Today I have spent a lot of time
thinking about the reality of Hell. Evangelist Billy Graham has said many times
“Some teach ‘universalism’–that
eventually everybody will be saved and the God of love will never send anyone
to hell. They believe the words ‘eternal’ or ‘everlasting’ do not actually mean
forever.” The reality is that everlasting and eternal mean just that,
forever. The doctrine of eternal punishment,
though unpopular and frightening, is found as a part of the confession of every
branch of the Christian church. It has only been in the last century that under
the influence of liberalism some have denied the reality of hell.
Earlier in the week, I had a
discussion about a Bishop in the Western Jurisdiction of the United Methodist
Church. Everyone who called out sin, was seen as being hate-filled and wrong.
While others stated what a wonderful person the Bishop is. These people don’t
realize it, but they were trivializing sin. Sadly, Trivializing sin blocks us from receiving a full
revelation of God’s love (Luke 7:47). God
didn’t just look the other way or change His attitude toward sin. He paid for
our sins in full through the sacrifice of His Son (2 Cor. 5:21). Anyone who rejects or ignores such a
great sacrifice will spend eternity paying for that.
Sin has to be
judged (Rom. 6:23), and it was judged, in the flesh of Jesus (1 Pet. 2:24). But
those who don’t make Jesus their Lord will have hell to pay for the greatest
sin of all—rejecting Jesus’ sacrifice (John 16:8-9). The
sacrifice that Jesus made was infinitely greater than we have ever imagined. Not
only does the Bible teach that He was not recognizable as a human being (Is.
52:14) while hanging on the cross, but it also teaches that He actually became
sin (2 Cor. 5:21). Just before He died, Jesus said, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt.
27:46). God forsook Jesus. He could not look upon the sin that Jesus had
become. And if He forsook His only Son, what chance would any of us have? That is why, for those who foolishly ignore
this great sacrifice, there is a real hell.
In the story
about Lazarus and the rich man, the rich man spoke to Abraham from hell, the
place of torment. Luke 16:22-26 says,
“And
it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into
Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also
died, and was buried; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and
seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father
Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus
that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am
tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy
lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now
he is comforted and thou are tormented. And beside all this, between us and you
there is a great gulf fixed.”
It makes it
clear that in she’owl, or
hell, those who were in torment could see those across the gulf. They could
hear, thirst, feel pain and sorrow, and even communicate with those in
paradise. But the one thing that the people in hell will never be able to do is
die. After the Resurrection, things concerning hell changed. Jesus went to
hell, took the keys of hell and death (Rev. 1:18), and set the captives
free—those who were in Abraham’s bosom.
Ephesians 4: 9-10 says,
“Now
that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts
of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all
heavens, that he might fill all
things.”
After defeating the devil and
setting the captives free, Jesus took those in Abraham’s bosom to heaven with
Him, where all believers go now. But we will not live in heaven forever. We only live in
heaven until the end of the age. Then God is going to make a new heaven and a
new earth, and all the believers will live there with Jesus in the new
Jerusalem (Rev. 21:1-4). The Scripture,
in Luke, also shows that the people God honors are not necessarily the same
people the world honors (Luke 16:15). This rich man had a beautiful
home, fancy clothes, and the best of everything. He had it all, but he never
showed the beggar any mercy. When he died, I guarantee you he had a fancy
funeral. Thousands of people may have gathered, all talking about how great his
accomplishments were.
Yet the Bible
says only that he was buried, left to rot in the grave. On the other hand, the
beggar who was most despised on earth was carried away by angels. Which of the
two would you rather have been? When
you see this from an eternal perspective, it makes the suffering of this earth
pale in comparison to what God has prepared for us (Rom. 8:18). That is
why we have a section of a wall at Charis Bible College-Colorado dedicated to
those we call “Heroes of the Faith.” These are graduates, like our extension
school directors, who are giving their lives selflessly to take this message
around the world. I believe that these are the people God honors, and it would
serve all of us well to do the same (1 Sam. 2:30).
We
can also see from Scripture that there are no second chances. There is no purgatory, as the
Catholic Church teaches. There is no ultimate reconciliation. On earth, the
rich man rejected God and went directly to hell. When the rich man pleaded for mercy, Abraham could do nothing. There will
be no mercy, no hope, and no goodness of any kind in hell, ever. There
isn’t a single person on this earth who deserves anything good from God. And
there is absolutely nothing people can do to gain His favor. If that offends
you, then you have just experienced the offense of the cross (Gal. 5:11). In
comparison to God’s standards, man’s righteousness is no better than filthy
rags (Is. 64:6). But God loves man so much that He sent Jesus, a Lamb without
spot, to be a sacrifice for sin. If
Jesus died for past, present, and future sins—which He did—then what determines
whether we spend eternity with Him or in hell? The Bible makes it
clear that the Holy Spirit convicts us of one sin, and it’s the only sin that
will cause people to go to hell. That is the sin of rejecting the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ.
“And when he [the Holy Spirit] is come, he will reprove the world of sin. and of righteousness,
and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me” (John
16:8-9, brackets mine).
To say the least, avoiding hell is big. However, what Jesus accomplished on the cross is far
more than the avoidance of hell.
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