I’d like to write about a word that I may, pardon the phrase, catch
hell for. “Hell”, like “Jesus Christ” is a word that we love to use but very
rarely consider its origin.
According to
the Bible, hell is described as a destination. As to why the go there?
That’s what I’d like to focus on. I like hell-fire and brimstone preaching, but
that’s not what this column is going to be. I want to be clear. I am not
writing this to scare anyone into coming to my Church or praying “the prayer”
(probably the subject of my next column). I am writing this to answer a
difficult objection that I get a lot concerning the Biblical doctrine of hell.
I do a lot of open-air preaching on the UW campus. I also engage in one to one conversations with
students about Jesus and the Gospel. This is the objection I hear: “Sam,
it doesn’t seem fair that if I sin just one time, I deserve to be in hell for
all eternity”.
Actually,
this objection makes sense, especially if we look at hell as a place of
punishment; as if hell is an eternal beat down for all the sins you’ve
committed. Don’t get me wrong, hell is real and people go there, but what is the purpose of this place? Hell is described by Jesus, James, John and Peter as a
place of tormenting heat. The lake of fire is where people go after final
judgment. Not pleasant. I in no way want to diminish the Biblical
characteristics of this place, but I would like all of us to consider why God created hell. Matt 25:31-46 is where Jesus gives us more understanding of the
purpose of hell and a truth which I believe answers this common objection soundly.
Here the
goats and the sheep are representations of two kinds of people. The two groups
are separated on the right and left. The sheep are told to come into the
kingdom “prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (34). As to why
they go in, Jesus says that whenever he was thirsty, in prison, naked, sick, a
stranger, etc. these people ministered to him, him being any fellow Saint. He
then tells the goats to depart into eternal fire “prepared for the devil and
his angels” (41). As to why they go in, Jesus says that whenever he was in the
conditions mentioned above, these types of people refused to minister to him,
him being event the least of the saints. The priorities of life did not include
Jesus.
Hell was
made by Jesus (John 1:3). He prepared it for a specific type of people. He also
prepared heaven for a specific type of people. People don’t go to hell because
they’re paying for their sin. They go because they’re the type of people that
are going to a place prepared for them. They’re the type of person that despite
Jesus coming to earth, living a perfect life, fulfilling multiple prophecies,
doing various miracles, being crucified to appease a holy God under His wrath that we alone deserve, and rising from the dead, despite all that, they still believe that this world
is about them. Are you a goat? Think about this. What do you want most in this world? Is it a
person, a possession, respect, money, fame? Why do you want that? Is it because
this is the thing that will bring you fulfillment? Is that what living is
about? If this is true than you will undoubtedly be going to a place prepared
by the one who actually deserves your life.
If Jesus is
just a prophet with good things to say, if he is the founder of a religion you
show up to a building for in hopes to get what you want in this world, you are going to a place prepared by Jesus
just for you. It’s just not the place you were hoping for. But trust me, when
you get there you’ll agree that you’d rather be nowhere else. If you don’t
want Jesus now, why would you want him then? So that’s it isn’t it? People going
to heaven want Jesus to be happy. People going to hell want to be happy in and of themselves. If this is you. It's time to respond to Jesus' invitation. Repent and ask the Lord to transform you into the type of person that gets joy from pleasing their Maker.
