the basic message # E47
Luke 16:22-23
“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.
I find it interesting that Jesus spoke in some detail about Hell, but spoke very little about Heaven. I wondered why, but after taking a good look at his words, I think I might understand now. By the way, I think the role of the rich man and poor man could easily be reversed in our society- Hell has no favorites. Hell has no limit to its existence either- it’s eternal.
Matthew 25:41-42
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’”
“The eternal fire”. When I was a little boy, my mother told me about eternity. She specifically told me about the prospects of an eternity in Hell for people who rejected God. I remember quite well how badly it scared me each time she described Hell, and I suppose some folks might think it was a form of mental abuse. Perhaps, but it made an impression on me that has lasted to this day, and I’m glad for it. For those of you who have been “spared” any knowledge of Hell, allow me to share mine. We hear about soldiers being held in POW camps, and how they endure days, months and years of excruciating torture. Some of the things the enemy dreams up are almost too disturbing to even think about. Or consider life in the major prisons in America. Murder, beatings and homosexual rape are regular activities. If you are on the receiving end of this torture, you can only count the days until you are either killed or released from prison. Think about this for a minute- no matter how degrading or painful the torture is, you can always pray for death to remove you from your distress.
Now consider Hell. It’s like a POW camp or a prison in many ways. There is bodily torture, there is hopelessness, and there is great distress. But there is one major difference- you can’t be paroled from Hell, and you can’t die. Please think carefully about this. You can’t go back to God and appeal your case, you can’t “promise to be good” and get released, and unlike torture on earth, you never get accustomed to the pain in Hell. Some of you may not believe in Hell, and all of us wish there was no Hell, but if Jesus said the place exists, I’ll have to take his word for it. I have my own opinions about Hell. I think God is much too creative to simply have a place of eternal fire. I tend to think that the “unquenchable fire” described in Mark 9:48 may refer to the concept that the agony is continuous and eternal. I think Hell will be custom tailored for each inhabitant. How? Perhaps a white-supremacist might be locked in a cell with a large black man who isn’t overly fond of white-supremacists. Perhaps a person who loves to gossip might have his mouth sewn shut and be forced to listen to incessant gossip for a hundred years or so, before receiving his next punishment. Or maybe a chauvinistic man might be forced to be on a work duty run only by tough women. As another day passes by without us listening to God, we might be creating our own personalized Hell. Every time we thumb our noses in God’s mighty face, we are one step closer to the unquenchable fire, the agony that endures for ever, and ever and ever and ever……………………………….