Welcome to the Kingdom Family Podcast, where
we rediscover our identity as sons and daughters
of Yahweh and learn to live the life of the Kingdom.
Let's jump in to today's episode. OK, guys, we
are back week two of rethinking hell. Last week,
we discovered something that probably many people
never consider or never study, and it's that
the word hell in English actually comes from
four different words in the Hebrew and the Greek.
Those four words were Sheol, Hades, Gehenna and
Tartarus. So in this episode, we're going to
zoom in on the word Jesus used most often and
that word is Gehenna. So I want you to consider
this question as we begin this conversation.
is what if Jesus was not talking about a place
in the afterlife but a place his listeners could
physically see and they knew what he was talking
about when he was referencing this place called
Gehenna. The word Gehenna actually comes from
Hebrew and it's And again, if you're a Hebrew
scholar, bear with me. But it's Gehenom, which
actually means the Valley of Hinnom. This was
a real place, guys. This was located south of
Jerusalem. It would have been known to everyone
in Jesus' day. It was a place in the Old Testament
era as the place where human sacrifice was offered
to the pagan god, Molech. Okay. So again, just
as with the rethinking in time series that we
ended season three with, it's important for us
to understand what these words would have meant
to the audience that was hearing it. Um, so we
have to go back and we have to look at these
things and put ourselves. in the listener's perspective
to really grab hold of what was Jesus trying
to communicate and not fast forward to 2026 and
use our modern day language to try to define
what these words meant. And I hope that makes
sense. So if we look at we're just going to kick
off here with Second Kings, Chapter 23, verse
10. And it says this, then the king defiled the
altar of Tofeth in the Valley of Ben -Hinom.
So no one could ever use it again. Excuse me.
So no one could ever again use it to sacrifice
a son or daughter in the fire as an offering
to Molech. And then we have we jump over to Jeremiah,
Chapter seven, verse thirty one. And it says
they have built pagan shrines at Tofeth. the
garbage dump in the valley of Ben Hanom. And
there they burned their sons and daughters in
the fire. Now catch this. I have never commanded
such a horrible deed. It never even crossed my
mind to command such a thing. So this valley,
again a very real valley, became infamous because
of child sacrifice. Children would have been
burned as offerings at this place called Gehenna
to false gods. So when people heard the word
Gehenna, they were not imagining some distant
afterlife. They pictured that valley that Jesus
was speaking of. It was a real place and it did
serve as a very real warning. So let's look at
go some more in Jeremiah will jump over to Jeremiah
chapter 19 verse 6 and it says this because they
have done all of this behold the time is coming
when this place will no longer be called to fifth
or the hit on Valley but people will call it
slaughter Valley declares Yahweh God is warning
Israel that this valley would become a place
of judgment and a place of devastation. Gehenna
became a symbol, if you will, of national destruction.
It was not a symbol of some sort of eternal torture.
It was not a symbol of eternal conscience torment.
It was a national collapse and it was, in fact,
judgment imagery. We're going to dive into judgment
in a few weeks, so just bear with us as we continue
running through this. Let us remember though
that prophets often used physical places as symbolic
warnings. We have examples of this. You can look
at Babylon. You can look at Edom. You can look
at Jerusalem. Jesus, when He is speaking to the
crowds, is doing the same exact thing. So Jesus
uses the word Gehenna. So we're going to look
at Matthew chapter 5 verse 29 and it says this
if your right eye seduces you to fall into sin
then go blind in your right eye for you're better
off losing sight in one eye than to have your
whole body thrown into hell And if your right
eye entices you to sin, let it go limp and useless,
for you're better off losing a part of your body
than to have it all thrown into hell. Now, when
I did this with our Bible study group on Wednesday
night, I made sure to bring this thought up.
If we are to take the Bible literally, then why
are there not a bunch of people running around
with one eye One hand quite frankly no eyes and
no hands There's a note that I have here from
out of the passion translation And it says this
these verses use obvious hyperbole to help us
understand how intent we must be to guard or
our lives from sin Jesus is using an obvious
figure of speech when he instructs us to pluck
out our eyes or to cut off our hands The metaphor
is clear. We are to end every habit that will
lead us to destruction now Let me pause right
here and just say from my audience. I do know
there's a lot of controversy surrounding the
passion translation And I do take that when I'm
doing the study for this I don't just take footnotes
to take footnotes. I do take footnotes that I
believe will be challenging and to bring further
conversation to this. So again, I know there's
controversy. I don't take that lightly. I do
take that as I'm reading his translation and
his footnotes. I do take that into consideration.
while I'm putting my notes together. So just
just know that. And I'm going to move on from
that because that's not what this is about. I
still enjoy the passion translation, but it's
with anything. I don't just read any translation
and take what that translator put. I try to go
dig in myself and allow Holy Spirit to teach
me just as I challenge anyone to do. So anyhow,
moving from that. So again, Jesus is using is
using hyperbole in this moment to teach something
which would have been a very common Jewish rhetorical
style here. And context matters. If this verse
for example, if I was to take this verse and
try to teach a room of people that this is what
they should do, what would be your thoughts?
What would go through your head if I'm teaching
just this verse and trying to teach a room full
of let's say teenagers that this is what you're
supposed to do. No. But remember Matthew 5 is
giving what we call the Sermon on the Mount.
is what Jesus is giving and he goes through this
this process of you have heard but I say many
times over and his aim is not to make the law
any stricter for the sake of making it impossible
no Jesus is actually exposing that righteousness
was never about external behavior it was always
it's always been about the heart and there's
only one person who can heal repair and fix the
heart Again, notice some of the progression.
We have murder that begins with lust. Adultery
begins with, excuse me, murder begins with anger.
Adultery begins with lust. Oaths expose truthfulness.
Loving enemies exposes the heart of love. Jesus
is continually moving the conversation from outward
actions to an inward reality. Again, and I say
this a lot, but behavior follows identity. It's
very important what you believe about yourself.
So notice what he says, if your right eye causes
you to stumble, if your right eye causes you
to stumble, remember, I do not believe Jesus
ever wastes words and I don't believe Matthew
just randomly decided to record random words.
So I pumped the brakes here just a little bit
and so I began to ask, what does the eye represent?
What does the hand represent? Why is it the right
eye and hand that's being mentioned in this verse?
The eye represents what we allow to shape our
desires. I did a teaching several years ago on
what you magnify will be magnified in your life.
And essentially what I did, and you can try this,
I just did it with my phone camera, put it in
selfie mode, and I think I used a paper clip
and a pen. Now if I was to ask you over this
podcast which is... bigger the paper clip or
the pen, I would hope you would say the pen.
But if you take that paper clip and you adjust
the perspective of the person looking, you can
actually make that paper clip seem bigger than
the pen. So my point was this, whatever you choose
to magnify will become magnified in your own
life, whether you're magnifying your issues or
magnifying Christ, whether you're magnifying
your situation or magnifying the promises of
God. Which are you doing? And then we have the
hand. The hand represents what we do. It represents
our actions. So and then I begin to ask again,
why the right eye, why the right hand? So in
Jewish culture, what I found through studying
is that the right side symbolized strength. It
symbolized honor. power and what was most valuable.
Jesus is saying that even if it's something precious,
even if it costs you, remove whatever continually
enslaves you. And I like one of the Bill Johnson
quotes that I've heard over the years is that
it's, is there a price to be paid, a cost that
comes with this life? I would say certainly,
but it's a little embarrassing to talk about
the cost in comparison of what we gain in return.
So just think about that. The Greek phrase here,
for it causes you to stumble, literally means
to trip up, to call someone to fall, to become
a snare. So Jesus is talking about whatever continually
becomes a trap that keeps you from walking in
the life of the kingdom. When he says Gouge it
out or pluck it out. It's again. It's more Jewish
hyperbole He's not really telling people to go
pluck out their eyeballs or cut off their hands
That's not at all what he's doing in this moment
No one listening to him would have thought that
he's literally commanding eye or hand removal
They would have heard deal with sin radically
and and here's a hint. You cannot deal with sin
radically Do not negotiate with what destroys
you and again hint you cannot Okay, think about
what I'm saying, you know, I'll I'll help with
that in a little bit. So This is the turn then
it says throwing it into Gehenna and this is
where the misunderstanding We're going to focus
on comes from because it was not the place that
people would go to die It was a place loaded
with prophetic imagery of judgment destruction
and the consequences of covenant unfaithfulness.
So if you look at throughout the Sermon on the
Mount, Jesus is warning his Jewish audience about
the catastrophic consequences awaiting Jerusalem
if Israel continues rejecting God's way. And
within a generation, Jerusalem would indeed be
destroyed in AD 70. We talked about this. during
the Rethinking End Time series. His point is
unchecked sin does not remain private. It eventually
brings destruction. So think about this. If sin
is a distorted identity, which I could very much
argue that that's what it is, at least one definition
of it, If sin is fundamentally living contrary
to who we truly are in Christ, then Jesus is
telling a group of people, remove anything that
keeps you believing that lie. Get it out. Cut
it away. And this is not because God rejects
you or He stops loving you, but it's because
those things keep you from experiencing the life
that is already yours. The cutting off is about
decisively rejecting false identities, rejecting
destructive patterns, and anything that would
obscure your communion with Papa, your communion
with the Trinity. Think about like a tumor. If
a doctor goes in to cut out or remove a tumor,
he's not trying to harm the patient. He's trying
to help the patient actually have life again
by removing the thing that's killing this individual.
So then we have the Greek language. It does not
use the word sin. It uses the Greek word scandalizo,
which depending on context can mean to call someone
to stumble spiritually, to trip someone up, to
lead into sin, to call someone to lose faith,
to shock or offend in a way that creates rejection
or to become disillusioned. So in this context,
I believe Jesus is saying if something becomes
a trap that leads you away from the life that
you have been given, deal with it radically,
or as I would like to take it and say this, come
into the revelation that Christ dealt with it
radically when he crucified sin on the cross.
I do not take sin lightly. I actually believe
that Jesus effectively dealt with sin the worst
way possible by crucifying it. He killed and
destroyed the power of sin the power of guilt
and the power of shame on behalf of you and I
Man this stuff is good To me the heart of this
teaching is don't treat sin casually whatever
continually blinds you to the goodness of God
or entangles you into destructive patterns, deal
with it or I would say realize Christ dealt with
it and walk in who you are in Christ. Remember
you and Christ are one. Think about this. Let
this get deep down into your spirit. There is
no emphasis here. on God desiring to punish,
but on the seriousness of anything that distorts
the life of the Kingdom within us. Realize, again,
Christ dealt with sin. and redeemed you and I
as sons and daughters. So now we learn to walk
under the Lordship of Holy Spirit. We partner
with the Trinity and we trust Holy Spirit to
transform us more into the image of Christ and
release the kingdom to the world around us. Let
me help you. You don't do the transforming. You
can't. do in the transforming. This is coming
from someone who has tried. I've tried to jump
through all the right hoops, say all the right
prayers. I've lived this life. It doesn't work.
You can't do the transformation. It's not up
to you. It's the Holy Spirit doing the transformational
work as you continually learn to yield to His
Lordship. So as I consider all of this, I think
the main idea is that we cannot fix the heart.
You chopping off a body part that you sinned
with is not fixing anything. It's a heart issue
that Christ has given, and Christ has given you
a new heart. Christ through that Adam's self,
the distorted identity, and this is just how
I see it in my opinion, you can take it for what
you will. But Christ threw that at Himself, that
distorted identity into Gehenna for you and I.
Here, let's look at a few verses here. I think
these are important. Romans 8 .3 says this, For
God achieved what the law was unable to accomplish
because the law was written by the weakness of
human nature. Yet God sent His Son in human form
to identify with human weakness. Clothed with
humanity, God's Son gave His body to be the sin
offering so that God could once and for all condemn,
now listen to the language here, condemn the
guilt and power of sin. That's big guys. Clothed
with humanity, God's Son gave His body to be
the sin offering so that God could once and for
all condemn the guilt and the power of sin. All
right, let's look at another verse. Let's look
at Romans chapter six, verse six. Let me pull
that up real quick. And it says this, could it
be any clearer that our former identity is now
again, really think about what these words are
saying. Could it be any clearer that our former
identity is now and forever deprived of its power.
For we were co -crucified with Him to dismantle
the stronghold of sin, to dismantle the stronghold
of sin within us, so that we would not continue
to live one moment longer submitted to sin's
power. Let me read that verse again, since I
got lost somehow. Could it be any clearer that
our former identity is now and forever deprived
of its power? For we were co -crucified with
Him to dismantle the stronghold of sin within
us, so that we would not continue to live one
moment longer submitted to sin's power. Listen,
to beg God for victory over sin, is a refusal
to understand that we have already died to sin.
How did you and I die to sin? By the death of
Christ. We were co -crucified with Him. We were
co -crucified, co -buried, co -resurrected. Now
we're co -glorified, co -seated. Our joyful task
is to believe the Good News rather than to seek
to crucify ourselves sin is not suppressed by
the cross no sin is eliminated and i want you
to really think about something because i know
we have this mentality growing up in the church
at least where i grew up at to um we're taught
to crucify our flesh daily We've got to crucify
our flesh. Because we say, Paul said, I die daily.
What I need to help you understand is that what
Paul was saying is literally, I face death every
single day. Paul wasn't telling us to crucify
our flesh every day. Paul was saying, no, I literally
face death every single day. What you and I have
to realize is that our flesh was indeed crucified
on the cross with Christ. Big deal. Big stuff
here that we need to really grab hold of and
let it mess with our thoughts. I got another
one for you to think about Colossians 3 3 your
crucifixion with Christ has severed the tie to
this life and now your true life your true life
is hidden away in God in Christ again big deal.
2 Corinthians 3, 18, we can all draw close to
him with the veil removed from our faces and
with no veil we all become like mirrors who brightly
reflect the glory of the Lord Jesus. We are being
transfigured into his very image as we move from
one brighter level of glory to another and this
glorious transfiguration comes from the Lord
who is the Spirit. Big stuff here. I'm going
to see if I need to read or add in these notes
here real quick. The source of our transformation
comes from Christ's glory and the destination
we are brought to is more glory. The transforming
glory is the result of gazing upon the beauty
and splendor of Jesus Christ. Damon Thompson
has something he likes to say that I've heard
before. Whatever you behold, you become. What
are you beholding my friend? What are you staring
at? Are you staring at your sin? Are you focused
on trying to beat your sin or are you focused
on staring at Christ? If you look at the Greek
word metamorphon that's used here in 2nd Corinthians
318 it describes Transformation from the inside
out and it means to transform to change into
another form to be Transfigured to undergo in
an inward change that becomes outwardly visible.
Think of the caterpillar becoming the butterfly.
That's kind of the word used there, metamorpho,
where we get the word metamorphosis. So Jesus,
this is what I want you to understand, Jesus
accomplished what we could never accomplish.
The old man or the former way of life has been
judged and brought to an end inside of Christ.
Holy Spirit now works from the inside out, awakening
us to who we are in Christ and conforming us
to His image. Alright, let's move on. Let's look
at Matthew, Matthew chapter 10 verse 28. And
it says, Don't be in fear. of those who can kill
only the body but not your soul fear only God
who is able to destroy both soul and body in
hell again the word hell here is the word Gehenna
Jesus warns us that both body and soul could
be destroyed in Gehenna understand the language
it's destroyed not tortured forever destroy is
the word Apollo me and it does not mean to annihilate
or cease to exist The basic meaning is to destroy
to ruin to lose to perish to call something to
no longer fulfill its intended purpose The emphasis
is often on loss or ruin not ceasing to exist
I want you to think about this, too Let me see
if I want to get here now So the word fear here
is the word phobia and It equals fear and it
means to fear to be afraid to be in all to reverence
to respect deeply The idea ranges from terror
to reverential all So you got to look at the
context many times here and when I read Matthew
10 I see it more as a deep respect and reverence
in this verse because immediately after verse
28 Jesus would say your father notices insignificant
sparrows your father knows the number of hairs
on your head your father values you that context
shapes how I understand the one it says fear
God If Jesus had wanted his disciples to imagine
God primarily as an unpredictable being to dread,
it's striking that he immediately paints a picture
of a father whose intimate care extends to the
smallest details of creation. What is Jesus consistently
doing? He's moving people from fear toward trust.
So wrestle the question, fear not, or fear calls,
I can destroy you in hell. Wrestle that question
Moving on here Then we also The word if you look
at a polymy Going back to that word. It's also
used to describe the lost sheep the lost coin
in the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15 Pay attention
because none of them cease to exist. They were
simply Lost and we have to recover that word
lost to really understand what that means as
well Because it doesn't mean what we've been
taught in the western church world And I don't
have time to get into that that would be maybe
we can do that another time They were simply
lost yet they still had they were still valuable
and they were still recoverable The coin think
about it. The coin still had value and the Sun
was still a Sun Now, again, believing what I
believe about the Father and all that He does
is restorative in nature, I believe destroy means
to utterly bring to ruin what opposes God's life
or to bring devastating judgment especially in
the context of Gehenna and first century Israel.
If humanity Now think about this. Was created
to bear God's image, then a polymy could be understood
as the complete ruin of that false, distorted
way of living apart from God. Christ's work is
not to destroy the person he created in his image,
but to destroy everything that corrupts and obscures
that image. And we'll get probably into that
a little more when we start talking about fire
in a few weeks. But just think about that. He's
not out to destroy the person. He's trying to
remove that false identity and anything that
corrupts or obscures his image in you and I.
It's also important to understand and for us
to remember that Jesus spoke these warnings to
first century Jews living in a time of political
tension. So again, think about this. Skip through
some of this So alright, let's let's talk about
this as we consider this verse here Matthew 10
28 If Jesus is the definitive revelation the
father because Jesus makes the comment if you've
seen me if you've seen the if you've seen me
You've seen the father Then every difficult passage
has to be read through the one who said whoever
has seen me has seen the Father So we have to
ask how does Jesus exercise authority? How do
we see him doing that through the Gospels? How
does he do that when he encounters? sinners for
example What does he do he restores he heals?
He forgives. He calls to repentance. He exposes
lies. He confronts hypocrisy. He lays down his
own life. He never delights in destruction. Now
that doesn't erase judgment, but it shapes how
we understand judgment. So that's just something
for you to consider. If this is the father here,
Jesus often speaks of what God can do as an expression
of His sovereignty, not necessarily as a statement
of His desire. Just something to wrestle with
with that and I'm going to leave that right there.
Let's look at Mark chapter 9 verse let's see
let me bring let me bring this verse out too
this is important and I can't remember I didn't
write this verse down but you can look it up
But there's a burden. I believe it's in first
John Maybe first John 4 18 is what I'm thinking
of love never brings fear For fear is always
related to punishment, but love's perfection
drives the fear of punishment far from our hearts
Whoever walks constantly afraid of punishment
has not reached love's perfection John here is
not abolishing reverence. He's distinguishing
fear rooted in punishment from the confidence
that grows out of knowing the Father's loves.
When those two passages are read together, Matthew
10 28, and this one here, it can be understood
as calling, Matthew 10, excuse me, Matthew 10
28 can be understood as God calling us to give
God our highest reverence. and diligence while
Matthew 10, 29 through 31 immediately reveals
why that reverence is not opposed to trust. Because
the one who is worthy of ultimate all is also
the Father who cares for us down to the smallest
detail. That's important to just wrap your head
around. So now let's look at Mark chapter 9 verse
43 through 48 says this If your hand entices
you to sin let it go limp and useless For it
is better for you to enter into life maimed than
to have your entire body thrown into hell the
place of Inquenchable fire and if your foot lead
you into sin cut it off For it is better to enter
life crawling than to have both feet and flung
into hell And if your eye causes you to sin pluck
it out for it is better to enter into life with
one eye Than to be thrown into hell with two
This is where the maggots never die and the fire
never goes out Everyone will pass through the
fire and every sacrifice will be seasoned with
salt So this language comes from Isaiah chapter
66 verse 24 and it says this They will go out
of the city and see the dead bodies of those
who are built against me, for their worm will
not die and their fire will never go out, and
they will be abhorrent to humanity. This is likely
a figure of speech for unending suffering. Some
equate the worm with the guilty conscience, for
example. It is possible. that this refers to
a mass burial site where maggots continue to
eat flesh and fire burns continually with corpses.
Some see this as having been fulfilled by the
slaughter of Israel's enemies during the time
of the Maccabees, others as the view toward a
future slaughter and still others as a description
of hell. I'm just giving you some different viewpoints
here of how you can rethink hell. Again, don't
have to land on the same conclusion that I have.
And quite frankly, I'm still discovering what
this means. So that will probably be ever evolving
the more that I grow just as what any of us should
be doing. I'm not here to give you 100 % certainty
on anything. I'm just helping you to rethink
and to give a different perspective and something
for you to consider and ask Holy Spirit for yourself.
But that's where the language of Mark 9, 43,
48 comes from. It comes from Isaiah 66 and Isaiah
is describing corpses after judgment. He's not
describing conscience torment, but dead bodies.
Again, a symbol of destruction. Another clarification
is this. Unquenchable fire does not mean eternal
burning. It means unstoppable until finished.
Think of a forest fire or a city fire. It burns
until the work is complete. So a couple of misunderstandings
we dealt with during this episode. Misunderstanding
number one. Gehenna equals eternal torment. No.
Gehenna was a known valley, not some kind of
mythological torture. Misunderstanding number
two, Jesus invented hell. Jesus referenced existing
history, not new doctrine. And misunderstanding
number three, fire always meant torment. Fire,
and we'll talk about this in a few weeks, often
means judgment, purification, and exposure. The
simple truth is Jesus didn't speak about Gehenna
because he enjoyed threatening people. He spoke
about it because he loved his people enough to
warn them. Warnings are not cruelty, they are
love. If you have children, think about, don't
touch that, it will burn you. Don't hang out
with them, don't go to this place, don't do this,
it can cause you harm. What are you doing? It's
not cruelty, you're doing this out of love. So
when Jesus was speaking about Gehenna, He was
calling people to change direction before destruction
came. It's not scare tactics, but it's protective
love. So we learned Hopefully you gained from
this episode that Gehenna is not mythology It
was actually geography Jesus was not describing
an eternal torture chamber when he's referencing
this he was referencing a real place with real
history tied to real consequences Next week take
another step and talk about She go and Hades
a little more deeper And we'll take it from there.
I hope this is helping you. I know this is only
week two, but you got several more weeks to go.
So I will see you next week for our conversation
surrounding she go in Hades. My friend be blessed.
Thanks for spending some time with me today on
the kingdom family podcast. If this episode spoke
to you, take a moment to share it and help someone
else rediscover their identity as a son or daughter
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through Kingdom Family Ministries. Until next
time, live love, live free, and live from the
life of the Kingdom.