Hell

Today, I’m going to deal with another challenging topic from the Bible. I’m going to talk to you about hell. Doing this, considering the fate of those condemned by God, their eternal torment, will not be pleasant. But examining what the Scriptures have to say about hell can be very helpful to you. And that is why I bring up the topic. So, I ask that you give serious attention to what I’m going to be telling you.

The Scriptures describe hell with striking images. I will mention a few of them. But before I do that, let me give you a basic definition.

Hell is the place where those who have been condemned by God will suffer the penalty for their rebellion against Him. Their punishment will be painful on several different levels, and will last forever.

And now for some of the Bible’s images of what that will be like.

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10.28

If someone finds himself in hell it is because God put him there. And the purpose of his being there is his eternal destruction.

And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. Mark 9.43

One basic image of hell is that of fire that never ends. The imagery of fire in the Bible has to do with destruction.

… the Lord Jesus [will be] revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might… 2 Thessalonians 1.8-9

This Scripture adds an important element to the suffering of hell: being away from the presence of God. If the glory of eternal life is enjoying the presence of God, Father, Son and Spirit, the bane of hell is the complete absence of His pleasing presence. There will be no good at all in hell.

I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, ​while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 8.11-12

Hell is pictured here as the place of darkness. Consider the fright of those who are afraid of the dark because of what they cannot see and what they imagine is out there. In hell, everyone will be afraid of the dark. And as a result, there will be weeping. This is not merely a matter of shedding a few tears. This is about bitter sobbing and wailing. The gnashing of teeth, or maybe better, the grinding of teeth, is an expression of how painful it will be.

Those are some of the images of hell that the Bible presents.

Now a few passages to explain why someone would be consigned to such a terrible place.

…the soul who sins shall die. Ezekiel 18.4

for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. Romans 2.8

It’s all about sinning against God. Hell is the fate of all who rebel against their Creator. It is God’s punishment for their sin.

I think that that gives you a sufficiently clear idea of what hell is about. I doubt that I’ve told you anything dramatically new. But it’s good to be reminded of this part of reality. God is the Creator of hell and all its terrors, and He will send people there.

Now, for some questions. These may be questions that you have asked yourself or questions that you’ve heard from others. In any event, they are questions that need to be answered so that we can have a greater sense of what it means that there is a hell.

Here’s the first. Why is there hell? Why does it exist? Why will it be populated with all those people? The Bible’s answer is clear. It’s a matter of justice. God has said, more than just once or twice, that sin will be punished in this life but especially in the life to come. And that future punishment is hell.

But contrary to what many might think, it’s not that God is this tyrant who hates people and loves to throw them into hell. Listen.

Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’ Ezekiel 33.11

Did you catch the pleading tone? God takes no pleasure in sending people to hell. He wants them to repent. He urges them to repent. He wants them to live. But what can He do if they refuse?

It’s His sense of what is good and right that requires this punishment. Hell is the expression of His justice. And His justice is as important as other aspects of His character, whether we are talking about His mercy or compassion or love.

Here’s a second question. And while that first question leaned toward the doctrinal, this one is more personal. This is a question that you all should consider from time to time.

Why aren’t you on your way to hell?

There’s a right way and a wrong way to answer that question, at least in this context.

Here’s the wrong way for you to answer that question. ‘I’m not on my way to hell because I believe in Jesus.’ I say that that is the wrong way to answer because it allows too much room for a sense that it’s because of something that you have done that keeps you from that horrid fate. And that is nowhere near the truth.

Here’s a better way to answer the question. ‘I am not on my way to hell only because God decided to grant me His grace. I surely deserve hell, but for reasons that God alone knows, He decided to rescue me from that fate. That is the only reason why I will not spend eternity in unimaginable, but just, suffering.’ That’s a much better answer.

One important result of considering the Bible’s teaching on hell is a humbling realization that you really should end up there, but won’t only because of the grace of God in Jesus.

Next question. Actually, it’s not a question but an accusation made by many. ‘Sending people to hell is wrong. It just seems so unfair.’ There are two ways this can be expressed. Here’s the first. ‘It’s cruel to send someone to a place like that, even for a short time, let alone forever. Hell is cruelty, and that’s why it’s wrong.’

What would be a good response to this accusation? How about this? ‘So, what would you suggest as a better penalty for rebellion against God?’ And if this person offers a substitute penalty, I think that a good response to that would be something like this. ‘Why should I agree with you on this instead of agreeing with God? Doesn’t He have a better sense of the seriousness of sin?’ That’s the real issue here. Who understands better the evil of the sin committed against God? He has decided that the just penalty is hell. Who can prove Him wrong?

Here’s another reason why some consider hell as unfair: ignorance. ‘People just don’t know that there is a God. And they don’t know what He wants. And what about all the people who have never heard anything about the Christian God? It’s unfair to condemn them to hell. They just don’t know.’

Well, is that true? Are people ignorant of who God is and what He requires? No, it’s not.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Romans 1.18

People know the truth about who God is and what He requires. They know it well enough to suppress it, to push it away from themselves, to reject it. Everyone knows that there is a God.

And how do they know the truth about God?

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Romans 1.19-20

People know that there is a God from what they can see in creation. God has made His eternal power and divine nature plain to them. So, it isn’t that just some god exists. Creation shows that it is the true and living God who exists, the God of the Bible.

There is more.

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Romans 1.21-23

Everyone knows enough truth about God to honor Him and to give Him thanks for the good that He does to them. There is plenty of reason to worship the God of the Bible who is the only God. But instead people have turned to idols they have made and have worshiped them.

The claim is that sending people to hell is unfair. It’s wrong. And it’s wrong because it is cruel, unjust. And more than that, people are ignorant of what they need to know. But the Scriptures anticipate these accusations and answer them. Hell is God’s just response to people who know enough truth but reject it.

Consider now another kind of response to the doctrine of hell. Here, alternatives are suggested.

One of those alternatives is to say that the Bible actually teaches that ultimately everyone will be saved. No one will have to experience hell. Universalism. Those who advocate this do so first by picking some bits of Scripture, out of context, that sound like they are teaching this universalism. So, for example, they point to passages that talk about God’s love. But the other thing that they do - something that they have to do if their alternative is going to work - is to ignore other parts of the Bible, parts, for example, that clearly teach hell. In this, they talk about God’s love but ignore His justice.

The Bible is a pretty large book with lots of pages, and lots and lots of words. If all you need are a few verses from here and there, you can prove anything from the Bible. Don’t be fooled by that. What is needed is a comprehensive understanding of the Bible’s teaching on a subject. What does the whole Bible have to say on whatever the topic is? Much error has come because people either refused to answer that question or didn’t know enough to answer that question.

Here’s another alternative to the doctrine of hell: annihilation. The teaching here is that a guilty sinner doesn’t suffer in hell forever. Instead, such a person simply ceases to exist. God annihilates them. And one apparent support for this is the Bible’s language of destruction.

Earlier I quoted this verse.

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10.28

God will ‘destroy’ a person’s body and soul in hell. Does that mean such a person will be annihilated, that he will cease to exist? No. What clarifies things here is a look at other places in the Scriptures where word translated ‘destroy’ shows up.

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Matthew 2.13

And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” Matthew 8.25

In neither case is the text talking about the annihilation of someone. It’s talking about death. When God destroys someone, body and soul, in hell, there is no ceasing to exist. There is no annihilation. But there is the extreme experience of death. 

Let’s move on. The Bible isn’t about some religious topics. It’s about reality. My calling as your pastor is to explain reality to you as the Bible describes it. And here’s one part of reality. Hell. Eternal death. The weeping and gnashing of teeth. But that is not a topic that gets discussed much. And I’m not talking about the world. I’m talking about the Church. Too many Christians, these days, don’t want to even think about hell. But why is that? After all, it’s in the Bible.

The problem has to do with rights. The claim of so many these days is, ‘I have my rights. There are some things that you just can’t do to me’. This way of understanding life results in this pushback against - or at least the neglect of - the Bible’s teaching on hell.

So, what I’d like to do in response is to talk about God’s rights.

Here is a bit of Scripture that is a response to a complaint against God. What the complaint is doesn’t matter. It’s the response that I want you to hear.

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right[!] over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? Romans 9.20-21

How appropriate. Who are you to answer back to God? You’re just a piece of clay that God has decided to make into a certain kind of jar. It may be that you’re going to be a beautiful jar made for some wonderful use. Or it may be that you’re going to be some ugly thing. Why do you think you get a say? God, the potter, has rights that you, sinful bit of clay that you are, don’t have.

We all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. We all have earned the wages of sin which is death. We all should endure the unquenchable fire far from the presence of God. We all deserve hell. But God has decided to be merciful to some, though not to others. Is He being unfair to those others? Is He being cruel? Is He trampling on their rights? No.

God has rights, and we sinners don’t. It might be too much to expect unbelievers to understand this, but it is not too much to expect this of Christians.

And this explains why it is important that I preach this sermon on hell to you. It brings us back to the same basic question that needs to be asked and wisely answered. Who is God and what is He like?

He is a judge who exercises justice. And it is His opinion that justice for sinners means the eternal torments of hell. And who can debate that with Him?

But a sermon on hell is also a reminder that not all sinners will be condemned to the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. There will be those who will be rescued from that fate by the Gospel. And that includes you. God is no longer your judge. Jesus took care of that. No, instead He is your gracious Father.

So, along with a deep compassion for those who live without God and far from Christ, there is to be a deep gratitude for your rescue. A serious look at hell will accomplish both those things.