THOMAS HOOKER, THE GREAT PURITAN LEADER AND FOUNDER OF THE COLONY OF CONNETICUT, ONCE WROTE THIS OF HELL: “CONCEIVE THIS MUCH, IF ALL THE DISEASES IN THE WORLD DID SEIZE ON ONE MAN, AND IF ALL THE TORMENT THAT ALL THE TYRANTS OF THE WORLD COULD DEVISE, WERE CAST AGAINST HIM; AND IF ALL THE CREATURES IN HEAVEN AND EARTH DID CONSPIRE THE DESTRUCTION OF THIS MAN; AND IF ALL THE DEVILS IN HELL DID LABOR TO INFLICT PUNISHMENT UPON HIM, YOU WOULD THINK THIS MAN TO BE IN A MISERABLE CONDITION. AND YET ALL THIS IS BUT A BEAM OF GOD’S INDIGNATION. IF THE BEAMS OF GOD’S INDIGNATION BE SO HOT, WHAT IS THE FULL SUM OF HIS WRATH WHEN IT SHALL SEIZE UPON THE SOUL OF A SINFUL CREATURE IN FULL MEASURE?”
IT HAS BEEN AN UNQUINCHABLE CURIOSITY OF HUMANITY TO UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT OF HELL. WRITINGS, ARTWORK, AND TEACHINGS, FOR GENERATIONS, HAVE ALL TAKEN A SHOT AT DESCRIBING HELL’S HORRIFIC AND DETESTIBLE EXISTENCE.
NO MATTER HOW GRAPHIC WE ARE IN TRYING TO DESCRIBE IT OR HOW DETAILED WE TRY TO BE IN LEARNING ABOUT IT, WE CAN EASILY CONCLUDE THAT IT IS A DETESTABLE PLACE FILLED WITH INDESCRIBABLE PAIN, TORTURE, AND AGONY.
WHAT BECOMES SO AGONIZING TO ME IN THE STUDY OF HELL IS THAT THOSE WHO FIND THEMSELVES ALREADY THERE HAVE BEEN QUICKLY AWAKENED TO A CHANGE OF HEART. IN THE SPLIT-SECOND OF THEIR ARRIVAL, I AM SURE THEY HAVE DETEREMINED THAT THEY DO NOT WANT TO BE THERE. SADLY, IT IS TOO LATE.
THE RICH MAN IN OUR SCRIPTURE PASSAGE TODAY SOON FINDS THE TORMENT OF HIS DISPOSITION TOO MUCH TO BEAR. HE BEGS AND HE PLEADS FOR RELIEF, BUT HIS REQUESTS ARE DENIED FOR HE LEARNS THAT IT WAS HIS EARTHLY DECISION THAT KEEPS HIM ANCHORED TO THE ETERNAL REALITY OF HIS FATE.
SADLY, IT IS STILL A DESTINY THAT MANY SUFFER TO THIS DAY. THIS STORY DEPICTS A TRAGIC AND SERIOUS REALITY. THE COMING JUDGMENT IS FIXED AND PERMANENT FOR THOSE WHO REJECT GOD. THE MOMENT OF OUR DEATH WITHOUT SALVATION THROUGH JESUS CHRIST COMES THE IMMEDIATE AND PERMANENT REALITY OF RECEIVING AND ENDURING AN IRREVERSIBLE FATE.
ETERNAL TORMENT IS IN STORE FOR THOSE WHO KNOW THAT GOD EXISTS BUT HAVE REFUSED OR HAVE FAILED TO RESPOND TO HIM IN THIS LIFE. SUFFERING AND BEING IN CONSTANT TORMENT WILL BE SET AND FINAL. THERE WILL NOT BE ANY NEGOTIATING OR AQUITTALS. ONCE ENTERED, ONE CANNOT ESCAPE OR BE SET FREE.
THE STORY OF THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS IS AMONG THE MOST TRAGIC AND SERIOUS WARNINGS IN THE BIBLE. IT SPEAKS OF A LIFE FILLED WITH MORE THAN ENOUGH OPPORTUNITIES TO NOT ONLY RECEIVE JESUS CHRIST AS SAVIOR, BUT TO SHARE OF ONE’S TIME, WEALTH, AND RESOURCES…BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, ONE’S FAITH…TO MAKE DISCIPLES AND BE OF HELP TO ONE’S NEIGHBOR.
THE RICH MAN’S ABUNDANCE WAS MORE THAN ENOUGH. IN FACT, BY STATING HE WAS “DRESSED IN PURPLE AND FINE LINNEN” WAS INDICATION THAT HIS DISPLAY OF LUXURY WAS QUITE FLAMBOYANT. THE MAN WAS SO WEALTHY THAT EVEN THE SCRAPS AND CRUMBS LEFT OVER FROM HIS EXTRAVAGANCE WAS ENOUGH TO PROVIDE FOR LAZARUS.
THE RICH MAN WAS NO LONGER MOVED WITH COMPASSION AS HIS DAYS WERE FILLED WITH PLEASURE AND SELF-INDULGENCE. HIS ABUNDANCE CATERED ONLY TO HIMSELF, EVEN THOUGH HE HAD MORE THAN ENOUGH OF THE CAPACITY TO MAKE A TREMENDOUS DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF THOSE AROUND HIM. NO GENUINE LOVE FOR GOD. NO CARE FOR HIS FELLOW MAN.
NOW BOTH MEN ARE DEAD AND THE TABLES ARE TURNED. THE PERSON OF PRIVILEGE NOW CRIES OUT FOR PITY. HE IS FULLY AWARE THAT HE IS SEPARATED FROM GOD, IN REAL PAIN, FILLED WITH REGRET OF A LOST OPPORTUNITY THAT CAN’T BE REVERSED.
THIS REALITY IS EXCRUCIATING AS IS THE PAIN THAT HELL IS A REALITY THAT INCREASES THAT SUFFERING. THE MAN WHO DENIED THE BEGGAR EVEN A CRUMB FROM HIS TABLE WAS NOW DENIED EVEN A DROP OF WATER TO ALLIEVIATE ANY HOPE OF CURING HIS AGONY.
THE DECISIONS HE MADE ON EARTH HAVE BEEN JUDGED FAIRLY AND HE IS SERVING OUT HIS SENTENCE. THE RICH MAN IS IN HELL NOT BECAUSE OF HIS WEALTH, BUT BECAUSE HE WAS SELFISH.
THIS PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE ENCOURAGES US AS WELL AS WARNS US THAT IN LIFE AFTER DEATH, OUR RIGHTEOUS JUDGE, OUR GOD, AND CREATOR, WILL BRING FORTH RIGHTEOUS JUSTICE AND ALL THE INEQUITIES OF LIFE WILL BE CORRECTED.
THE RICH MAN HAD IT WRONG ALL ALONG. HIS WHOLE CONCEPT OF “RICH AND POOR” WAS BACKWARDS. IN THE DAYS OF JESUS, THE PHARISEES LOOKED UPON WEALTH AS A SIGN OF BLESSING FROM GOD. TO THEM, POVERTY WAS A SIGN OF GOD’S DISFAVOR AND CURSE. THE END RESULT WAS THE SQUANDERING OF THEIR WEALTH. THEY MADE NO ATTEMPTS TO BRIDGE THE CHASM THAT SEPARATED THEM FROM THE POOR SUCH AS LAZARUS.
THAT IS WHAT MAKES VERSE 26, SO POWERFUL. JESUS IS SAYING THAT A WHOLE NEW CHASM WILL BE DEVELOPING AND THEY WOULD SOON FIND THEMSELVES ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THIS GREAT SPANSE OF SEPARATION. ODDLY ENOUGH, THE WORD “CHASM” REFERS TO AN “UNBRIDGEABLE SPACE.”
WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF THE CHASM? ONCE WE DIE, OUR ULTIMATE FATE CAN NO LONGER BE CHANGED. THIS ETERNAL DESTINY IS FIXED AND THE LOCATION IS FINAL. JUSTICE HAS BEEN SERVED AND THERE IS NO MEANS TO PASS FROM ONE SIDE TO THE OTHER. THIS IS THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF THE CHASM. SEPARATION.
THE POINT IS CLEAR: GOD DOES NOT SEND ANYONE TO HELL. PEOPLE SEND THEMSELVES THERE BY REFUSING TO HEED HIS CALL AND BELIEVE ON HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST.
WHEN WE STAND BEFORE GOD, HIS JUDGMENT WILL BE MADE ON THE BASIS OF OUR CHOICES HERE ON EARTH AND THAT DECISION WILL BE IRREVERSABLE. THIS IS WHY IT IS SO CRUCIAL THAT WE GRASP THE HOLY LOVE OF GOD AND HOW WICKED AND VILE SIN IS IN HIS SIGHT AND IN HIS PRESENCE. SIN, THEREFORE, IS REBELLION AGAINST A HOLY AND LOVING GOD.
LEON MORRIS WROTE: “GOD HAS NO NEED OF MARIONETTES. HE PAYS US THE COMPLIMENT OF ALLOWING US TO LIVE WITHOUT HIM IF WE CHOOSE. BUT IF WE LIVE WITHOUT HIM IN THIS LIFE, THEN WE MUST ALSO LIVE WITHOUT HIM IN THE NEXT.”
THE STARK REALITY IS THAT GOD DOES NOT WANT YOU TO PERISH AND SUFFER IN TORMENT FOR ALL ETERNITY. IT WAS NEVER HIS PLAN TO MAKE HELL FOR US. HE MADE HIS KINGDOM FOR US.
BILLY GRAHAM WROTE, “HELL WAS NOT PREPARED FOR MAN. GOD NEVER MEANT THAT MAN WOULD EVER GO TO HELL. HELL WAS PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS, BUT MAN REBELLED AGAINST GOD AND FOLLOWED THE DEVIL…HELL IS ESSENTIALLY AND BASICALLY BANISHMENT FROM THE PRESENCE OF GOD FOR DELIBERATELY REJECTING JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND SAVIOR.”
2 PETER 3:9, TELLS US “THE LORD…IS LONGSUFFERING TOWARD US, NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH BUT THAT ALL SHOULD COME TO REPENTANCE.”
THE FACT THAT GOD IS LONGSUFFERING MEANS THAT EACH OF US HAS BEEN AFFORDED SUFFICIENT OPPORTUNITIES TO HEAR AND UNDERSTAND THE GOSPEL WITH ADEQUATE TIME TO RESPOND TO THE CALL OF GOD IN OUR LIVES.
WHATEVER THAT RESPONSE MAY BE TO GOD’S GRACE, THE TIME WILL COME WHEN IT WILL BE OVER AND SEALED, ONCE-AND-FOR-ALL, FOR ETERNITY. THIS IS WHY THE TIME FOR RESPONDING TO GOD’S GRACE IN FAITH IS NOW.
OUR SOULS ARE IMMORTAL AND WE MUST REALIZE THAT EARTHLY, MORTAL DEATH DOES NOT END OUR EXISTENCE. DEATH JUST SIMPLY CHANGES THE NATURE OF OUR EXISTENCE.
THIS LIFE IS THE TIME FOR REPENTANCE; THIS WORLD IS THE PLACE TO PREPARE OUR SOULS FOR ETERNITY. NO PERSON, ONCE THEY’VE STEPPED ACROSS THE LINE MARKED BY DEATH, CAN CHANGE THEIR SPIRITUAL STATE OR PLACE OF ETERNITY. AS IT HAS BEEN SAID, “IT IS BETTER TO BEG FOR BREAD ON EARTH THAN TO BEG FOR WATER IN HELL.”
THE QUESTION THEN REMAINS: ARE WE PREPARED TO CROSS THE THRESHOLD OF DEATH THAT LEADS INTO ETERNITY? HAVE YOU PLACED YOUR FAITH IN CHRIST TO ROUTE YOUR SPIRITUAL DESTINATION ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF “THE GREAT CHASM?”
BEING PREPARED IS RECEIVING JESUS CHRIST AS SAVIOR. RECEIVING CHRIST INVOLVES TURNING TO GOD FROM “SELF” THROUGH REPENTANCE AND TRUSTING CHRIST TO COME INTO YOUR LIFE TO FORGIVE YOUR SINS SO HE CAN WORK IN YOU TO MAKE YOU WHAT HE WANTS YOU TO BE.
HEAD KNOWLEDGE DOES NOT SAVE US. JUST TO AGREE WITH THIS INTELLECTUALLY THAT JESUS CHRIST IS THE SON OF GOD AND THAT HE DIED ON THE CROSS FOR OUR SINS IS NOT ENOUGH. SALVATION IS A HEART-ISSUE. WE RECEIVE CHRIST BY FAITH AND BY CHOICE AND THAT CHOICE MUST BE OUR’S.
MARK 8:36, “FOR WHAT SHALL IT PROFIT A MAN, IF HE SHALL GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD, AND LOSE HIS OWN SOUL?” LET US LEAVE HERE READY TO NOT ONLY LIVE TODAY, BUT TO LIVE ETERNALLY!
