March 3, 2015
Spring can be a hectic time for a florist. Between the holidays, the weddings, the new formed relationships, and all the other occasions, spring can keep their delivery trucks constantly running. With all the extra business, it is inevitable that mistakes are going to be made. But as the florist looked at the mix-up in the two orders, he knew this was a mistake he would not soon forget.
Two deliveries, that had been sent to the opposite locations. The first was easy enough to explain, but the other one, he did not even know where to begin. On the first delivery, a wife had received flowers from her husband who was away on a trip to Florida, and wanted to let her know he was thinking of her. As she opened the card, it read, “With Deepest Sympathy”. The wife found the card confusing, but at least the flowers were gorgeous!
The other delivery was to a funeral home, going to the family of a local businessman who had recently passed away. As his recent widow opened the card, everyone around her could see the blood rushing out of her face. The card simply read, “It is so much hotter here than I expected. Wish you were here with me, but so look forward to seeing you again very soon.”
We all so easily joke about hell, and we see the term used so loosely today. We see it made fun of in comedy skits, and we see it shown jokingly on the comic pages. But how much do we really know about hell? How much of what we hear about hell is actual truth, and what is the fantasy on men? What does our image of hell show us, and what does the Bible say about it? When we look at the truth, we quickly find that hell is no joking matter.
Is hell real?
Recent polls show that far more people today believe in heaven than in hell. This should not surprise us, as when you ask ten pastors about hell, you will get fifteen different answers. It has also become commonplace in the Church today, to not speak of hell. Many simply avoid the controversy of it, others will quickly proclaiming it is nothing more than the fantasy of man. That a loving God would never punish people in such a horrible way. But if you actually read your Bible, you will soon learn that hell is just as real as heaven.
God’s Word explicitly and with great detail tells us of the reality of hell, and the eternal consequences that we face when we do not accept Christ, and seek Him for the atonement of our sins. His Word tells us that we have all sinned(Romans 3:23), that our sin causes us to be separated from a just God(Isaiah 59:2), and that the just punishment for that sin is death(Romans 6:23). Since God is an eternal being, the separation that sins causes must also be eternal, meaning a place is needed for those who did not seek forgiveness of those sins that Christ alone brought this world. That place is what we call hell.
Christ’ own words tell us of the reality that death brings(Matthew 25:46), both the joys and the horrors. Those who have rejected Christ will be made aware of these horrors, and they will come to acknowledge the perfection of God’s plan of salvation(Psalm 76:10). Those who have rejected Christ will one day know that their choice alone placed them in this torment(Deuteronomy 32”3-5). Hell is real! And those that find themselves there will know the reality of what they face, and will only have their own actions to blame.
God’s Word teaches us that when we die we go to be with the Lord if we have placed our faith in Christ(2 Corinthians 5:8), and if not, we will go into punishment for our sins(2 Peter 2:9). Despite many not wanting to face the truth of the situation, death leaves us with only two options, salvation or damnation. And also despite what many may want to say, the Bible states clearly that in no other name but Christ can we be saved(Acts 4:12), Anyone who refuses the name of Christ, and does not receive His name, cannot be saved, damning themselves to the torment that hell will bring.
God is all loving, and His greatest desire is that no one will ever face the horrors that hell will bring(2 Peter 3:9). It was for this reason that God made the ultimate and perfect sacrifice for each of us. He came to this world, giving His own life, so that we would never has to face the torment of hell. But as God is all loving, He is also just, and that justice demands an eternal hell. The fact unfortunately is, not all evil is punished while we are in this world, therefore an eternal punishment for our sins must exist. In God’s sovereignty, hell is demanded, as without it there could be no final victory over evil. Our free will also requires it. If we can freely choose to accept or to reject the Lord, then there must also be an outcome and an aftermath to those choices. And finally, the Cross commands an eternal hell, as Christ did not pay the ultimate price for us without reason.
We must always remember, not one single passage in God’s Word says that we will receive a second chance after death. Those many chances come while we live this life, we can accept Christ today or deny Him eternally. We can choose to forever be in His presence, or we can freely choose to forever place ourselves outside His welcoming arms. Finding ourselves in the midst of the horrors that await us outside of those arms.
Where is hell?
We often picture hell as a place below the earth that is filled with an eternal fire. The truth is, no one knows exactly where hell is. Many have speculated throughout the years, but it is just that, speculation. The Scriptures simply do not tell us the geological location of hell. Hell may have an actual location in this universe, or it may be in a dimension that is different from anything we now know.
Throughout the Bible, many words are used to describe hell, but all come back to a place of great regret and torment, a place Christ describes with the terms “outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth”(Matthew 8:12). Outer darkness suggest a place without light, beyond the very light that God created in forming this world(Genesis 1:2). A place without the Light of this world(John 8:12). A place void of the beauty that light shows us. A place where no light could ever brighten the constant and relentless gloom or the torment that will surround those there. Total darkness, not only void of light, but beyond the reach of light. A place our finite mind may not be able to fully grasp, but a place we are better off not ever having the personal vision to be able to define.
Scripture tells us that at our death, our souls go to a place of holding until the time of the final judgment. For us that believe, that place is directly in the presence of the Lord, a place we refer to as Heaven(Luke 23:43, Philippians 1:23). For the unbeliever, their souls also going into a place of holding, a place of torment we refer to as hell. The book of Luke tells us the story of a rich man who is being tormented immediately after his death, and of the agony he finds himself in(Luke 16:19-31). It is after this temporary realm, that the unbeliever will also face a final judgment, and will be forever cast into the lake of fire(Revelation 20:11-15). The lake of fire is the final hell, the eternal destination where unbelievers and those who have rebelled against the Lord, both angelic and human(Matthew 25:41), will face an everlasting experience of agony and torture.
The Bible tends to indicate that the bodies of those cast into this judgment will be one without humanity, a body that is full of nothing but death. This is what is referred to as the “second death”, being cast into the lake of fire, forever separated from the Lord(Revelation 20:14). This second death will bring to the unbeliever a body that will forever be in the fire, feeling the anguish and the torture, but a body that will not be consumed. Tissue that perpetually burns and regenerates to be burned again. A body that is unlike our earthly bodies design for this world. A body that is designed specifically for the torment of hell. A body that is designed specifically for wherever the horrors of hell will be,
Is Satan in charge of hell?
There is a simple one word answer to this question. No! We have a terrible misconception that Satan and his demons are now in hell torturing the souls of those there. This is a story, nothing else. One based on the thoughts and ideas of man, not based on one word of Scripture. Satan is not in charge of hell, God is! The Bible tells us that Christ holds the keys of hell(Revelation 1:18), and that He has absolute control over it.
God created hell and sees everything that goes on there. The Bible clearly tells us that God created all things(Colossians 1:16), and all things would include hell. Hell, and those there, may not stand in His presence, but God knows everything that is presently going on there. The final hell, the lake of fire, was created by God as a punishing place for Satan and his demons also(Matthew 25:41), not as a kingdom for him to rule over.
So if Satan is not residing over hell now, where is he? At this very moment, Satan is here, roaming the earth, looking to separate as many from God as he possibly can(1 Peter 5:8). Christ referred to Satan as the “prince of this world”(John 14:30), looking to devour man, and lead as many as possible to be disobedient to God. Satan’s workplace is the earth and the realm that surrounds it. He knows well that the day is coming when Christ will cast him into the lake of fire, and he is looking to take as many with him as he possibly can.
Hell. A word that shows us our need for another word, Savior. Unfortunately, this world today sees the word Savior as just as radical a word as hell. The world must begin to see, Savior is not a word for those in need of a moral uplifting, or those in need of nothing more than a little guidance. It is a word for those who are lost at sea without a sail, without hope of survival as the waves crash over them. Savior is a word for all those who find themselves on the path to hell. Savior, a word like hell, we should never look at as a joking matter. Savior, the only word that you will ever find that is truly fireproof.
Praying each of you will never be able to paint a picture of hell.
