Glimpse of Hell
 The
prophetic part of the Bible is much more inclusive than
most might think. Though some might be vaguely familiar
with those texts relative to the rapture, the tribulation,
the millennium, etc., yet it seems only students of
prophecy give much heed to those passages that have
to do with the reality of a literal hell. Most people
just do not want to know much about an aspect of the
future that has to do with eternal suffering and alienation
from God and saved loved ones. But, the fact of the
matter is that hell is as real as heaven, and most people
will spend eternity there (Matthew 7:13,14).
Though hell is not the most popular
dinner-table topic among most people today, yet it does
come up on occasion as many people often tell other
people to go there. Modern emergent preachers, however,
never use the word in their Sunday morning discourses
on unity, love, tolerance and in those popular “Seven
Steps to …” sermons. You can plug into that
title whatever you want: happiness, wealth, better health...whatever.
Preachers whose main emphasis is on numbers instead
of faithfulness to the Word never genuinely expound
biblical texts. Their sermons are all topical; pretext
might be a better term. And, they especially avoid texts
having to do with hell. After all, they say, talking
about hell is too negative and is very offensive to
people easily upset by such topics, and everybody knows
we must be sensitive to such things. For heaven’s
sake we must never offend anybody about anything, especially
the possibility they might be lost in hell for eternity.
That kind of preaching just doesn’t grow a church,
you see.
It is quite evident most of those men
have either not read the scriptures, or they have simply
chosen to neglect what God has said about the infernal
regions. I suspect it might be a combination of both.
Yet, I find it interesting that Jesus had some serous
things to say about hell, even though some modern preachers
do not think what Jesus said about it is worthy of their
breath and words. Our Lord said it is a place of unquenchable
fire, both body and soul will be there and is a place
where the unsaved will be cast or thrown which indicates
no one will go there willingly. And, the fact that He
talked about hell more than anyone else should automatically
make those texts objects of serious study.
Though some preachers dance around
texts about hell because they are fearful some of their
most prominent members might become offended, yet the
Holy Spirit readily uses those same texts to bring people
to a knowledge of their sin and the awful result of
their rejecting or even ignoring Jesus Christ. Consider
Jonathan Edward’s sermon, “Sinners In The
Hands of An Angry God”. Edwards first preached
it in Enfield, MA on 8 July 1741. That sermon would
not be found in the overwhelming number of pulpits today,
yet God used it to help bring a riotous and carnal American
frontier to its knees many years ago. There is no doubt
Edwards would not be welcome in the pulpits of America’s
largest churches today, and that says something very
sobering about both the leadership and makeup of those
churches.
So, what do we know about hell? Some
of us know a few things about the place, but a lot of
what most think they know about hell is based upon ignorance
and superstition. For example, contrary to popular belief
there is no one in hell today. The lost of all ages
are being kept in a place called hades until the Great
White Throne Judgment of Christ in Revelation 20:11ff.
Hades is a place of terrible suffering, but it is not
hell. More on that shortly.
The very first people to be thrown
into hell will be the anti-Christ and the false prophet
(Revelation 19:20). Further, Satan will not be hell’s
king. In fact, there is no king of hell, for all there
will be in torment. Satan himself will be cast into
hell for the purpose of eternal punishment as seen in
Revelation 20:10. It will be after that event that the
unsaved will be judged, sentenced and thrown into the
lake of fire (Revelation 20:15).
There is no such thing as purgatory
so do not confuse this mythological place with either
hades or hell. The Roman Catholic church teaches the
existence of purgatory as a place where people will
pay at least a little bit for their sin, and if you
contribute money, light candles, say the rosary, etc.
for your dead loved ones who are there they can get
out more quickly (see our website article “Purgatory
— Paying For Admission”). For the purpose
of this article it is sufficient to say with the greatest
emphasis possible that the blood of Jesus Christ is
sufficient for all sin of all people for all time. You
and I have absolutely nothing to offer God in payment
for any sin whatsoever!!
Hades was a place of both the lost
dead and the saved dead before the death, burial and
resurrection of Jesus. It consisted of two compartments,
one of rest for the saved and the other of suffering
for the lost (Luke 16:19ff). After the shedding of Jesus’
blood on His cross (a type of altar, a place of sacrifice
— which means there is no altar in a Christian
church building today) the door was opened for saved
people to go into the presence of God immediately at
death — no stopping points (Philippians 1:21-24;
2 Corinthians 5:6-8). The lost who are in hades today
are awaiting the Great White Throne Judgment of Jesus.
At the conclusion of those terrible proceedings they
will be thrown into hell. Be sure and note there is
no one to be found innocent at the GWTJ, for it is the
place of trial for the purpose of only declaring one’s
guilt that is already a known fact and for eternal sentencing.
It is the final court from which there is no appeal.
Maybe we can say hades is to hell as a local jail is
to a state prison. After trial and conviction the inmate
is moved from the local jail to prison. Though not exactly
a perfect illustration, I think you get the idea.
Now, some of what we know about hell
comes from the above-mentioned Luke 16 text. Take a
few minutes and read it so that the following will be
in better focus. Some people call this event the parable
of the rich man and Lazarus. I am not convinced this
is a parable because Jesus did not label it as one,
and neither did Luke, the historian.
Lazarus was not saved because he was
poor and the rich man was not lost because he was rich.
On its own money has nothing to do with where one spends
eternity. It is all based upon what a person did with
Jesus Christ. Many from both ends of the material spectrum
will be in hell even though they might have believed
Jesus was a good man, a great teacher, founder of the
world’s greatest religion, was born of a virgin,
was even the Son of God, was crucified, buried and rose
again on the third day, etc., etc. Their problem is
not who they believe Jesus is. In fact you can know
all the truth about Jesus you want and it will be no
more than what Satan himself already knows (James 2:19).
The reason many will be in hell is not that they did
not know all the Bible says about Him. Their place in
hell will be because they chose to not make Him both
Savior and Master of their lives. Forget what you
have heard regarding easy-believism-Savior-only salvation
— it is not biblical. Jesus is a person’s
Savior and Master or He is one’s Judge.
No other options.
In verse 23 we see the lost man is
in painful torment. Though a great chasm separated the
place of rest from that of torment in hades, and though
such will not be the case in hell, yet the emphasis
is on torment. We don’t like to think about that,
but to ignore or deny it is to ignore and deny the facts.
Hell will be a place of burning torment.
Further, look at verse 24 for more
information about how it will be in hell. People there
will have bodies that will suffer excruciating pain
in literal flames. No man can answer our questions about
how a body can endure literal fire and not be destroyed.
That we cannot understand it is not relevant; only the
fact of the matter is important. There will be no answers
to prayer in hell. There will be no mercy.
Notice there is no mention of this
man’s friends being there. Even if a person’s
closest friends will be in hell they will be of no comfort
or solace. The old joke about going into the air conditioning
business with friends is cruelly deceptive humor. It
might bring a shallow laugh, but it is an untruth that
at best simply masks fear or doubt. Even the saying
that someone “...will burst hell wide open”
is deceptive if it means they will make some sort of
an attention-getting grand entrance. There will be no
fellowship, no get-togethers, no nothing of anything
that will bring any consolation of any kind for any
body. Just flame and pain for ever. The characteristics
of hell are not fully described in scripture; maybe
because no one could possibly comprehend it anyway.
Note Abraham’s words in verse
25, “Child remember…” Remember?!
Yes. That people in hell will have memory will add to
the suffering to no little degree. People will remember
their saved parents, siblings, children and friends.
They will remember the truth they learned at an early
age, but later chose to reject or neglect. They will
remember the numerous warnings they chose to ignore.
They will remember all those chances they had to get
into that right relationship with Jesus Christ, and
their condescending smiles as they said, “Later…”.
They will remember how their hearts steadily became
more calloused as they distanced themselves from God,
and how they soon came to believe the lies of pagan
religions, the new age, false Christianity or no religion
at all. Memory — what so many of us wish we had
more of today will quickly become a reprehensible object
of loathing when it brings eternal loneliness, unspeakable
horror and gut-wrenching regret to people as they suddenly
realize, “It’s true...this is it…”.
The rich man then accepts the fact
that the situation is permanent (verse 27). This means
utter and abject hopelessness. People can endure so
much as long as there is hope, but when hope is gone
they capitulate to death or whatever misery it is that
befalls them. To be alive, to be conscious, to be feeling...to
have all human senses for all eternity in hell and to
know this is the way it is for ever with no escape,
no respite, no reprieve...this in itself will be of
such intense horror as to make one wish for eternal
death. Then the impact of the truth hits home —
this is eternal death.
Hell is a place people will not want
their loved ones to go (verse 27). The rich man wanted
Lazarus to go back and tell his five brothers to not
be deceived as he was. Abraham told him such is not
possible. Then the rich man argues if someone goes back
from the dead his brothers would be so impressed by
that they would become believers. Abraham then gave
his final words saying if they don’t believe what
is written by Moses and the prophets they won’t
be persuaded by someone who goes back from the dead.
The same is true today. People have the Bible and the
eyewitness accounts of those who spent weeks with Jesus
after He rose from the dead, and they still refuse to
accept the truth.
We would do well to note carefully
the tenor of the conversation between the man in torment
and Abraham. Abraham is not really unkind toward the
man who is suffering, but neither does he “feel
sorry” for him either. It seems his answer to
the man is more “matter of fact” than emotional,
and his words in verse 29 appear to be somewhat terse
and to the point.
How can this be? Does the man’s
condition not merit at least a bit of sympathy from
Abraham? Folks, the truth is a two-sided coin when it
comes to this situation. God wishes no man to go to
hell (2 Peter 3:9), but in the end He must allow people
to exercise their free will. He will not force anybody
to be redeemed. The choice belongs to us, but along
with the choice come the consequences. In essence we
get what we choose.
Hell. Part of Bible prophecy? You bet
it is!
One final thing about such matters.
Be careful about where you hang your religious hat.
Does your preacher ever declare the prophetic oracles
of God for you? Does he ever talk about the rapture
which is the Blessed Hope of every Christian? When is
the last time he stood before your congregation and
gave you one of those powerful, “This is what
God says about it…” sermons regarding prophetic
matters? Or, is he always giving your group one of those
schmeezy dissertations on some feel-good topic having
nothing to do with the events immediate to our future?
Does he fill you with religious fluff that makes you
smile and nod from time to time, but leaves you with
the same sense of emptiness and frustration you had
when you walked in? If so you might consider the consequences
of having your ear constantly filled with that kind
of Sunday morning programming. That kind of stuff will
not make people fearful of hell...and, it also won’t
tell them how to avoid it. And remember: if you are
a Christian God gave you a receptive heart, the Holy
Spirit and the Bible. In the final analysis it is your
responsibility to bring them together in order to know
the truth. DLM
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