The summer of my seventh year I attended a Vacation Bible School at Grace Baptist Church in Tyro, North Carolina. My family attended a United Methodist Church in the neighboring community and this VBS was quite similar to what I was used to: games; sugar wafers; cherry Kool-Aid; flannel-graph; I am a C ... I am a C.H. ... I am a C.H.R.I.S.T.I.A.N."; you get it ... standard fare. What I was not expecting occurred the final evening. Our sweet, grandmotherly VBS teacher stood one final time to tell us about Jesus, only this time there was a solemn tone to her voice that made us all a bit anxious.
She said some like this: "Boys and girls I’m going to tell you about a place where you don’t want to go. It’s called hell. Those who don’t believe in Jesus live there after they die. It’s a dark and hot place where you’re all alone. You ask for a glass of water to drink because you’re so thirsty, but no one brings you anything. You call out for a piece of bacon because you’re so hungry, but nobody brings you anything. You’re scared and you cry for your momma, but no one comes. Your momma’s not there. You’re all alone ... forever ... because you’re in hell."
Let me ask you: Was what that little old lady said true? Would a loving God torment someone in a fiery hell for all eternity? Even if it is true, should she have scared the wits out of me and my fellow VBS-ers?
Hell is a subject that we 21st century Christians don’t talk much about anymore. It seems so medieval. It makes God appear mean and sadistic. After all who tortures people these days other than serial killers, terrorists, and the CIA? Frankly, hell is a subject we don’t want to think about, much less verbalize in a skeptical world.
Rob Bell, rock star preacher of the evangelical world, has been making news lately with his book, Love Wins. Bells appears to promote universalism in the book (the belief that all will eventually be saved), while at the same time denying it when confronted with the question. A month or so ago he was asked bluntly about hell:
"Is there hell? If not, does that take anything away from the cross?" one participant posed to him Monday.
"I actually think there is hell because we see hell every day," Bell answered.
At an earlier point in the discussion, he described hell this way: "Greed, injustice rape, abuse, we see hell on earth all around us all the time ... And we actually see lots of people choosing hell. We see oppression, we see tyranny, we see dictators using their power to eliminate the opposition, literally."
http://www.christianpost.com/news/rob-bell-denies-being-a-universalist-49417/
How’s that for a non-answer? If the preaching gig doesn’t work out, Bell should probably consider politics.
What does the Word of God have to say about hell? It says a lot and the descriptions are horrifying.
Upon encountering the astonishing faith of a Roman centurion, Jesus remarked:
"I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew 8:11-12
It’s dark and the inhabitants of that place simultaneously mourn and seethe with anger. In hell there is a sense of great loss topped by great frustration.
In Matthew 13 Jesus used a similar description, but with a puzzling difference:
"They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Matthew 13:42
What’s the difference? Weeping and gnashing of teeth is the same, but instead of darkness, now there’s fire? How can fire and darkness exist in the same place?
In Matthew 3:12 Jesus further described the fire of hell this way:
"His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:12
The author of the Revelation tells us that this unquenchable, dark fire will be tormenting:
And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Revelation 20:10
No matter what Hollywood, comic books, and fantasy novels say, Satan and his demons will not rule hell. They will be imprisoned there in suffering. Jude 7 compares hell to the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah except that it is eternal:
In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
Jude 7
Let me recap for those of you keeping score at home. Hell is both dark and fiery. The anguish felt by its residents includes both sorrow and rage. The people in hell are conscious in their eternal torment. Did I miss anything? Now let me throw a curve at you. Jesus said:
"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28
Wait a second! How can you experience eternal anguish if your soul has been destroyed? How can you experience eternal torment if your body has been destroyed? With these descriptions hell seems, at best, too complication to understand or, at worst, an outright contradiction.
Here’s one of the places where the Bible doesn’t mean what it says. It means what it means. Let me ask a simple question: What is death? Death is an absence of life. Maybe a better way of describing it is to say that death is a separation from life, physical life, all the people and events of time and space here and now.
The Revelation tells us what’s going to happen at the end of all things and God judges the world. Interestingly, not once does the letter mention hell. Instead, the state of unbelievers is called "the second death" (2:11; 20:6; 20:14; 21:8). The first death was separation from physical life - all the people, places, and things enjoyed in this life. Biblically-speaking, are those who die physically still conscious? Absolutely. If the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16) is based in reality both the good and the evil are fully conscious after the first death. In the Revelation the deceased elders and martyrs and believers from every tribe, tongue, and nation are pictured fully conscious in God’s presence. To the believing thief on the cross Jesus said: “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). He didn’t say, "You’re going to die and be unconscious for a while, but be of good cheer I’ll see you in a couple of millennia." The implication is an immediate state of consciousness after death.
If the first death is separation from physical life, what is the second death? The answer to this question reveals the very nature of hell.
He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power. 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9
Hell is the judgment of God that a person be eternally banished from His presence. God doesn’t torture people in hell, but hell is tormenting. We were created by God for God. Augustine said, "Our hearts are restless, O Lord, until they rest in thee." Imagine the hopeless despair of an eternal existence in which one can never be what they were created to be. Imagine being shut out of the presence of the One who gives life meaning and purpose, the Giver of every good and perfect gift. Can you imagine the sorrow? Can you imagine the frustration? No, you can’t. Thank God for that. It would feel like death. It would be hell.
Oh, and that’s only part of the agony. Not only is hell separation from God, each resident brings their own personal spin to the torment. In describing the hell that awaits those who cause people to sin, Jesus described it as a trash dump where:
...“‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’" Mark 9:48
In the Bible and in our own language a worm is something that eats away at you. Jonah was eaten up by anger that God did not destroy the Ninevites. God sent a worm to eat up the vegetation that was shading him (Jonah 4:7). Herod was eaten up with pride and accepted praise as God. "An angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died" (Acts 12:23). Worms are the universal symbol of death and decay. What does the worm have to do with hell? Whatever habit, hang-up or sin eats away at the unredeemed person in this life will continue eating them up in hell. C.S, Lewis said:
Christianity asserts that every individual human being is going to live for ever, and this must either be true or false. Now there are a good many things which would not be worth bothering about if I were going to live only seventy years, but which I had better bother about very seriously if I am going to live for ever. Perhaps my bad temper or my jealousy are gradually getting worse - so gradually that the increase in seventy years will not be noticeable. But it might be absolute hell in a million years: in fact, if Christianity is true, Hell is the precisely correct term for what it would be
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
It is likely that "the worm" mentioned by Jesus was more than a nasty reference to the giant loathsome creatures that inhabited the garbage dumb outside Jerusalem. It’s what eats a person now and for eternity in hell.
But what about the fire? How can hell be a place of darkness and fire? Just like the worm, the fire need not be literal. In Psalm 18, David describes God coming in judgment upon His enemies this way:
The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. Psalm 18:7-8
If that’s not enough for you, notice the fiery imagery of Christ who was coming in disciplinary judgment to His church in Revelation 1:
His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. Revelation 1:14-16
This is all symbolic language. It need not be taken literally because the author intended it to be understood symbolically Fire symbolizes judgment. It is appropriate to conclude that the fire of hell is God’s eternal judgment upon the wicked.
How can we define hell? It is the eternal, conscious, tormenting state of existence of those separated from God. Now we know what it is, but why is it? Why must there be a hell? Three simple reasons: God’s holiness; God’s honoring of our choice; and God’s valuing of His creation.
1. God’s holiness won’t tolerate sin in His presence. God is absolutely pure. There is no sin in Him. Evil is antithetical to His nature. Along with His holiness, God is just which means He must by His very nature punish sin.
The great American theologian Jonathan Edwards took this question up in his essay, "The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners." Edwards argued that because God is "a Being of infinite greatness, majesty, and glory," He is therefore "infinitely honorable" and worthy of absolute obedience. "Sin against God, being a violation of infinite obligations, must be a crime infinitely heinous, and deserving of infinite punishment."
Douglas Groothuis, "Using the Doctrine of Hell in Witnessing"
2. God honors our choice. We assume that God casts people into hell against their will, but maybe we need to rethink that position. God gives us the ability to choose. We have the freewill to make decisions about right and wrong. The fact that God holds us accountable for our actions means that they matter. Let me suggest that hell is the ultimate honoring of one’s choice not to follow God.
In his unsettling book, The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis writes:
There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it.
As Dr. Norman Geisler explains, the alternative to hell:
“Would rob human beings of freedom and dignity by forcing them into heaven against their free choice. That would be ‘hell’ since they do not fit in a place where everything is loving and praising the Person they want most to avoid.”
From Hank Hanegraaff, "Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here"
3. God values His creation. In the end God will redeem all. Even the heavens and the earth will be recreated. Our corrupted bodies will be resurrected. Our personalities will be fully transformed into the likeness of Christ.
What will God do with highly valued creatures who reject Him? Like the rest of creation, which from the beginning God pronounced good, He has no annihilation in mind. He won’t force evil men to be in His eternal community, but neither will He zap them out of existence. They’re too valuable. Hell is the only alternative. It is tragic, but it both honors human choice and values God’s creation.
But this need not be. God values human beings so much that He sent His Son to die for them on a cross. He who knew no sin became sin for our sake. Why? God Himself says:
Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? Ezekiel 18:23
Peter said that in the last days people will scoff because the Lord hasn’t yet returned to judge the world. It’s not because He’s slow or unfaithful to His promise. Instead, it’s the value He places on human beings:
He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 1 Peter 3:8
Let me show you how much God values us. Today is what the church calendar calls Palm Sunday. We look back to the day when the Son of God rode into town on a donkey, the sign of peace, the people cheered and placed their garments and palm leaves on the road ahead of Him. It was to signify their loyalty to their King.
When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” Luke 19:37-39
Jesus wept over their destruction. He valued people. A few days later He went to the cross so that they might not suffer eternal destruction. On that cross the Son of God tasted death, not just the first death, but in some sense, the second death. Think back about our definition of hell: the eternal, conscious, tormenting state of existence of those separated from God. Now consider these words of Jesus on the cross:
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:26
Do you value the people in your life so much that you’d face their anger and scorn to tell them the bad news about hell so that you can proceed to the Good News of Jesus? Do you value what God values so much that you’ll pay a high price to save souls from hell and honor the Lord in the process?
I am thankful for that little old lady at that fundamentalist Baptist church so many decades ago. She told me the truth. I was afraid, but the fear of the Lord was the beginning of wisdom. Thanks to her I never forgot the reality of hell and my need for Jesus.
