The Dragnet
Matthew 13:47-50
Bill Hybels, the pastor of Willow Creek Church in Chicago which has over 20,000 people in attendance each week, tells the story of an encounter he had with a young woman: “I recall one time being in a restaurant studying for a message, and a gal looked over from her table and saw me reading my Bible. She said, ‘Why do you study that stuff?’ And I thought, just to stimulate a little discussion, I’d try to knock her off balance. So I said, ‘Because I don’t feel like going to hell when I die.’ I was going to be really blunt, but I took the edge off it a little bit. And she said, ‘There is no such thing as heaven or hell.’ I thought, Well, I got something going now. So I turned in my chair and I said, ‘Why do you say that?’ She said, ‘Everybody knows that when you die your candle goes out — poof!’ I said, ‘You mean to tell me there’s no afterlife?’ ‘No.’ ‘So that means you must be able to just live as you please?’ ‘That’s right.’ ‘Like, there’s no Judgement Day or anything?’ ‘No.’ I said, ‘Well, that’s fascinating to me. Where did you hear that?’ She said, ‘I read it somewhere.’ ‘Can you give me the name of the book?’ ‘I don’t recall.’ ‘Can you give me the name of the author of the book?’ ‘I forget his name.’ ‘Did that author write any other books?’ ‘I don’t know.’ ‘Is it possible that your author changed his mind two years after he wrote this particular book and then wrote another one that said there is a heaven and a hell? Is that possible?’ ‘It’s possible but not likely.’ ‘All right,’ I said. ‘ Let me get this straight. You are rolling the dice on your eternity predicated on what someone you don’t even know wrote in a book you can’t even recall the title of. Have I got that straight?’ I was playing a little Columbo act with her. She looked me right in the eye and said, ‘That’s right.’ And I said back to her, ‘You know what I think, sweetheart? I think you have merely created a belief that guarantees the continuation of your unencumbered lifestyle. I think you made it up, because it is very discomforting to think of a heaven. It is a very discomforting thought to think of a hell. It is very unnerving to face a holy God in the day of reckoning. I think you made it all up.’ We had quite a conversation after that.”
Like the young woman in Hybel’s story, many people today don’t want to believe in hell, because they do not want to alter the way they live. They easily accept anything that smacks of doubt, because it gives them relief from thinking about the realities of eternity. But Jesus wanted people to think about eternity often, for he preached about it constantly. In fact, the Bible is almost silent about the subject of hell, except the words that fall from the mouth of Jesus. This only makes sense, because we would expect that the One who came from eternity would know and talk about eternity more than anyone else.
The parable of the dragnet that we read about in the Scripture today, that is, the net thrown into the water and dragged into a boat, or dragged to shore, full of fish which were then separated, is very similar to Jesus’ story about the sheep and the goats. He said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left” (Matthew 25:31-33).
It is also very much like Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the weeds: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn’” (Matthew 13:24-30).
In each of these parables Jesus tells us about three realities: 1. There is an end to the present world order when Jesus will return to earth. 2. There is a time of judgment before which each of us will stand. 3. There is a separation of the good and bad, and the good take their place in the home of God, as the bad are consigned to a place of eternal separation from God, and consequently experience the natural suffering that goes along with being separated from God and all goodness.
These are harsh realities that our current culture likes to downplay or outright ignore. We want to have God and live as we please at the same time. But even the Old Testament gives us this solemn warning concerning the end: “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people — everyone whose name is found written in the book — will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever” (Daniel 12:1-3). The book of Revelation describes it this way: “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” (Revelation 21:8).
The question is: How do we reconcile an unending eternity of hell with a good and loving God? There are three truths I want us to consider this morning as we attempt to understand the reality of hell in light of the character of a loving God. The first is this: Free will makes hell necessary. Hell is God’s great compliment to the human race — by it, he is saying, “If you do not wish to live with me, you don’t have to!” And if people do not wish to live with God, there must be a place where they can be away from God. Since the presence of God includes inexpressible joy, the absence of God means despair and suffering. It is not that God punishes the people who chose to live without him, suffering is the natural result of being absent from God, who is not only the source of joy, but who is himself the very embodiment of love and joy. The absence of God necessarily means inexpressible suffering and despair. Because we have free will, that is, the ability to freely determine our own actions and form our own destiny, it means that God sends no one to hell, you send yourself. It is a choice that people make.
“But how can that be?”, you say. Isn’t it obvious? There are people you know who are living in hell right now, but who refuse to do anything to extricate themselves from the hell in which they are living. If they would turn from the destructiveness of their choices and their sinful lifestyle, they would not go through the hell they are living in — but they will not turn. It may be hell, but at least it is what they are used to. They do not want to put forth the effort to change. They do not want to accept responsibility. They do not want to work hard in order to overcome the situation they are in.
There is an interesting parable that Jesus told about a rich man and a man named Lazarus. Both die, and Lazarus is in heaven and the rich man is in hell. The Bible says, “In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 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’” (Luke 16:23-24). What is interesting in the story is that the rich man does not ask to get out of hell. Neither does he request to go to heaven. This is the place that he has chosen, even though he seems to blame God for not properly warning about this place. He does not like it there, but he has no interest in heaven. He does not want out of hell; he only wants a little relief. He does not seem to regret the things he has done, nor does he repent.
We see this all the time. People all around us are living in hell, but they would rather remain in their hell than come to God. To be sure they want a little relief now and then, but they have no desire to turn their lives around. These people are dead to what their lives could mean if lived in a relationship with God.
The second point is: Justice makes hell necessary. Is it possible that a Mother Teresa or Billy Graham would inherit the same eternity as an Idi Amin or Hitler? Would God be just if the likes of Stalin or Pol Pot who committed genocide, and brought death and suffering to millions, should get by with their crimes without answering to the Judge of the universe? The same goes for those who have committed lesser crimes and sins. What about all those whose crimes were never discovered and never received the punishment due them? What about the things that have been done to you — things that perhaps were never answered for?
There is a day of judgment coming. No one is going to get by with anything. The Bible says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). Sometimes we wonder if there is any justice in this world, but final justice will come at the end, and it will be sooner than we think. Jesus said, “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly” (Luke 18:7-8).
The Scripture gives us this solemn promise: “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) — if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment” (2 Peter 2:4-9). In other words, God will right all the wrongs of the world and hold everyone responsible for the life they have lived. The most skillful hypocrites will be seen for who they really are. There will be no hiding or pretending with God.
The third point that should be made is: Hell begins here and now, just as heaven does. We worry so much about going to hell after we die and think nothing of living in hell here and now. What is hell? It is separation from God. What is heaven? It is living in the presence of God. You and I are at this present moment already living out the choices we have made. We are beginning to hear the strains of the heavenly chorus and experiencing the joy of a relationship with God, or we are reaping the consequences of a life lived away from the presence of God and in rebellion against the will of God. We have either surrendered our lives to him in loving and faithful obedience, or we are keeping God away by resisting his love and will for our lives. To live with God is to experience the beginning of heaven’s joy and peace. To live away from God is to experience the prelude of eternal sufferings, and the consequences of our actions that eternal justice brings.
If a person chooses to live their life away from God here and now, what would ever make us think they would want to live with God in eternity? Fear of punishment does not deter them here, neither will it there. Every life will continue there as it has been lived here. Only the joys of heaven will be greater and the sorrows of hell stronger. The love of God that we have experienced in this life will be multiplied exponentially. The Bible says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). It says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).
Randy Alcorn, in his book Heaven tells the story of Ruthanna Metzgar, a professional singer, that illustrates the importance of having our names written in God’s Book of life. “Several years ago, she was asked to sing at the wedding of a very wealthy man. According to the invitation, the reception would be held on the top two floors of Seattle’s Columbia Tower, the Northwest’s tallest skyscraper. She and her husband, Roy, were excited about attending. At the reception, waiters in tuxedos offered luscious hors d’oeuvres and exotic beverages. The bride and groom approached a beautiful glass and grass staircase that led to the top floor… followed by their guests. At the top of the stairs, a maitre d’ with a bound book greeted the guests outside the doors. ‘May I have your name, please?’ ‘I am Ruthanna Metzgar and this is my husband, Roy.’ He searched the M’s. ‘I’m not finding it. Would you spell it please?’ Ruthanna spelled her name slowly. After searching the book, the maitre d’ looked up and said, ‘I’m sorry, but your name isn’t here.’ ‘There must be some mistake,’ Ruthanna replied. ‘I’m the singer. I sang for this wedding!’ The gentleman answered, ‘It doesn’t matter who you are or what you did. Without your name in the book you cannot attend the banquet.’ He motioned to a waiter and said, ‘Show these people to the service elevator, please.’ The Metzgars followed the waiter past beautifully decorated tables laden with shrimp, whole smoked salmon, and magnificent carved ice sculptures. Adjacent to the banquet area, an orchestra was preparing to perform, the musicians all dressed in dazzling white tuxedos. The waiter led Ruthanna and Roy to the service elevator, ushered them in, and pushed G for the parking garage. After locating their car and driving several miles in silence, Roy reached over and put his hand on Ruthanna’s arm. ‘Sweetheart, what happened?’ ‘When the invitation arrived, I was busy,’ Ruthanna replied. ‘I never bothered to RSVP. Besides, I was the singer. Surely I could go to the reception without returning the RSVP!’”
The Bible, in speaking of heaven, says, “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:27). God has extended to you an invitation to an extravagant banquet. It is the wedding feast of the Lamb. It is a place of great joy, celebration and outrageous blessing. But you have to respond to the invitation. Without your response — that RSVP — it does not matter who you are or what you did. What is important is how you responded to God, whether you accepted his invitation to live in a relationship with him and be a part of his life. Where you spend eternity will be the result of your personal choice, the outcome of justice and the extension of where you are living now. The invitation stands. What will your response be?
Rodney J. Buchanan
March 3, 2013
Amity UMC
rodbuchanan2000@yahoo.com
