Study in the Epistle of Jude # 65: Verse 11

by Chris McCann

EBible Fellowship (http://www.ebiblefellowship.com)

Welcome to the Electronic Bible Fellowship’s Bible study. We are currently going through the book of Jude. We have been directed from there to the book of Numbers, where we have learned about Korah’s rebellion against Moses and Aaron, which was really a rebellion against God Himself. God is making an example of Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and these 250 princes of Israel; He is going to destroy and bring His judgment upon these men and their families. Their wives and children and little ones were with them as God opened up the earth and it swallowed them up.

That particular judgment of God is full of spiritual significance. It is true that, historically, it was as though an earthquake suddenly occurred and the earth divided. These men and their tents and all that appertained unto them—their possessions, their families, and everything that they had in this world—went down into the pit. The earth simply slew them and they died physically as they fell down into that pit that the earth opened up at that time. However, spiritually, their death points to the final judgment of God on the Last Day. That is when all mankind will be before the Judge of the whole earth, the Judge of all men, and they must give account to that Judge for what they have done while they lived their lives in this world. We see this in 2 Corinthians 5:10-11, which says:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

Every human being must appear before the judgment seat of the Lord Jesus Christ to be judged for how they have lived their lives. As we see, Korah and these princes go down quick into the earth. This is indicating that they have been judged by God and found guilty and therefore cast into the pit of Hell. The destruction of these men as they perished at this time is without any question pointing to the destruction of mankind as they are thrown into Hell.

We remember that Jesus says in Matthew 12:40, “As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” That language “to be in the heart of the earth” has to do with suffering the wrath of God. It has to do with paying the penalty for sin, which is Hell and damnation. That is what the Lord Jesus had to endure as He went to the Cross. He had to pay the equivalent of an eternity in Hell for the sins of His people, and that is figured by being in the heart of the earth.

That is what happened to Korah and his family and these men. They went down into the earth; the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up. They are in the heart of the earth, which means that they are experiencing a judgment of God that is looking to the final judgment when mankind will be thrown into Hell. We read in Numbers 16:33:

They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.

Now why does God say that they went down alive into the pit, if this is spiritually looking to the final judgment? Why does He indicate that they were alive when they went down into the pit of Hell? In Revelation 3, we get one part of the answer. Verse 1 says:

And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.

Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and all these princes of Israel had a name. We read earlier in Numbers 16 that they were men of renown, men of a name, famous in the congregation of Israel. In actuality, every believer is a man of a name or a woman of a name, and that name is the name of God Himself. We are Christians; we carry the name of Christ. When we say, “We are a Christian,” we are declaring, “I am alive. I am spiritually alive. I am a child of God. I have eternal life.”

Unfortunately, for many, that is a false witness, a false declaration. Therefore, on Judgment Day, many will stand before Christ to give account for their sins. They will plead with Him and say that they have done many things in His name, but He will say, “Depart from Me, ye that work iniquity; I never knew you” (Matthew 7:21-23). They will be thrown into Hell. In a way, with their profession of being alive fresh on their lips, they will be cast out of God’s sight, and they will go down alive into the pit.

This language is also used of the devil himself, of Satan, in Revelation 19:20. It says there:

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

They are cast down into Hell, and God says that they are alive as they go down. There is another reason that God uses that kind of language when someone is thrown into Hell, whether it be Satan or a sinner. Let us say that the world has come to an end. (We are not looking very far ahead into the future at all—this time is coming quickly upon us.) Let us say that the few days we have left have passed and that the Lord Jesus has returned. The world has been destroyed, the universe has been rolled up as a scroll, and everything has been melted with a fervent heat (2 Peter 3:10). Man has stood before God and has been found guilty. The sentence has been passed; the judgment is set: he is to be thrown down into Hell because he has offended God, and God’s furious anger is upon him. We see how terrible sin truly is, because this is an eternal judgment. These individuals must be thrown off into Hell.

God, at this junction in his salvation plan, at the end of His salvation plan, creates the place called Hell. Hell has not existed throughout the world’s history. When sinners died throughout the centuries, their bodies went to the ground and their souls went to a place of silence. They were not cast down into Hell because Hell was not yet created. However on the Last Day, God simply speaks and creates, just as He created the world. Yet this creation is a creation that is not designed for blessing in any sense of the word, but designed to be a curse. It is designed to house those who are cursed, those who have brought the curse of God upon them.

Therefore, God sets His brilliant mind to work, to bring together a place called Hell, where there will be no figures of God. There will be no still waters or green pastures in this place, as God uses those things to typify Himself (Psalm 23:2). There will be no beautiful sunsets or stars at night—there will be none of that. There will be no flowers or lovely streams of water. There will be no high-rising mountains or wonderful oceans and seas. All the beautiful things, all the good things that we have in this world will not be a part of that place called Hell, at least not in any identifiable way as we have them here.

Those things were a part of the original creation of this world, and God created this world perfectly and good. It was to be a blessing. Even after the fall of mankind and the curse that came upon the creation, we still see remnants of the beauty and glory of this universe and the great and wonderful creation that God has made. However, we have to keep in mind that as God is creating this place called Hell, He is not creating it to be perfect. He is not creating it to be a place of goodness, a place that reflects the glory of God. He is not creating it to offer any kind of witness to Himself like the heavens in this world have declared the glory of God (Psalm 19:1). He is not creating it with these purposes in mind.

In this earth, man could look at so many things of the creation and say, “There must be a Creator, because the creation itself testifies and bears witness to the fact that there is a God.” However, that is not God’s purpose at all as He will create the pit of Hell. He will create a place that will then be cast out of His sight and be removed from His presence forever and ever. God is creating a place simply to house, to hold, to keep, the wicked forever under wrath and judgment. They will remain there forever and ever; they will never get out or escape. They will never enjoy the blessings of Heaven.

God is going to create this kind of creation on that Last Day—a place of a curse. The object that God has in mind is to design this “world,” if we can call it that, to bring about suffering and agony and pain. There will be sorrow and tears and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:30). It is a place where the worm dieth not (Mark 9:44). God is going to create a place that will be in keeping with the revealed Word of God. He has informed us about Hell and told us that it will be a place of the blackness of darkness forever (Jude 1:13), and the creation of Hell will reflect that truth. God is going to create a place where the fire is never quenched—it eternally burns and burns and burns (Mark 9:44). God is going to create this kind of place that will reflect these awful statements that we find in the Word of God.

As mankind is sentenced to be cast into the pit of Hell, they will go down into the pit alive because they are going to have their wits about them; they are going to have their senses. God had to equip these men with new resurrected bodies. Numerous billions of people had to be resurrected from the ground, just as the saved had to be resurrected—the only difference is that the unsaved will be resurrected unto damnation (John 5:29). Yet they also must have a body that will be able to exist forevermore. Therefore, God will equip them with some sort of eternal body. It will not be a perfect body as the believers possess, it will not be a glorious resurrected body as true believers have (1 Corinthians 15:42-44), but it will be a weak, eternal body, if we can look at it that way. It will be able to experience suffering—there will be tears and sorrow and this body will be afflicted.

God will equip these individuals with those bodies and with their souls that have always been eternal, and they will be brought down to Hell alive. Their senses will be fully active; they will be taking in their surroundings just as we take in our surroundings in this life. This is how we experience things—our eyes give us information, our ears give us information, and so do our smell and our touch. Likewise will these poor people who have transgressed against the Law of God experience things. They are accursed and they are thrown into the pit of Hell, and with whatever body God has given them, they will begin to take in their surroundings. Their eyes will see and their ears will hear whatever that place is like.

This is the awful future that awaits each and every unsaved individual. In Deuteronomy 28, which is a chapter that deals with the Great Tribulation but also addresses the judgment of God in Hell, we read in verses 58-61:

If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

This is terrible information. We could discuss verse 61 of Deuteronomy 28 for a while, but the verse that I want to get to is a little further down. In verses 65-67, we read:

And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life: In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

God is recounting to us as only He can because He is eternal God. He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). He dwells in the whole spectrum of existence; He inhabits eternity. Therefore, God can look into the far reaches of eternity future. Of course, He knows everything that is taking place with His people as they are experiencing the tremendous blessings of God. The blessings go on and on, and what a wonderful future it is!

However, even though God does speak about Hell as a place removed from Him, there is no place that God would not have knowledge of, therefore, He also knows what is going on in the hearts and minds of those who are in the pit of Hell. He knows how they are suffering; He knows what they are thinking and what agony they are in. He is taking a little, tiny bit of their suffering and relating it to us in verse 67 as we see them crying out in the morning, “Would God it were even,” and at even, “Would God it were morning.” In the morning, everything is so bad and overwhelming that all they can think is, “Oh, may this pass. Perhaps in the evening the wrath of God will let up a little. Perhaps as this morning changes into the evening…”

God, of course, is using the picture of a day because that is the only thing we would understand. Hell, however, is outside of time—it is in eternity—but this is the picture that God has given us. Can you imagine suffering all day long? In the morning, your only thought is, “Oh, may it be evening.” Yet then evening comes and the wrath of God has not let up. The judgment of God is still upon you. The fire is not quenched; the worm has not died. The sinner is still experiencing the awful suffering because of the wrath of God that is bearing down on him. He is as a grape that is being trodden in the winepress of a fierce God (Revelation 14:19-20). He is being crushed to nothing; his life’s blood is being squeezed from him.

Then in some kind of way, God must renew these individuals, just as the sacrificial animal was renewed. It would be placed upon the altar in the morning and the fire would burn until there was nothing left of that animal but ashes. Then in the evening, another animal would be laid upon the altar to experience the same fate. The fire would be continually burning.

Likewise, the fire of Hell will be continually burning. The difference is that it will be burning upon the sinner. It will be burning upon you, my friend, if you are not a child of God. This will be your fate; this will be your future. This is what awaits you in the pit of Hell if you have not become born again. If Christ has not done the work of salvation in your life, you will be the one who is crying out in the morning, “Would God it were even,” and in the evening, “Would God it were morning.” These will be your words and the words of any sinner who is ongoing in his rebellion against God. They are the words of any who are going in their own way rather than in the way of God, as God would bestow His grace.

The end of verse 67 reads:

…for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

I do not know exactly what kind of a body they will have, nor do I even know exactly what kind of a body a believer will have, but God is simply using this kind of a picture. Just as your eyes are taking in your surroundings right now and you are seeing your house or your neighborhood or the trees of this world, so the sinner will look around him in the pit of Hell where he has gone down. He has been swallowed up of the earth; he’s in the heart of the earth, except he will not arise as the Lord Jesus Christ did. He will not come out the other side. His eyes will forever take in the sight of that awful place that has been created for nothing but a curse and a torment to those who are accursed. The eyes of those will see these things.

Let us look at Luke 16, where God gives us this same kind of a picture with the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In verses 23-31 we read:

And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And 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 thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

God is extremely serious with us. He has not given us the Bible just to entertain us. He has not given us His Word for any reason except to warn us that there is a wrath to come and a Judgment Day, and there needs to be salvation lest we perish in that judgment, lest we ourselves go down into the pit. God has given us Moses and the prophets. He has given us His Word and He has warned us repeatedly, again and again, that the Day of Judgment is coming. It may come even sooner for any one of us because none of us know if we will live tomorrow.

Yet, we also know that the time we are living in today is very near the Day of Judgment. The time is short and Hell is right around the corner. The unsaved will personally experience that terrible place forevermore. There will be a great gulf fixed so that the sinner will never escape and never come out. There is no door, no window; there is no bridge. There is no way to get out of that place. Once you are there, there is no salvation, no mercy of God any longer. Once God brings judgment, it is judgment without mercy (James 2:13).

Now is the time; now is the day of the salvation of God (2 Corinthians 6:2). We do not need anything dramatic. We do not need a voice coming from Heaven. We do not need to see a vision or hear a tongue. We do not need signs and wonders, or to see someone rise from the dead. God says, “You have Moses and the prophets; hear them.” We have the Word of God, the Bible itself.