can think and communicate after death.
From this we might conclude there is an interim body after death.
(10) Death does not end it all. Physical death
merely transfers homo sapiens from time into eternity. From this
passage, we note that dead men tell tales.
(11) The cry for mercy must come in time; in
eternity it is too late. 2 Cor 6:2, "Now is the time of
acceptance; now is the day of salvation." Now is the moment to
be prepared for eternity by personal faith in Jesus Christ. Live
your life in the light of eternity.
(12) Furthermore, the call for mercy must be
directed toward the One who can save. Abraham can do nothing.
It is only Jesus Christ who can save. Neither Abraham nor
Lazarus can help the unbeliever in the eternal state. Both
Abraham and Lazarus are simply sinners saved by grace through
faith in Jesus Christ. The only chance for eternal life is while
one is alive on earth.
(13) Hades or Sheol is the temporary residence of
all unbelievers until human history is completed. From Hades,
all unbelievers will be transferred to Gehenna or the Lake of
Fire after the Great White Throne Judgment. Actually, the Lake
of Fire was prepared for the devil and his angels, according to
Matt 25:41.
(14) Both Hades and the final Lake of Fire are
only for unbelievers. Jn 3:18, "He who believes in Him [Jesus
Christ] is not judged, but he who does not believe has been
judged already because he has not believed in the name of the
uniquely-born Son of God."
(15) God does not desire that any person in the
human race go to Torments in Hades and then the Lake of Fire. 2
Pet 3:9, "He is not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to a change of attitude toward Christ." Therefore,
life is often extended so that every chance is given for everyone
to believe in Christ. No one will spend eternity in the Lake of
Fire who hasn't had multifarious opportunities to personally
believe in Jesus Christ.
(16) Both Torments in Hades and the Lake of Fire
are vividly described in Matt 9:48, "where the worm does not die
and the fire is not quenched." Everyone should hear the screams
of those who die burning in total agony, so that they will
understand the importance of believing in Jesus Christ! In
eternity, the screams never stop; they go on forever and ever and
ever, simply because they refused the so-great salvation provided
by Jesus Christ.
h. Now Abraham is allowed to reply to the rich man in
verse 25. This dialogue was permitted not only to answer this
one man's question, but to settle the issue for all who were
listening who had the same problem solving devices and wanted the
same relief from Lazarus. Verse 25, "But Abraham said, `Child,
remember that during your life you received your good things, and
likewise Lazarus evil things; but now [in eternity] he is
comforted here.'"
(1) An adult man is called "child" because he was
divorced from reality, because of his unrealistic expectations.
(2) That Lazarus was "comforted here" means he
was given a special place of honor in eternity. Whatever he had
to endure to make a point to the angelic creatures, which is a
great part of evidence testing, was nothing compared to the
honors he received in the eternal state.
(3) The rich man had the same opportunities as
Lazarus to believe in Jesus Christ and have eternal life, yet he
rejected Jesus Christ. None of the rich man's wealth,
power, or prosperity could buy him eternal life. As he used his
power and wealth for his own pleasures, it became a trap which
obscured the importance of the Gospel.
(4) On the other hand, Lazarus believed in Jesus
Christ. Even though he went through suffering for blessing, he
had all the fantastic doctrine and problem solving devices to
handle it magnificently. We do not know exactly how long Lazarus
suffered in that terrible state. But however long it was, he
never got out of step; he used the problem solving devices.
i. Verse 26, "And besides all this, between us and you
a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who wish to come over
from here to you cannot, and none of us may cross over there."
(1) The chasm is invisible but real. No one can
break through it. There is a barrier between Paradise and
Torments, the place of agony. The barrier is impassable.
(2) There is no hope in eternity for those who
reject Jesus Christ in time. There is no such thing as
purgatory. There is no "half-way house" to heaven. The place of
your eternal state is determined by your attitude toward Jesus
Christ in time.
(3) 1 Jn 5:11-13, "And this is the deposition:
that God has given to us [believers] eternal life, and this life
is in His Son. He who has the Son has this eternal life; He who
does not have the Son does not have this eternal life. These
things I have written to you who believe in the person of the Son
of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life."
j. Verses 27-29 is the second dialogue and the second
call for help from the rich man. Verses 27-28, "Then he said,
`Now I beg you, Father Abraham, that you would send him to my
father's house -- for I have five brothers -- that he may warn
them, lest they also come to this place of torment.'"
(1) Before, the rich man pleaded for mercy; now
he's begging! Lazarus never pleaded for mercy, nor did he beg.
The rich man should have taken notice of Lazarus, enduring all
that suffering and not complaining. By contrast, he had given
relatives thousands and thousands of dollars, and they still
bitched!
(2) Note again the use of the vocative "Father."
Abraham is the father of the new racial species of Israel, and
the rich man is a Jew.
(3) The rich man calls his mansion "the house of
my father." Lazarus, tossed at the gate of that mansion, was the
last call for salvation. The five brothers saw Lazarus lying
there, too. In effect, Lazarus was the evangelist at their gate.
His pulpit was that gate. Everyone saw how he suffered and how
he didn't complain. They must have known he possessed something
far greater than they had. Yet they all walked by Lazarus daily
without giving heed to that final message.
(4) All five brothers are unbelievers. The rich
man didn't want his brothers to also die and end up in Torments
with him. The funeral message to the friends and loved ones of
the unbeliever is:
"The deceased is now suffering in Torments because he did
not believe in Jesus Christ. Yet he loves you so much that he
wouldn't want you to join him there, and I will tell you how to
avoid it. Hell is no place for loved ones and old friends to
have a pleasant reunion. Hell is a place of agony and suffering,
only intensified at the end of human history by the transfer to
the Lake of Fire.
"In other words, if you have friends or loved ones who have
died as unbelievers, their desire for you is to stay out of that
place. They're probably begging someone like Abraham to send
someone back from the dead to tell you the story of salvation."
(5) So terrible is the perpetual agony of the
unbeliever beyond the grave that he desires that the Gospel be
presented to loved ones left behind so that they might believe in
Christ and have eternal life and avoid the place of Torments.
(6) The present active subjunctive of
DIAMARTUROMAI means to warn, to testify, to witness, to declare
emphatically. The tendential present tense indicates an action
proposed but not actually taking place. The rich man proposes
the action. The subjunctive mood is used in a final clause to
indicate the purpose of the action of the main verb.
(7) The same wealthy estate which distracted the
rich man now distracts his five brothers who had inherited the
family fortune. No longer is there a Lazarus lying at their
gate. Wealth often causes the rich to ignore or avoid the
reality of the eternal state after death.
k. Verse 29, "But Abraham replied, `They have Moses
and the Prophets; let them hear them.'"
(1) Moses and the Prophets is the Jewish word for
the Old Testament; Torah is a synonym. Moses and the Prophets
refers to the Old Testament Scriptures which clearly reveal the
Gospel. Isa 53 is one of the greatest Gospel messages in all the
Word of God.
(2) People can be saved by faith in Christ simply
by reading the Scripture.
(3) If these five brothers reject the Biblical
testimony regarding Jesus Christ, they will not accept the
testimony of one who returns from the dead. The testimony in the
Bible is much more powerful than the testimony of someone coming
back from the dead! That's how powerful the Word of God is! The
idea of returning Lazarus from the dead to testify to the five
brothers is useless.
(4) Remember that another Lazarus had been
resuscitated from the dead by Jesus, and many Jews who had
attended his funeral came back to see him alive; yet many still
didn't accept Jesus Christ as Savior. Jn 11:45-46, "Therefore,
many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary saw what had
transpired and believed in Him. But some of them went away to
the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done."
(5) Jn 12:37, "But though He performed many
miracles before them, yet they were not believing in Him." The
testimony of the Word of God is far more powerful than miracles.
(a) One reason why we do not have miracles
today is because something far more powerful has been given to
us, i.e., the New Testament Scriptures. Never before the Church
Age was the New Testament Canon completed and given. It is much
more powerful than miracles.
(b) If people will not accept the Gospel
message found in the Bible, they will not accept the testimony of
someone brought back from the dead by a miracle.
(c) A miracle is the easiest thing for God
to perform because it does not require the volition of mankind,
but only the sovereignty and omnipotence of God.
(d) In the Tribulation, two Jews, Moses and
Elijah, will be brought back from the dead to witness in
Jerusalem. Yet their message will be rejected. When they are
martyred, there will be great rejoicing in Jerusalem.
l. In the third dialogue, verses 30-31, there is
another call for help. Verse 30, "But he replied, `No, Father
Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will
repent!'" The future active indicative of METANOEO means to
change your thinking or mind about Christ. Upon hearing the
Gospel and before anyone believes, he must first change his mind
about Christ.
m. Verse 31, "But he replied to him, `If they do not
listen to Moses and the Prophets [the Word of God], neither will
they be persuaded if someone is resuscitated from the dead.'"
This means that negative volition gets locked in and nothing will
change it. This also means that the Word of God is infinitely
more powerful than any miracle.
G. Tartarus.
1. Introduction.
a. Tartarus is the residence of certain fallen angels
who became involved in an invasion of the earth. This special
category of fallen angels are called BENI HA ELOHIM in the
Hebrew, translated "sons of God." They are demons who are not
operational at the present time.
b. Tartarus is mentioned in 2 Pet 2:4 as the place
where these fallen angels reside. "For if God did not spare the
angels when they sinned [Gen 6:2] but incarcerated them in
Tartarus with chains of thick darkness, He delivered them over to
judgment, being constantly guarded."
(1) The aorist active participle of TARTAROO
means to be imprisoned or incarcerated in Tartarus.
(2) "When they sinned" is a temporal participle
referring to a time in history, not to prehistoric angelic times.
c. Without mentioning Tartarus by name, a similar
passage is found in Jude 6. "And the angels [BENI HA ELOHIM of
Gen 6:2] who did not keep their own domain, but who deserted
their proper abode, He has incarcerated them in everlasting
chains of thick darkness for the judgment of the great day."
(1) Now they can see nothing. In Gen 6, they saw
the beautiful women of the earth and lusted for them, and so made
their invasion on earth.
(2) The fact of their invasion is documented by a
phenomenal amount of extant literature from Homer to the fourth
century B.C.
(3) Everything that happened in Gen 6 occurred
over a period of 500 years. Unfortunately, it is called
mythology, which it is not.
(4) These "chains of thick darkness" are the same
as in 2 Pet 2:4.
(5) The "judgment of the great day" occurs when
all fallen angels are cast into the Lake of Fire, as anticipated
by Matt 25:41.
d. Who are these fallen angels and what did they do?
The answer is found in Gen 6. But as introduction, we note the
Satanic attacks on the line of Christ in the Old Testament.
(1) When Cain murdered Abel in Gen 4, that was a
Satanic attack on Adam's seed. It was an attack on the first
promise given to Adam after he sinned, that God the Father would
provide a Savior from Adam's seed, who would come through the
woman as the childbearer. Rom 5:12ff.
(a) Satan and fallen angels understood that
the Savior would come in the line of Adam as true humanity
through the woman. Therefore, Satan knew he had to cut off that
line from Adam to Christ.
(b) So in that first generation, Satan
inspired Cain to murder Abel, a believer. But then the line
continued on through Seth, so that Satan realized that murder
wouldn't work to cut off the line.
(2) Therefore, in an attempt to destroy all true
humanity, fallen angels invaded earth and copulated with females,
producing half-angel half-human beings, documented in Gen 6:1-6.
Had all true humanity been destroyed in this way, Jesus Christ
could have never come into the world.
(a) In fact, only one family of eight people
were still true humanity out of millions of people living on
earth. Those eight people were Noah and his wife, plus his three
sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their three wives.
(b) The tracing of that family of Noah from
Gen 4 - 11 is one of the most important factors in our so-great
salvation. For Jesus Christ could not come unless true humanity
remained on the earth.
(c) So the angelic infiltration of Gen 6:1-6
was the greatest attack ever made on the virgin birth and
incarnation of Jesus Christ.
(d) Noah's sons all made great decisions, in
all marrying ladies who were still true humanity.
(e) Therefore, the Flood destroyed that
entire super race of half-angels, half-men.
(f) Since there is no longer any possibility
of angelic infiltration into the human race, the greatest
objective of Satan from the flood to the point of the virgin
birth was to kill the Jews, especially those in the Messianic
line.
(3) The line of Christ went from Shem to Abram, a
Chaldean from the third dynasty of Ur. Upon hearing God's
promises to Abraham regarding the Savior as his descendent, Satan
made attacks on Abraham's seed.
(a) The first attack occurred when Sarah
found herself in the harem of an Egyptian king in Gen 12:10-20.
(b) The second attack occurred when Pharaoh,
Thutmose III, ordered the entire male line of Israel to be killed
in Ex 1:10, 15-16.
(c) Thutmose III's son, Amenhotep IV
attempted to destroy all Israel in Ex 14:13-19.
(d) After the line went from Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, the Messianic line was passed on through Judah.
(4) The Davidic Covenant promised David that his
Son would be the Messiah. Now Satanic attacks focused on David's
line.
(a) Jehoshaphat arranged a marriage between
his son, Jehoram, and Princess Athaliah, the daughter of Jezebel,
the queen of the Northern Kingdom. Here was a classic case of
man's plans trying to unite the kingdom. Jezebel was a
Phoenician who married the king, so that his kingdom would also
include all of Phoenicia. This story starts in 2 Chr 18:1. It
was strictly a sex marriage, and the sex was related to the
phallic cult and human sacrifice. In the process of all this,
Jehoram killed his brother, 2 Chr 21:4.
(b) Then the Arabs invaded and killed all
the sons of Jehoram except one, called Ahaziah or Jehoahaz, 2
Chron 21:16-17, 22:1.
(c) Then Athaliah, the mother of Jehoahaz
killed everyone in the royal seed, and the only survivor was
Joash, 2 Chron 23:3. At this point, the entire line of Christ
was reduced to one person. But the line of Christ has been
preserved.
(d) Hezekiah was childless when attacked by
Sennacherib, the King of Assyria, Isa 36:1, 38:1, 39:7. But God
preserved Hezekiah against death in the battle, again preserving
the line of Christ. Later Hezekiah had a son.
(5) There was Hamon's plot to annihilate the
Jews, as found in Esther.
(6) There was the final attack on the virgin Mary
when she was pregnant. The dilemma of Joseph when he discovered
Mary's pregnancy is found in Matt 18:1-20. If he was a legalist,
he would have followed Deut 24:1 and had Mary stoned. But Joseph
had a marvelous, honorable attitude, for he was an aristocrat,
descended from Solomon (Matt 1). The Coniah curse (you will
never have a son that will be the Messiah) was fulfilled in the
virgin birth, in that Joseph was not the real father of the
Messiah.
(7) The edict of Herod killed all children in
Bethlehem, Matt 2:13-18. Due to a great signal corps, Herod
learned that the wise men left the land by a different route and
would not report back to him. So knowing when the virgin birth
occurred, he took two years to develop all his plans, tracing
genealogies, etc., so that he ordered every child in Bethlehem
two years old and younger to be slaughtered. But God told Joseph
in a dream to go to Egypt before that happened, so that Jesus
Christ was spared.
e. These are a few of the remarkable stories of how
God's grace provided for us a Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord.
f. Prior to the incarnation, Satan attacked the line
of Jesus Christ in an attempt to frustrate the dispensation of
the Hypostatic Union. During the dispensation of the Hypostatic
Union, Satan made every attempt to frustrate our Lord getting to
the cross.
(1) That's why you read "they picked up stones to
stone Him; but He passed through the crowd unnoticed."
(2) The very treatment our Lord received in His
seven trials was an attempt to kill Him before He could get to
the cross.
(3) Even on the cross, Satan was not through. He
inspired people to say, "If you are the Christ, come down from
the cross. Save Yourself and us."
(4) We'll never know this side of heaven what it
took for our Lord to make it to the cross as a perfect human
being, and to receive the imputation and judgment of our sins.
g. Since the cross, resurrection, ascension, and
session of Jesus Christ, Satan has only one way to win, and that
is by frustrating the fulfillment of the four unconditional
covenants made to Israel, i.e., the Abrahamic, Palestinian,
Davidic, and New Covenants. Yet these will all be fulfilled in
the Millennium. But all these covenants have in common the
necessity of Jews being alive, and therefore all anti-Semitism is
Satanically-inspired.
h. The Tribulation will demonstrate all the ways in
which Satan tries to destroy the Jews, Rev 6-19. But of course
the Jew will be preserved by the grace of God. Anti-Semitism is
Satanic in nature. Its purpose is to frustrate the plan of God
which centers in Israel. Anti-Semitism reaches its peak in Rev
12, in the middle of the Tribulation.
i. One of the greatest attacks on the line of Christ
and one of the most subtle forms of anti-Semitism occurred in Gen
6 before the Jew even existed. The result of this angelic attack
was the creation of a third compartment in Sheol or Hades called
Tartarus.
2. Definition and Description.
a. There are two words we must understand: fables and
myths.
(1) A fable is a story, like the fox and the
grapes, in which the characters and plot neither pretend reality
nor demand credence. Fables are fabricated as a vehicle of moral
or didactic instruction.
(2) Myths are stories of anonymous origin,
prevalent among primitive people. By the people to whom they
were first addressed, they are accepted as true. Myths concern
supernatural beings and events, or natural beings and events
influenced by supernatural agencies. Many of the so-called myths
of ancient Greece are related to two Greek nouns.
(a) TARTAROS was a part of the Greek
underworld called Hades. It was a place of sunless abyss below
Hades in which Zeus imprisoned the Titans.
(b) Those who dwelt in Tartarus were called
TARTARITES. This word was used in reference to the Titan wars,
which are a distorted picture of Gen 6 and the events that
precede Gen 6.
b. Today, there are two categories of fallen angels.
(1) There are demons with angelic bodies who are
not permitted on the earth. They are all incarcerated in
Tartarus.
(2) There are demons without bodies, or
disembodied spirits, who are permitted to function under the
command of Satan on planet earth.
c. In Gen 6, the demons with bodies were visible to
human beings. Furthermore, they were very beautiful and
attractive, having male bodies.
d. The demons with bodies were involved in an
antediluvian attack on the human race which resulted in their
incarceration in Tartarus. The motivation for their attack was
to destroy the possibility of the incarnation beginning with the
virgin birth.
e. The operational demons of the postdiluvian
civilization are disembodied spirits. They do not seek sex with
females, as did their predecessors, but they seek the invasion of
the human body.
f. Only unbelievers can be demon possessed. The demon
invasion of the soul through satanic and false doctrine has two
categories of victims: unbelievers can also be demon possessed,
and believers in Jesus Christ who cannot be demon possessed
because each member of the Trinity indwells the body of every
Church Age believer.
g. The word antediluvian refers to the period of time
before the Flood. The antediluvian civilization began with the
creation of mankind and terminated with the Flood.
h. Only eight believers survived the Flood (Noah and
his family), because they were the last members of the true human
race left on the earth. They were the only ones who had survived
the infiltration of fallen angels.
i. Civilizations, like dispensations are a category of
human history, but a different category.
(1) Each civilization begins with believers only
and terminates with a cataclysmic judgment.
(2) Each civilization has its own climate,
environment, and its own characteristics within species. During
the antediluvian civilization, the earth was not yet tilted on
its axis; there was no bacteria. Therefore, there was perfect
climate.
(3) Mankind has a different lifespan in each
civilization. In the antediluvian civilization, people lived
800-900 years.
(4) Animal life in each civilization has
differences within the species. However, there is no
transmutation of species. The only species that no longer exists
was the half-human half-angelic creatures, destroyed completely
by the Flood.
j. There are six dispensations but only three
civilizations in human history.
(1) The antediluvian civilization goes from the
creation of man to the Flood. During this civilization, there
was an angelic sexual invasion of the human race, Gen 6. This
can be classified as a genetic attack on the human race designed
by Satan to frustrate the incarnation and the dispensation of the
Hypostatic Union. In fact, it was Satan's greatest attack to
hinder the cross.
(2) The postdiluvian civilization began with the
recession of the universal Flood, and it continues until the
Second Advent of Christ.
(a) The demons involved in the sexual attack
in the antediluvian civilization are now incarcerated in the
compartment of Hades called Tartarus. The only demons
operational today are disembodied spirits, so that any such
sexual attacks can never occur again.
(b) There are two demons attacks from
disembodied spirits.
(i) In demon possession, the demon
invades the body of an unbeliever only. If an unbeliever
believes in Jesus Christ, the demon is removed immediately.
(ii) Demon influence is the demon
invasion of the human soul through satanic thought or satanic
theology. Anyone residing in the cosmic system, believer or
unbeliever, comes under demon influence.
(c) Just before the termination of the
postdiluvian civilization, there are three great demon army
military attacks on mankind during the Tribulation, Rev 9, 17.
(i) The first demon army to attack the
human race is led by a prince of demons called Abaddon, Rev 9:1-
12. This first demon army is stationed at present in the Abyss,
the fourth compartment of Sheol or Hades.
(ii) The second great demon assault
army is led by four demon generals, Rev 9:13-21.
(iii) The third demon assault army is
led by Satan himself. His purpose is to destroy all Jews. Anti-
Semitism is always Satanic in its origin and function. It is
possible that the last two demon armies are also stationed at
present in the Abyss, but they launch their assault at different
points in the Tribulation.
(3) The millennial civilization begins with the
Second Advent of Christ and terminates with the Gog and Magog
Revolution, led by Satan himself, and with the final judgment of
human history.
k. It should be noted that the antediluvian angelic
attack and the Tribulational angelic attacks involve invasions by
visible demons. However, during the postdiluvian civilization,
all demon attacks are invisible, except in the Tribulation.
l. While invisible believers cannot enter into sexual
activity with human beings, demon possession and demon influence
is the basis for the phallic cult practiced by human beings. The
phallic cult includes not only human sacrifice but extensive
sexual activities related to drugs and demon possession. The
ethnic demonology of Greece, Rome, Phoenicia, the Canaanites, and
the Germanic as well as other Indo-European mythologies always
include the phallic cult and human sacrifice, as well as great
violence.
m. A study of Gen 4-6 gives a clear picture of what
life was like on earth before the Flood. The violence then was
far greater than at any time since. There are many stories,
classified as myths (and are not), which document this violence.
The life of Hercules is a good illustration.
3. Genesis 6:1-6.
a. Gen 6:1, "Now it came to pass that when homo
sapiens began to become numerous on the surface of the earth,
that daughters were born to them."
(1) This is a description of a tremendous
population explosion on planet earth. The Hebrew word HA ADAM
refers to mankind as a category of creation, i.e., the human
race.
(2) With any population explosion, there is
always an excess of females. These daughters were very
beautiful. The ratio of women to men in this population was
excessive.
(3) The increase of the population meant there
were more sin natures. More sin natures means more evil, more
lawlessness, and more violence on the earth. Because more sin
natures without a system of establishment government means that
people are open to making any decisions they want. Yet true
freedom means the right to make certain decisions within the
constraints of the laws of divine establishment. But without
such constraints, there are too many options for the sin nature.
This resulted in a tremendous amount of homicide, rape,
terrorism, and violence on the earth.
(4) There was no establishment, but there was
culture. Probably the greatest musical and writing culture of
all time existed in the midst of a population with the greatest
intelligence of all time.
(5) So great was the evil on the earth that by
the tenth generation from Adam, only one family remained in the
status of regeneration, and that one family applied doctrine in a
special way to avoid any sexual relationship with half-human,
half-angelic creatures. Eight were in Noah's family, and the
ninth believer was Noah's grandfather Methuselah.
The warning of the coming of the Flood was Methuselah's departure
from this life.
(6) The concentration of evil on the earth was so
great, yet it did not destroy the human race! A concentration of
evil never destroys the population of the earth, though millions
of people may be raped, murdered, tortured, and victimized in
every way. The population of the earth goes right on.
Unrestrained criminality cannot and will not wipe out the human
race.
(7) By the tenth generation from Adam there was
no reference to the Sethites, or Cainites as separate families
and tribes, because the two lines had amalgamated. This is
illustrated by the marriage of Naamah to Ham. The Cainite line
was filled with disillusion from their study of science, culture,
urban society, and had rejected the happiness God had designed
for man by rejecting Christ as Savior. Their society pursued
intellectual matters and hedonistic pleasure. The antediluvian
population was generally unregenerate, reversionistic, and
involved in the cosmic system.
b. Gen 6:2, "Now the sons of God [demon pantheon on
Mount Olympus] saw the women of mankind, that they were
beautiful, so they seized [raped] for themselves women from all
they had selected [whomever they chose]."
(1) The "sons of God" is clearly a reference to
angelic creatures. For the Hebrew BENI HA ELOHIM is used for
angelic creatures only.
(2) When the word beautiful is used in the
Scripture, it means these women were extremely beautiful.
(3) The Hebrew verb LAQACH means to seize
violently, to take by sheer strength, to overpower and seize
these women against their will to have sex with them.
(4) The Hebrew phrase BENI HA ELOHIM is used four
times in the Old Testament. All four times it refers to angelic
creatures only. Note that in verse 1, HA ADAM is the phrase used
to refer to mankind.
(5) So the "sons of God" refer to the demon
pantheon on Mount Olympus and the Titans like Iobates. The
duplication of the Greek pantheon was made by the Phoenicians,
Canaanites, Romans and others.
(6) The "sons of God" refer to demons only, as
also found in Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7, and Dan 3:25.
c. The myths concerning the Titan wars present the
mythological account of Tartarus; its basis is true.
(1) Uranus and Gaea had three categories of
children.
(a) The Titans are the personification of
the convulsions of the physical world; e.g., volcanoes and
earthquakes.
(b) Cyclops is the name of the second
category of children. The name of the first cyclops is the
Terror of Rolling Thunder. The second cyclops is called
Lightning Flash; the third is called Thunderbolts.
(c) The third category are called the
Hundred-Handed Monsters, also composed of three beings.
(2) So the couple had nine children total.
Uranus the father feared the Hundred-Handed Monsters, so he put
them in Tartarus. Their mother Gaea was indignant, and called on
her older children, the Titans, for help.
(3) But only one of the Titans would help; he was
called CHRONOS, meaning time or chronology. Chronos attacked his
father and became the ruler of heaven and earth. Chronos married
his sister Rhea, and they had six children, three boys and three
girls. The girls were named Vesta, Series, and Juno. The boys
were called Pluto (Hades), Neptune, and Jupiter (Zeus).
(4) Chronos had learned from his parents that he
would be dethroned by one of his own children. So he swallowed
each child when it was born. But when he got to the sixth one,
his mother gave him a stone in swaddling clothes to eat and
concealed Jupiter (Zeus in Greek) in the Island of Crete.
(5) Assisted by his grandmother Gaea, Jupiter
constrained Chronos to disgorge his cannibal repast, and first
came up the memorable stone, which was then placed for safe
keeping at Delphi. Then followed the five children.
(6) Then came the war of the Titans. Jupiter and
his brothers and sisters fought against Chronos. In the war that
followed, Iobates and all the Titans except Oceanus fought on the
side of Chronos. Jupiter and his brothers and sisters fought on
the other side and won the war. The war was won by Jupiter when
he went to Tartarus and released the Hundred-Handed Monsters.
(7) As a result of winning the war, Jupiter and
his brothers and sisters made Mount Olympus their capital. From
then on, the story of Greek mythology is about the empire of Zeus
(Jupiter) who became the god-ruler of the world to the Greeks.
Zeus gave to his brother Neptune (Poisendon) the kingdom of the
sea. He gave to his other brother Pluto (Hades) the underworld.
(8) The Titans who were defeated were sent to
Tartarus. Atlas, the son of the Titan Iobates, was doomed to
carry the heavens on his shoulders. Iobates had three famous
children: Pandora, Prometheus, and Atlas.
(9) In the empire of Zeus from Mount Olympus,
there was the beginning of a series of incidents found in two
forms: myths and Gen 6:1-13. The Biblical story is completely
and totally accurate. The myths that came out of this are simply
distortions of the truth. The background for them is truth.
(10) When the war between the Titans and Zeus was
over and the Titans were imprisoned in Tartarus, this is a
picture of how God dealt with BENI HA ELOHIM. The children of
Zeus included Athena or Minerva, who sprang from his brain full-
grown and fully armed. By his wife Juno he had Aries, Vulcan,
and Hebe. By Latona he had Apollo (Phoebus) and Diana (Artemis).
By Diona he had Venus (Aphrodite). By Mais he had Mercury
(Hermes).
(11) The males represented by BENI HA ELOHIM,
translated "sons of God," actually refer to demons like Zeus
(Jupiter). These demons had bodies, which they used to seduce
and impregnate females of the human race during the antediluvian
period of history.
(12) BENI HA ELOHIM included Zeus, Apollos,
Neptune, and Pluto, which are actually demon names. The sons of
the gods were Titans like Chronos, Iobates, Oceanus, Tethys,
Hyperion, Thammuz, Rhea, etc. Every name found in Greek
mythology is either a demon name or a "hero" name.
(13) The sexual attack to destroy true humanity on
the earth and prevent the First Advent of the humanity of Christ
is illustrated by one demon alone, Zeus (Jupiter), who had
several notable sexual encounters with female members of the
human race which started the genetic problem. Let us note this
one example of the genetic attack on the human race.
(a) Zeus is one of the BENI HA ELOHIM. He
seduced a woman named Semele, who had a son half-angelic, half-
human, named Bacchus (Latin) or Dionysus (Greek).
(b) Zeus seduced the woman Alchimine. By
her he had a half-human, half-angelic son called Hercules or
Herucles.
(c) By a third woman, Danae, he had a half-
human, half-angelic son called Perseus. The original Persians of
the ancient world claimed their ancestry from Perseus.
(d) By a fourth woman, Lyda, he had four
children who were half-human, half-angelic: Castor,
Clytemnestra, Pollux, and Helen. It is claimed that only Castor
and Pollux were his children; Clytemnestra and Helen were
children by Lyda's human husband.
(e) By a fifth woman, Europa, he had three
sons: Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Sarpedon.
(f) By a sixth woman, Electra, he had
Dardanus, from whom the Trojans claim their origin.
(g) By a seventh woman, Niobe, he had
Pelagius and Argus.
(h) By an eighth woman, Io, he had Epephus.
(i) By a ninth woman, Antiope, he had
Anthion and Zeuthus who built the walls of Thebes.
(j) By a tenth woman, Aegena, he had a son
named Aeetes, the ancestor of both Aeschylus and Ajax.
d. Gen 6:3, "Then Jehovah [God the Father] said, `My
Spirit [Holy Spirit] will not always plead the cause of God in
man's soul forever, for in his going astray, he is flesh
[mortal]. Therefore, his days will be one hundred and twenty
years.'"
(1) This verse refers to the antediluvian
ministry of the Holy Spirit. One of the greatest periods of
evangelism in all of history resulted in millions of people
hearing the Gospel, and yet there were only nine converts before
the civilization was destroyed!
(2) The common grace ministry of the Holy Spirit
is emphasized here. Remember that being born spiritually dead,
we are totally depraved, totally separated from God, and totally
helpless to do anything about it. Furthermore, we are
spiritually brain dead; unable to understand the Gospel. But God
the Holy Spirit makes the Gospel perspicuous under the doctrine
of common grace.
(3) The Holy Spirit pleads the cause of God in
man's soul, because the soul of man is spiritually brain dead.
The cause of God is salvation. It is impossible for us to
understand the Gospel on our own; that's why the Holy Spirit
pleads the cause of God, i.e., makes the Gospel perspicuous.
(4) From the time of Gen 6:3 to the time of the
Flood, there would be an elapse of 120 years. At that point, God
the Holy Spirit would no longer plead the cause of God in
salvation, because the flood would wipe them out.
(5) Only the nine human beings mentioned above
believed in Jesus Christ. The half-human, half-angelic creatures
heard the Gospel as well, and they could have believed in Christ
and saved their human side, but none of them ever did. There
were millions of them.
(6) Time is the only chance you have for eternal
life. You can only make a decision in time to believe in Jesus
Christ.
(7) Evangelism would continue 120 years more in
the antediluvian civilization before the Flood came and destroyed
the last opportunity for the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in
common and efficacious grace.
(8) The grace policy of God never executes
judgment on mankind before every grace opportunity has been given
to believe. Grace precedes judgment. Therefore, from the time
of the angelic infiltration and the genetic attack on true
humanity, there would be 120 years of Gospel preaching.
(9) In 120 years, the entire human race would be
corrupted by half-human, half-demonic people. The half-demonic
side rejected the Gospel, even though it was probably given
clearer, better, and more forcefully in that period of time than
in any period of time since.
(10) By the grace of God, the true humanity of
Christ would be born as a descendant of Shem, one of the eight
survivors of the Flood.
d. Gen 6:4, "The Nephalim [fallen ones, half-human
half-demon creatures] were on the earth in those days, and also
afterward when the sons of God [demons] had sex with females of
the human race, and had children by them, these children were the
heroes who, from ancient history, were famous men."
(1) Notice that in this passage, three categories
of creatures are mentioned: HA ADAM is true humanity, BENI HA
ELOHIM are angels with bodies, and HA NEPHALIM are the progeny of
the first two combined, i.e., half-human, half-angelic creatures.
(2) HA NEPHALIM means "the fallen ones." They
are the subject of all the mythology of Greece, Rome, Canaan, and
Germany.
(3) Num 13:33, "There we also saw giants
[Nephalim], the sons of Anach [part of the Nephalim], and we
became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and we were in their
sight." They were giants, not the Nephalim of Gen 6.
(4) Half-human and half-demonic creatures had
superb strength and super intellect.
(5) These are the Greek heroes of antediluvian
times. They include Orpheus, Perseus, Theseus, Minos, Hercules,
Jason, Pelius, Castor, and Pollux. They are in contrast to the
later heroes of the Trojan War, like Ulysses, Aeschylus, and
Ajax, who were humans in postdiluvian times.
(6) So the Nephalim included people of great
power and intellect, like Dionysus or Bacchus, Anthion,
Aesculapius the great physician, Prometheus, Pelops, Apollo.
(7) As a result of this demon attack, the fallen
angels involved were confined to Tartarus, the third compartment
of Sheol or Hades.
(8) The demons who function in the postdiluvian
civilization under the command of Satan no longer have sexual
capabilities; they are disembodied spirits.
(9) So note the distinction between fallen
angels.
(a) In the antediluvian civilization, the
demons who invaded the earth had angelic bodies and sexual
capabilities. With their bodies, these demons were able to have
sex with human females, resulting in the Satanic attempt to
destroy true humanity on the earth. It almost succeeded except
for the grace of God in the cataclysmic universal flood.
(b) In the postdiluvian civilization, all
demons are disembodied spirits, and therefore limited to the
following functions: demon possession, which is the demon
invasion of the human body and taking it over, and demon
influence, which is the infiltration of Satanic or false doctrine
into the human soul as per 1 Tim 4:1-2.
(10) Jude 6 tells what happened to the first
category of demons who infiltrated the human race. "And the
angels which kept not their status quo but abandoned their proper
place of residence [in the second heavens], He has guarded them
in eternal chains under thick darkness for the judgment of the
great day." Tartarus is described as "chains of thick darkness"
in all Greek literature.
(11) These demons are mentioned again in 2 Pet
2:4, "For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned [Gen
6:2], but incarcerated them in pits of darkness [in Tartarus],
reserved for judgment."
f. Gen 6:5 is the divine evaluation of the Nephalim
period. "Then the Lord observed that the evil of homo sapiens
was great on the earth, and that every motive of the thoughts of
his heart [right lobe] was only evil continually."
(1) In the period between the angelic
infiltration and the Flood, a period of 120 years according to
Gen 6:3, there were many unusual characteristics.
(a) It was a period of the greatest music in
history; evil people produced the most fantastic music in
history, yet also the greatest violence.
(b) It was a period of the greatest
scientific achievement in history, yet at the same time a period
of great lawlessness. It was the greatest academic civilization
in history.
(c) Along with culture of art and music,
there was also great immorality. Along with fantastic luxury,
there was wanton cruelty (similar to the Athenians later).
(2) Though they did a lot of thinking, their
thinking was related to evil.
(3) There were three evil results of this genetic
attack.
(a) Case history #1: the sexual attack.
(i) Bacchus was the demon god who
promoted the phallic cult. He started the first sorority in
history, and the women were called Maenads (which later became a
word for sexual insanity).
(ii) The sorority emphasized emotion
taking over the soul and suppressing thinking, therefore blacking
out reason. Hence, it included a demon penetration of the soul.
(iii) The function of the sorority was to
seek total freedom to give women more choices than they had ever
had in their homes under their parents and husbands. In other
words, this was to free them from authority. The function of the
sorority was to establish a total freedom and escape from human
limitations by entering into sexual orgies with demons. Hence,
the demon penetration of the mind or soul was followed by the
demon penetration of the female body.
(iv) The bacchus cult began with a lot
of good music, dancing, working everyone up, and drugs. Both a
sexual orgy and violence resulted. The women abandoned
themselves to the demons. The Maenads (mad ones) not only
abandoned themselves to demons in a lustful frenzy, but they
became extremely violent. They often killed one another. They
lost all reason. So that along with sexual lust, there was
tremendous killer lust.
(v) King Pentheus of Thebes (Greece)
became suspicious of three women in his household: his wife, his
mother, and his sister. One night after pretending to be asleep,
he followed them as they slipped out of the house and attended a
meeting of the Dionysian sorority. There he saw these women
become involved in an orgy.
(vi) King Pentheus couldn't stand it any
longer, so he went in to rebuke these three women. They all
literally clawed him to pieces with their hands, screaming and
shouting.
(b) Case history #2: the intellectual.
(i) This is the story of Apollo and the
Oracle of Delphi. Apollo was the demon god of light who was very
much involved with the kingdom of darkness and Satan himself.
Apollo was one of the first champions of the angel of light
principle from demons. He was the champion of lucidity. He was
called the god of the sun. Apollo is his Latin name; Phoebus is
his Greek name.
(ii) On Mount Parnassus, Apollo killed a
gigantic python. It was alleged to have been fifty feet long,
and if so, it weighed about 350 pounds. In Apollo's honor, the
Pythian Games were held.
(iii) The demon-possessed priestess who
served the demon god Apollo at the Oracle of Delphi prophesied
and controlled the lives of many famous people.
(iv) Apollo represents the doctrine of
demons found in 1 Tim 4:1-2, as well as demon thinking in cosmic
two. Apollo represents the intellectual departure from God, in
contrast to Bacchus (or Dionysus) which represents the emotional,
orgastic departure from God's will.
(c) Case history #3: the sensational; the
deceit of miracle healing.
(i) Mythologically, this pattern is
related to Aesculapius, the demon god of healing. Aesculapius
was the progeny of Apollos and a human female called Coronas
(Arseno).
(ii) To understand how demon healing
works, we must note two great demon-princes who serve their king,
Satan.
1) Abaddon or Apollyon is found in
Rev 9. He is the demon in charge of overt warfare. He commands
the Abyss, from which he will bring forth the first great demon
army in the Tribulation.
2) Beelzebub is the prince in
charge of covert warfare against the human race. He has charge
of operation mole, which is Satan's plan to give demons and
Satan's human servants credibility in the Christian community.
Satan's human deceivers include sorcerers who perform feats of
necromancy, exorcists, so-called "divine healers," and people
involved in signs from Satan, including the actual reproduction
of the gift of tongues. Beelzebub is the demon in charge of the
eggastromuthos demons who, when they possess the body of an
unbeliever, actually reproduce the gift of tongues as it occurred
on the Day of Pentecost and for forty years thereafter.
(iii) Beelzebub, as the demon in charge
of undercover operations, sponsors activities to give credibility
to Satan's human servants. Satan's human servants are easily
identified as people who allege to perform miracles of healing.
No one has been healed by a miracle by a person since 96 A.D.
(iv) God occasionally will directly heal
a person in response to prayer. But the great power in the post-
Canon period of the Church Age is the power of the Word of God.
Jesus Christ only healed to give a hearing to His message.
(v) Beelzebub is the head of a great
demon organization which practices miracles of healing.
1) Matt 12:24, "When the Pharisees
heard it, they said about Jesus, `He casts out demons only by
Beelzebub, the prince of demons.'" When Beelzebub orders demons
who are causing illness out of a human body, there is instant
healing of that body. There are three categories of illness:
physiologically-induced illness, mentally-induced [psychosomatic]
illness, and demon-induced illness.
2) Mk 3:22, "The scribes who came
down from Jerusalem were saying, `He is possessed by Beelzebub,
and he casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.'"
3) Lk 11:15, "But some of them
said, `He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of demons.'"
(vi) So certain forms of demon
possession cause illness, so that when the victim goes to a so-
called divine healer (who is working for Satan), Beelzebub orders
the demons to withdraw which means there is an instant and real
cure. Therefore, people think that divine healer has great power
and must be from God. This is how even believers are led astray.
This system provides honor and credibility to servants of Satan
who practice the healing art.
(4) The saturation of evil was illustrated by
violence, murder, rape, and human sacrifice.
(a) Lykaon, the King of Arcadia, sacrificed
his son and then sat down and ate his corpse. He was demon-
possessed. This is patterned after Chronos, who ate his children
when they were born.
(b) King Pentheus of Thebes was torn to
pieces by the sorority of Dionysus, which included his wife,
mother, and sister.
(c) Atrius, the King of Mycenae, seduced the
wife of his brother, Thyestes, whom he banished from the kingdom.
When Thyestes was pardoned by his brother and allowed to return,
Atrius invited him to a banquet in his palace. As he sat down,
he was served two of his sons who were murdered and cooked for
his convenience.
(d) When Hercules returned home after his
famous twelve labors, he murdered his wife and children.
(e) Adonis was loved by both Aphrodite
(Venus) and Persephone, the Queen of Hades. Zeus settled the
rivalry by decreeing that Adonis should spend one-half a year
with Venus above earth, and one-half year with Persephone in
Hades. This story was used to describe seasons. For each year,
Adonis must die and spend time with Persephone. Therefore, human
sacrifice was practiced to send him down. To be sure he comes
back up, more people were sacrificed.
(f) Pember, Earth's Earliest Ages, p. 135,
"And hence, there sprang up a thick crop of frauds and
assignations of open quarrels and violence, till the whole earth
was filled with corruption and bloodshed..." High culture never
prevents violence.
(g) If the flood occurred in 2245 B.C., then
the angelic infiltration would have been about 2365 B.C.
g. Gen 6:6, "Therefore, the Lord Himself repented that
He made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His right lobe."
(1) The niphal reflexive of NACHAM means to have
a change of mind. It is the exact equivalent of the Greek
METANOEO, and has the same meaning. It is impossible for God to
sin, and therefore He does not "repent from sin."
(2) This is an anthropopathism, which ascribes to
God human feelings, passions, thoughts which God does not
actually possess; e.g., hatred, anger, scorn, benevolence,
compassion, longsuffering, and repentance. But in order to
explain a divine policy, such a feeling or thought is ascribed to
God. Therefore, to describe a change of divine policy, "repent"
is used. Many times in history God has had to judge segments of
the human race.
(3) A second anthropopathism is that God was
"grieved."
(4) God's "right lobe" is an anthropomorphism,
which ascribes to God a part of human anatomy which God does not
possess, in order to express a divine function.
(5) God would give 120 years to this half-human
race, under the principle that grace precedes judgment. At that
time, there would be a total destruction of the human race apart
from eight persons.
h. The divine decision regarding the antediluvian
civilization follows in Gen 6:7. "Then the Lord decreed, `I will
blot out mankind whom I have created from the surface of the
earth, from man to animals to reptiles to birds of the sky, for I
have changed My mind that I made them.'"
(1) Apparently, the antediluvian reptiles and
animals were much larger than the ones today. We know something
about the antediluvian animals from the investigation of an ice
pack in Siberia. So all animals and reptiles and birds were to
be destroyed, except for those preserved in the ark.
(2) The saturation of evil was so great that the
human race had reached a point of total self-destruction. This
was a part of the satanic plot to destroy true humanity on the
earth so that Jesus Christ could not come in the flesh. Yet only
as perfect true humanity could Jesus Christ come and be judged
for our sins.
(3) Therefore, to protect the remnant of
believers, God had to destroy the antediluvian civilization.
This divine decision was totally compatible with God's grace
policy, which is extended to us today. The only way that God
could keep His divine promise that there would be a Savior, and
that "whosoever believes in Him will never perish but have
eternal life," was by destroying the corrupted part of the human
race so that only true humanity would be preserved beyond the
great catastrophe of a universal flood.
(4) Noah and his family were the last human
beings who had not been corrupted by the angelic infiltration
that produced the Nephalim. There must be a line of true
humanity which extends from Noah to the true humanity of Jesus
Christ. This explains the necessity to destroy the antediluvian
population, which by now was a super race of half-angelic, half
human beings.
i. Gen 6:8, "Then Noah found grace in the eyes of the
Lord."
(1) "Eyes" are an anthropomorphism, ascribing to
God human anatomy which He does not possess, used to express in
human language a concept we can understand.
(2) Noah and his family were both genuine human
race and regenerate human race. They had personally believed in
Jesus Christ as He was revealed in the great evangelistic push as
of that dispensation.
(3) That Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord
refers to his salvation.
j. Gen 6:9, "The following is the family history of
Noah, a justified person [a believer], who was uncontaminated in
his genealogy [still true humanity]. Furthermore, Noah walked
with God [a mature believer]."
(1) Being justified means Noah had personally
believed in Jesus Christ. Therefore, he was justified by faith.
(2) Therefore, since Noah was both justified and
uncontaminated in his genealogy, he was the exception to Gen 6:7,
when the Lord said, "I will blot out mankind whom I have created
from the surface of the earth." All mankind was to be blotted
out because mankind had become Nephalim, i.e., half-human and
half-angelic. Had that continued, there would have been no
possibility of the Lord Jesus Christ becoming true humanity and
being judged for our sins. Then there would have been no way God
could keep His Word to Adam and the woman.
(3) The reason why the family history or
genealogy of Noah is so important is because it is true humanity
all the way from Adam and the woman to Noah. That Noah walked
with God indicates he was a mature believer as well.
k. Gen 6:10, "And Noah had three sons, namely Shem,
Ham, and Japheth."
(1) Every member of the human race is descended
from either Shem, Ham, or Japheth, or the many combinations that
have developed since then.
(2) Abraham was in the line of Shem, and at age
99 he began the new racial species of the Jew. The Jewish line
continued only through Isaac and Jacob, both believers. Jacob's
twelve sons are the basis for the entire Jewish race. Our Lord
came from the line of Judah.
l. Gen 6:11, "Now the earth was corrupt in the sight
of God; furthermore, the earth was saturated with violence."
m. Gen 6:12, "Consequently, God looked at the earth
and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way
on the earth."
(1) The effectiveness of the genetic attack on
the earth by demons resulted in true humanity being almost
extinct on planet earth.
(2) The source of salvation must come from the
true humanity of Jesus Christ. 1 Pet 2:24, "He carried our sins
in His own body on the cross." As God, He could have nothing to
do with sin. He had to become true humanity. Hence, there was
the necessity for destroying the hybrid race of the half-human,
half-angelic creatures.
(3) The demons (BENI HA ELOHIM, sons of God) were
removed to Tartarus, while the corrupted humanity was removed to
Torments in Hades.
(4) God protects the believer, fulfilling His
will in time of extreme catastrophe. Whenever God has to judge
the world to protect the human race from self-destruction, He
always protects the believer from this extreme catastrophe, which
in this case was a universal flood which destroyed all Nephalim
and all animal life on the earth except what was in the ark. But
no matter how great the catastrophe, it is the mature believer
who always survives. The pivot of mature believers always
survives catastrophe.
n. Gen 6:13, "Then God said to Noah, `The end of all
flesh has come before Me [idiom: I'm thinking about the
destruction of the antediluvian race), for the earth has become
saturated with violence. Behold, I am about to destroy them with
planet earth.'"
(1) It's interesting to note that one of the
greatest cultures of all time occurred during the antediluvian
civilization. The music, literature, and drama was far greater
than anything produced since. Yet the greatest violence also
existed. Culture and violence always go together, for it
occurred again during the fifth century B.C. Athens, during the
Renaissance, and today in the United States.
(2) So when a population gets to this point of
saturated evil and violence, God intervenes with judgment. There
will never again be a universal judgment of the earth, like the
Flood. The earth will only be destroyed once more in its
entirety, and that will occur at the end of the Millennium. At
that time, God will cause a nuclear explosion that will destroy
the earth and universe entirely.
(3) Under the principle that Jesus Christ
controls history, there must be, from time to time, great
judgments, so that certain segments of the population which are
self-destructive can be wiped out.
(4) Jesus said the same thing when He said, "He
who bears the sword will perish by the sword." This does not
refer to the soldier in the military or police officer in law
enforcement, but to the criminal who is self-destructive in the
human race. This is why capital punishment is no necessary. If
we don't destroy the criminal element through capital punishment,
then God will do so in a terrible catastrophe.
(5) How did God "destroy them with planet earth?"
Gen 7:11, "He opened up the fountains of the deep." Remember the
water that flooded the entire earth came from below the surface
of the earth. The rain that came from above contributed a very
small portion to the flood, only about 2%.
(6) This verse stresses the importance of God's
grace in judgment. It is seen in the work of our Lord on the
cross. It is also seen in our Lord's removal of evil empires
from time to time to avoid the self-destruction of the human
race.
H. Our Lord's Victorious Proclamation.
1. In 1 Pet 3:18-22, we have the only real winner in
history, the One who did more to win than anyone else, and the
One whose victory is more significant than anyone in human
history.
a. 1 Pet 3:18, "Because Christ also died once for our
sins, the righteous One as a substitute for the unrighteous ones,
that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the
flesh, but made alive by means of the Spirit."
(1) The trichotomous humanity of Christ remained
impeccable during the entire time He was on the cross, though He
underwent the greatest temptations anyone ever faced. He was the
"lamb without spot and without blemish." He continued residing
inside the divine dynasphere during three hours of the most
intense suffering to ever exist in human history.
(2) There are two reasons why our Lord remained
the "righteous One." First, He was sustained by the omnipotence
of God the Holy Spirit inside the prototype divine dynasphere,
Heb 9:14. Secondly, He used the problem solving devices,
especially +H or sharing the happiness of God, Heb 12:2. Both of
these sustaining factors are now available to you as a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
(3) The Greek preposition HUPER plus the genitive
of advantage from ADIKOS, "as a substitute for the unrighteous
ones," refers to us all. The Greek noun ADIKOS includes both
moral and immoral degeneracy, everything that makes up our
failures when we're under the control of the old sin nature.
(4) If you have personally believed in Jesus
Christ, you have been brought to God. Jesus Christ is the only
one who can bring us to God, and who can give us eternal life.
(5) The entire satanic plot was an attempt to
keep Jesus Christ from being "put to death in the flesh."
(6) The omnipotence of the Holy Spirit had
custodianship of our Lord's human soul after His physical death.
God the Holy Spirit was the means by which our Lord was "made
alive by means of the Spirit."
(7) The rest of this passage explains what
happened to our Lord's soul between the phrases "having been put
to death in the flesh" and "but made alive by means of the
Spirit." Under the custodianship of God the Holy Spirit, His
soul not only went to Paradise, but He also visited Tartarus. So
our Lord's human soul was in Hades for three days. While there,
He went to Tartarus.
b. 1 Pet 3:19, "by means of whom [God the Holy
Spirit], He [human soul of Jesus Christ] went and made a
proclamation to the spirits in prison." The "spirits in prison"
are the BENI HA ELOHIM of Gen 6:1ff. Those fallen angels who
were judged and incarcerated in Tartarus when the universal flood
occurred on the earth, Jude 6; 2 Pet 2:4.
c. 1 Pet 3:20, "who [imprisoned demons] once were
disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of
Noah, while the ark was being constructed, in which a few, that
is, eight souls, were brought to safety through water."
(1) The patience of God waited 120 years. That
period received that most intensive Gospel proclamation in all of
human history. Every one of the Nephalim had a chance to believe
in Christ, and every one of them said no. In the vacuum of their
souls, they continued to worship the gods of Mount Olympus, who
were not gods but demons.
(2) God kept waiting under the principle that
grace always precedes judgment.
(3) The water that drowned the unbelieving world
was also used to deliver the eight souls who were believers and
true humanity. They are called "eight souls" because the soul is
saved, not the body. We receive an interim body, and then a
resurrection body.
d. 1 Pet 3:21, "which also is an antitype [copy,
representation] of the baptism [of the Holy Spirit] which now
saves us -- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but a pledge
of a good conscience toward God -- through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead,"
(1) At the moment of our salvation, the baptism
of the Spirit made us members of the royal family of God. Each
member of Noah's family in the ark is analogous to the believer
who is union with the person of Jesus Christ. Union with Christ
delivers each member of the royal family of God.
(2) Those eight souls were an antitype 10thor
copy of what happens to us in the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
For they were delivered from the catastrophe of the Flood by
being inside the ark, just as we are delivered from the Lake of
Fire by being in union with Christ, due to the baptism of the
Holy Spirit. Just as they were safe in the Ark, so we are safe
in union with Christ.
(3) The parenthetical phrase is to make sure you
understand this does not refer to water baptism.
(4) Your conscience was developed at the moment
you believed in Jesus Christ as Savior, when God the Holy Spirit
entered you into union with the person of Jesus Christ, making
you royal family of God and a new spiritual species. So the
pledge of good conscience toward God begins with becoming a new
spiritual species and a member of the royal family of God.
e. 1 Pet 3:22, "who [Jesus Christ] is at the right
hand of God [the Father], having ascended into heaven after
angels and authorities and powers had been subordinated to Him."
(1) When Jesus Christ ascended, He was seated at
the right hand of God the Father and received His third royal
warrant. When we believe in Jesus Christ, we are put into union
with Him as He is seated at the Father's right hand. This means
we are positionally in heaven at the right hand of the Father
right now; this is the doctrine of positional sanctification.
(2) Since Jesus Christ ascended, He is now higher
than all angels in a human body! This is unprecedented in all of
history! This means that positionally, you are also higher than
all angelic creatures. Furthermore, in the future when you
receive your resurrection body, you will be physically higher and
superior to the angels, the original creation of God.
2. When our Lord Jesus Christ went to the fallen angels of
Gen 6 in Tartarus He announced to them a victorious proclamation,
that they had not succeeded in their great attempt to prevent Him
from coming in the flesh as true humanity.
a. The Holy Spirit transferred our Lord's human soul
from Paradise to Tartarus to make His proclamation.
b. He announced that He had come into the world as
true humanity. Then our Lord gave those demons an entire
dissertation on the dispensation of the Hypostatic Union, and how
He had been judged for the sins of the world. He told them how
their plot had failed, for true humanity had remained on the
earth with Noah and his family.
3. We only have part of what our Lord said to those fallen
angels recorded in Heb 2:9-17.
a. Heb 2:9, "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower
than angels [in His humanity], now crowned with glory and honor
because He suffered death, that by the grace of God He might
taste [spiritual] death for everyone." True humanity is lower
than angels. In a resurrection body we will be higher than
angels.
b. Heb 2:10, "For in bringing many sons into glory, it
was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything
exists, should make the Author of their salvation perfect through
suffering."
c. Heb 2:11, "For both He who sanctifies [Jesus Christ
through agency of the baptism of the Spirit] and those who are
being sanctified [royal family], are all from one [idiom: all of
the same family], for which reason He is not ashamed to call them
brethren,"
d. Heb 2:12, "saying [Ps 22:22], `I will proclaim Your
name to Your family [royal family of God]; in the middle of the
congregation I will sing Your praise.'" In antiphonal worship,
Jesus Christ is praised as the strategic victor in the angelic
conflict.
e. Heb 2:13, "And again [Isa 8:17], `I
[personification of all Church Age believers] will put my trust
in Him.' And again [Isa 8:18], `Behold, I [victorious Christ]
and the children [royal family] whom God [F] has given to Me.'"
Not only did Jesus Christ succeed in coming in the flesh, in
spite of that angelic attack, but at the same time a royal family
was formed. God the Father has given to our Lord a royal family
as an award for His third royal patent.
f. Heb 2:14, "Since therefore the children share
common blood and flesh [true humanity], He also Himself, in the
same manner [virgin birth], shared their humanity, in order that
through death [substitutionary spiritual death] He might destroy
[neutralize, render powerless] him [Satan] who has the power of
death, that is, the devil;" In spite of the demon attack of Gen
6:1-11, true humanity continues to reside on the earth in the
postdiluvian civilization.
g. Heb 2:15, "and might deliver those who, through
fear of death, were subject to slavery all of their lives." When
we celebrate the Lord's table, we celebrate the highest freedom
ever attained in this life, i.e., spiritual freedom. Fear, such
as fear of death, makes the human race a slave.
h. Heb 2:16, "For obviously, He [humanity of Christ]
did not assume the nature of angels, but He did take on the seed
of Abraham [new racial species of Jew]."
i. Heb 2:17, "For this reason, He had to be made like
His brethren [royal family] in every way, that He might become a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to
make propitiation for the sins of the people." This is the
victorious proclamation in part.
I. The Abyss.
1. This fourth compartment of Hades is the jail for a
certain postdiluvian demons who have been incarcerated there
because they disobeyed the rules for the angelic conflict in
human history.
2. ABUSSOS means abyss, and is mistranslated "the deep" in
the KJV, Lk 8:31; Rom 10:7 and in Rev 9:1-2, 11, 7:17, 11:7, and
20:1-3 where it is called "the bottomless pit." Rom 10:7 tells
us it is a part of Sheol; cf. Amos 9:2.
3. Our Lord had a dialogue with a demon-possessed man of Lk
8:30-31. After He cast the demons out, they begged Him not to
order them into the Abyss. "And Jesus asked him, `What is your
name?' And he replied, `Legion,' for many had entered him. And
they begged Him not to command them to depart into the Abyss."
a. The fact that they called themselves "Legion" means
they were organized into a military force.
b. The demons knew they had violated certain
principles and could be tossed into the Abyss. A demon army is
being formed there of all fallen angels who violate the rules of
the angelic conflict.
c. Demons who violate certain rules of the angelic
conflict during human history are banished into the Abyss.
Apparently at least 1000 demons indwelt this man, contrary to the
rules of the angelic conflict.
4. The Church is the focal point of the invisible warfare
today; therefore we are required to become invisible heroes.
However, the Abyss is related to visible warfare in the
Tribulation.
5. The Abyss is the present barracks for the first demon
assault army under the command of Abaddon (Hebrew) or Apollyon
(Greek). This first demon assault army will invade the earth
during the Tribulation, Rev 9:1-12. They are released from their
prison to become part of the administration of punishment to
unbelievers. At this time, the invisible angelic conflict will
become visible. Hence, there will be visible heroes among
believers; e.g., Moses and Elijah and the 144,000 Jewish
evangelists. These events indicate a tremendous and radical
change in God's plan after the Rapture of the Church occurs.
6. A second demon assault army is said to be stationed
underneath the Euphrates River. It will be sent into action at
the sounding of the sixth trumpet, Rev 9:13-21. This demon
assault army will actually kill one-third of the people of the
earth who are involved in the cosmic system.
7. The third demon assault army is commanded by Satan
himself. It now resides in heaven. It will attack upon the
sounding of the seventh trumpet, Rev 11:15-12:17. This army will
be involved in warfare in heaven. It will be defeated by the
angelic order of battle led by Michael the archangel, Rev 12:7-8.
As a result of this defeat by Michael and the elect angels, the
third demon assault army will attack planet earth, Rev 12:9.
This attack is specifically directed against the Jews. It is
Satan's final attempt to wipe out every Jew on the earth. Anti-
semitism is one of the greatest systems of evil from Satan.
8. There is a special demon-king, Apollyon, now residing in
the Abyss who will indwell and empower the dictator of the
revived Roman Empire in the Tribulation, Rev 17. Rev 17:8, "The
beast that you saw [revived Roman Empire] was [Roman Empire in
time of John, 96 A.D.] and is not [fall of Roman Empire in 476
A.D.] and will come out of the Abyss and go into destruction."
9. The Abyss will be the millennial jail of Satan where he
will serve 1000 years of prison sentence. Rev 20:1-3, "And I saw
an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the Abyss and
a great chain in his hand. And he seized the dragon, the serpent
of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for one
thousand years. And he cast him into the Abyss, and he both shut
and sealed it over him so that he should not deceive the nations
any longer until the thousand years were completed."
10. When the two witnesses, Moses and Elijah, finish their
ministry in the Tribulation, they are killed by Abaddon, the king
of all demons in the Abyss, Rev 9:11 cf 11:7.
11. In the Hebrew, TOPHIT GEHENNAH refers to the lake of
fire, not Hades.
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