Passage
[Revelation 20: 13-15]
“And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. [14] Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. [15] And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This is the 19th session of Hell sermon series.
In the last session I talked about a soul who would stand at the crossroads of Heaven and Hell.
This soul directly had seen and heard the deep and secret things of the spiritual realm.
She fulfilled many duties with the gift that God had given to her.
But she did not circumcise her heart and this gave rise to her arrogance. She committed sins following her lust.
She disobeyed God many times and finally stood against the Holy Spirit.
She betrayed God and committed unforgivable sins despite the special grace she had received. Therefore she was supposed to fall into the Lower Grave.
But God gave one last chance for her to repent and receive salvation.
This opportunity is to show her faith by becoming a martyr in the 7-year Tribulation.
While all the believers are caught up to the air and partake in the 7-Year Wedding Banquet with the Lord, the earth will be in the times of the Great Tribulation.
The official period of human cultivation will have ended by that time, but God will still search this earth until the end of the end time.
Just like a farmer would glean the fields by picking up the grains that fell on the field after the harvest, God will search for souls who can be saved.
That is why this is called the ‘Gleaning Salvation’.
A farmer may pass by one or two grains, but God the Father never misses any.
He will save even the last soul and take it into the storehouse of heaven, the Heavenly kingdom.
The love of God the Father has no end.
I hope you will stand firmly on the rock of faith so God wouldn’t have to worry about you that you may be left on the empty field after the harvest.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will have unchanging spiritual faith.
[Main]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this soul who stands at the crossroads of Heaven and Hell will live just like other people.
But when she hears that the Rapture took place, she will come to her senses as if she woke up from a dream.
Because she heard the word of God so much before, she knows very well about the Lord’s coming in the air and the 7-Year Tribulation.
She also knows very well that the only way for her to be saved is martyrdom.
Now, she will repent of her past sins and gather the members of the church she used to attend who also were not caught up.
They worship God and pray to prepare to become martyrs.
When the time comes, she will resist the mark of the beast and she will be tortured by the people of the anti-Christ.
The people of the anti-Christ, who are incited by Satan, will torture her terribly and cruelly.
For example, they will peel off her skin slowly and little by little from head to toe.
They will also sear her whole body with hot irons, and the most sensitive parts of her body will be no exception.
They will not torture her too much at a time and by controlling the timing, duration and intensity she will be made to feel the greatest magnitude of pain for the longest time possible.
The place will be filled with screaming and the odor of burning flesh.
The whole body will be covered with blood for its skin is peeled off. Her face will drop, and it will have a blackish blue color full of the energy of death.
If she overcomes this moment, which is more painful than death, she will receive shameful salvation despite her many evil deeds.
She will go into the outskirts of the Paradise, the lowest dwelling place in Heaven.
But if she submits to the tortures and receives the mark of the beast, she may escape the torture for the moment, but she will finally die and fall into the Lower Grave.
If she falls into the Lower Grave, she will be crucified right behind and on the right side of Judas Iscariot, who sold out Jesus, and there she will receive her punishments.
While being hung on the cross, she has to receive the same kind of torture that she received during the 7-Year Tribulation, which is peeling off her skin little by little and searing her body.
She has to receive it for more than a thousand years.
She has to be tortured not just by the messengers of hell but also by the souls who followed her doing evil with her on earth.
Their anger that comes from the pain of the punishments they receive will be poured out on this soul.
During the Millennium Kingdom, she will continue to be tortured this way, and after the Final Judgment, she will fall into the burning fire and brimstone of Hell.
No matter how cruel the tortures are during the 7-Year Great Tribulation, they can still be saved if they overcome. They can then rest in Heaven.
God earnestly wants all those who fall into the 7-Year Tribulation to receive salvation, including this soul even if it means martyrdom.
He would watch these souls until they become martyrs feeling impatient and nervous.
Of course, what He really wants is that not a single soul falls into the 7-Year Tribulation.
Therefore, we have to diligently preach the gospel.
2 Peter 3:10 says, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.”
Those who do not believe in the Lord will experience the Lord’s coming as a very sudden and unexpected event.
It will be the same for those who say they believe in the Lord but are not spiritually awake and aware.
Just how panic stricken they would be to be completely unprepared and fall into the 7-Year Tribulation!
However, if they had had heard about this tribulation, they would at least know how they could still receive salvation.
When we spread the gospel, this is the reason why we have to tell them about the things that will take place towards the end of the world.
It is not something that is easy to speak about, but there will most certainly be good souls who will accept the Lord.
Also, even if they don’t accept the gospel for the time being, if they see what they have heard about actually taking place, then they may accept the Lord at that time.
But we should not scare them by speaking about such things indiscriminately. We have to have certain wisdom when we preach about such things.
For example, if we make other people trust us through the actions of our deeds, then it would be easier for them to open their minds when we preach the gospel to them.
I hope you will give out the fragrance of the Christ everywhere and lead your family members, relatives, and neighbors to Heaven.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I will finish with the Lower Grave here, and let me talk about Hell itself.
The Lower Grave belongs to Hell, but in strict sense it is a different space from Hell.
The Lower Grave is a waiting place for those who are not saved, where they receive punishments until they fall into Hell through the Final Judgment.
The actual punishment begins when they go into the Hell of fire and brimstone.
Before being cast into this Hell of fire and brimstone, let us briefly review what will occur from the 7-Year Tribulation to the Final Judgment.
After the time of the tribulation is over, the Millennium Kingdom will come upon earth.
After the wedding banquet, the Lord will come down to this earth with God’s children who are saved.
The evil spirits will be confined in the bottomless pit, the deepest part of Hell.
Those who are saved will again live on Earth with the Lord and reign like kings.
At this time, there will be people of flesh who survive the 7-Year Tribulation, and they will live on earth along with the people of spirit.
But these people will not reign like kings. The people of spirit will reign over them.
In the Millennium Kingdom, there will be no evil spirits on earth. The earth will be purified and restored.
The thousand years will pass like a day while the believers enjoy true rest and peace.
The people who die without salvation will receive their punishments in the Lower Grave while there is Millennium Kingdom on this earth.
What great agony this would be for them to receive such miserable punishments that are given continuously!
Some of these souls in the Lower Grave will have been suffering for several thousands of years.
When this millennial period is over, the evil spirits that were confined in the bottomless pit will be released for a short time.
Then, many people of flesh will be tempted by the evil spirits to stand against people of spirit. God will destroy these people with fire.
After the Millennium Kingdom ends this way, there will be the Final Judgment. Rewards or punishments will be decided according to each one’s deeds.
Revelation 20:11-15 well describes the scene of the Judgment.
“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. [12] And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. [13] And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. [14] Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. [15] And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Those who are saved will receive the judgment of reward, and will go accordingly into each of the heavenly dwelling places including New Jerusalem.
However, most of those who are not saved will receive the judgment of punishment according to each one’s sins. Then they will fall into the fire of Hell.
Here, I said most of them because there are exceptions.
Those who died before the age of puberty, around the age of 12, will not go into Hell after the Great Judgment.
It’s because they couldn’t really choose their faith with a completely independent mind and volition.
Compared with the adults, they were greatly influenced by their parents, ancestors, and external circumstances.
God of love and justice will take these facts into consideration and do not send them to the fire of Hell.
But they will still receive eternal punishment in the Lower Grave.
Most of those who survive the Tribulation and live in the Millennium Kingdom will not be saved, and they will fall into Hell.
Hell can be categorized into the ‘Lake of Fire’ and the ‘Lake of Sulfur’.
Revelation 21:8 says, “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Here, it doesn’t just say that it is a lake of fire, but a lake that burns with fire and brimstone.
Revelation 20:10 says, ‘the lake of fire and brimstone’.
The Bible tells us that there is not only the Lake of Fire but also a lake that burns with sulfur.
The Lake of Sulfur is seven times hotter than the Lake of Fire and it is far more painful than the Lake of Fire.
Revelation 19:20 says, “And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.”
The beast, namely the anti-Christ, and the false prophet will deceive many people during the 7-Year Tribulation and lead them to death.
Because his sin is so great, he will fall into Hell alive.
Such people will be thrown into the lake that burns with sulfur, which is the Lake of Sulfur.
This way, those whose sins are heavier will fall into the Lake of Sulfur while those whose sins are relatively lighter will fall into the Lake of Fire.
More precisely, those who receive the 1st and 2nd levels of punishment in the Lower Grave will fall into the Lake of Fire, and those who receive the 3rd and 4th level punishment into the Lake of Sulfur.
Brothers and sisters, when you heard about the punishments in the Lower Grave, weren’t you terrified because of the misery there?
Some of you even shed tears with the pity on those souls who are punished.
But the pain of the Lower Grave does not begin to compare to the agony of the Lake of Fire and Lake of Sulfur.
How can we understand the pain even if it is described in vivid detail!
In the case of Heaven, we try to imagine the beauty of it, but we cannot really sense its true beauty.
We have never experienced the concept of eternity, so we can merely guess at it.
We try to imagine the life in Heaven using all our knowledge, and every experience of the feelings of joy, happiness, rapture, and beauty.
But even though we imagine again and again, we cannot express the magnificent life of Heaven.
We cannot even come close.
Once we see and experience everything actually in Heaven, we will be speechless and our jaws will drop to the floor.
It’s because there are limits when we try to understand spiritual things while having a physical body.
In much the same way, we cannot really understand the pain of Hell unless we actually experience it.
I try my best to explain it to you, but even just one millionth of the misery of Hell cannot be expressed or explained.
And if you think there is no end to that pain but it is eternal, the mental pain of feeling so helpless will be added to that pain.
Brothers and sisters, those who are in the Lower Grave know very well where they will go after the Judgment.
While they are being eaten by worms or chased by the messengers of hell, they see the fires of the lakes of fire and sulfur.
Then, they feel suffocated.
They know what kind of pain they will receive when they go into those lakes.
In addition to the present pain, they even have mental pain.
In order to be able to understand their heart little bit, let me introduce to you lamenting of a soul in Lower Grave.
I want you to feel their fear and despair that is contained in this.
“How can this be a figure of a human being?
This is not how I looked during my life on Earth. My appearance here is appalling and revolting!
In this endless pain and despair, how can I be set free? What can I do to escape from this?
How can I stop breathing and die?
How can I get a rest in this eternal punishment?
Where is the way to end my long life! I am suffering in this unimaginable pain!
I hurt myself to die, but I cannot kill myself. I try to end this long life, but I cannot do it.
There is no end! There is no end! There is no end to my pain! There is no end to my life! I cannot end anything, and how can I express all this with words!
What can I do? What can I do? Soon I will be thrown into that fire, where there is no end of that flame, and how can I bear with that fire?
The pain I am receiving is so great even now, and how will I be able to endure the pain of that fire?
When the flame goes up, it is so scary. The depth and heat cannot be described. How can I bear that place?
How can I escape it for a moment, and how can I get out of that place?
How can I get away from this pain?
Only if I can live, only if there is a way for me to live, only if there is a way for me to be saved, if somebody can show me the way to live, then I will go that way, but I cannot see any way.
There is only darkness, despair, and pain. My days are only days of despair and hardship. How can I bear with this existence of my soul?
How can I bear with that?
Only if you can give me a way to live, if you can open a way for me to live, if I can see a way to live, please let me live! Save me!
It’s too fearful and difficult for me to bear! Please save me! Please save me!
I have spent such miserable and terrifying days, and now I have to go into that fire?
Please look at me and save me! Save me! Have mercy on me! Please let me live! Save me!”
I will continue to explain about this Hell in the next session.
[Conclusion]
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, some people, when they hear about the Rapture, say that they will be martyred and receive salvation if the Rapture really takes place.
But they do not keep their faith even at peaceful times being tempted by the world, and how will they be able to overcome all the tortures to keep their faith?
Also, if they die without receiving a chance to become a martyr, they will immediately fall into the Lower Grave.
Or, even if they do get a chance to become a martyr, they cannot go to any better place than Paradise.
Even this soul I introduced to you today, if she becomes a martyr, she will go to the outskirts of Paradise, which is the farthest from the throne of God.
Of course, she will be just so thankful that she is saved, so her happiness in Heaven will be inexpressible.
However, she will still regret so much that she could have gone into a glorious place in New Jerusalem if she had just cast off her evil and fulfilled her duty.
She will live with tears and longing for New Jerusalem.
I hope you will have no regrets.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be filled only with thanks for what you will have done well, and for that you will have endured and overcome well.
[Amen]
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