Hell, the Pope is Wrong
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
The Bible’s teaching of eternal judgement and hell is the most hated doctrine in all of Christendom. A generation of wimps in the pulpit is to blame for the church’s lack of evangelistic zeal for taking the gospel to those who have never heard. We Christians have never said that the doctrine of eternal punishment isn’t in the Bible. Because our preachers have chosen to remain silent concerning the fate of the lost, those occupying the pews of our churches are equally silent with the complicit cowardice of the pulpit. We have just been so frightened of the doctrine of eternal judgement and afraid of what society would say to us about such a politically incorrect doctrine in an “I’m OK, you’re OK” generation that we just don’t talk about hell anymore.
The doctrine of eternal punishment is not attacked half so much from the outside of the church as it is from the inside of the church. The Bible says more about judgement and eternal damnation than it says about heaven. You cannot come to the Scripture selectively as though it were a cafeteria line and say, “believe I’ll have a little of that, but I don’t care for this over here, and so I’ll leave it out.” If you’re going to accept the afterlife at all, if you’re going to embrace heaven at all, if you’re going to embrace salvation at all, it all has its meaning against the backdrop of possible judgement, possible hell and possible eternity separated from God.
In August Pope John Paul “clarified” Catholic teaching on hell. The pope has asserted that hell “is not punishment imposed externally by God, but the condition resulting from attitudes and actions which people adopt in this life.” The pope did not do away with the doctrine of eternal punishment, but in embarrassment endeavoured to sweep it under the rug and make it as little effective as possible. He has declared that hell is not a physical place. Further he taught that rather than being externally imposed on people by God, hell is a state of being that results from free choice.
I respect this Pope as the leader of a great denomination within Christendom. There are many good things with which any conscientious Christian can credit John Paul as having said, and there are statements which he has made with which I personally concur most heartily. However, he has erred grievously in his pronouncements on eternal punishment as we shall see by appeal to the Words of Jesus.
Among statements attributed to the Pope during three vivid talks delivered during the last week of July and the first week of August are some which describe hell as a “tragic situation.” Again, John Paul is quoted as saying, “More than a physical place, hell is the state of those who freely and definitely separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy.” John Paul also denied that heaven is a place, teaching instead that heaven is “a living and personal relationship of union with the Holy Trinity.” Honesty compels me to note that he did say in conjunction with his pronouncements on the eternal state, “It is important to always maintain a certain moderation in describing this ‘ultimate realities,’ as any description of them is inadequate.”
So the Pope denies that hell is a physical place. He teaches that hell is a state. Can these teachings be supported by appeal to Holy Scripture? Or are we compelled to await the speculations of the doddering man seated on what Roman Catholics speak of as Peter’s Throne and who is known to our world as John Paul? I stand in a long and honourable lineage when I contest the pronouncements of the Pope by appeal to the Word of God. As Christians, and especially as Baptists, our final appeal is ever to the Word of God and to that Word we now resort. Join me in study of the words of Jesus who spoke with authority on the place we speak of as hell. As for the Pope’s pronouncements on that eternal place of the dead … well, he has been wrong before.
Hades, Tartarus, Gehenna — Pope John Paul’s notion of hell as “more than a physical place” and “the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God,” as quoted in news reports, misses the mark, as does his belief that hell “is not a punishment imposed externally by God, but the condition resulting from attitudes and actions which people adopt in this life.” According to the pope, “eternal damnation is not God’s work” but is the work of human beings. We cannot know what source the Pope has consulted for his information, but we know from his recent statement that he rejects the teaching that hell is a place. He embraces the popular concept that hell is a condition. You will have no doubt heard this heresy stated in various ways, the most popular being that you create your own destiny, including hell, by how you live. Furthermore, the Pope has decided that God does not judge, but man imposes sentence on himself.
The pope’s denial of the traditional Christian understanding of hell is one more step in a progressive rejection of the very real and very horrible picture of hell revealed in the Bible. The rejection of the doctrine of eternal punishment cannot be founded on a paucity of evidence from the Bible. Rather the rejection of the teaching concerning eternal judgement is the result of rebellion of the human heart. Jesus had far more to say concerning hell than He ever said of heaven. Most of what we know of hell is because of Jesus’ teaching. It is impossible for an open mind to sit down with an open Bible and read with objectivity, of any kind whatsoever at all, and come to any other conclusion, but what God has revealed in the Bible is a moment of impending doom for those who are non-repentant. Otherwise, what does it make of the cross of Jesus, the eternal Son of God leaving his glory nailed to a cross in your place and mine?
Throughout the Word of God are found several words which are translated into English by the word hell. Perhaps the word most commonly translated as hell into our English tongue is a{/dh"//. The word simply refers to the unseen world beyond the realm of human sight. It is the equivalent of the Hebrew lwaoV]. That word a{/dh"/ is the word which Jesus used in our text. Listen again to the words Jesus spoke. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up [Luke 16:22b, 23a].
Hades, the unseen realm, clearly presented for the rich man about whom Jesus spoke, a place of torment. If we accept the teaching of Jesus instead of the speculations of the Pope, we will discover that torment for the lost begins immediately with the transition from this existence to the eternal realm. If it holds true that for the Apostle Paul to be away from the body is to be at home with the Lord [2 Corinthians 5:7], then it must be equally true that for the lost to be away from the body is to enter into their eternal damnation. Likewise, if for the Christian to die is gain [cf. Philippians 1:21], it must also hold that for the lost to die is loss.
Jesus also employed the term gevenna in reference to the final abode of the lost. In the Gospel bearing his name, Mark reports a warning Jesus issued. If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where
“their worm does not die,
and the fire is not quenched.”
Everyone will be salted with fire [Mark 9:42-49].
Gevenna was a valley situated west and south of Jerusalem. Once a place of idol worship and sacrifice of children to the gods of the pagans surrounding the Jewish peoples, there the refuse of the city was burned. Wild dogs roamed the area seeking a rotting corpse of a dead animal which they might devour. The smoke and the stench of burning, rotted garbage must have made a powerful impression on those who first heard Jesus’ words. The symbol of lostness must surely have weighed powerfully upon His listeners when they heard this awful comparison.
John witnessed an awesome vision related to this frightful spectre of the eternal abode of the damned. In the Apocalypse he wrote: I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire [Revelation 20:11-15].
The lake of fire is that awful place where the Beast and the False Prophet of Revelation are eternally incarcerated. There the damned are eternally tormented, the smoke of their torment rising forever and ever [cf. Revelation 14:9-11; 19:20]. This lake of fire – gevenna – allows no rest but instead speaks of eternal torment.
There is one other reference to hell in the Word of God, but it speaks of the hold of the most foul of the fallen angels. Peter speaks of gloomy dungeons where the most evil demons are held. He identifies the place as tartarovw [2 Peter 2:4]. At the sounding of the fifth trumpet judgement described in the Apocalypse, the Abyss is opened and demons of a most malevolent sort are unleashed on the earth [Revelation 9:1-11]. These demonic powers would appear to be the angels of which Peter spoke. No man has ever been incarcerated in tartarovw. Furthermore, only Satan and his angels will be incarcerated there during the Millennial reign of Christ. At the conclusion of that time, the evil one and his demonic hordes will be released only to be defeated and cast into the Lake of Fire—gevenna.
Tartarovw is of no lasting concern to the lost among us since it is specially designed to hold satan and the fallen angels. When an individual passes from this life without receiving the free gift of salvation, they pass immediately into a{/dh"//. We will focus on this hold of the lost momentarily. At the time of the Great White Throne judgement when all the lost of all ages stand before the Son of God, they shall receive eternal sentence and be cast into the lake of fire—gevenna. The Pope notwithstanding, all we know of these awful places is what God in mercy has disclosed. Do not think that God tells us of these places of torment for any other reason than to warn us against rejecting His grace and His mercy. For the dark side of God’s love is His wrath.
Death is not an End — The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up [Luke 16:22b, 23a]. Perhaps this unnamed rich man anticipated that death ends all. However the words are stunning. The rich man died and was buried. Without pause Jesus spoke those next staggering words: kai; ejn tw'/ a{/dh/—and in hades… Whatever he may have anticipated, the rich man opened his eyes in hell.
Jesus’ words clearly teach us that death is not an end. Those who have lived for self must know that death serves to eternally separate the lost from a God they would not own during the days of mortality. Thus having lived without regard for Him or His will they must now spend all eternity separated from Him. That separation ensures that for all eternity the lost will experience an existence without goodness and without God.
Jesus’ teaching about the rich man and Lazarus warns that the eternal destiny of man outside of Jesus Christ is one of incredible, unceasing and unbelievable torment. The Bible describes hell’s torment as never-ending physical, spiritual and mental anguish. The first words of the rich man were a plea for pity that he might have even a wetted finger touch his tongue. He especially states that he was in agony in this fire. What fire can he refer to other than the eternal fire of hell?
What a strange fire is this fire of hell! It burns eternally so that those tormented therein are said to experience eternal torment. The rich man pleaded because the fire was causing intense suffering for him. The lost when cast into the lake of fire are said to be tormented eternally. There is no rest, no cessation of torment, not even for a moment. There is no rest day or night [Revelation 14:11]. What a contrast to the condition described for the redeemed of God! There remains a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His [Hebrews 4:9, 10]. The saved look forward to rest. The lost anticipate no rest by reason of the torment to which they are consigned eternally. The torment of hell is eternal. Whatever else may be said of these flames, they cause intense agony for those incarcerated there.
Those who are excluded from the mercies of God are said to have been cast into the outer darkness [Matthew 8:12 NASV]. Some have imagined that since there is no light there can be no fire. I caution any among us who have so deluded themselves that the God who calls all things into existence can easily make an eternal fire which casts no light. Even within the realm of physics we speak of black holes and quasars which burn but whose gravitational fields are so intense that no light escapes.
The rich man was conscious in hell. He recognised Abraham. He recognised Lazarus. He was aware of his own fixed eternal sentence. He knew the peril hanging over his five brothers. He knew what he had forfeited by choosing to live for himself. In hell every single solitary individual there is fully aware of what he has missed and what that he has forfeited in the choices that he has made in this life. He remains undyingly conscious of that which he could have had and which he forfeited.
If there is a faculty that is made more conscious in hell rather than less, it will no doubt be the faculty of memory. Every single solitary moment a person spends in hell, there will be the constant recurring uninterrupted memory of every gospel sermon that he ever heard on television, on radio, or in person.
Knowledge of the torments of hell pales into absolute insignificance compared to the great gulf fixed eternally separating the unrepentant sinner from God. That chasm which is powerfully described in Luke 16:26, ensures that those incarcerated in a{/dh" may never again pass into the presence of the blest. To know that goodness exists and to know that one shall never again experience good, but that the lost shall only receive condemnation eternally, is perhaps one of the most awful aspects of hell. Clearly the chasm which Jesus described would indicate that hell is a place and not a condition. The Pope errs and demonstrates his ignorance of the Word of God.
It is not hell’s fire, however frightful that may be, which looms so alarmingly. It is not the memory of hell, and it is not the knowledge in hell that is so bad as is the [separation] forever from the only thing in all of the universe that is wholly good and wholly love and wholly righteousness. While alive on this earth, even those who are not Christians are the recipients of God’s rich blessings. The Bible says, [God] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous [Matthew 5:45]. But in hell there is only eternal punishment. Abandon all hope ye who enter here was Dante’s statement overarching hell. These words speak the truth, for there is no hope in hell.
Hell is the Final Abode of the Damned — The concept of hell is not a popular one in today’s culture, prompting many Christians to tone down and “air-condition” their description of it. “Hellfire and brimstone” sermons are a thing of the past. Many liberal Protestants deny the existence of hell altogether, while far too many evangelicals prefer to focus their preaching on heaven avoiding hell at all cost.
According to public opinion polls, most Americans, and most Canadians as well, believe in heaven, while few believe in hell. Modern Canadians are quite certain their democratic deity wouldn’t do anything so rash as to consign their neighbours to eternal punishment, much less themselves. In addressing a misguided culture, Christians need to be faithful to the teaching of Scripture. There is coming a day when the clock ticks its final time and there is a separation that occurs, so that no longer is any goodness possible, no longer is any love possible. Hell is a place of eternal selfishness because all you can do is be consumed with your own situation and circumstance.
The Pope also spoke of purgatory, an intermediate state which will permit those who are only somewhat sinful to painfully make atonement for their own sin. There is no Scriptural support for purgatory; it is the stuff of mediaeval fantasies formulated in the rich imaginations of the sin-darkened halls of the Vatican. The belief that there is an intermediate state immediately after death where the body and soul lie unconscious until the return of Christ and the final judgement is not consistent with the Bible’s teaching about eternity. At the moment of death there is no soul sleep. It is not the case, though Luther made the mistake of believing that when you die you simply are not cognisant of anything; [or] you are unconscious until the last trumpet sounds. The Apostle Paul said to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. He wasn’t looking forward to a long snooze in the tomb, he was looking forward to immediate gain. In the same manner the lost are immediately in hell after passing from this life.
No child of God will be in hell, for the Lord has promised that He will not lose one of those whom the Father has given Him. You no doubt remember those comforting words Jesus spoke in the present of the Jewish leaders even as they were attempting to kill Him. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one [John 10:27-30].
No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand are words which will forever serve as a soft pillow for the weary head of God’s child. No child of God shall be lost. No rebel to grace can avoid hell for they are even now under condemnation.
Destiny is Set Now — Over fifteen years ago I read an article in Moody Monthly entitled The Greatest Story Ever Sold[1]. Listen to that story.
Consciousness slowly broke through the haze. Jeremiah Delms remembered sitting in church. Every Sunday he’d come to hear his wife’s preacher. Putting in my time, he had thought, smiling.
But suddenly there was pain in his chest, shortness of breath, no breath.
Then he had seen that great light—blinding, razing light, hurling its rays like boulders. And he’d heard the voice. It sounded awful, like a train slamming into a truck, recapping his life, the whole sordid mess.
He still wondered, How had He known everything? Everything!
Jeremiah had knelt before the voice, saying, “Your will be done,” as if he had a choice. And it was over. He had agreed. Justice was demanded and exacted.
But now his mind filled with feathers on the wind. Each logical conclusion slipped away.
He found himself dropped—no, falling—somewhere. But where?
“When it brightens a bit,” he said, “I’ll take a look around.” His voice carried a whispery sound, as when you think something so clearly that you believe you’ve said it, but you haven’t.
Jeremiah opened his eyes, straining to look both left and right. Nothing.
“Where am I?” he said, this time quite distinctly. But again his voice vanished with an eerie, shadowy tone, and he didn’t know whether he’d thought it or said it.
“What is this nonsense?”
He began to feel his way around. I may be blind, he thought. Have to feel for things. Maybe I’ve had an accident.
Only moments before, he had begged—screamed—to get out of that scorching light. Now…
“God? Ha!” he cried. “I’m rid of You.”
Slowly moving his hand in the darkness, he suddenly trembled. His hand still seemed to be attached to him. He sensed its weight. But he found nothing to touch.
He reached for his nose. It felt numb, but he knew it was there. It began to itch.
He jerked both his hands to his face. No relief. He scratched vigorously, yet the itching sensation lingered.
He stopped, cocked his head, and listened. No sound anywhere. No hum of traffic. No cricket chirps. What about my voice?
“There must be sound,” he said.
His voice sounded read enough. But it seemed to disappear in the darkness, as though muffled in folds of cloth.
He shouted, “I’m here! I’m here! I’m here! Where is everybody?”
No answer, not even an echo.
He felt himself sweating. Instinctively, he raised his hand to his brow. That awful sensation of impotence gnawed again.
Beads of sweat slowly moved down his forehead, cheeks, and nose. He felt heat prickling beneath the wetness.
“A towel! I need a towel!”
He bent down and began to feel madly near his feet.
No floor. I’m standing on—nothing.
“How?” he shouted. “How!”
He could feel heat surging through his body. His belly tightened. A familiar pain struck his side — the perforated ulcer began to burn.
“I’ll lie down,” he said. “That always helped.”
First he bent, and then he leaned. He was still upright. He curled into a ball and lunged—there was no up or down or sideways.
“What kind of trickery is this? Where am I?”
The darkness and silence rendered no clues. But he could remember light—penetrating, razing light—and the voice.
High. Omnipotent. The words had flashed like lightning, each one belting him like a boxer’s gloved fist.
Jeremiah had tried to run. For an endless moment, he was held in place. Finally, he was cast out.
Cast out? he mused.
A hollow yearning pulled at his belly. “I suppose the food in this place is as strange as everything else.”
Where could I go to find out?
He moved about, perhaps for an hour—or what seemed like it. But nothing changed, except his now ravenous appetite.
His mouth felt drier each moment.
Why am I burning? How can I feel flames without their causing light? That desert was bright…
During the war his platoon had run out of water. Jeremiah remembered that maddening thirst, lying on the sand and panting. Mercilessly, the sun had hammered his forehead. His body screamed for water. Every pore felt like fire.
And then they found the sea. It was all he could do to crawl. Others walked as he inched his way. They drank as he struggled on. And they died—their stomachs full of salt water. But he lay helpless, just like now.
Can’t lie, can’t eat, can’t even scratch my nose.
Tears slid down his face. But as hard as he tried, he couldn’t wipe them away. “Answer me! Where am I? Answer me!”
The darkness still engulfed him, passive and silent.
Now he found himself soothing his conscience.
That’s it—just make yourself laugh. Then you’ll snap out of this.
He began to tell himself a joke, but he couldn’t remember the punch line. The more he thought, the more agitated he became. Nothing helped him remember.
But something else came to mind—sex.
All the old sensations returned. He tried to catch himself. Don’t think of it. It’ll be just like the thirst.
The tension mounted. He had no power to satisfy the craving.
Then a new idea came to his rescue: “I don’t even exist!” he yelled. That did make him laugh—a bitter, chilling laugh.
In his youth, he had wrangled with the fanatics about life after death. The existence of God.
He remembered having said, “When you die, you’re gone forever. Poof. Nothing.”
Now he groaned. But how can I not exist? I feel everything, every desire.
He waited, hoping for an answer, but none came.
“Do I exist?” he cried. “At least tell me that!”
Strong desires pummelled out one after another—dreams, hungers … lusts for ice cream, a beer, a game, a slap on the back. He was an empty cavern with no end to the torrent pouring through.
“Is this hell?” he whined. “Is this hell?”
Then he started to laugh.
“Hell? What’s that? There is no hell. And for that matter, there’s no God.”
But there had been that light. And the voice…
Jeremiah had bowed before Him, admitting to many deeds. Now it was all coming back.
Still, that couldn’t have been God.
“It was a dream. A nightmare. It’ll be over as soon as I wake up.”
But he wasn’t sure.
“Is this hell?” he whispered.
“Is this hell?”
“Tell me, please tell me. At least do that. Just tell me,” he begged. “Is this hell? I’ve got to know! At least let me know that.”
If I could just hear a voice or even feel a touch…
“I don’t know where I am. I don’t know what to do. I know absolutely nothing about this place and yet, here I am, gritting my teeth, weeping, sweating…”
Then he remembered the cold, harsh words of the voice: “Depart from Me, you who practise wickedness.”
“Is that it?” The question died on his lips.
“What about my profession of faith?” he yelled. “I walked the aisle and prayed the prayer. The preacher said I was in. OK, so I did it to please my wife. But still—I did everything they said.”
He grew hopeful, as though he’d just discovered an ace in his pocket. “Ha,” he challenged, “what about all that?”
He waited. He listened. He turned his head, expecting some acknowledgement.
“I suppose You won’t even answer that,” he said mockingly. “Well, I don’t care. You’ve put me here, and I’m going to curse You and hate You as long as I can, God.
“I curse Your name and Your ‘wonderful’ justice. I hate You. I’m going to hate You as long as I’m down here. You hear me? Until You let me out, I’ll hate You and hate You and hate You!”
Jeremiah paused for effect.
I’m screaming against my own air. I can’t do anything to Him.
He made yet another disturbing discovery. His hatred began to coil inside him, ready to spring. Burning malice and anger flooded his being, as in the old days when someone spoke to him about “his soul.” Yet there was nowhere to direct his wrath—except within.
Terror gripped him.
“Well, maybe it will end,” he murmured. “Maybe it’s just for a while.”
But something new hit him so fiercely it almost took his breath.
“How long do I have to wait?” he cried. “How long? There has to be an end. All things end sooner or later. Please—tell me how long!”
Immediately, he remembered the voice: “Depart from Me.”
Had He said, “Forever”?
The blackness seemed so immense, and the silence was vast as a cindered landscape.
“You’ve got to tell me that,” he pleaded. “How long? Please say it. I can stand anything if only I know how long. Please, have mercy!”
The moment he said that, a new revulsion overwhelmed him. Mercy? Mercy! I never asked for mercy in my life, and I’m not starting now, not even here.
“Take Your mercy, God, and Your world, too. I don’t need it. I don’t want You or Your water or Your people or anything!
“And I don’t care how long it takes down here. I’ll wait You out, God. You hear me? I’ll wait longer than You. I’ll beat You at Your own game, God.”
The darkness and silence seemed even heavier.
God has condemned me—forever. I’d thought it was all a weakling’s religion, a bunch of nonsense.
He began to review all the services he had attended, all the times his pastor had spoken to him, all the times his wife had prayed and pleaded.
“Why didn’t I believe?” he shouted. “Was I insane?”
His thought seemed to shout back: Because you thought it was nonsense. Remember? Boring. A real pain you could live without. Remember?
Jeremiah looked up, straining his neck. “Is there no hope?”
The unquenchable desires began another rampage. They burned within, scorching his soul.
“I hate You, God!”
But deep inside he knew. He had even agreed with Him. The punishment was just. In fact, he had wanted it—anything to get away from that penetrating light. But now…
“Forever?” he murmured. “Forever?”
He shook his fish and snarled. The burning raged on.
Jeremiah began to cry.
Avoiding Hell — We should note that Jesus had more to say about hell than about heaven, and he spoke of hell as a place of punishment where the wicked are cast, and where the fire is not quenched [Mark 9:44, 47]. Evidently, hell is indeed a punishment imposed by God, and the dire warnings in Scripture to respond to Christ in faith—while there is time — make sense only if hell is a very real place of very real torment.
Our attempts to evade the doctrine of hell weaken our understanding of the gospel and confuse a world desperate for a word of biblical reality. The account of how the rich man sees paradise from hell and begs for mercy and relief from his torment in the fire only to be reminded by Abraham of his rejection of God [Luke 16:23-25] teaches that those in hell will be tormented by the decisions they made on earth. Evidently, what I do now, while in the flesh, determines my ultimate destiny. The words, Son, remember, would indicate that there is something I can now do what will permit me to avoid hell.
If you will avoid hell, it will be because the Son of God has already received the punishment you deserved. Paul, speaking of Jesus, pleads with the readers of his Second Corinthian letter to be reconciled to God. As he appeals for faith he speaks of Christ. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God [2 Corinthians 5:21].
There is found in Isaiah’s prophecy a powerful description of the Son of God in His sacrifice for us.
Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
[Isaiah 53:4-7]
This, then, is the means by which we may avoid hell. Knowing that we are sinners and deserving of eternal condemnation we need to know that God has prepared a way for us to be delivered from eternal judgement. Jesus, the Son of God, received the condemnation we deserved. Paul says it this way. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us [Romans 5:6-8].
All that remains is for us to respond to the offer of grace God provides each of us. If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:9-13].
Our plea is that you would receive Christ today. Amen.
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[1] Mark Littleton, The Greatest Story Ever Sold, Moody Monthly, October, 1983, pp. 58-61