Immortality or Resurrection by William West (philippa perry book txt) 📕

in Hell. On the judgment of Edom in Isaiah 34:5-17 it is said, "It shall not be quenched NIGHT OR DAY; IT SMOKE SHALL GO UP FOREVER," but after it did it work it went out and the land became a desert inhabited by jackals and other wild things. John says, "AND THE SMOKE OF THEIR TORMENT GOES UP FOR EVER AND EVER; AND THEY HAVE NO REST DAY AND NIGHT." Both are symbolic language speaking of an in time temporal punishment on this earth, not of eternal torment in Hell. If “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; and they have no rest day and night” were literal, THE TORMENT AND SMOKE WOULD NOT BE IN HELL BUT IN HEAVEN, “IN THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY ANGELS AND IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LAMB” [Revelation 14:10]. “Day and night” has to do with time, not eternality; the American Standard Version say, “Greek, ‘unto the ages of ages’” which would put the smoke in time and end when time as we know it ends. When it said the smoke would be going up “unto the ages of ages” is saying the smoke will be going up in time and will end with time; there is no hint that it will go up throughout the “ages of ages.” “Unto” a given time “the ages of ages” is not forever.
“In the clause ‘they have no rest day nor night who worship’…is the present participle denoting they have no rest day nor night while they are worshipping” Charles Welch, The Wages of Sin, www.truthaccordingtoscripture.com/death/Wages-of-sin-6.php
“The smoke of their torment” is in the third of the seven bowls of the wrath of God poured out into the earth by seven angels having seven plagues. Revelation 15:1 says, “For in them is finished (complete) the wrath of God.” “Because in them the wrath of God is finished” New American Standard. According to those who believe in Hell the wrath of God will never be finished. The seven plagues are plagues that take place in time and will be finished in time, not plagues after the judgment day that will never be finished.
A CONTRADICTION TO THEIR OWN BELIEF. In an attempt to find their belief in the Bible, many make the symbolic picture of souls under the altar literal, but when they do it does not say what they want it to say.
1. SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR BEFORE THE JUDGMENT DOES NOT FIT WITH THE PROTESTANT VERSION OF HEAVEN, THAT ALL THE SAVED GO DIRECTLY TO HEAVEN AT DEATH. Those who believe souls go to Heaven to be at home with the Lord, but they do not believe those in Heaven will be shut up and unhappy under an altar crying out for revenge on those in Hell and/or some still on the earth. If made literal, it does not fit with their belief. If souls go to their eternal home with Christ in Heaven at death, why are they so unhappy that they cry unto God? Why are they crying to God for judgment and vengeance on those who are in torment if the lost go to Hell at death? Will those in Heaven want more vengeance than the awful torment they believe Hell will be for some who maybe their father, mother, brother, or sister?
2. SOULS UNDER THE ALTAR BEFORE THE JUDGMENT DOES NOT FIT WITH THE AFTER JUDGMENT VERSION, THAT ALL THE SAVED ARE IN ABRAHAM’S BOSOM AND WILL NOT BE IN HEAVEN UNTO THE JUDGMENT DAY. Many who believe in Abraham's bosom also make this literal, but when they do they have an even greater contradiction of their belief. They have people in Heaven before the Judgment Day. They have souls that are not in Abraham's bosom, but in prison under an altar before the judgment. They do not believe any will be in Heaven before the Judgment, but they have some that are now in Heaven under an altar. They have some that are in Heaven and some that are in Abraham's bosom simultaneously before The Judgment Day. This is inconsistent with their own teaching, particularly on Luke 16. They teach Abraham's bosom with the good and bad sides, then they use this passage and teach that souls are "under the altar," therefore; souls are in two different places before the resurrection. They change from one to the other, and then back to the first, as they need to. If a symbolic passage can be made to prove something they want it to prove by making it literal; they make it literal and use it just as they do Revelation 12:7-9 and other passages in Revelation. In their attempt to prove Hell, they make two symbolic passages literal, [Luke 16:19-31; Revelation 6:9], but if they did proved what they are trying to prove with each of the two passages they would contradict each other.
A drowning man will desperately grab at anything to try to keep his head above water. They have no plain statement [no boat to save them] that teaches men have an immortal inter part that is not subject to death, therefore, they grab at any symbolic language or parable.
"Some persons have turned to the Book of Revelation and hung over its sublime imagery, as if these were literal descriptions of our eternal home; but we must remember that this is a book of symbols, and that this fact will not permit a strict adherence to the letter in seeking the meaning of its glowing visions. Revelation does not aim to teach us, as some have thought, that the ceaseless employment of heaven is eternal singing or praising, but that it is an abode of rapturous joy of which song and praise are the natural expressions. Nor are we to conclude that the heavenly city is literally paved with gold and fenced in with jasper walls and pearly gates, but that it is a splendid and glorious home beyond anything that mortal eye has ever seen." B. W. Johnson, Christ and the Future Life, 1891.
Commonly accepted rules: (1) A symbolic passage cannot overturn the teaching of a passage that is not symbolic. (2) A symbolic passage cannot be used to build a doctrine on.
REVELATION 14:9-11 WORSHIPERS OF THE BEAST
"And the smoke of their torment doth go up to ages of ages; and they have no rest day and night, who are bowing before the beast and his image, also if any doth receive the mark of his name." Footnote in the American Standard Version, "Gr. UNTO the ages of the ages." This smoke goes up UNTO the ages of ages, not without end IN the ages of ages.
Revelation is a book of figurative language taken from the Old Testament. It was written to people who know the Old Testament and would be familiar with its symbolisms but those persecuting them would not understand it. The symbolism in Revelation can be understood by the way it is used in the Old Testament.
WHO ARE WHAT IS THE BEAST?
To understand whom the worships of the beast are we need to know what the beast symbolizes. In Daniel, "beast" is used to represent a great political empire.
A. M. Ogden says worshiping Babylon is Emperor worship. "The Avenging of the Apostles and Prophets" Page 295.
F. E. Wallace "The name Babylon had come to symbolize the ultimate in corruption, and the fallen Babylon of verse 8 is figurative of the spiritual degradation of Jerusalem-'the faithful city turned harlot.'" "The Book Of Revelation" Page 310.
Homer Hailey "Judgment should motivate and bring men to repentance [Acts 17:30f]. But, what judgment is in the divine mind here-the final judgment, or an immediate one? In the light of this exhortation to fear God, give Him glory, and worship Him, it is impossible to make 'the hour of his judgment' refer to the final judgment...but rather, it refers to the hour in which God is to judge Babylon." "Revelation, An Introduction and Commentary" Page 307, 1979, Baker Book House.
Ralph F. Brashears said he is not describing the eternal Judgment, but a temporal retribution, figuratively. "The Revelation of the Christian Age." Page 276, 1989, Vantage Press.
This passage speaks of a judgment that takes place in time before the coming of Christ and the judgment day. Whether the beast is pagan Rome or the papal power, it is only a small part of those who are not in Christ. It says nothing about all the lost in John's time or today, and nothing about any of the lost going to Hell. It is not the judgment at the coming of Christ for all the lost will be in that judgment. Those who believe in Hell do not believe anyone will worship the beast nor receive the mark of his name after they are in Hell. If the powers of this world are cast alive into Hell and tormented forever, then the evil powers of this world will exist forever, but even those who believe in Hell do not believe evil world powers will exist forever and be tormented in Hell.
There are four symbolisms in the passage, each one taken from the Old Testament.
2. Those that worship the beast shall drink of wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of His anger. This is an Old Testament expression of destruction. See Jeremiah 25:15-27; Obadiah 16 and 18; Psalm 75:8; Job 21:20; Habakkuk 2:16; Malachi 3:2.
3. Those that worship the beast shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. See “The Types Of The Judgment” in chapter seven.
4. They have no rest day and night. This is often applied to those in Hell being tormented forever, but it says nothing about all the lost in Hell but about those who are worshiping the beast (Emperor worship or pagan Rome) while that are worshiping him. All four symbolisms in this passage are speaking only about those who are worshiping the Emperor and not God, not about eternal torment in Hell.
5. The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. Even if Revelation 14:9-11 were literal, it would not be depicting torment, but the aftermath of the destruction just as the smoke of Sodom that Abraham saw depicted of the total destruction of Sodom. The ascending smoke is a sign of the destruction that has already taken place, a destruction that had been completed. Those in Sodom were dead when Abraham saw their smoke ascending. When a city or a person has been turned to smoke, the destruction is past, not forever ongoing. If the smoke were literal, the ascending smoke of Revelation 14 would show their destruction has taken place, not that they are undergoing torment. The ascending smoke seen by Abraham became the basis of much of the language of destruction found in the Bible. It is a sign of an utter destruction that is passed, not of eternal torment, Genesis 19:24-28; Isaiah 34:9; 66:24; Jeremiah 17:27; Ezekiel 20:45-50; Revelation 14:9-11; 18:9; 18:18. Much of the symbolism in Revelation can be understood by the way it is used in the Old Testament. In Daniel "beast" is used to represent a great political empire.
SMOKE IN HEAVEN Revelation 14:9-11: A symbolic picture of a judgment in the time of Emperor worship or pagan Rome, It is a picture of the destruction of these powers on this earth, not of the torment of individuals in