Heaven's Glories and the Untold Terrors of Hell

By Dr. Brian J. Bailey

Contemplating the terrible laxity in the church today, one realizes the urgent need to warn people of the terrors of hell and encourage them to enter into the glories of heaven. Dr. Bailey was compelled by God to write this book, drawing from his own experiences and the experiences of others that have had of the glories of heaven and the torments of hell. Dr. Bailey clearly presents God-given, heavenly goals, as well as dire warnings of the fires of hell, which so many have fallen into. As you pursue this powerful study, may it cause you to determine to avoid the pitfalls of sin that will only lead to hell and to find and remain on the pathway of holiness that lead to Christ and the glories of heaven. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zion Christian Publishers
• Release date: Sep 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9781596651838

Book preview

HEAVEN’S GLORIES

and the

UNTOLD TERRORS OF HELL

Version 1.0

by Dr. Brian J. Bailey

Heaven’s Glories and the Untold Terrors of Hell

© 2007 Brian J. Bailey

Front cover design

© 2007 Zion Fellowship Inc.

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations in this book are taken from the

King James Version Bible unless otherwise stated.

Published by Zion Christian Publishers

Version 1.0

Published as an e-book on May 2015

in the United States of America

E-book ISBN 1-59665-183-0

For more information, please contact:

Zion Christian Publishers

A Zion Fellowship ® Ministry

P.O. Box 70

Waverly, New York 14892

Phone: [phone]

Toll free: 1-877-768-7466

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http://www.zcpublishers.com/

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Editorial Team: Carla Borges, Suzette Erb, Linda Holmes, Mary Humphreys, Michael Humphreys, David Kropf, Justin Kropf, Sarah Kropf, Hannah Schrock, Hilary Sigsby, Leslie Sigsby, Caroline Tham, Suzanne Ying.

We wish to extend our thanks to these dear ones for without their many hours of invaluable assistance, this book would not have been possible. We are truly grateful for their diligence, creativity, and excellence in the compilation of this book for the glory of God.

PREFACE

I was walking down the steps of the Sheraton Hotel in Brunei when the Lord spoke to me this little phrase: Heaven’s Glories and the Untold Terrors of Hell. I understood that this was a message that He wished me to proclaim to the peoples of the world. Thus I prepared it through a series of sermons for our chapel services. After having them transcribed, I sought to put them into the book which you now hold in your hand.

The purpose of this book is two-fold. It is to show us something of the wonders and order of heaven, including the preparation for believers to attain their eternal positions. It is also to warn believers to stay on the path of righteousness. If they leave the straight and narrow path, they will end up in the congregation of the dead that does not preach the truth. Their end will be with the hypocrites in the depths of hell.

My prayer is that this book may fill us with zeal to live a holy life and to hit the mark of God’s high calling. Moreover, may we gain an appreciation of the terrors from which we have been saved, and seek to witness to every soul when the opportunity arises. May we persuade those who once knew the truth of God’s so-great salvation (through belief in the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross) to return to the pathways of righteousness. God’s desire is for all to experience salvation and be preserved from the horrors of an eternity of torment.

HEAVEN’S GLORIES

INTRODUCTION

When contemplating the descriptions of heavenly vistas and ministries, we understand that God’s truths have to be worked out in our own lives in order for us to be chosen for them. This book reveals the qualifications that are necessary to attain those rewards and positions that await the righteous.

To understand heaven, we need only look at John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. These are two aspects for us to note: heaven is everlasting and heaven is filled with life. The Lord Jesus said, …I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (Jn. 10:10).

Heaven is eternal. What is true concerning heaven is true concerning hell – it likewise is eternal. We will, by the grace of God, examine both places. We have to remember that, It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment (Heb. 9:27). After death, our eternal abode is irrevocably set, and there is no possibility of leaving the darkness of hell to enter the light of heaven.

Heaven’s glories can only be truly appreciated by those whose beings are clothed upon with the qualities and virtues of immortality. The brightness of heaven’s treasures and the range of those heavenly vistas are only possible to be seen by eyes that have been strengthened by His Spirit. The heavenly foods and drinks can only be consumed by an immortal body. The purity of heaven’s atmosphere can only be experienced by one who has passed through the river of God and who has been cleansed from earth’s impurities.

One truth that pervades heaven is that the Lord Jesus Christ is the centre of celebration. It is the desire of every heart to walk with Him, converse with Him, and to worship Him. He is our inheritance!

So therefore, dear ones, what we present here is only a glimpse of heaven’s wonders seen through a glass darkly. Yet we hope it is sufficient to give you a desire to press into all that God has for you in this life so that you may inherit all that He has for you in eternity.

CHAPTER 1

Heaven’s Landscape

We have commenced our book with a description of heaven’s landscapes, as this is often the introduction to the heavenly places that many of the saints experience. However, we cannot be dogmatic on this as, on other occasions upon dying, it is the Lord Himself or an angel who meets a loved one on his or her deathbed and escorts them to heavenly vistas.

When entering heaven for the first time, many are astounded at the similarities between earth and heaven, not realising that earth is but the reflection of heaven. Earth is just in a fallen state. In heaven there are trees, flowers in abundance, grass, houses, schools, colleges, the Holy City, and of course the Temple of God. There are great companies of angels. We shall know everyone and also be placed amongst those with whom we lived upon earth.

This first aspect of heaven that we want to portray is seen from Creation. The Apostle Paul says that we can understand the invisible things by the things that are made (Rom. 1:20).

In Genesis 2, we see that God planted a garden eastward of Eden. In that garden, He put every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. In the midst of the garden, He planted the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. I once had a vision of Adam in the garden – it was breathtaking. Even though I only had a brief glimpse of a section of that garden, it was so beautiful. It was a reflection of heaven above. However, the purpose of the creation of heaven and earth must never be lost. They were created by God, for Him, and for His good pleasure (Rev. 4:11). His desire in the beginning when He created man was to have fellowship with him. Therefore, in the cool of the day, God would visit Adam to commune with him.

The Garden of Eden was planted before the Flood. Even the creation after the Flood was so very beautiful indeed. Genesis 13:10 says, And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. The plain that was before Sodom and Gomorrah was like the Garden of the Lord—lovely. In other words, our forefathers living in those times looked upon the beautiful creation, as it were, being a reflection of heaven.

Grass

Everything that God does has significance; and the interpretations of these works are all found in Scripture or are alluded to therein. Let us consider grass, which abounds in heaven above.

Betty Malz in her book, My Glimpse of Eternity, described the grass as being the most vivid shade of green, with each blade perhaps an inch long. The texture was like fine velvet, and every blade was vibrant and moving (Malz, 1983). After being walked upon, the blades would spring back into their original position. It was as though harmonious music came from them.

Grass has a spiritual connotation. As we read in Isaiah 40:6, all flesh is as grass. Also in Job 5:25, we see that the patriarch was promised, Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth. From this, we understand that grass refers to mankind.

In Isaiah 51:16 the Lord states: And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people. The Lord uses the phrase plant the heavens, because the rich grassy slopes of heaven portray the souls that have been won through His spoken or written words. Grass is abundant upon earth. There can be 6 grass plants per square inch, 850 plants per square foot, and 8.5 million plants per 10,000 square feet. If we consider these statistics, we can appreciate the description of those in heaven as being a great multitude, which no man could number… (Rev. 7:9).

Isaiah 51:16 also reveals the profound truth that the Lord will populate heaven through the words that He has placed within our mouths. Such words have apprehended men and women and have caused them to become sons and daughters of the Living God. The Lord uses His people as conduits to bring others into His kingdom. The question we need to ask ourselves is, "How many blades of grass are we responsible for planting in heaven?" Through our lives and ministries we should seek to influence men and women to be heavenly minded and so desire to enter heaven’s eternal fields of joy.

Now another factor that I would like to mention concerning grass is that no one blade is alike. Our God is a God of variety. Likewise, we are all God’s unique creation. Even identical twins have their own personality.

There are three factors that promote healthy grass:

1. Nutrients: The greatest mass of grass is in its root system, from which it obtains its nutrients. This can be understood spiritually to be our feeding upon the good truths of the Word of God. Therefore, like grass, our spiritual health depends on our own roots going down deep. In Mark 4:16-17, the Lord warned concerning believers who had no root that their spiritual life would wither, And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.

The practical truth here may be understood by the words of Jeremiah, Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit (Jer. 17:7-8). With our roots deep into the Word of God, we will be established and kept from sin (Ps. 119:11). Mature trees have vast, widespread, deeply developed root structures. Another thought is that the size of the root system of a normal, healthy tree is reflected in the expanse and development of its branches.

2. Water: It is noteworthy that for grass to grow adequately, heavy watering is preferable to light constant watering. Water signifies the infilling of the Holy Spirit (Isa. 44:3).

This suggests that we need powerful encounters with the Holy Spirit, such as the saints of old experienced in Acts 4:31, And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. These life changing experiences transform God’s saints and forever give them fresh inspiration, vision, and strength to gain all for His utmost.

3. Sunshine: While grass needs plenty of water, sunshine is also imperative to ensure growth. Without it, the grass does not have vibrant growth or deep green colour that speaks of healthy blades. Sunshine in the life of the believer can be likened to enjoying the presence of the Sun of Righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ (Mal. 4:2).

Trees

There is an abundance of trees that bring forth all manner of fruit in heaven. Revelation 22:1-2 says, And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

The supreme tree in heaven is called the Tree of Life, whose fruit is for those who keep His commandments (Rev. 2:7). Revelation 22:14 brings out Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Spiritually, trees signify strength. We learn from Daniel 4:19 22, Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonied for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him. The king spake, and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream, or the interpretation thereof, trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies. The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth; Whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation: It is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. King Nebuchadnezzar was likened to a strong tree that was very fruitful and gave shelter to many. The tree is a type of a Christian who is spiritually mature and strong, as distinct from grass, which is indicative of a child of God.

One brother who had an extensive vision of the trees in heaven said that they were symmetrical and very beautiful. Likewise, in the spiritual, we want to be graceful and of perfect symmetry, having all the wonderful godly features of strength and beauty woven into our characters.

Another aspect of trees that we would like to consider is fruit. As we saw earlier from Revelation 22:2, fruitfulness is a prime goal for each Christian. Our Lord, in His