Its not made for you!

Hell is one of the most misunderstood christian doctrines in the world. Not only do most non-christians have no idea about Hell but sadly even many christians themselves have an embarrassing poor grasp of this vital biblical doctrine.

There are just so many false beliefs.

God rules Heaven, Satan rules Hell - False.

Satan tortures us in Hell - False.

Satan is in charge of Hell - False.

God Himself made Hell, God is the Lord of Hell and Satan is its first victim.

I had to laugh last week on Halloween - Satanist chanting “Belzibub, Lord of Hell,...”

No, just no. Wrong in every possible way.

Let us look at the truth about Hell.

A key word that has to be understood when we are going to know the truth and reality about Hell is the greek word:

“Hetimazo”

This greek word comes from an old greek noun “Hete-os” which means “Fitness”.

Not fit as in exercise fit, but rather in a “A meal fit for a king” way.

What the word means in this context is “Proportional too”.

In english “hetimazo” is simply translated as “Prepared for”.

But thats not the full meaning, rather it means “Specifically prepared for...”.

If i ask you to prepare 2 parties: One for a 50 year old man and another for a 5 year old little girl - Will you prepare the exact same party?

No - One will be specifically for the 50 year old man taking him into account to bless him, and the other you will specifically prepare for the little girl.

So it does NOT mean prepared in general!

It means prepared specifically for the object.

What does this have to do with Hell?

Now i hear you ask: What does this have to do with Hell? The answer is EVERYTHING!

Jesus used this word many times in referring to the afterlife.

When we die we have 2 option as to where we end up: Heaven or Hell.

Heaven

In talking about Heaven and Hell look what Jesus said:

Matthew 25:31–34 NASB 2020

31 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Look at v 34 there you see “prepared” that is the greek word we have been talking about: “hetimazo”.

What does hetimazo mean? Prepared specifically for the object.

What is the object in this verse?

“Prepared specifically for......... for YOU!”.

Jesus used this word again in:

John 14:1–3 NASB 2020

1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be.

And again who is the place Jesus is preparing specifically for? YOU!

The implication of this are mind boggling.

What it means that God created Heaven SPECIFICALLY for us, for human beings, so that we would experience a joy, a peace, a presence that touches us and fill us in the most perfectly possible way imaginable.

Heaven is custom made, specifically prepared, perfectly fit for God’s greatest creation: Human beings made by Him in His own image.

No wonder God says:

1 Corinthians 2:9 NASB 2020

9 but just as it is written: “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the human heart, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”

So what this means in summation is that Heaven is custom made for us, its a perfect fit for us.

But as wonderful as this is about Heaven, there is an absolutely terrifying fact about Hell that is equally true.

Hell

Heaven is “hetimazo” for US.

Hell is also “hetimazo”!

Lets go back to Jesus in Matthew 25

Matthew 25:41 NASB 2020

41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed people, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

Heaven is specifically made, custom made for US, Hell is ALSO specifically made, custom made.... BUT NOT US!!!!!

Lets read the whole verse:

Matthew 25:41 NASB 2020

41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed people, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

Let me open your eyes to this:

Satan and his fallen angels are created beings far greater than us, beings of imense power.

They are a completely different and separate order of creation. We are made lower than them.

Hell is specifically made, custom made, fitly made to house, hold and punish beings immensely more powerful that we are.

Hell was not made for human beings, and human being are certainly NOT made for Hell.

No wonder Jesus said:

Mark 9:43–48 NASB 2020

43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot is causing you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life without a foot, than, having your two feet, to be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye is causing you to sin, throw it away; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm does not die, and the fire is not extinguished.

The existence of Hell as a place of eternal punishment is often used to try and show that God is unfair.

The argument goes:

“How is it fair for God to cast a person who may not have been a christian into eternal punishment, if that person was kind, fair, never stole, was a good spouse, a good parent, looked after the poor...”

Granted, they are obviously not perfect but they often show higher morality than even some christians!

The punishment seems grosly excessive.

And the answer is: It is!

A human being going to Hell IS excessive, the punishment is severe - eternal damnation into a lake of fire is absoluty awful!

So is God wrong to send people there?

Well let me answer with an analogy:

A tailer makes 2 custom suits - made to measure for a wedding.

One is for a 6 year old page boy and the other is the groom, a 6foot hunk of muscle - think of me.

Both suits are “hetimazo” for each person - They are a perfect fit.

Now if the page boy tried to put on the grooms suit will it fit? No not at all. So the suit does not fit.

Is this the fault of the tailor?

No! The tailor made perfect fitting suits. Its your fault for trying to wear a suit that is not made for you.

God made 2 perfect fitting destinations: One is perfectly fitting for human beings and the other is perfectly fitting for evil spiritual beings.

Hell is overly ecsessive, its overkill for frail human beings, its to much for human beings - BUT IT WAS NOT MADE FOR HUMAN BEINGS!!!!!!

Now we might accuse the tailor if the suit he made custom for us was unaffordable so that we couldn't get it if we tried.

However, if the tailor made the perfect suit and then gave it to you for free, then again the tailor is innocent.

Well God made Heaven perfect for us and then through His son Jesus Christ offers it to us for free!

John 3:16 NASB 2020

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.

Romans 6:23 NASB 2020

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesians 2:8 NASB 2020

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Conclusion:

Let me close with a final analogy:

I prepare 2 swimming pools.

1 for humans to swim and enjoy themselves and another to house a man eating shark.

I CLEARLY label the 2 pools.

no swimming, do not enter, shark infested water. turn around now.

And i put hundreds, no thousands of people around the shark pool warning everyone who comes close that this pool is filled with sharks and swimming there is death.

Now if a person, ignores the signs, ignores the warnings and jumps in the shark pool - is that my fault?

Did they deserve to be eaten alive? Probably not, but that is still not my fault or wrong.

They chose death, not me - I begged them to choose life.

God is doing the same:

Deuteronomy 30:19 NASB 2020

19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,