from the desk of . . .
Rande Wayne Smith
D.Min., Th.M., M.Div.
#630
26 October 2014
What Happens When I Die? - 3
WHAT IS HELL?
Luke 12:13-21
We’ve been talking about what happens to us when
we die, & focusing our attention on Heaven. We’ve
learned that Heaven is an actual place. Scripture
teaches that it’s pretty, pain-free, populated, a place of
plenty, peaceful, purposeful, & prepared by Jesus for
those who love Him.
We’ve also learned that eternal life begins for us
when we come to faith; it starts right then. And if
Jesus isn’t our Lord & Savior, then we’re living in eternal
alienation, which is eternal death. And if nothing
changes on our part, we will die & face eternal judgment.
We’ve discovered that people have all kinds of ideas
of what they think Heaven is going to be like. That’s also
true when we come to the topic of Hell.
In fact, many of today’s theologians would suggest
that Heaven & Hell are no longer thought of as different
locations with separate zip codes.
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But rather Heaven is viewed as a state of intimacy
with God … & Hell is viewed as alienation from God.
Alienation is what Hell is all about.
I want to begin by making a statement, & we’re going
to come back to it throughout this message. Hell is a
place we choose for ourselves. … Say that with me …
Hell is a place we choose for ourselves.
That thought is going to help us with some confusion
that a few people have concerning the character of God.
Heaven is prepared for those who have come to faith.
Hell was not prepared for humanity at all, of course, as
we shall see in just a few moments.
Eternal life doesn’t begin with death, it’s already
underway. So, eternal death is also already underway.
Scripture teaches that we can be “dead” while we’re
living. (Ephesians 2:1) Some of us know personally, or through
relationships, exactly what is meant by that.
The nonbeliever who doesn’t have Christ’s light,
finds themselves in a very dangerous state, because we
never know when we’re going to breathe our last.
Time magazine’s cover story (X) 2 weeks ago was
about 16-year-old Chad Stover. Chad was a high school
football player. He died playing a Friday night football
game.
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His mother said, “It didn’t cross my mind that I
wouldn’t see him come off that field.” Chad was just a
teenager playing football! We don’t know.
Jesus taught, through many parables, the necessity
of preparing for the prepared place He’s prepared for
us, & in so doing, directly warned us about Hell, & about
the possibility of going there.
One of His most interesting parables is found in
Luke 12 … it’s about a rich fool. Listen to it now. Good
News as recorded by Luke, to you who have gathered
here at Community Church, within your hearing now
comes the Word of the Lord …
A man in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my
brother to divide with me the property our father left
us.”
Jesus answered him, “Friend, who gave me the right
to judge or to divide the property between you two?”
And he went on to say to them all, “Watch out and guard
yourselves from every kind of greed; because your true
life is not made up of the things you own, no matter how
rich you may be.”
Then Jesus told them this parable: “There was once
a rich man who had land which bore good crops. He
began to think to himself, ‘I don’t have a place to keep all
my crops. What can I do?
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This is what I will do,’ he told himself; ‘I will tear down
my barns and build bigger ones, where I will store the
grain and all my other goods. Then I will say to myself,
Lucky man! You have all the good things you need for
many years. Take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy
yourself!’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night
you will have to give up your life; then who will get all
these things you have kept for yourself?’”
And Jesus concluded, “This is how it is with those
who pile up riches for themselves but are not rich in
God’s sight.” (Luke 12:13-21)
May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the
mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom with really increasing
devotion, to His glory and to our edification. Amen
There are a number of powerful truths in this
parable that Jesus told. Let me cite a few of them …
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It’s God who gives us opportunity to obtain wealth
God holds us accountable on how we handle wealth
God gives us an eternal soul … that’s worth far more
than anything we can accumulate here on earth
And it’s God who requires our soul whenever He
wants it … “this very night.”
Now it appears that this man was perfectly healthy.
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He apparently worked hard, & financially benefited
because of it. He had got a good size nest egg, &
couldn’t wait to start enjoying the fruits of his labor. He
was living the American dream.
This man anticipated many good years ahead. Eat,
drink, & be merry. (Ecclesiastes 8:15) Nothing could happen to
him. He had the … “It can’t happen to me” mindset.
But when God says, “this very night” … who can argue
with Him? “Now just hold on a minute, Lord, I’m busy
right now. I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire. Tell you
what, you come & check with me when I’m 97 or so.”
We can’t argue with God. When He says, “this very
night” … it’s going to be, “this very night.” (Ecclesiastes 3:2)
This man, who God calls a “fool,” didn’t quite grasp that.
The truth of the matter is … there’s coming the day
when God is going to say to me … & to you … “this very
night.” And if we’re alienated here from Him, we’ll be
alienated there from Him. (Matthew 25:32-33)
And yet we know that reconciliation is possible
because of the cross. (2 Corinthians 5:19) God has not only
prepared a place, but also provided a means, so that we
don’t have to go to Satan’s home. We have a choice
between God’s home & the Devil’s home. And what
person, in their right mind, having the facts before
them, wouldn’t want to go to Heaven? …
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Here’s the deal … we “acquire” our eternal home in
Heaven, while we live here in our earthly ones. And,
unlike real estate here on earth, our heavenly home isn’t
dependent on how much money we have. I mean, it takes
a lot of cash to buy a mansion on Penny Road out in South
Barrington. But that’s not how it’s done in Heaven.
(X) A rich landowner named Carl often rode around his
vast estate so he could congratulate himself on his great
wealth. One day while riding around his estate on his
favorite horse, he saw Hans, an old tenant farmer.
Hans was sitting under a tree when Carl rode by.
Hans said, “I was just thanking God for my food.”
Carl protested, “If that is all I had to eat,
I wouldn’t feel like giving thanks.”
Hans replied, “God has given me everything I need,
& I am thankful for it.” The old farmer added,
“It is strange you should come by today because I had a
dream last night. In my dream a voice told me,
‘The richest man in the valley will die tonight.’ I don’t
know what it means, but I thought I ought to tell you.”
Carl snorted, “Dreams are nonsense,” & galloped away,
but he could not forget Hans’ words: “The richest man in
the valley will die tonight.” He was obviously the richest
man in the valley, so he invited his Dr. to his house that
evening. Carl told the Dr. what Hans had said.
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After a thorough examination, the Dr. told the wealthy
landowner, “Carl, you are as strong & healthy as a horse.
There is no way you are going to die tonight.”
Nevertheless, for assurance, the Dr. stayed with Carl,
& they played cards through the night.
The Dr. left the next morning & Carl apologized for
becoming so upset over the old man’s dream.
At about 9:00, a messenger arrived at Carl’s door.
“What is it?” Carl demanded. The messenger explained,
“It’s about old Hans. He died last night in his sleep.”
6:20)
To know Christ is to be rich beyond measure. (Matthew
After all, Jesus is the jewel of Heaven. (Matthew 13:46)
So, there are those who are truly “rich” even though
they may be financially poor in the world’s eyes, &
Heaven awaits them. And there are others who appear
to have everything the world has to offer, & yet will
discover that they are truly “poor” in God’s economy, &
alienated from Him for all eternity.
Now we have the same problem when we start to
think about Hell, as we had when we began to think about
Heaven. There’s a lot of speculation about it.
The Christian academic world has been in a
theological turmoil about it as well. Martin Marty (X)
well respected professor from the University of Chicago,
has said … “Hell disappeared, & no one noticed.”
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In fact, many liberal theologians have completely
dismissed it. They say that Hell is no longer relevant for
serious scholarship. Even many evangelicals are
tempering their image of Hell.
What about other religions? Remember when we
began this series we looked at what other religions
thought heaven would be like?
Hindu’s have a variety of “spectacular” hells … each
with its’ own exquisite torture. If you fail to care for
the hungry while you’re living, you will be chained to a
rock where birds will come & eat your stomach. As a
punishment for adultery, a sinner will be forced to
embrace a beautiful woman whose temperature is white
hot.
The Jews, what do they think about hell?
Surprisingly, they don't really concern themselves with
the existence of either heaven or hell. Judaism barely
spends any time discussing what may or may not happen
when we die. In fact, there's hardly any mention of this
subject in Jewish teachings at all.
When the ancient rabbis discussed an afterlife &
how bad people might be dealt with, they came up with
Gehenna as a place of punishment for those who led an
immoral life. However, the time a person's soul could
spend there was limited to 12 months.
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One rabbi has said … “Jews have been through the
holocaust, there’s just no need to talk about hell.” Most
Jews today view heaven & hell as highly primitive beliefs.
Islam, which is much closer to Christianity in its’
conception of the afterlife, believes that after death
each individual will be questioned by 2 angels, Munkar &
Nakir, about his faith. The dead remain in their graves
to the end of the world, when everyone will assemble
before Allah for the final judgment.
Each person must then walk the path, the bridge
that stretches over hell. The faithful will complete the
journey into paradise, while the damned will fall off into
the fiery pit of hell. Both heaven & hell have 7 grades of
pleasure & torment. And both are eternal. According to
the Koran, the damned will be roasted & boiled &
afflicted with pus.
So we have our major religions very much believing in
almost medieval imagery concerning the topic of hell.
Of course, as I mentioned where the subject of
Heaven is concerned, likewise some of the major
religions don’t believe in Hell either.
But the biggest problem that so many of us honestly
have is this whole concept concerning the idea of Hell.
There are many objections that come to our minds as
soon as we begin to think of this subject. Right? …
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1st of all … what about the character of God? Could
a good God possibly allow a place like Hell to exist? A
loving God couldn’t be a loving God & allow that, could
He? Doesn’t the Scriptures say, “The judge of all the
earth has to act justly.” (Genesis 18:25) How can it be just
for good people to go to Hell? We can all understand
bad people going to Hell, I mean really bad people, Hitler
& bin Laden, for example … but what about good people?
The thing that should help us is to realize that Hell
was not prepared by God for humanity. Hell was
prepared by God for the Devil & his demons. That’s what
God thinks about what the Devil has done to us.
(The Revelation 12:9)
Jesus, using a parable to teach about the final
judgment says, “Then the King will say to those on his
left, ‘Away from me, you that are under God’s curse!
Away to the eternal fire which has been prepared for
the Devil & his angels!’” (Matthew 25:41)
And if we start our thinking there, then it helps us,
or it certainly helps me, to grapple with this whole
objection that everything in me raises about the idea of
a Hell prepared for humanity, & of a God “stirring the
flames” for those who reject Him.
Hell was not prepared by God for humanity. It was
prepared for the Devil & his demons. But again, we also
have the concern about the character of Christ.
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What about that? Didn’t Jesus tell us to love our
enemies? (Matthew 5:44) Jesus wouldn’t command us to love
our enemies … & then send people to Hell, or He’d be
contradicting His own teaching. Right? …
And yet Jesus talked more about Hell than anyone
else in Scripture. He believed in it. He gave graphic
illustrations concerning it. He told parables about it.
Jesus describes Hell as a place of “darkness.” (Matthew
8:12) Jesus talks about the door to Heaven being shut &
people excluded. (Matthew 25:10) He says there will be those
who will be “thrown in to the fiery furnace, where they
will cry & gnash their teeth.” (Matthew 13:42) That’s pretty
graphic language to describe the reality of an awful
situation.
“When the Judgment Day comes, many will say to
me, ‘Lord, Lord! In your name we spoke God’s message,
by your name we drove out many demons & performed
many miracles!’ Then I will say to them, ‘I never knew
you. Get away from me, you wicked people!’” (Matthew 7:22-23)
“So if your right eye causes you to sin, take it out &
throw it away! It is much better for you to lose a part
of your body than to have your whole body thrown into
hell. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off &
throw it away! It is much better for you to lose one of
your limbs than to have your whole body go off to hell.”
(Matthew 5:29-30)
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“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but
cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of God, who can
destroy both body & soul in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)
Jesus is warning that if we don’t have a personal
relationship with the Lord, then we better fear God.
By the way, we’re never told once from Genesis to
The Revelation to fear the Devil. We’re told not to be
ignorant of his devices. (2 Corinthians 2:11) But we’re never,
ever told to fear him. (1 John 5:4)
Like the little boy who said, “when the Devil comes
knocking at my heart, I let Jesus answer the door.” And
that’s what we need to do.
I’m not suggesting that we ignore him; Satan’s a lot
stronger than we are. (Ephesians 6:12) What I am saying is …
God has ultimate control of our eternal destination.
(Luke 12:5)
Let me also correct some other misconceptions that
are out there. The Devil does not reign in Hell. That’s a
poetic notion, the idea that Satan reigns as the ruler of
Hell, & has power over the souls of Hell. No, he is
tormented in Hell. (The Revelation 20:10)
And in The Revelation 14:11 we find what I think
must be one of the terrifying verses in all Scripture …
“The smoke of the fire that torments them goes up for
ever & ever.” (The Revelation 14:11)
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That’s speaking not only of the Devil & the Hell that
God prepared for him, but for those who choose his
company rather than the company of God.
So, Jesus believed in him. Jesus taught about him.
Jesus said that there’s a Satanic being which is the
reason for Hell’s existence.
Jesus said Satan is a liar. (John 8:44) Jesus said he is a
deceiver. (The Revelation 20:8) Jesus said he is a murderer. (John
8:44) And even though he is a deceiver, make no mistake
about it; his main objective is not to deceive us, but to
destroy us. (John 10:10)
He’s identified with various names by different
inspired writers:
 “the accuser of believers” (The Revelation 12:10)
 “an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14)
 “our enemy” (1 Peter 5:8)
 “the Destroyer” (The Revelation 9:11)
 “Satan” (Matthew 4:10)
 “the Devil” (Matthew 4:1)
 “the ruler of the spiritual powers in space” (Ephesians 2:2)
So, who is he? And why is he? If we’re really going
to understand Hell, we have to grapple with the
existence of Satan. And there are 3 short passages I
want to look at quickly.
The 1st one is found in Ezekiel 28.
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Here’s some background. Ezekiel, speaking words
from God, is blasting the King of Tyre. This guy is so
taken up with himself & puffed up with pride that he
actually thought he was god. (Ezekiel 28:2)
Ezekiel’s prophecy talks about God’s fierce judgment
coming upon him. In addition, Ezekiel discerned that
behind the King of Tyre was Satan’s presence at work.
The Devil was the one who was inciting the King in his
opposition to God. In short, Ezekiel saw the work &
action of Satan, whom the King of Tyre was emulating.
It was the same sort of thing we saw when Peter
said to Jesus, “Don’t go up to Jerusalem & die.” And
what was Jesus’ response? “Get away from me, Satan!”
(Matthew 16:23)
He didn’t mean that Satan had entered into Peter.
Jesus was discerning behind Peter’s motivation, which
was trying to prevent Christ from doing the thing He’d
come to do. (Luke 19:10)
He perceived the motivating force & personality of
Satan working in Peter. And, in a sense, Jesus looked
over Peter’s shoulder & said, “Get away from me, Satan!”
Here Ezekiel looks over the King of Tyre’s shoulder
& says, “I see you, Satan.”
So listen to these few verses that theologians have
long argued about, which speak of the Devil’s beginnings.
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“You lived on my holy mountain & walked among
sparkling gems. Your conduct was perfect from the day
you were created until you began to do evil. … So I
forced you to leave my holy mountain, & the angel who
guarded you drove you away from the sparkling gems.
You were proud of being handsome, & your fame made
you act like a fool. Because of this I hurled you to the
ground & left you as a warning to other kings.”
(Ezekiel 28:14-17)
Jesus was referring to this when He said, “I saw
Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (Luke 10:18)
It’s a fascinating passage. Let me just summarize by
telling you that evangelical Bible scholars believe that
Satan was the “bright morning star,” (Isaiah 14:12), the
anointed angel. He was above all the other angels, & was
given, as were the rest of the angels, free will.
We think about the fall of humanity, & what a great
fall it was. But there was a greater fall. It was the fall
of Satan from the highest Heaven to the lowest Hell.
(Isaiah 14:15)
We believe Satan was in charge of the worship of
Heaven & all of creation, everything that God had made.
He was beautiful, wise … & he had a free will.
We wonder, “If God is good, where did the 1st evil
thought come from?” It was self-born. “You were proud
of being handsome, & your fame made you act like a fool.”
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His occupation with his own beauty, while ignoring his
dependence upon his Creator, was Satan’s downfall.
Satan corrupted his wisdom by reason of his beauty.
That was the 1st evil thought … the 1st independent
thought in the universe was sinful. And that’s where the
greatest fall occurred. Satan wanted to place his throne
above the throne of God. (Isaiah 14:13) Not to the throne of
God … but above the throne of God.
He wanted to be God. Recognize that about Satan &
you’ll understand his devices & his desires. He wants
everybody to be worshiping him instead of God. He
wants everybody to worship his beauty, his brightness,
his wisdom. And he was all those things … but that’s the
essence of sin. (Genesis 3:5)
The prophet Isaiah writes. “King of Babylon, bright
morning star, (‫ )לֵלהֵה‬you have fallen from heaven! In the
past you conquered nations, but now you have been
thrown to the ground. You were determined to climb up
to heaven & to place your throne above the highest
stars. You thought you would sit like a king on that
mountain in the north where the gods assemble. You said
you would climb to the tops of the clouds & be like the
Almighty. But instead, you have been brought down to
the deepest part of the world of the dead.” (Isaiah 14:12-15)
You see, Satan is like a dog on a long leash.
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Right now, Satan is allowed, permitted to do the
things he’d like to do off the leash. (Job 2:6) But remember
… God has ahold of the leash.
So how ever powerful Satan is, & he still only has the
power the Lord gives him … remember God is still in
control. So we don’t need to get too wrapped up with
Satan; on the other hand, we mustn’t ignore him.
The Devil blinds people’s eyes to the glorious news of
the Gospel of Christ, (2 Corinthians 4:4), but Jesus opens them.
(Matthew 11:5) Jesus believed in him, argued with him, (Matthew
4:1-11), defeated him, & one day will judge him. So our
thinking about Hell all begins with Satan.
In a speech to the National Press Club, (X) Ted
Turner said, “Heaven is going to be a mighty slender
place. And most of the people I know in life aren’t going
to be there. There are a few notable exceptions & I’ll
miss them. (laughter) Remember, heaven is going to be
perfect. And I don’t really want to be there …. Those of
us that go to hell, which will be most of us in this room;
most journalists are certainly going there. (laughter) But,
when we get to hell we’ll have a chance to make things
better because hell is supposed to be a mess. And
heaven is perfect. Who wants to go to a place that’s
perfect? Boring. Boring.” (laughter)
Hell is nothing to joke about.
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Picture yourself in complete darkness. No sight. No
sound. No smells. No touch. Nothingness. Think about
what that would be like for an hour … a day … a month.
How about forever? It sends chills down my back.
I’ve heard people over the years say when they’re
experiencing a very difficult time that they’re going
through “Hell” … but that’s not true. Our lowest days on
earth will seem like a vacation compared to Hell. It’s
been said that the pain of Hell is not so much caused by
the presence of evil as from the absence of good.
Darkness is not dark because of the presence of
darkness, but because of the absence of light.
One day when Vice-President (X) Calvin Coolidge
was presiding over the Senate, one Senator angrily told
another to go “straight to hell.” The offended Senator
complained to Coolidge as presiding officer, & he looked
up from the book he had been leafing through while
listening to the debate & wittily replied. “I’ve looked
through the rule book … you don’t have to go.”
And neither do any of you. Jesus has provided the
way to get into Heaven … the ABC’s.
A … Admit your need
B … Believe Jesus died for you
C … Commit yourself completely to Him
D … Depend upon His promises
MARANA THA