Sheol, Gehenna, Lake of Fire, and Hell.
This week the topic of Hell has been on my mind. For many years, the church adopted a “Fire and brimstone” tactic to its preaching. This tactic of preaching often used vivid descriptions of judgment and eternal damnation to encourage repentance. Some would argue that this was when the church was most successful, and others would say they are thankful the church has grown past this dark and gloomy part of its history. In my opinion, I think the church focused too heavily on the judgment during this time and needed to learn a bit more about grace. However, now I wonder if we have gone too far the other way. We preach a God of love, patience, grace, and mercy, and no doubt He is all of these things, but I wonder if the expectation of God and the reality of Hell is lost on believers.
I have heard some say recently “I don’t believe in a God who sends people to hell”. I think people are forgetting the reality of the coming punishment for the lost. The reality of Hell isn’t meant to make Christians tremble in fear wondering whether they have been “good enough” we must also remember “For now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”. We should have confidence in our redemption and salvation through the blood of Christ, it is also healthy to remember why we needed the blood of Christ in the first place.
If I looked at you and out of nowhere, I just said “You need to go to the hospital” you would look at me like I was crazy! You would say “No I don’t, I feel fine, there is nothing wrong.” you would have no clue why you needed to go to the hospital. But if I were to say “You have a serious illness there are spots all over your skin, your eyes are sunken and droopy you need to go to the hospital! You would start to look at yourself and would likely see the signs as well. Then you would understand why you needed to go to the hospital. The same can be true as we try to share the gospel with people. If I come to someone and say “You need Jesus” they would likely begin to wonder why, maybe they would think “Well I am a pretty good person, I don’t think I need him”. This thinking is flawed, they need to understand their condition. They need to understand the seriousness of the human condition as sinners who if they don’t put their faith and trust in Christ are heading toward a place of no return.
There are many ways the Bible depicts hell. The word Sheol, which means grave, Tartarus which is this idea of a prison where there is torture, and the lake of fire invokes imagery of immense pain and torture. There is the word Gehenna which was a place where historically Children were sacrificed to Moloch and after that, it was a place where trash was dumped and burned, again this idea of pain misery torture. There are other words used to describe this as well. But it Is often associated with pain, darkness, fire, and separation from God. When we hear descriptions of this place it seems that the author has a difficult time describing what it is, they are using words and ideas that are familiar to them to describe something that is likely indescribable. Similar to how John has a difficult time describing God in Rev. 1:14-16.
I heard recently that Hell is a place where people go and are completely transformed into something that no longer bears the image of God. The idea was that God created Adam and Eve in his image and to be in a relationship with them in the garden. When sin entered the world, it caused a separation from God where we still were in His image but we were no longer living in right relationship with him due to the sin in our lives. That is the story of the Bible isn’t it, the never-ending love of God being poured out on an underserving creation in His attempt to bring people back into relationship and communion with Him? Well, if we deliberately choose not to follow Him, if we never put our faith and trust in the sacrifice of Christ then we choose not to be in a relationship with him, some would say that we deliberately choose hell and God’s love is so great that He allows us that decision. When we die then we are completely removed from God's abundant love and life-giving presence and we are cast into the place that was prepared for the devil and his angels. We are overcome with sin and darkness to the point where we are no longer in the image of God. We become something else entirely. Think about that. This is utterly terrifying. To be honest I don’t know if this view of hell is true but what a terrifying thought.
Some who would hear this wouldn’t fear Hell, our world today has done a wonderful job fantasizing Hell, they make it out to be this place where there is a never-ending party, drugs, alcohol, sensual relations, and no consequences. They put Satan on a throne ruling and commanding his demons where to go. Satan has no throne in Hell. Hell was prepared for him and his angels to punish them. Imagine a place that was prepared specifically by God to impart punishment and wrath on the father of lies and the one who cause his perfect creation to stumble, what would that look like, how would a human soul fair in that type of environment?
We can speculate our whole lives on what exactly Hell is, but here is what I do know. Hell is a real place, and there will be punishment there. It is talked about all throughout scripture and even Christ himself warned against it. Whether it is s a lake of Fire, eternal torture, or the complete disintegration of being made in God’s image, the reality is that we don’t want to find out and as Christians, we shouldn’t want others to experience it either. We shouldn’t be worried about arriving at the gates of hell after we pass from this life, we should rejoice that Christ has saved us from this place. We should be motivated to share this news with those around us, so that they too may know what God has done for us so that we could be brought back into a right relationship with him.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” -Psalm 9:10
Think about these things this week. Remember the reality of hell and the reality of the coming punishment for those who are not in Christ Jesus. Remember what Christ has done for us so that we would not have to endure this punishment and use this to be motivated to abide in Christ and share the gospel as we were commanded!
Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
