GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT - TARTARUS & 2 PET 2:1-4

Okay, we're down to what I hope is the last of these messages. First of all, welcome to All Things Fulfilled, and good morning to you. This has been a series on the great Great White Throne Judgment that I felt I needed to do a somewhat deeper dive into some of the concepts since we're talking about judgment, which is going to involve, you know, judging and the dead and, you know, what their destiny was, etc., and how we view these passages in the Scriptures. So, with that being said, we are looking at the last of these words that I wanted to talk about, and hopefully they've given you some, maybe caused you to think a little bit more differently and caused us to study them further. Now, we've begun on the subject of Tartarus, or Tartarus, like I said, you know, I've seen the accent placed in different places, or at least different than the way we normally pronounce it. But anyway, I'm not sure what that pronunciation is, but now we're looking at this place called Tartarus. And we had gotten down to Job, so I'm going to do a little repeating so that this lesson is complete, because we had to stop in the middle of it, we just didn't have time to go any further. It's based on 2 Peter 2, verses 4 through 9, but I'm going to say it's a larger context than that, and we'll get back to that in a moment. But we talked about the passage that says, "...for if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell, or to Tartarus, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment." So that's what we're going to look at, and that's what we are looking at. So we want to understand how that word is used. Is it meaning to say that there's some compartment in what people call Hades, where there were spirits kept, and then in a deeper, darker dungeon of Hades, there was a place where people were tormented prior to the judgment, in order to reserve them prior to judgment? I don't think that's what the text is saying, and we're delving into it, looking at some Old Testament passages to try to get some insights on why such concepts are there, if we don't have any support for them in the Old Testament, and so that's what we were considering. All right, so we looked up Job chapter 40, verses 15 through 20. We were talking about Behemoth, which is, according to the lexicon, it was the hippopotamus, and the hippopotamus generally lives in murky water. He will even murky the water up, depending on whether he's, I guess, agitated, or some other animal or something comes in his territory, or he defends his territory. You know, if you've watched enough of the Animal Kingdom-type shows, you've seen that, and they actually poop in the water in order to do that, but they live in these murky waters, and they walk around on the bottom of these riverbeds, etc. So, it was called like the, you know, the water ox, all right, and the Nile horse, meaning like a horse in the river, but this huge Behemoth, which the scripture says is the hippopotamus. Now, why is Tartarus associated with, number one, the Nile, number two, the hippopotamus? I think it's because of the term abyss being associated with the depths of the sea, or the depths of a body of water, where it was darkness and where you couldn't see the bottom. And so, it talks about the abyss, just the place of the deep, and you can look up the word abyss. I'm not going to go into that. I've touched on the word abyss in some of the Revelation studies before, when we were dealing with chapter 9, but at any rate, I think that's the association. But the point is, this word does not occur in the Hebrew Bible, which was there before the Septuagint was translated. So, how did it get inserted in there with no Hebrew word that's being translated? Unless they're just looking at the context and seeing something associated with this state of darkness that they want to look at. And somewhere I had done some translations, or at least some readings of various translations. Maybe I'll go to them and put them on the screen, so you can actually see what I saw in terms of how even the word Tartarus in the New Testament is variously translated. So, not all the translators of various versions agree with the definition that some people have given it, or that even is ascribed to it in this text. All right, so let's go back. We're going to pull up our text again from Job, and here we are in Job chapter 40, just as a reminder. And notice what the text says, verses 15. It says, Look now at Behemoth, which I made along with you. He eats grass like an ox. See now, his strength is in his hips, and his power is in his stomach muscles. He moves his tail like a cedar. The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit. His bones are like beams of bronze, his ribs like bars of iron. He is the first of the ways of God. Only he who made him can bring near his sword. Surely the mountains yield food for him, and all the beasts of the field play there. Okay, all the beasts of the field play there. Well, notice verse 21. He lies under the lotus trees in a covert of reeds and marsh. You see, he's in some kind of secluded place where you don't easily recognize him. You know, I'd hate to walk up on him while he's underwater, and you don't notice that he's there. The lotus trees cover him with their shade. The willows by the brooks surround him. Indeed, the river may rage, yet he is not disturbed. He is confident, though the Jordan gushes into his mouth, though he takes it in his eyes, or one pierces his nose with a snare. All right, so let's go back to the text that we looked at before. Now, let's go to the Hebrew text, and we're going to go to verse 20, and let's see if we find anything like Tartarus in this text. Surely the mountains bring him forth where all the beasts of the field play. He lies under the shady trees in the covert of the reed and fins. All right, see, that says swamp, mire. That's where he is, in the swamp and in the mire. Let me go ahead and just highlight this so I'll know to look at it whenever I come back to this at some time in the future. All right, in the covert, all right, hiding place, privilege, protection, secret place. You see, he's not out in the open of the reed. All right, and of course, these were the stems and everything, canes sticking up out of the water, but nevertheless, that's where he is, and he lieth under the shady trees, and usually shade makes, shields the sun from the water and makes it even darker than it normally would be, but that's where he inhabits, in the shady tree. Now, the shady trees cover him, all right, with their shadow. You see all these terms indicating darkness and covering and secret, et cetera, related to him. The willows of the brook compass him about. Behold, he drinketh up a river. You know, he's got a huge mouth. You've seen the hippopotamus, and Haste did not. He trusted that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. You've seen them open their mouths, I mean, extremely wide. Now, almost like a snake when he unlocks his jaws, so to speak. And so, that's the idea, but you see all these ideas of darkness here. Now, we looked at, I think it was, was it this Greek Old Testament in verse 20, where we saw the word Tartarus. Let's see if that's, yeah, here it is, but there was nothing in the version we read that mentioned Tartarus. It just mentions things associated with darkness. Let's go back to that word that we looked at. Remember, we said it was something like fin, all right, fins, whatever that is, but notice it's the Hebrew word, bitsaw, and it means a swamp, mire, something muddy and murky, darkness. So, if you go down into that, you're like in the abyss, in the darkness. All right, now let's go to another verse, and that's Job 41. Job 41 is the second verse in Job, and the verse is 24. All right, we'll start at 24. Let's see what that says. His heart is as firm as a stone, as hard as a piece of the nether, millstone. Nether is H8478. It means the lower most. So, that which is farthest away down is the idea, the nethermost, millstone. Well, millstone is not in the text, but it says as a piece of the nether. Now, what are we talking about? Let's go back up here, and I'm almost certain this is some kind of animal that was being spoken of here. Let me go back so I can find it faster instead of trying to weed through all of that. It's like murky text, almost. Okay, so, can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, or snare his tongue with a line which you lower? So, it's talking about these animals from which we get imagery and apocalypticism to talk about some of the beast-like animals. Remember, what is it? Isaiah 26 or 27, Leviathan. Let's just go over there and look at it real quick. I'll be right back here. Isaiah, just want to make sure I got the right chapter. In that day, the Lord, with his severe sword, great and strong, will punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, Leviathan, that twisted serpent. He will slay the reptile that is in the sea. Now, what kind of reptile he's talking about, I don't know whether it's a croc or a literal snake or serpent. I'm not sure what the idea was, but you get the idea, but it's being used for the enemy of God. All right, so let's go back to Job chapter 41, and in Job 41, verse 24, once again, well, up here, we mentioned Leviathan, and now he's talking about all these things. He said, can you put a reed through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? Will he make many supplications to you? Will he speak softly to you? Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take him as a servant forever? Will you play with him as with the bird, or will you leash him for your maidens? Will your companions make a banquet of him? Will they apportion him among the merchants? Can you fill his skin with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? Lay your hand on him. Remember the battle. Never do it again. So, I mean, that sounds like, you know, a hippopotamus. As a matter of fact, there was a little video I watched the other day, video clip, on a, I think it was a leopard that went after the baby hippopotamus. And, you know, those things are big, but they're very fast, I guess, both in the water and on the land. And now, I don't know whether this was true. It could have been, like, AI. It was probably AI, more than likely. But what it showed was that, you know, he chased the leopard away and then actually chased after it and caught it. That's probably AI. But I'm not sure. The idea, however, is it's something that you don't bother. You don't mess with. And so, he says, lay your hand on him. Remember the battle and never do it again. Indeed, any hope of overcoming him is false. Shall one not be overwhelmed at the sight of him? No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up. Who then is able to stand against me? Who has preceded me that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is mine. I will not conceal his limbs, his mighty power, or his graceful proportions. Who can remove his outer coat? Who can approach him with a double bridle? Who can open the doors of his face with his terrible teeth all around? And, I mean, that could go for a hippopotamus or a croc. But at the same time, who knows exactly what the animal is? In chapter 40, it was clear that it was a hippopotamus. All right. But now he talks about his roles of scales are his pride. So, Leviathan may be different from Behemoth. And so, you got a different beast here, which looks more like a crocodile or something here. But the idea that we're talking about is when we get down to verse 24, it says, his heart is as hard as stone, even as hard as the lower millstone. And, of course, you know, that's talking about the millstone, the heavy stone, the lowest one. But, you know, that's the idea of something being lower. But that word, for some reason, is translated Tartarus. Tartarus. So, let's read it that way. His heart is as hard as stone, even as hard as Tartarus. Does that make sense? Or as hard as lower Tartarus. Does that make sense? It doesn't make sense. The only thing that I could see associated with the two words are that they just mean something that's in the lower part, something that's far away down, lower, at a low elevation. I mean, the elevation. So, that's the idea. But yet, here's this word. And if you go back and look, where is the Hebrew equivalent for this term? It's not there. It just says nether. It doesn't say anything about Tartarus. Okay. Let's go to another text. And let's look at, I think it's Proverbs chapter 30 and verse 16. Proverbs 30. And the verse is 16. So, here we are. I'll read verse 15. The horse leech hath two daughters crying give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not it is enough. The grave. That's the word sheol, translated grave. And the barren womb. The earth. That's the land that is not filled with water. And the fire that saith not it is enough. Okay. So, where's the word Tartarus here? Not a single word in this sentence suggests that. But, let's go to the Greek Testament once again and see what we can find. Right here. Proverbs 30, the verse is 16. And here we are with sheol at the beginning or Hades in the Greek and the land and the maid and Tartarus. Now, where did they get this term? What word are they using to translate it? I'm sorry. This is the word land here or earth. Let's see what word that was. 30, 16. The grave, the barren womb. Okay. And then the land is not filled with water and the fire that saith not it is enough. But there's nothing here that indicates that. Let's just try one of these kind of other translations here and see. Sheol, you see how the ESV translates it? The barren womb, the land that never, that's never satisfied with water and the fire that never says it's enough. Douay-Rheims version translates it hell. Well, that should give you some idea of where this stuff comes from. And the mouth of the womb and the earth which is not satisfied with water and the fire. Okay. No Tartarus there. Here's Darby's translation. Sheol, the barren womb, the earth which is not filled with water. That's Brenton. That's a Septuagint. Okay. Not there. American Standard Version. Sheol, not there. Let's see. What do we have in these comparisons? Okay. That's the Latin version. But you see the Greek Old Testament, there's the word Tartarus there. Wonder where it came from. Let's see. Is there anything else that we want to look at here? Not for now. I think that's pretty much it. But no, nothing. No word there. All right. So those are the only three references in the Old Testament for the word Tartarus. The one where we get the place where people are tormented or reserved in torment until judgment. The only thing that we've seen was that it was associated with the waters where the hippopotamus lived, the waters where Leviathan, most likely a croc, lived. And doesn't even make sense other than, you know, a cavity where it's not filled with water. And so from that perspective, we have nothing, absolutely nothing from what I can see to base our understanding of Tartarus in the New Testament on other than murky water or an abyss, a place of darkness. So let's go back to Peter and let's see what we can learn by looking at the text itself and not bringing in these faulty myths and translations into the text. All right, 2 Peter, let's go back to our share and we'll go to 2 Peter chapter, let's see, chapter two. And we're going to look at, we're going to start reading at verse one. Now, what I'm attempting to do here is use the context in order to try to help solve the mystery of the use of this word in the New Testament. So let's not just jump into verse four, but let's start at the beginning of the context. And what is that context about? The context is about false prophets who are coming to judgment. As a matter of fact, the last verses of 2 Peter even says, knowing this first that no prophecy of scriptures of any private interpretation. So he's telling you don't have your dreams and your opinions, et cetera, like they were doing in Jeremiah saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. He says, if you got a dream, tell it as a dream. If you got the word of God, then you preach the word of God. So now he says, for prophecy came, never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So the subject matter is prophecy. Ignore the chapter division. Let's walk right into chapter two. And it says, but you see how that but connects what went before? There were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you. So what do we have here? We have a past situation involving false prophets, and we have a present situation at that time in the first century involving false prophets. So that's the subject matter ending chapter one and leading into chapter two. But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them and bring on themselves swift destruction. So they would bring judgment on themselves for being false prophets. Now watch, and many will follow their destructive ways because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed by covetousness. They will exploit you with deceptive words for a long time. Their judgment has not been idle. So he's saying this judgment that at one time was idle. Now for a long time, it has not been idle. It's imminent, is the point that he's saying. And their destruction does not slumber. So now he's talking about the false prophets that would be among the church in the times of the apostles. Now watch, the only context here has been prophets, and the word for is introduced to explain what has gone before. So listen to what he says. For if God did not spare the angels who sin, who was he talking about in the context? False prophets. What were they doing? Prophesying falsely, misleading and deceiving the people. What was their outcome? It was judgment. For if God did not spare the angels who sin, angels are messengers. Now were prophets messengers? Didn't God say that about John the Baptist? Behold, I send my messenger. He even said it about Christ. For if God did not spare the angels who sin, but cast them down to Tartarus in the depths of the Nile or some murky creek somewhere where the hippopotamus lived, but cast them down to Tartarus and delivered them into chains of darkness. Now remember, Tartarus is nowhere found in the Old Testament. So what is he actually trying to say here? Is he trying to say they went to hell? These Old Testament prophets who misled the people in the old time, that they went to that, or did they go to the darkness of the grave, down in the shield, like all the other wicked people we saw, and even the bodies of the others. But he says, cast them down to Tartarus, to this place of darkness, to be reserved for judgment. Now we're going to look at some different translations of that. My time is getting away here. So it looks like I'm going to have another, because I definitely want to finish what I'm saying here. But notice he says, and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah. So now he talks about prophets, and then he goes back to the ancient world. Seems like he takes a step further back into history. But let's go to a text in Jeremiah, the chapter that deals with these false prophets back in the day. And let's look at what's said about them. Jeremiah chapter 23, starting at verse nine. It says, my heart within me is broken because of the prophets. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because the Lord of the Lord, and because of his holy words. For the land is full of adulterers, for because of a curse, the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil, and their might is not right. For both prophet and priest, look at that, for both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house, I have found their wickedness, says the Lord. Now watch. Therefore, their way shall be to them like slippery ways. In the darkness, they shall be driven. What's happening to the priest and the prophet who were profane, who were wicked, who were adulterers, et cetera? What was their fate? Their way shall be to them like slippery. In the darkness, they shall be driven. They are being cast into darkness and fall in them, for I will bring disaster on them. That's judgment, the year of their punishment, says the Lord. Now that I believe, and this is another one that I got from Holger as far as prophets being cast into darkness, but I believe that is precisely what 2 Peter 2 is talking about, because I shared that with him, that the context there was prophets. And so, the prophets are the angels who sin. The priests are the angels who sin. Let's go to a text in Malachi real quick. In Malachi chapter 2, and the verse is 7, for the lips of a priest should keep knowledge. We already saw where the prophets were required to teach the truth, but he says, for the lips of a priest should keep knowledge and people should seek the law from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. The word messenger, let's take a look, is the term malach, which means a messenger specifically of God, that is an angel, also a prophet, priest, or teacher. Ambassador, angel, king, messenger. The priests and the prophets were the angels who sin, who were cast into darkness, and that's what Peter is referring to in that context of saying the angels who sin. Well, I'm out of time, but I'm going to come back in one more video to try to finish this up. I had no idea it was going to take this long, but I knew I had tons of material on this, and that's not comprehensive. It's hopefully thorough enough for you to get the point, but that's what we have. So, with that, hopefully you can see the direction where this is going. No word for Tartarus in the Old Testament associated with the hippopotamus in murky waters, with Leviathan in the Nile, dark waters, etc., and covered, secret places, all of that stuff in Myrrh, but dark, and so it's associated with darkness. But the word Tartarus is not even in the text, so maybe that's why they put it there, because it was associated with darkness and not with hell. But someone, maybe, thought he was talking about hell, because it's associated with Sheol or something. I'm not sure what that reasoning is, but I think you can see, hopefully, well, I'm not going to say hopefully, maybe, how they got there. It's beginning to make sense to me of how they got there, and I'm still not done. But with that, thank you for watching, and we'll see you in the next video. If you haven't subscribed on our YouTube channel, be sure and subscribe, and hit that like button if you appreciate the message that we're giving, and leave us some comments or criticism. I'm William Bell saying you have a very pleasant day.