Ezekiel 28:12-17, Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, 25:31-46, Mark 9:43-48
Something we may not spend much time considering in our faith walk is that to fully appreciate the promise of the joy of Heaven, we need to understand the reality of hell. In recent years, there have been false gospel messages bandied about trying to make a case for the fact that when Jesus spoke of hell – which He did extensively – it was meant to serve more as a metaphor than a fact. This is a very dangerous path for unknowing Christians or new believers to be led down. Jesus, in His teachings is very specific in His descriptions of Heaven, how people end up there and what it’s like. There is never any inference to it being anything other than what it is; a lake of fire where those who chose to reject Jesus in their earthly lives will spend eternity in torment.
In the Old Testament, references to hell tend to be a bit vaguer, but in the Book of Job we’re told about a “land of deepest night, of utter darkness and disorder.” Other old Testament prophets make similar allusions to a place of eternal darkness. Isaiah is one of the first to refer to hell as where fire burns those who have been sent there and this fire “cannot be quenched.” So, from Old Testament to New Testament, from the moment man fell to sin in Eden, God made clear that for those who remained faithful to Him there was a promise of being reunited to Him after physical life ended. Likewise, for those who rejected God there was an alternative, what we now know as hell.
We can’t talk about hell without discussing Satan. Satan is a complex character, nothing like the red-suited, horned, goatee wearing cartoon we’re familiar with. Satan more than likely began his existence as Lucifer, the most beautiful, powerful angelic being God ever created. His name translates to “Day Star’ or “Morning Star”. Scripture isn’t overly specific, but at some point, Lucifer is overcome by pride and arrogance and develops a plan to actually overthrow God. That plan goes south pretty quick, and God banishes Lucifer from Heaven and sends him to earth where he is granted a degree of authority over all of humanity. He doesn’t become the ultimate authority of course; God retains that status, but God does allow Satan to wander the earth and attempt to lure people into living life separated from God. Lucifer – Day Star – becomes Satan whose name means “adversary”.
A common question here is this. Why did God grant any authority to Satan? Why not just obliterate him in the moment it was discovered that he was betraying God? The answers to that are many and multifaceted but the basic answer is this. God has always provided mankind with the free will to distinguish and choose between good and evil. Satan basically facilitates that choice. When you think about it, the condemnation that Satan attempts to lure us into could be and should be the thing that motivates us to turn to the grace and salvation that comes to us only through Jesus Christ. With that, we need to understand that Satan is just as real as the Holy Spirit living within every believer. He is not working remotely from hell. Satan wanders the earth as scripture says, “Like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
His strategies are sound, his weapons potent but…the Word is also good to remind us that if we resist him, Satan flees. God in other words, is undefeated when it comes to facing Satan and that outcome will never change.
The last thing I want to touch on is Jesus and His insights into hell. Lots of people make the claim that in His life Jesus spoke more about hell than Heaven. I’m not sure if that’s the case but I do know that Jesus does speak extensively about hell and provides much greater detail than He does when discussing Heaven. If you want to get a sense of that, take a look at Matthew 13:24-43 and Matthew 25:31-46. In these verses Jesus is quite clear about the fact that hell is real, and you don’t want to go there. He is also very explicit in His explanation of how not to go there. It’s all about living out His Gospel message of love and living for Him. Allowing your life to be guided by Him. So many people these days wrestle with this question, “If God is a God of love, why does He send people to hell?” And the answer is God sends no one to hell. Hell is a choice we make, even as God makes every effort to spare us from that fate. When we make the conscious decision to choose not to believe in Him and go about doing what we want, how we want and when we want with no regard for anyone else, how can we expect to become co-heirs with Christ in Heaven?
To see it any other way is dangerously unbiblical.
Let me close with this fairly succinct explanation made by Jesus again in Matthew’s Gospel about what it is that will happen when Jesus comes back to claim His people. This is from Matthew 13:41-43.
The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of sin and all law breakers and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like thew sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
There’s not much I can add on to that. Hell is real, as real as Heaven and so easy to avoid. Your abiding faith in Jesus Christ is the only thing that keeps you from that condemnation. Find your peace in that and, more important, share that reality with those you know who don’t know the truth. Jesus is coming back and we want to celebrate that unimaginable joy with as many brothers and sisters as we can!