Been Thinking About:
HELL

I wish I didn't have to believe in hell.

While seeing the need for eternal justice, the thought of cruel and unusual
punishment that lasts forever sounds morally wrong to me. Yet, the Bible
describes God as a great King who creates a lake of everlasting fire for
the rebels who want no part of His kingdom.

As a child, I thought of hell as being like the agony of falling into a
real fire. More than fifty years later, I'm trying to believe no more and
no less than what the Bible requires us to believe.

I've thought a lot about the story Jesus told of a callous rich man who
died and found himself in Hades. Even before the final judgment, the man
was suffering in flame and torment (Luke 16:19-31). Whether Jesus was
speaking in a parable or not, I've found some solace in the fact that the
man in the fire was able to carry on a conversation. He was not suffering
in the way I imagined as a child.

Admittedly, Jesus did not tell the story to comfort us. He went on to
describe how the man in the flame asked for a messenger to be sent back to
the land of the living. He wanted his five ebrothers to be warned about
this place of torment. But he was told, "if they do not hear Moses and
the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead"
(Luke 16:31).

The end of Jesus' story raises a question. What did Moses and the prophets
say that amounted to fair warning?

Hell in the Old Testament

Moses describes the Lord of heaven as the judge of all the earth. Like the
New Testament that follows, he even describes God as a cunsuming fire of
judgment (Deuteronomy 4:24; 9:3; Hebrews 12:29). Together with the rest of
the prophets, he warns about the danagers of death and "the grave." Beyond
such warnings, however, the Hebrew Scriptures say little if anything about
suffering after death. Daniel gives the most information when he predicts,
"Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth awake, some to ever-
lasting life, some to shame and everylasting contempt" (Daniel 12:2).

In a specific example of judgment, Isaiah uses the language of unquenchable
fire to describe the fate of those who die on the battlefield at the end of
the age. Speaking in apocalyptic language, the prophet says, "For their
worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched. They shall be an
abhorrence to all flesh" (Isaiah 66:24). The revulsion Isaiah speaks of
has a physical setting. It occurs as living people look on the dead
bodies of those who have fallen under the judgment of God. A Jewish
reader in Isaiah's day would probably nat have seen anything in these words
about conscious suffering after death.

Hell in the teachings of Jesus

In some versions of the New Tstament, "hell" is a translation of the Greek
word Gehenna, a place known in Old testament times as the Valley of
Hinnon. Jesus uses a word picture of the garbage dump to the south of
Jerusalem where the refuse of the city was burned. Jesus uses this real
place of burning rubble to illustrate the fate of those who gain the world
but lose their soul (Matthew 16:26).

On several occasions Jesus speaks of the wailing and gnashing of teeth
that will accompany final juddgment (Matthew 13:42). Three times in
Mark 9, He draws on the words of Isaiah when He describes the danger of
the "fire that shall never be quenched - where 'their worm does not die.'"
If Jesus uses these words in the same way as Isaiah, He is warning about
the horror of divine judgment without telling us for how long or to what
degree such persons suffer.

Hell in Revelation

The language of 'eternal conscious torment' comes most clearly from the
last book of the New Testament. In a book that uses strong symbolic
language to sound clear warnings of judgment, we read that all those who
worship the beast (14:11), the beast himself, the false prophet, and the
devil will all be cast into the lake of fire where 'they will be tormented
day and night forever and ever' (20:10). Chapter 20 goes on to say that
death, Hades, and everyone not found written in the Book of Life also will
be cast into the lake of fire (vv14-15).

So how do we take these warnings to heart without losing our minds over lost
loved ones? Our challenge is to believe as Abraham did, the "the Judge of
all the earth [will] do right" Genesis 18:25). Such a God understands
infinitely better than we do how to exercise justice that is consistent
with His own character.

Degrees of punishment

Jesus repeatedly indicated that judgment will be more tolerable for some
than for othere (Matthew 10:15; 11:22, 24; Luke 12:46-48).

In addition, Revelation 20:15 does not explicitly say that everyone who is
cast into the lake of fire will suffer in the same way as the devil and
those who wroship him (14:11; 20:10). Trying to read between the lines
ignores the principle that 'The secret things belong to the Lord our God,
but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children"
(deuteronomy 29:29).

For what we cannot understand, those of us who bear heartache for lost
loved ones need to trust the One who loves them far more than we do. He
has told us as much as He wants us to know. The rest we need toleave in
His hands.

Father in heaven, forgive us for saying more or less than You have
revealed. Thank You for assuring us that Yountake no delight in the
death of those who reject You (Ezekiel 33:11). Help us to lovingly warn
those who still have an opportunity to accept Your mercy. And when we
are overwhelmed with concern, please help us to remember that everything
You do in judgment is right, and necessary, and good."


- © 2007 - Mart De Haan - RBC Ministries

Below are some very special links that I feel may be of further interest to
you. They are both enjoyable and inspirational. I do not take credit for
them but would like to share them with you. Just click on each link to
view them:

4 Candles


Are You Ready?


Watchmaker


May You Be Blessed


Flowers That Never Fade


God's Yellow Pages


I Can Only Imagine


He Will Be


In You I Found Me

Page 1    Page 2    Page 3    Page 4

Page 5    Page 6    Page 7    Page 8

Page 9    Page 10    Bible Study Pages

Edited and Updated: April 23, 2008