ONE MINUTE AFTER YOU DIE
HEAVEN, HELL, & WHO WILL GO WHERE
SELECTED SCRIPTURES
ANGUISH IN THE FLAME
LUKE 16:19-31
INTRODUCTION
- Today we embark on an intriguing journey. We are going to attempt; hopefully with some success; to consider a subject that is at the very core of our existence. We are going to try to answer, in a substantive way, questions that relate to realities that we have not seen. These questions that will be addressed arise when we think about death; and more specifically what happens after death, if anything.
- Our map guiding us through this thought-provoking landscape is, as always, the Bible. Our purpose is to look to the Holy Scriptures and find what they say about the life to come. We do this because we believe that the word of God is the only authoritative and ultimately reliable source of information on this and every other spiritual issue. So let’s set out on this mission together. Let’s attempt to answer, from a biblical perspective, the question: What happens one minute after I die?
- Now in order to answer that question we have to assume a few things. Firstly, we have to assume that right now we are alive, and at some point in the future we will die. Right? We have to assume that death is a reality. Most of us don’t have a problem doing this. We are quite aware that everyone dies.
- From Scripture we know that the reason we die is because we have sinned against God. You probably know the story of Adam and Eve: in Genesis 2:16-17, God tells Adam “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
- When God initially created man and woman he gave them instruction: worship and obey me and you will live; rebel and disobey me and you will die – physically and spiritually. You know the ending: Adam and Eve rebelled and disobeyed and as a result the whole human race was catapulted into spiritual bondage and would experience physical death.
- So the first thing we assume is that we will all die; and we will all die because we are all fallen creatures under the curse of sin.
- The second thing we must assume is that after we physically die we continue to exist, but not here on Earth. We get one life on this planet; then we meet our Creator.
- The writer of Hebrews in chapter 9, while discussing the finality of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross writes that “...it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment...” So we are not reincarnated; nor do we cease to exist. Our bodies are buried in the ground and our souls go on to a particular destination.
- So we make these two assumptions because their truth is found in Scripture. We all die because of sin; and when we die our souls continue to exist and we are judged.
- Now, the Bible views history as linear. It had a starting point, and it will have an ending point. The starting point, of course, was when God decided to create the universe. The ending point will be when Jesus Christ returns to the earth to set up eternity.
- We read about this ending point in Revelation 20-22. Scripture tells us there that every single person will be resurrected and spend eternity in one of two places: the lake of fire or the new heaven and earth.
- And the difference between the two groups who will occupy each place is that those who are cast into the lake of fire do not have their names written in the book of life. The book of life is the record of those who will inherit eternal life.
- And Scripture is clear time and time again that the only way to receive eternal life is to trust Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord; as your only hope to escape the penalties of sin. You place yourself at his mercy, believing that his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection satisfied the wrath of a holy God on your behalf.
- So we begin our journey with the end in mind. We know that ultimately every human who has ever physically existed will exist forever in one of two places – places we regularly call Heaven and Hell.
- Our purpose today then, is to look at those who will not inherit eternal life because their sins are not forgiven by Christ, because they do not believe in him. We will start by looking at what Scripture says concerning their intermediate state.
- The intermediate state describes the time period between a person’s death and their resurrection to be finally judged when Christ returns. So everyone who has ever died up to this very second without knowing Christ as Savior has entered into this state. And everyone who dies without Christ from now until he returns will enter it as well. Their souls enter this state and their bodies await resurrection.
- What I am going to do is make a blanket statement about this state and then we’ll look at Scripture. Here it is: Everyone who dies without Christ as Savior is immediately sent to a place of torment where they await final judgment.
- One of the clearest descriptions of this place of torment is found in Luke 16. Turn there in your Bible. I will be reading Luke 16, verses 19-31.
Read Luke 16:19-31
- Underline that word “Hades”. If your Bible says “hell”, underline it and write “Hades” in the margin. This is a very important word. Let’s talk about it before we observe the text.
- “Hades” is a New Testament term that describes the place of torment where the wicked are punished until final judgment. The Greek ᾅδης (hades) is the equivalent of the Hebrew term שְׁאֹול (sheol) found in the Old Testament. We’re going to spend a few minutes looking at these terms because it is important you understand what they mean when you come across them in Scripture.
- Let’s start with שְׁאֹול (sheol).
- When you are reading through the Old Testament and you come across the word “Sheol”, it will have one of two meanings. The primary meaning is “death” or “the grave”. “Going down to Sheol” is a Hebrew expression for dying – entering the next life.
- For instance in Gen. 37:35 Jacob, upon hearing that Joseph had been supposedly killed said “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” He meant that he would mourn for his son until he died; and his children could not comfort him.
- Another example is Ps. 18:5 which says “the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.” Sheol and death are used interchangeably. They are one and the same.
- So in that respect it really doesn’t tell us a whole lot about what happens after death; it simply tells us that someone has died.
- The second, and secondary, meaning is “a place of punishment inhabited by the wicked”. There are a few instances where those who are said to go down to Sheol are experiencing the wrath of God. Like in Job 24:19: “Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned.”
- Or Psalm 9:17: “The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God.” So Sheol is occasionally seen as a place where the wicked go to be punished for sin.
- There are many other occurrences of this word – 65 total; you can find them in your own study. When you come across the word remember the primary meaning is death and occasionally a place of punishment.
- In the New Testament, Sheol’s Greek equivalent Hades is only used 10 times. 3 of those 10 times it refers to death, primarily because it is quoting the Old Testament. The other 7 times it clearly refers to the punishment of the wicked.
- So, as is the case with many points of theology, the New Testament elucidates what the Old Testament hinted at. Our passage here in Luke 16 illustrates perfectly the idea of Hades as a place of judgment.
- Now let’s not be overwhelmed by the information. Let’s simplify it. We are going to be talking about what happens when an unbeliever dies. Both the Old and New Testaments speak on some level to this issue by using the terms Sheol and Hades respectively.
- Remember, these terms can be used in a couple of different ways so it’s important to understand the context in which they are used. Our passage today uses the term Hades to describe the place where an unbeliever is sent upon death.
- Let’s take a look at this place then, and learn what a terrible fate awaits those without Christ. From this point on I will refer to this place of judgment as Hades – giving it the meaning we just described.
IN HADES, THE WICKED WILL BE TORMENTED (V.23)
- Look again at v.23: and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
- It says that the rich man was in torment. Now, the shocking part of that statement is not the torment, but the one being tormented. In fact, Jesus’ audience, the Pharisees, would have found this absurd, just like they did most of Christ’s parables.
- They would have found this absurd because of what the Bible tells us in v.14 of this same chapter: they were lovers of money. So this parable is intended to be a warning to the Pharisees of their eternal destination if they continued down the road they were on.
- The Pharisees would have been surprised to hear that it was the rich man, and not Lazarus the beggar, whose soul went to the place of torment. And assuming that they did not repent; and the gospels indicate that few of them did, they were surprised when their fate matched that of the rich man in this parable.
- The fate of this rich man was the same as the fate of the Pharisees – even though they didn’t think it was; and the fate of the Pharisees was the same as the fate of all those who die in their sins, without Christ . That fate is torment until the day of judgment.
- Well what kind of torment was Jesus warning these Pharisees about? What does this rich man encounter in Hades? Let’s look at v.24: And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’
IN HADES, THE WICKED WILL BE TORMENTED WITH FIRE (V.24)
- The rich man sees Abraham and Lazarus and asks for Lazarus to place a drop of water on his tongue to cool it because of the agony of the flame. That Lazarus is with Abraham is indicative of the fact that he is in paradise- or Heaven.
- Now because of the nature of parables, we do need to be careful about what sorts of literal truths we pull from a parabolic message. For example we don’t know that those souls currently in heaven have any contact with those souls in Hades. But we do get the sense in Scripture that those who are being punished have an understanding of the bliss of heaven, and those in heaven are aware of the reality of eternal torment.
- Keeping that principle in mind then, we address what is probably the primary question that arises from this verse: Is this literal fire? Are the souls in Hades, who will eventually be eternally consigned to Hell, literally burning in a flame?
- Some suggest that while the punishment of Hades and the future punishment of Hell is very real, the fire that is described is symbolic. Others believe that the fires of Hades and Hell are very literal. For brevity’s sake we won’t get into all of the arguments for and against literal fire, but I am going to suggest to you, that it is very possible that condemned souls suffer in literal fire.
- Over and over and over again Scripture describes the fate of the wicked as torment in an unquenchable flame. In Matt. 24:31 Jesus calls it “the eternal fire.”
- In Mark 9:43 he describes it as the “unquenchable fire.” Jude 7 reiterates Matt. 24 by calling it “eternal fire.” We already mentioned Rev. 20 which labels it the “lake of fire”. There are many others.
- I think because of the frequency of such descriptions we should assume that literal fire plays a role in the punishment of the wicked. The arguments against such a literal fire really don’t hold a lot of weight.
- The two primary reasons why some think that there is no literal fire is because they say souls cannot be punished by physical fire because they do not have bodies, and because the future judgment of hell is also described as a place of outer darkness.
- But we will see when we look at the doctrine of hell next time that unbelievers will in fact have eternal bodies, so literal fire is very plausible. And I wouldn’t rule out literal fire because of darkness.
- We already know that this fire is unlike any fire we are familiar with. It never goes out. It never fades. It doesn’t consume what it is burning; it just keeps burning it. So I think Jesus in his parable is describing a pain that actually occurs in Hades – the pain of being tormented by a real flame.
- The rich man just wants a single drop of water to cool his tongue. But he finds no relief.
- But that’s not all that he is enduring. We get so caught up with the fires of torment that we sometimes forget that the punishment awaiting the wicked includes so much more.
IN HADES, THE WICKED WILL BE TORMENTED BY MEMORIES (V.25)
- V.25: But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.
- The key word in this verse is “remember.” Remembering what life was like here on earth will cause those in Hades to agonize over their condition. The rich man could remember how good life was for him; and then look around and see no trace of that whatsoever.
- You’ve probably heard the cliché “This earth is the only heaven that some will ever experience.” I want us to stop for a moment and consider how true that is.
- Any blessing that anyone experiences, they experience because of God’s common grace. The very fact that God allows sinful human beings to live instead of wiping them out is a grace. Any time we are healthy and not sick, it is a mercy. We only breathe because God allows us to breathe. All of the little things that bring us comfort and joy in this life that we take for granted are all gifts from our Creator.
- And all of those things will vanish for those without Christ one minute after they die.
- They will know no comfort. They will experience no joy. They will find no reason to laugh. They will remember all of the small joys of this life and they will long for them intensely and never experience them again.
- “Remember that you had a good life,” Abraham said to the rich man, “but now you are in anguish.” The anguish is not just because of the flame but also remembering how good he had it.
- And yet, the reasons for anguish continue – and in v.26 we read of the most terrifying torment of all.
IN HADES, THE WICKED WILL BE TORMENTED BY IRREVOCABILITY (V.26)
- It says: And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’
- The most horrifying aspect of the torment of the soul in Hades is that there is no reversing it. No comfort will come from paradise and there is no escaping.
- The fate of unbelievers is sealed. It is etched in stone. The soul will be tormented in Hades until the body is resurrected – then both soul and body will be thrown into Hell. And the second death occurs there is no changing that fate.
- We have a hard time grasping eternity as finite creatures. And we will talk more about the eternality of the judgment of the wicked when we discuss Hell next time. But think about the permanence of this rich man’s predicament – a permanence that all the unsaved will experience.
- We can get through just about anything if we know that there is a proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, can’t we? We can suffer tremendous pain and heartache with endurance if we know that it will soon end.
- I risk injecting too much lightheartedness into the matter by illustrating the point this way, but I think it will help. Now because I am a man I will never experience this, but think for a moment about a woman in labor. I’m told that there is really nothing to compare that feeling to. Think about the tremendous pain that a woman endures when giving birth. Now as painful as that experience is, I’ve never heard of a mother who said that the pain wasn’t worth it once she saw her baby. Mothers can endure the pain of labor because they know that soon they will be holding their baby in their arms. Relief and joy is coming.
- The pain and anguish the soul will experience in Hades has no corresponding relief or joy. There is no good coming from the pain to look forward to.
- We read last week Ps. 30:5 which says that weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning. When God’s people encounter pain in this life we can rejoice because we know that good is coming. It is not so in Hades. There is no joy in the morning- only continual weeping.
- Now when the rich man in the parable realizes this, he begs Abraham to send Lazarus to his family so that they won’t join him in Hades. And again the rich man finds reason for anguish, as Abraham tells him that Lazarus will not go to his brothers.
- So we see in vv.27-28 that:
IN HADES, THE WICKED WILL BE TORMENTED BY LOST RELATIONSHIPS (VV.27-28)
- The rich man wants desperately to be able to communicate to his brothers and warn them to avoid following his path, but he cannot.
- Just as he failed to make sure his own life was right before God, he failed to show that concern for his brothers while he lived and now it was too late. There was nothing he could do to help his brothers and he would have forever to lament that fact.
- Hopefully by now you’ve picked up on the idea that the torment of Hades is conscious torment. It involves feelings, the mind, and it even has physical aspects.
- And the terror of such a place caused this rich man to wish that his brothers would not join him. But I want us to notice that even this desire of his is filled with error.
- When Abraham tells the rich man that he will not send Lazarus to his family, he says that the rich man’s brothers already have Moses and the Prophets. In other words, they have God’s word.
- Don’t miss this: Abraham tells the rich man that the way his brothers can avoid following his fate is by heeding God’s word. It is the same for everyone else:
HOW IS HADES AVOIDED? BY LISTENING TO AND OBEYING GOD’S WORD (VV.29-31)
- Look at the centrality and authority of Scripture here! The rich man is convinced that if his brothers get a visit from a dead person, they will wake up and repent of their sins. But Abraham says, in essence, au contraire – if they don’t believe God’s word they won’t believe a miracle.
- We see this over and over again in the gospels. Jesus does some amazing things in the presence of so many people; yet so many of them refused to believe he was God incarnate – not because what they saw was not miraculous, but because the truth of God’s word had not penetrated their hearts. The truth of what Jesus was saying and teaching had no effect on them.
- If you want a good reason to preach, teach, and share God’s word, first of all numero uno is that God tells us to, but here’s a reason right on the heels of that: the word has the power to save people from entering into irrevocable punishment, because God uses his word to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION
- So let’s review briefly what we’ve seen. When an unbeliever dies their soul immediately goes to a place of torment. The New Testament calls this place Hades.
- In Hades, the wicked are tormented by fire, memories, irrevocability, and lost relationships. And there is so much more that we can’t even begin to imagine.
- The only way to avoid entering Hades is to heed God’s word which is summed up in the Gospel: repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ as your only hope of salvation.
- Next time we will look at what happens to the souls in Hades when Christ returns: when Hades is thrown into Hell. And we’ll talk about the benefit of knowing all of this. Why should we know about Hades and Hell? We’ll answer that question and others. Then we will see the good stuff: what happens to the souls of believers when they die – the heavenly paradise that awaits us and the joys we will one day experience.
