Table of Contents

Hell is Made Holy

How the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Book of Revelation show that the wicked and hell cease to exist

Over 75 Free Online Bible Commentaries
Pulpit
Expositors
Keil & Delitzsch
Matthew Henry

By David Aaron Beaty

Visit author’s web site at www.davidaaronbeaty.com

Chapter 13

Final Interpretation and Checking the Answer in the Back of the Book

To sum up the heart of what I'm showing in this book, we might have a progression of divine thought and action for the book of Revelation that goes something like this. Revelation, and all the events it describes, are a coming of the Lord which is parallel to and a prophetic fulfillment of God's Old Testament deliverance of His people from Egypt and His coming to dwell among them in relationship, having taken up residence among them in His new house/tabernacle. The Old Testament sacrificial system and its almost never ending burning and continuous daily smoke going up, which starts at the tabernacle inauguration, becomes a visible symbol of God's ongoing covenant love, deliverance, and faithfulness to his people. It burns day and night. They see the smoke every day rising above the tabernacle. The smoke goes up from generation to generation:

[Exodus 29:38-46 NASB20] 38 "Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two one-year-old lambs each day, continuously. 39 "The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; 40 and there shall be a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of beaten oil, and a fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering with one lamb. 41 "The other lamb you shall offer at twilight, and shall offer with it the same grain offering and the same drink offering as in the morning, for a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD. 42 "It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the doorway of the tent of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. 43 "I will meet there with the sons of Israel, and it shall be consecrated by My glory. 44 "I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve as priests to Me. 45 "And I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. 46 "And they shall know that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, so that I might dwell among them; I am the LORD their God.

As long as repentance and the covenant duties were kept by the people, and the smoke could be seen going up from generation to generation, God remained present and active in relationship with the nation of Israel and its people. God's people betrayed him though. The smoke did not go up forever and ever. They cheated on Him with the gods of the nations and the covenant was in some ways temporarily obstructed. The togetherness of God and His people was interrupted. The smoke stopped. God will not allow his love and togetherness with his people to be thwarted though. He will return again to inaugurate the temple/tabernacle for a last and final time with great sacrifices consumed by fire, just as before in the Old Testament by the falling of His Fire. He will take up residence again among His Beloved People, except this time the covenant bond will never end. Symbolically and not literally, just as in Isaiah 34, the smoke of the sacrifices will go up forever and ever, unto the ages of the ages. The covenant will be "forever and ever". Its results will be literally endless, but the flames will not, just as in the symbolic use of sacrifice language in Isaiah 34. God's togetherness with His people and His deliverance of them will be "forever and ever" just as the smoke symbolism is. The smoke, symbolically but not literally, just as in Isaiah 34, will go up forever and ever, representing its endless result of His endlessly satisfied vengeance. God will not be satisfied though with only the death of the defiled three, satan, the antichrist, and the false prophet. For wicked humans, the smoke resulting from their possibly quick torment and death will be enough to endlessly satisfy God. This is just as in the sacrifices of the Old Testament sacrificial system. The sacrificed animals are killed quickly. For the defiled three though, this likely will not be enough. In the language of Revelation 20:10, their "torment", "day and night, forever and ever" is described instead of, "the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever" in Revelation 14:11 for wicked humans. This may indicate that the prolonged day and night torment of the defiled three is necessary to satisfy God instead of just brief torment and death as for wicked people in Revelation 14:10-11. Unlike wicked people, God may only be satisfied to throw the defiled three into the lake of fire "alive" (Revelation 19:20) and to torment them for an uninterrupted extended period, "day and night". Their "torment day and night" though, very likely will only have endless results, "to the ages of the ages", just as the "night and day" fires of Isaiah 34 will. The night and day fires of Isaiah 34 will go out, just as the passage describes, and animals will come in and move into the land. The night and day torment of the defiled three will very likely finally end, and they will be dead, intentionally punished and killed by their torment, just as torment was sometimes intended to do in the common language usage of ancient Greek:

[Daniel 7:11 NASB20] 11 "Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was killed, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire.

[Ezekiel 28:13-14, 16, 18-19 NASB20] 13 "You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared. 14 "You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. ... 16 "By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, And you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, you covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire. ... 18 "By the multitude of your wrongdoings, In the unrighteousness of your trade You profaned your sanctuaries.

Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you; It has consumed you, And I have turned you to ashes on the earth In the eyes of all who see you. 19 "All who know you among the peoples Are appalled at you; You have become terrified And you will cease to be forever."'"

In Isaiah 34, the results of the day and night fire which will finally go out, are endless. The land and its people are delivered from the presence of evil "forever". In Revelation, there will be endless results of the temporary day and night torment of the defiled three. The land and its people will be delivered from the presence of evil "forever and ever", "to the ages of the ages". God's vengeance will be permanently satisfied.

In the Old Testament, the progression of events goes something like this. God delivers his people from the wicked army which drowns in the Red Sea, just as also in Revelation:

[Exodus 15:4-5 NASB20] 4 "Pharaoh's chariots and his army He has thrown into the sea; And the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. 5 "The waters cover them; They went down into the depths like a stone.

[Revelation 18:21 NASB20] 21 Then a strong angel picked up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will never be found again. God then consecrates His priests. His priests kill the sacrifices and offer them to God. God's fire comes from heaven to devour the sacrifices. The sacrificial system starts, and the smoke begins to go up from generation to generation. The burning and smoke begin to persist day and night, symbolizing God's togetherness with his people. Then emerging from all this, God gives a pronouncement of the wonderful relationship results of the keeping of the covenant:

[Exodus 29:44-46 NASB20] 44 "I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve as priests to Me. 45 "And I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. 46 "And they shall know that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, so that I might dwell among them; I am the LORD their God.

If Revelation follows this same Old Testament pattern described above, even being a literal prophetic fulfillment of it, then we should expect that a similar pronouncement of the wonderful relationship results of the new Revelation 21-22 eternal state covenant should also be communicated by God in Revelation after all the action has taken place. Here it is below. We are looking in the back of the book to check our answer. What are the endless results of the action? Do they follow the Old Testament pattern as we are expecting?:

[Revelation 21:2-4 NKJV] 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice nfrom heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."

[Exodus 29:44-46 NASB20] 44 "I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve as priests to Me. 45 "And I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. 46 "And they shall know that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, so that I might dwell among them; I am the LORD their God.

Revelation 21:2-4, seen above, is only preserved in two of the oldest nearly complete ancient manuscripts of the Bible dating to the 4th and 5th centuries AD, and then also in a very high number of manuscripts which are centuries younger. One of those two oldest manuscripts and roughly 3/4 of all the existing manuscripts show something like this NASB20 version of Revelation 21:2-4 below which is missing one of the phrases, "and be their God", which its NKJV version far above has in common with Exodus 29:44-46 above. A majority of all modern Bible translations recognize a version of Revelation 21:2-4 like the NKJV far above as being a more likely reflection of the original, and not the one below which is missing the phrase, "and be their God":

[Revelation 21:2-4 NASB20] 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the Tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away. "

Even with the differences in the ancient Revelation manuscripts, do the covenant pronouncements in Revelation 21 and Exodus 29 above look similar? They both are an expression of God's deliverance of His people and His togetherness with them. We know they look similar, because the ending is the fulfillment of the beginning. God can use the Old Testament symbolism of a literal Israelite people and a literal Israelite nation and His love for them to demonstrate what He will do for His beloved peoples and nations of all the world:

[Genesis 22:18 NASB20] 18 "And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

[2 Peter 3:9 NASB20] 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

[Romans 5:6-8 NASB20] 6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous person; though perhaps for the good person someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

[PsongG 152 DABV]
1 A PsongG of David
For his beloved King
On the keys of the computer
2 Praise Him all ye creatures here below
His love goes up unto the ages of the ages
Praise Him all ye peoples in the land
His strength abides unto the age age
3 Praise him all ye evil ones on bended knee
His vengeance clears a way through the sea
Praise Him all ye who wear white robes
His city is everlasting
4 Praise Him all you in torment night and day
His judgments make you cease to be
Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him
5 He is unto the ages ages
He is unto the age and the ages of the ages
He is unto the age of the age
6 In Him alone we have Rest
Praise Him forever night and day
Amen our Holy King, our love is unto You
In your timing Swift Witness, in your timing our Savior!

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Thank you for reading Hell Is Made Holy. May He Bless you and keep you. May His face shine upon you and give you peace.

Hoping to see you in eternity, David Aaron Beaty

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