What happens when a soul is thrown into hell?
Hell is like a holding cell where
prisoners are kept until they appear before the judge. Hell is the place of the departed dead. The Lord explains what happens to a lost man who
goes to hell, the place of flames and torment in Luke 16. His account of Lazarus and the rich man is not a parable! But, Christ is telling us what happened. Some try to say that it is, but the Lord
doesn’t ever name anyone in his parables.
Luke 16:19-22
There was a certain rich man,
which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at
his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from
the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came
to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's
bosom:
That is exactly what happened. The angels carried him. Why did he go to Abraham’s bosom? Because he desired to be fed with the crumbs
which fell from the rich man’s table. He
did that according to the law which told the Jews that those who had more were
supposed to help their brothers – to be their brothers’ keeper; and Lazarus,
based upon faith and knowledge of that word, went to the rich man looking to
receive from him. So obviously Lazarus
was a believer because one of the ministries of the angels in Time Past was to
carry men’s souls to Abraham’s bosom in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 12:40
For 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.
Luke 16:22-24
…the rich man also died, and
was buried; 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.
So we can see that he didn’t
immediately degenerate into a worm. His
soul still has his human form. Notice
that he lifted up his eyes; he’s in torment; he seeth Abraham afar off. He can see.
He saw Lazarus in his (Abraham’s bosom.)
Notice again that he hasn’t
degenerated into a worm; he has a tongue and he feels tormented in this flame. So no, the soul that goes to hell does not
immediately degenerate into a worm; it has the form of a human body. Degeneration into a worm doesn’t happen until
the lake of fire after the lost person’s soul stands before the Lord at the great
white throne judgment.
Revelation 20:11-12
And I saw a great white
throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven
fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was
opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things
which were written in the books, according to their works.
But over the course of time, the
soul that is thrown into the Lake of Fire degenerates into a worm, or what we
call a maggot. But it’s not immediate;
it’s a process over the course of time.
Whether lost souls are in hell or
the Lake of Fire, they still have complete recollection of who they are, and
there will be eternal memory and recollection of everything that happened in
their life. It is a horrifying thought.
That is why Christ came to die - to keep us from this.
Regarding the issue of recollection
in the afterlife, notice what is says here,
Luke 16:25-31
But Abraham said, Son, remember
[notice, he says to remember!] that thou in thy
lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now
he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
Again, the rich man knew who
Lazarus was even after they had died.
And although he never met Abraham who lived 2,000 years before; he knew
him. Once you’re in the spiritual realm
you know everything. Now watch how he remembers his family…
Then he said, I pray thee
therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him (Lazarus) to my father's house (so he remembers his father’s
house) For I have five brethren (he remembers
how many brothers he has); 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 (they have the Bible); 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.
So it’s clear that in the afterlife
the lost will have recollection of who they are and everything that happened in
this life. In the spiritual realm the
lost will know all things - even people they never met. They’ll remember their family and friends.
We trust by Almighty God’s word and
his faithfulness that they received enough testimony in their lifetime to trust
the Lord. We trust that God’s word is
true. It was their responsibility to
personally trust in the gospel of the grace of God.
Genesis 18:25
Shall
not the Judge of all the earth do right?
We (the redeemed) will also
recognize all the saints (at the rapture if we’re ‘alive and remain’ unto the
coming of the Lord (1 Thess. 4:15), and in heaven. And when we are in heaven, we will also be
aware of our loved ones who are not there; but because we have the mind of
Christ we will have the understanding that they had the choice to believe on
the Lord but they chose not to; so the Lord righteously gave them what they
wanted.
Isaiah 66:24
And they shall go forth, and
look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their
worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an
abhorring unto all flesh.
That is the Lake of Fire. We can be comforted by knowing that we can
trust the Lord.
Hopefully this
helps...Maranatha!
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