In This Issue

• "RENDER TO CAESAR"
• HELL IS ETERNAL
• MORE INFORMATION...

"RENDER TO CAESAR"

A delegation of Pharisees and Herodians came to Jesus to ask a question they hoped would get Him in trouble. "When they had come, they said to Him, 'Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?' But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, 'Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it.' So they brought it. And He said to them, 'Whose image and inscription is this?' They said to Him, 'Caesar's.' And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' And they marveled at Him" (Mark 12:13-17).

The Pharisees and Herodians hated each other and usually had little or nothing to do with each other. The Pahrisees considered themselves as loyal patriots and champions of the Jewish cause. The Herodians were loyal to the Herods, who were supposedly Jews religiously, but were of Edomite blood, and had been appointed to their thrones by the despised Roman emperor. Though the Pharisees and Herodians despised one another, they had at least one thing in common - they both hated and feared Jesus more than they hated each other. Their mutual distrust of Jesus led them to conspire against Him, in hopes of forcing Him to take a position that would get Him in trouble. They asked Jesus whether or not it is lawful to pay taxes to Rome. B.W. Johnson comments: "If He had said 'No,' they expected to denounce Him to the Roman governor as teaching sedition. If He had said 'Yes,' they expected it would destroy His influence, as the people hated the Romans the tribute."

Jesus' answer to their tricky question accomplished two things. (1) He did not fall into their well laid trap. He forced them to acknowledge that the tribute coin, the denarius, was imprinted with both the name and the likeness of Caesar. Certainly, if Caesar claimed it for his own, his claim must be valid. "Render, therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's" (Matt. 22:21).

(2) Jesus also accomplished the purpose of teaching the truth on this subject in such a way that His followers throughout succeeding generations have had very little trouble understanding their duty regarding taxes. Obviously, owing taxes has nothing to do with the righteousness of wickedness of the taxing authorities. Scarcely have any governments been more corrupt that that of the Caesars and the Herods. Owing taxes has nothing to do with whether or not we agree with how those taxes are spent. It is our privilege to live in a country where we can register our protests and cast our votes to influence how our tax money is spent. But when those in power choose not listen, and when our votes are unsuccessful, we still owe the taxes assessed by those who are in authority.

--Clarence R. Johnson

HELL IS ETERNAL

The concept of eternal punishment is rejected by many as being a cruel and sadistic form of man's own desire to vindicate evildoers that do not always appear to be punished adequately in their lifetime. The need for vindication of divine justice creates the philosophy of an eternal form of punishment. This theology would salve the minds of good people who feel some form of punishment should be given to all evildoers.

Because of the love of God, many reject hell. One writer said, "I know that hell is not eternal. If God put people in hell for eternity, that would mean that God is extremely cruel, and it contradicts a crucial verse: 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.' (Ezekiel 33:11) Plus, if people believe that God likes to torment people in an eternal hell, and God would save you from it rather than judge you, you end up with a 'Fire Escape Religion.' I conclude that hell is not eternal."

Charles Journet said in 'The Meaning of Evil' (1961), "It is absurd, unworthy and hateful to think that God can draw pleasure from the sufferings endured in hell and that he can seek and find in revenge a means of satisfying his justice - and yet is any blasphemy about hell more common than this?"

It is clear to see how difficult the idea of eternal punishment is to the mind of man. One suggest that he "knows that hell is not eternal." He disqualifies his whole argument by assuming to be God. To assume that God is "extremely cruel" would put God on man's terms and man's level. How cruel was God when he destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19? The last plague brought upon the Egyptian nation was the death of the firstborn - was that cruel? 

Examine the cruelty of God in Deuteronomy 21:18-21: "If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. And they shall say to the elders of his city, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard. Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear."

Example upon example in the Old Testament shows that God's justice demanded judgment. When the church was still in its infancy, God struck down Ananias and Sapphira - dead - for lying! (Acts 5) How can the clay say to the potter: "you are cruel!"? It reminds me of the man who walked out of church one day and said to the preacher, "You know, I don't know if God got that right or not." Isaiah answers this question: "Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, `What are you making?' Or shall your handiwork say, `He has no hands'?" (Isaiah 45:9)

The depth of man's own depravity is seen in using Ezekiel 33:11 to prove that God is not a cruel God. When read in context the passage says, "Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: `Thus you say, "If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?"' Say to them: `As I live,' says the Lord GOD, `I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'" (vv10,11) Ezekiel continues in verses twelve through twenty to describe the fairness of God's judgment upon His people. He concludes with these thoughts: "Yet you say, `The way of the LORD is not fair.' O house of Israel, I will judge every one of you according to his own ways." (33:20) 

Is hell fair and just before God? Paul sums up the whole character of God in Romans 11:22 - "Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off." God is a God of goodness and beauty. God is also a God of severity to those who disobey Him. As Ezekiel wrote, God does not find pleasure in punishing the wicked - but He will!

His Son taught these same lessons. From the lips of a loving Savior and He who died for our sins come these words: "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, `Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' "And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" (Matthew 7:21-23)

Jesus will tell those who do not do the will of His father in that day to depart - depart where? When they practice lawlessness they will not enjoy the blessings of heaven. They shall depart into that place Jesus describes in Matthew 25:41 - 46: "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, `Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: `for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; `I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' "Then they also will answer Him, saying, `Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' "Then He will answer them, saying, `Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' "And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." 

The Son of God taught that the punishment and the fire is everlasting and eternal. It is a place of "outer darkness" where there will be "weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 8:12) Paul writing to the church of the Thessalonians said: "And to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)

"The 3rd century Christian writer and theologian Origen and his school taught that the purpose of these punishments was purgatorial, and that they were proportionate to the guilt of the individual. Origen held that, in time, the purifying effect would be accomplished in all, even devils; that punishment would ultimately cease; and that everyone in hell eventually would be restored to happiness." ("Hell," Microsoft® Encarta® 97 Encyclopedia.) 

No place in scripture does God indicate that hell is to be a temporary abode of the wicked. Hell is eternal in that it will never end: "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched -- where `Their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'" (Mark 9:43,44) 

Jesus tells the story of Lazarus and a rich man to show the torments of hell: "And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. "Then he cried and said, `Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.' "But Abraham said, `Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.'" (Luke 16:23-26) Hell is an eternal place of torment. The justice of God does not disregard His mercy. However, His justice does (and always has) demand judgment upon those who choose to disobey Him. Jesus taught in Matthew 10:28, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." In a picture of judgment, Jesus describes the Son of man as He "Will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 13:41,42)

The book of Jude describes the judgment of God upon ungodliness. The message of the Revelation is one of victory over the forces of evil and "He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death."' (2:11) In the concluding scenes of the Revelation, John records: "And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire ... But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (20:15, 21:8) 

Hell is real and will be eternal. God does not desire for anyone to perish but that all should repent. Peter reminds us that God is not slack concerning His promise and He will bring judgment upon those who are not looking to be found "by Him in peace, without spot and blameless." (2 Peter 3)

Hell is real! Hell is eternal!

--Kent E. Heaton, Sr.

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