Hell

This morning I woke up thinking about Hell, it was Monday after all. But in all seriousness I was thinking about Hell this morning, and the occasion for my thoughts turning to that dreadful reality were two sermons I have listened to recently. One titled “Did Jesus believe in Hell?” by Kevin DeYoung, and the other this week’s (Oct.31st) sermon by the pastor at my home church. During the sermon at Providence this weekend Hell was referred to several times as separation from God. While I do not deny that in Hell there will be separation from God and this is punishment in itself, what I do doubt is that separation from God is the only or worst punishment in Hell. As I was thinking through this topic this morning my thoughts turned to people who have received 3+ degree burns on their bodies. Those people must be put into a coma basically to be able to withstand the pain and agony of their flesh being burned that badly. From scripture we can determine that Hell is place of consciousness and physical existence. That is how Jesus refers to Hell. And the word Jesus uses is gehenna referring to a valley to the south of Jerusalem that in Jesus’ day was basically a trash heap that burned continually. Before that this particular valley was the valley where the Israelites who were caught up in idol worship would sacrifice their babies by placing them in the hands of a giant idol to be burned alive. This is what is in the mind of our Lord when he speaks of “outer darkness” or Hell, this is where is saying are those where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. To be sure, as in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, separation from God is a huge part of the torment of Hell, I think it is insufficient. If separation from God were all the punishment man could expect from Hell then why did Jesus suffer so on the cross?

So why am I thinking about this? 1) If Hell is merely separation from God and not more, then what effect will it have on those Christians wish to see come the Christ? Plenty of people live perfectly normal, “happy” lives who are separated from God and they don’t feel any punishment. Granted separation from God will be different once people see him face to face and KNOW what they would be missing out on. However I think Christians do a disservice to the people they wish to see converted if they speak of Hell only as separation from God as this is the state they are in presently, most without any remorse. 2) That Hell is a place of everlasting, conscience torment in the form of burning, weeping, gnashing of teeth, should motivate the believer to be more urgently “preach” the gospel. One thing about living in America is that we are isolated from much suffering, and especially the type of suffering that most of the rest of world sees daily. As this is the case we often don’t know how to handle witnessing such suffering and in fact we avoid it as much as possible. This weakens our understanding of what those who don’t know Christ are headed for. Knowing then what Hell will be like should stir the believer’s compassion for the lost in such a way that we are compelled to share the gospel. 3) Just because Hell is a reality doesn’t mean anyone should be resigned to going there. If Jesus is God, and is thus all-good, and all-powerful, who then is out of the reach of his grace? Jesus is a victorious Savior. He has overcome sin and death. Are you living in that victory, not your own victory over besetting sin, but the victory of Jesus? And are you speaking of Jesus in this way to those who are lost? Believer’s experience this victory through humility and helplessness. The refrain should be, “God did for me what I could not do for myself and he can do it for you too.” Do you care for the lost around you? Then why are you not telling them of the rescue they have from an eternity of torment? Why are you afraid to tell them of Jesus who is the only way to eternity with God? The loving thing to do would be to tell them of their fate as it stands apart from Jesus and then live out the fate of those who know and love this victorious Messiah.

I am done but I would encourage you to listen to the song I have linked here by Billy and Cindy Foote. Make it your prayer. And if you don’t know this victorious Jesus, ask me or someone you know who is a Christian if they will tell you the story of his victory over sin and death.

For our Joy