We will look at two questions on this subject.
1.
Is it there?
Surely it’s far too ridiculous to be credible. Is it not
just an invention of the medieval church to keep people submissive or a tool of
the fundamentalist preacher to get converts? Can sensible people really have
sensible reasons for believing in hell? Let me give you three.
a) Justice demands it
I spoke to a man who told me he didn’t believe in any
life after death. I asked him if the same applied to Hitler.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Hitler did what he did, murdered all those people,
caused all that misery, then took his own life and that’s it?”
“Oh no.” he said, “There’s justice coming for Hitler.”
He was absolutely right. We know that there is right and
wrong, good and evil, justice and injustice, but this points to the reality of
a righteous God who has made us in His image. C. S. Lewis argued that for every
natural and innate desire that we have, there is something that satisfies that
desire: we have hunger and there is food that satisfies that desire; we
experience thirst and there is water that satisfies that desire; we desire
companionship and there are friends that satisfy that desire. But there is
another desire we have and that is for justice. The fact that justice is not
done in this world leaves no other conclusion but that it will be done in the
world to come. This is something that ought to comfort us – justice is coming
for Hitler, but it also ought to concern us – justice is coming for us all, and
the sad fact is, we all know that we have done wrong and violated God’s just
law. Justice demands punishment for sin, and that’s what hell is.
b) Scripture declares it
It may seem naive to believe something just because the
Bible says it, but bear in mind that the Bible has proven itself to get it right
when it talks about things to come. It is full of prophecies that were
indisputably given before the events and that indisputably came to pass. The
fulfilment of these prophecies couldn’t have been naturally anticipated or
influenced by the prophets. They stand as proof that the Bible is God’s word. Given
that the Bible has provided this proof that it speaks with accuracy and
authority about the future, that is a very good reason to take it seriously
when it speaks about our future. It tells us death is not the end, there is a
God to meet, an eternity to face, a judgment to come, and hell awaiting us
because of the sins we have committed.
c) Christ described it
The one who spoke about hell most frequently and most
graphically in the Bible was Jesus Christ. He claimed to be the Son of God and He
rose from the dead in vindication of that claim. That means that what He says
comes with all the authority of God Himself. Therefore His warnings about hell
can’t be dismissed as the rantings of some madman, but rather solemn statements
of sober fact uttered in deepest compassion by one who knows full well what
lies ahead of those who never have their sins forgiven.
He taught that hell is a place of eternal conscious
punishment. Think of each of those words:
Punishment
Hell isn’t for correction and reform. It is a place where
people receive punishment for the crimes they have committed against God. The
Lord taught this explicitly when He said that people will go away into
everlasting punishment (Matt 25.46).
Conscious
Some have taught that the punishment in question is
annihilation, that is, being put out of existence. Let me point out a few of
the many problems with this. First, annihilation is not righteous punishment. Annihilation fails to make any difference
between different people. Whether you sin more or less than anyone else makes
no difference to the punishment you get and therefore it is unrighteous.
The second problem is it is not real punishment. Were you being punished before you were conceived?
Of course not, non-existence isn’t a punishment, in fact, it is what many atheists
hope to be true. Furthermore, we aren’t owed eternal existence, so the removal
of it can’t be said to be a real punishment for the sins we have committed.
Thirdly, annihilation is not the revealed punishment. The Lord Jesus revealed that the punishment
involves suffering. He spoke of torment (e.g. Luke 16.23; see too Rev 14.10-11),
weeping and gnashing of teeth (e.g. Luke 13.24-28; see too Rom 2:8-9).
Eternal
The Lord taught that the punishment never ends – it is everlasting punishment (Matt 25.46, see
too Rev 20:10).
You may not believe in the existence of hell, but to hold
that view sensibly you have to abandon the reality of justice, you have to find
a non-divine explanation of the many fulfilled prophecies in Scripture, and you
have to overturn all the evidence that Jesus is the Son of God. That is no
small task.
Let’s look at our next question.
2.
Is hell fair?
“70 years of sin, eternal punishment?! Talk about an
overreaction! The punishment doesn’t fit the crime. 70 years of sin should
result in 70 years of punishment – an eye for an eye.” This was the content of
a (very understandable) rant from a man I was speaking to.
I suggested that his reasoning wasn’t altogether sound.
We never base punishment for crimes on how long it took to commit them. I asked
him how long it took to commit a murder. Say it takes someone a week to plan it
and carry it out, are we suggesting that the appropriate punishment for the
murderer is a week in prison? See the problem? The punishment is not based on
the length of time it took to commit the crime but on the gravity of the crime.
When we look at it like that it is no surprise that the
Bible teaches eternal punishment. God is infinitely holy and sin-hating. Every
sin defies His authority and it also defaces His image – He has created us in
His image, as His representatives, and when we sin we demean Him, and “Hell is
God’s declaration to the universe that what every sin demeans is of infinite
worth.”[1]
To sin against Him is to commit a crime of infinite seriousness and it carries
with it an infinite penalty. That is why the punishment lasts forever – as
finite creatures we can never pay an infinite penalty. As one Bible teacher put
it, “Sin is an offence against the infinitely holy God. Its gravity cannot be
computed. The supreme dignity of the One against whom man has sinned makes his
wrong-doing infinite in gravity.”[2]
The picture is pretty bleak and the prospect is
horrendous. We have sinned and, even if we could never sin again, that does
nothing to pay for the sins of the past. No matter how good you are, or how
hard you try, the sins of the past need to be paid for, and we can never pay
that price.
That is why the gospel is such good news – it provides what
no religion on earth provides – a substitute. Only one who was Himself infinite
could pay an infinite penalty, and so God, in the person of the Son, came into
this world to give Himself as the great sacrifice for sin at Calvary. When He
hung on the cross He wasn’t merely suffering the physical pains of crucifixion,
He was suffering the judgment of God against sin, and He was able to say what
no soul in hell will ever be able to say, He said, “It is finished” (John
19.30), and as proof that the price was paid He rose from the dead.
So now you have a choice, you can either take what you
deserve (and bear it forever), or you can honestly plead guilty, gratefully
accept God’s offer of a substitute, and go free.
Conclusion
The idea of demons running around with pitchforks and
people shovelling coal is certainly a man-made idea and worthy of ridicule. But
that’s not what the Bible teaches. The Biblical teaching of people being
punished forever for their sins against God is neither funny nor fanciful.
Hell is what we deserve, but it’s not what God desires.
Salvation is available through Christ. Don’t let anything keep you from
receiving that salvation – it just isn’t worth it.
