Keith Green had a song. It’s the devil’s words:
Well I'm gaining power by the hour
They're falling by the score
You know, it's getting very easy now
Since no one believes in me anymore
I’m afraid that’s where a lot of people are where hell’s concerned. Our concept of hell, and our lack of thinking and talking about it, makes me wonder what Satan would say.
Why do we shy away from it? I think one reason is the way it seems to stand between people and God. The concept of a placed of torment doesn’t fit in with most peoples’ preconceived ideas about what God is supposed to be like. Then, the Church sends out this message that, if you’re not good enough, that’s where you’re going. How judgmental of you! And how unfair of a God Who’s supposed to be fair! So, from pulpits, to books, to the way the average Christian talks with his friend, the whole concept of Hell has been explained away, watered down, or just ignored. After all, we don’t want to put such a negative message between you and God, do we?
But we can’t ignore it. The Bible doesn’t, and to be honest in our reading of the Scriptures and honest in the way we represent God, we have to take an honest look into this subject and understand it better.
So let’s begin by considering…
I. What’s It Like?
Mysticism and peoples’ imaginations have helped us create all kinds of images about hell through the centuries.
Dante Alighieri wrote The Inferno. I had to study it in high school English. Dante had it pictured as a conical shaped place, where the least guilty were punished near the top, and the deeper you went, the worse the punishments got until the very bottom, where Judas Iscariot was, and where Satan was actually frozen into the bottom. All the way in between were all kinds of bazaar punishments that were each designed to match the crime.
Artwork, especially from the church through the ages, has created all kinds of gruesome images in an effort to show how bad hell is.
Honestly, when it comes to something that’s so outside our realm of understanding, I want someone with a more authoritative voice to tell me about it than Dante Alighieri.
And when it comes to descriptions, Jesus had a whole lot more to say about the details of hell than He did about heaven. Most of our true understanding of the nature of hell comes right from the mouth of Jesus – that Hell is a place of...
1. Terrible Suffering
Fire
Matthew 5:22 - But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca, ' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.
The word is Gehena. It’s a valley south of Jerusalem where trash was thrown. In the OT days, it had been the place where children were burned alive as sacrifices to the pagan god Molech. Seems fitting that a place like that would become a garbage dump. It was even worse – bodies of dead animals, and even of criminals, would be thrown there. And as it all rotted, it was burned, and a stinking, putrid smoke would rise up. So, when He describes hell, Jesus says it’s like that place, like the valley of Gehena, the burning trash heap.
John the Baptist also talks about the fire of hell:
Matthew 3:10-12 - The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 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."
Mark 9:43 - If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.
Luke 16:23-24 - In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'
Hebrews 10:26-27 - If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
Mark 9:48 - [hell…] where “their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.”
Hell is a place of terrible fire.
Gnashing teeth (7X)
Matthew 13:41-42 - The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Have you ever been in so much pain that you gnashed your teeth together? I haven’t had that experience. I hope I never do. I’ve heard people grind their teeth in their sleep, but I’ve never known someone to gnash their teeth. That has to be some extreme suffering.
Isolation
Luke 13:28 - "There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.
2 Thessalonians 1:9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power
Through the years, many have highlighted this as one of the more terrible features of hell. Hell isn’t going to be a place where you hang out with all your friends who didn’t make it and have a good time. Hell’s going to be a place where you feel shut out of the party, where you feel isolated from where you wanted to be. Add to that…
Darkness
Matthew 22:13 - "Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
Some have objected that hell can’t have both darkness and fire. To that I say, heaven will somehow be full of light without the sun! Somehow, God can fit the 2 together if He chooses.
Opposite of heaven
Think of all the ways that Heaven is described to us. We have those descriptions, even though it’s way beyond our imagination, to encourage us and to give us something to which we can look forward. Then, just make a mental note about how many times hell is described as just the opposite. For everything about heaven that’s good and great to look forward to, hell is terrible and something to be feared.
There’s no middle ground. You’re either in or out. There are no visitations or field trips. Jesus said that God is going to separate the nations like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. You see, they used to mix goats in with the sheep in order to get the animals to cooperate. As they came out at the end of the chute, they’d be separated. Sheep went one way, goats went another. Jesus said, “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Hell is also a place that’s
2. Real
Matthew 5:29-30 - If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
If hell were just some figurative concept, if it were just some poetic way to try to keep people from being bad, like the Boogie Man, why would Jesus use such extreme language about it? Why would He say that lopping off your hand or gouging out your eye would be a better experience than being consigned to hell?
There’s one more feature
3. Forever
You know, for some kids, pulling some disobedience is worth the punishment because it only lasts so long. A spanking stings only so long. Being grounded has a time limit. Soap in the mouth eventually goes away. Hell isn’t that way.
Matthew 25:46 - "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
Jude 1:7 - 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.
There’s a lot about hell that I can’t begin to explain, because I don’t understand it. Just like trying to describe heaven is impossible for our current minds to even grasp, I want to suggest that we run into the same problem with hell – that it’s too much for our minds to even understand. It’s too terrible for us to grasp. That doesn’t make it any less a real place. And Jesus felt it was important enough to give us quite a few words about it. For all there is to try to grasp about it, we have to understand this: it’s a permanent fixture in eternity. It’s forever.
The 2nd question about hell I want to wrestle with is…
II. How Is It Possible?
That’s a tough question. Because, while we’re excited about idea of heaven, we’re also troubled with the thought that God is the Creator of both, and that the same judgment that sends people to eternal life is going to send others to the 2nd death. Celsus, a 2nd cent. critic of Christianity said that in the concept of hell, “God becomes the cosmic cook.”
To try to make it possible in their own thinking, people have created alternative views to hell:
• Some have suggested that it just doesn’t exist – that it can’t, just because, in their opinion God can’t be a good God and send people to such a place.
• Others have suggested that it exists, but only in a figurative sense. It’s not really all fire and gnashing teeth and all that. It’s really more a state of mind or something.
• Still others want to say that hell is about burning away what’s wrong with people. Ultimately, everyone gets to go to heaven, so a little hell is OK…I guess.
• And others, who reject all of these views, suggest that hell’s punishment doesn’t go on forever and ever – that the punishment is final, and it ends with a person just being annihilated…ceasing to exist. I’m not so quick to write off this view, except it bypasses a bigger issue:
How can God be a good God and send people to hell – to any kind of hell?
1. Remember the reason it exists
Matthew 25:41 - "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
I’m not sure what all we’re supposed to understand about hell from this, but it does tell me one thing: that hell isn’t built for people from the very start. Hell’s very design goes back to the enemy. It’s not like God wanted to see what would happen if He threw humans in there. It’s a place prepared for someone else. It’s just that others have joined themselves with the devil that gets them there. I’ll say more about that later. But let’s start with that: hell doesn’t start out as a place for humans. That’s not what it’s for.
Also, remember that hell exists for the sake of retribution…for justice, nor reforming. God is a God of justice. When He punishes, it’s not to try to change a person. It’s because breaking the law results in punishment. That’s called justice. Whenever a law is broken and there isn’t punishment, that’s injustice, and a holy God doesn’t work that way.
No! No! Some people say. Punishment is supposed to help people straighten up their lives! God wants everyone to be good, so punishment should always try to make people good! No death penalty! Let’s make bad people into good people! That’s what punishment is for!
Let me ask a question: if the purpose of punishment is to reform people, to just take bad people and change them, why was the perfect Son of God hung on the cross and killed? If everyone can just be made into a good person after they’ve been reformed enough, why did Jesus have to die? What’s the point of the cross?
The point of the cross is that God is just. The point of the cross is “The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed!”
Romans 3:26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Jesus died because of justice. He took it on himself so that we wouldn’t have to.
And hell exists for the sake of justice. That punishment is what Satan and his angels deserve, and frankly, it’s what everyone who turns their back on God deserves. It’s what you and I deserve, but Jesus took it for us. Ask me how I’m doing, and I’ll tell you “better than I deserve.” It’s true. It’s true for all of us!
2. Remember that people have a choice
C. S. Lewis - “There is no one in hell, but those who choose to be.”
Revelation 21:8 - But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
Galatians 5:19-21 - The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Do you notice something about all these people who won’t make it – who won’t inherit the kingdom of God, whose place is the fiery lake of burning sulfur? They’re choosing to be included in the list.
If we don’t have a choice, then God really is difficult to love. If God makes people be that way, and all along knows that He’s going to send them to hell for it, I’d find Him difficult to love. What justice would there be in that? Instead, I read that God’s choice is for every person to be saved. His desire is for everyone to repent and to come to a knowledge of the truth. But along with that He has given us the choice.
Ill - Parents, have you ever laid out for your kids what will happen if they obey, and what will happen if they don’t? Have you ever said, “Do this, and this good thing will happen. Do this, and this really bad thing will happen. And let me tell you in detail how bad it will be if you choose the wrong thing.” Have you ever done that? Where did you get such an idea? Could it be that God, our heavenly Father, has done that with us all along?
Think about it: everything God tells us about hell is to help us make a right choice! Every description, every warning, everything about it that sounds terrible...there’s a reason for that: God wants us to exercise our volition and choose what’s right!
(III. What Do I Have to Do With It?)
Now, that’s a little of what hell is like. That’s a little of why hell is possible. Let’s get to the practical part of this: what do I have to do with all this?
1. Be afraid
I’m not sure I want to be classed with those who are always talking about hell and hanging it over peoples’ heads to try to get them to change. I’m not sure that’s the highest motive for accepting Jesus. In fact, I’m pretty confident that God would rather all people just recognize that they owe God their lives and were created by Him and for Him and ought to submit to Him just because of that.
But at the same time, the Bible includes some snapshots of hell because we’re supposed to look at them. It includes some warnings about falling away, and about never accepting Jesus, because we ought to be afraid.
Luke 12:5 - But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
If concern over going to hell is all that will get you to turn to Jesus or all that will keep you from turning away from Him, fine. Let that be what brings you home. Let that be the thing that gets you where you need to be and then grow from there. But don’t be so foolish as to pretend that hell isn’t real or that it’s nothing to fear.
2. Fear for others
Here’s the 2nd reason I see for God wanting us to think about hell. We ought to care about the people who are headed there:
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 - Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Paul said,
Philippians 3:18-19 - For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.
He didn’t say, “You know these creeps who got me thrown into prison? You know all the people who cause us problems? They’re going to get theirs! And I’m glad for it!”
He wept as he thought of them! In fact, the last point is we ought to …
3. Care enough to save them!
Jude 1:22-23 - Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear--hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
Why do we need to hear about hell and think about hell?
For the same reason that people in the lifeboat need to care about the people that aren’t in the boat yet. Someone helped you meet Jesus. Someone cared enough about you to help you. What will you do about it?
God gave you His grace. Jesus bore your punishment on the cross and invited you to life in Him. What will you do with that?
(Conclusion / Invitation):
You see, that’s what we’re trying to say to you if you haven’t accepted Jesus today. We’re just thankful for what Jesus has done for us, and we want it to be yours too.
