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Hell and God’s Deliverance
a sermon based on 2 Thessalonians
1:8-10, Rev 20:14-15, et al
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
Text: 2 Thessalonians
1:8-10
8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey
the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with
everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and
from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be
glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who
have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to
you.
Scripture Reading:
Rev 20:14-15
14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was
not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Introduction:
During my research on
hell, I actually googled the question: “where is hell”
To my surprise, I
found that hell is in . . . . Michigan. There is actually a community
called “Hell” [show slides]
Is
Hell in Michigan?
Hell, MI is located in
Putnam Township in Livingston County. The community is served by the
Pinckney post office with Zip code 48169. The unofficial population is 266
according to Wikipedia (I would have thought 666).
There is a tavern and
a small general store in the community of Hell, MI but no United Methodist Church. Could you
imagine how weird it would be to be appointed the minister of the First
Church of Hell?
How is Hell described
in the Bible?
Hell in the Old
Testament
Sheol as mentioned in
Job 7:9; Ps 18:5-7, 86:13, 139:8; Jonah 2:2, among others, is a twilight
sort of place, the destination of both the righteous and unrighteous. This
is a Hebrew concept of the afterlife similar to Hades in Greek mythology,
a gloomy place of shadows.
Sheol was thought to
be a physical place under the crust of the earth, below the gulf of the
deep, but a physical place as we can see in the picture. Because we have
a totally different world view today, Christians nor Jewish believers
think of hell as a physical place any longer. It is considered a “place”
in a different, spiritual, realm.
The rabbinic word for hell, "Gehenna",
is taken from the name of a valley of fire where children were said to be
sacrificed as burnt offerings to Baal and Moloch (Semitic deities).
Gehenna is a place of intense punishment and cleansing.
One of the more prominent beliefs about
Gehenna was that after death the soul has to be purified before it can go
on the rest of its journey. The amount of time needed for purification
depends on how the soul dealt with life. One Jewish tradition states that
a soul needs a maximum of 11 months for purification, which is why, when a
parent dies, the kaddish (memorial prayer) is recited for 11 months. The
concept of Gehenna as a place for temporary purification was the source
for the Orthodox and Roman Catholic doctrine of "purgatory."
The first-century Jewish historian
Flavius Josephus stated that the Pharisees, the Jewish sect that founded
rabbinic Judaism to which Paul once belonged, believed in reincarnation.
He writes that the Pharisees believed the souls of evil men are punished
after death. The souls of good men are "removed
into other bodies" and they will
"have power to revive and live again." (1)
Hell in the New
Testament:
·
Jesus teaches via
parables about a divine judgment at the end of times (Matt 13:24-30;
47-51; 25:31ff)
·
There will be a
separation between the good and the bad (wheat and tares, sheep and goats)
·
In the OT, the word
used for Hell is Gehenna. A deep valley used as garbage dump
·
Luke 16:19-26 – the
rich man was tormented in the fire of Hades
·
Rev 19:20 - talks about a Lake of Fire and Brimstone
·
Rev. 14:11 – speaks
of the “Smoke of torment”
·
The phrase
“weeping, gnashing of teeth” is used by Jesus several times to describe
the emotional pain in hell.
Eternal Punishment—the
controversy!
According to some
theologians hell is a place of eternal punishment, based on Scriptures
such as:
·
Mt 25:46 – “Eternal
punishment”
·
Heb 6:2 – “Eternal
judgment”
·
Mt 18:8 – “Eternal
Fire”
Other theologians
contest the concept of eternal punishment. They would argue that the
biblical Greek for eternity is "Aionion" which is the adjective form of "aion,"
in the singular form and means "pertaining to an eon or age, an
indeterminate period of time."
There are several "eons" mentioned in
the scriptures. If there were "eons" in the past, they argue, this must
mean that eons have an end as they have a beginning.
Matthew 13:40 for example, speaks of
"the consummation of the eons" showing that an "eon" has an end.
Other verses that suggest an end and
beginning of eons:
·
"the coming eon"
(Matt.10:30, Luke 18:30)
·
"the present wicked
eon" (Gal.1:4)
·
"the conclusion of
the eon” (present) (Mt.13:39,40)
Karl Barth, otherwise very orthodox in his Calvinistic theology, believed
in universal salvation. He believed that all are chosen in Christ,
everyone is elected in Christ, whether they realize it or not during their
lifetime, and that in the end, all end up with God in heaven.
As I was wrestling with these
theological arguments, I was thinking: what’s the point? Do some folks
who want to live it up in this life-time try to make themselves feel
better by possibly thinking that hell is only for a while?
I don’t care whether it’s going to be
forever or for an eon; an eon sounds like it is a very, very long time. I
just don’t want to be in that place. I can hardly even get through sitting
in the dentist chair for 15 minutes.
But then, I was thinking: there is
something different that bothers me about the concept of “eternal
damnation.” It just doesn’t seem to fit with the God that I have gotten to
know as gracious and merciful, a God full of compassion.
That’s probably where Karl Barth was
coming from.
On the other hand, if justice exists,
then justice demands there be a judgment process and an appropriate
punishment. But does it have to be punishment forever?
There are many
references and descriptions of hell throughout the Bible; here’s what they
all have in common: Hell is . . .
·
a very dark and
unpleasant place to be.
·
a place that
separates us from God, it is defined as the absence of God
·
a place where
people will live in regret and emotional pain
If you ponder these
attributes, you may notice that these are not necessarily unique for “that
place.” If you listen to the news, if you look around, you will become
aware of the fact that hell is NOW for too many people. People who lost
all joy, hope, and peace. People who agonize over regrets and who wallow
in misery. And I’m not just talking about people in disaster areas or
war-torn areas of the world, I’m also talking about folks who live in our
own neighborhoods.
Conclusion:
One of the few good
things that come out of the concept of hell is that it makes God’s gift of
salvation all the more meaningful; Jude calls us to do two things:
Read Jude 21-23:
21
keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ to bring you to eternal life.
22
Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching
them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the
clothing stained by corrupted flesh
First, we are called
by Jude to keep in God’s love. As we have noted before: Salvation
originates with God; God is the one who also inspires faith in us to be
able to accept Christ. Keeping our faith, keeping in God’s love and
salvation is where we come in—that’s our job! Keeping in God’s love means
to keep in close relationship with God.
Secondly, we are also
called to bring the good news of salvation to those who are lost. If we
take the biblical descriptions of hell serious, we should feel an urgency
about sharing the good news; after all, we don’t want to see anybody go to
that terrible place of torment. And for all those who already are in this
place of torment now, we can literally snatch them from the fire by
introducing them to the Prince of Peace and the joy-giver—our Lord Jesus.
Illustration [show
slide]: In terms of the urgency I was talking about, it’s like you’re on
a plane flight and you are the only passenger with inside knowledge of the
fact that the plane is going to crash. Now, if you knew this for sure,
would you not do everything in your power to first of all put on a
parachute, and secondly try to convince the persons sitting near you to do
the same?
You wouldn’t care how
ridiculous the parachute looks on you, nor would you care whether people
thought you’re crazy; the most important thing to you would be to “snatch”
people from the flames.
Likewise should we
also reach out to those around us who do not know Jesus as their Savior,
Finally, allow me to
direct your attention to what is God’s alternative to hell. Not just an
alternative to hell later on, but to hell on earth too. All we have to do
is say yes to God and let God be God in our lives and this will be our
hope:
A New Heaven
and a New Earth
1 Then I saw “a new heaven and
a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming
down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for
her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell
with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and
be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There
will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of
things has passed away.” Revelation 21:1-4
Amen.
_____________________________________
(1)
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/judaism06.html
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