The Trifecta

The trifecta is a bet in Horse racing where you pick the top three horses in a race but you have to get them in the right order.

What does that have to do with Christianity and Hell?

Glad you asked.

Jesus spoke a lot about Hell. Certainly more that any Jewish Rabi before Him.

He used three concepts to describe Hell, but Churches in the US have had a tendency to emphasize one and ignore the other two.

We will come back to that.

Take Stock

C.S. Lewis Said: "There is no doctrine I would more willingly remove from Christianity than [hell], if it lay in my power…"

Jewish Belief

Many believed there were three groups of Jews: the utterly evil who go to hell; the really good who go to heaven; and the majority in the middle. This third group go to hell, scream in the flames for a short while, and then go to heaven having been punished.

Others believed in a second rate heaven.

Jewish Parable around Christ’s time.

A king announced a surprise banquet and told everyone to be ready to come. The wise people got dressed and waited, but the foolish carried on working in their fields. When the banquet doors were suddenly opened, everyone came in, but the foolish didn’t have time to change. The king was angry when he saw their dirty clothes and told them to stand and watch while the wise ones enjoyed the food.

Contrast that with what Jesus’ parable about the banquet table of the King.

Matthew 22:2–14 NASB95

2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. 3 “And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. 4 “Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.” ’ 5 “But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, 6 and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. 7 “But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. 8 “Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. 9 ‘Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’ 10 “Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. 11 “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, 12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. 13 “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

You are either in or out.

Wheat or Chaff

sheep or goat

Three concepts of Hell

Hell was Eternal

Hell meant total destruction

Hell’s punishment was proportional

The Church puts emphasis on the eternal punishment aspect of hell and diminishes the other aspects. Why?

It’s more convincing. It gets more people to say they believe if you tell them regardless of how they have lived, it they don’t accept Christ they will be forever tormented in unquenchable flames for all eternity.

Proportional Punishment

Luke 12:42–48 NASB95

42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? 43 “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 44 “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 “But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; 46 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. 47 “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, 48 but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

Jesus is not talking about proportional reward, but proportional punishment.

I am not suggesting that it is very bad or not so bad. It’s really bad and really really bad.

Weeping and gnashing of teeth for everybody. But it is proportional.

The Chosen

Matthew 10:14–15 NASB95

14 “Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. 15 “Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.

Proportional

Matthew 12:36–37 NASB95

36 “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. 37 “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Proportional.

Complete Destruction

John 3:16 NASB95

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

Perish: To utterly destroy

Matthew 10:28 NASB95

28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

destroy - Same word in John 3:16

Matthew 7:13–14 NASB95

13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Two verses in Luke 13 where Jesus is talking about two groups of Jews that died horrible deaths, and then asked are they worse than other because they suffered this fate?

Luke 13:3 NASB95

3 “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Eternal Punishment

Hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, prison.

Matthew 25:41 NASB95

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

Matthew 25:46 NASB95

46 “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Punishment: correction/define retribution.

Mark 9:47 NASB95

47 “If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell,

Mark 9:48 NASB95

48 where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

Eternal Fire:

Worm doesn’t die

Fire not quenched.

Eternal Punishment

Timothy McVeigh 1995 Oklahoma City

168/19 kids 680 injured

June 11, 2001 Lethal injection

Can his sentence be commuted?

Can his sentence be undone?

Can his punishment be changed?

His punishment was death and once done, it cannot be undone.

The punishment is eternal.

Conclusion

If you die without forgiveness of your sins through Christ, Hell is your destination.

It is worse than you can comprehend.

Will those that go there burn for all eternity?

Will the eternal flame burn them up into non-existance?

How does the idea of proportional punishment and eternity coincide?

Jesus’ main emphasis on Hell was that you don’t have to go there!