Whatever Happened To Hell?
By John
Blanchard
We borrow a few excerpts from another
good writer, whose book we wish you would buy. It is "Whatever Happened TO
Hell?" printed by Evangelical Press, 12 Wooler Street, Darlington Co.
Durham, DL1 IRQ England.
These portions are taken from Mr.
Blanchard's chapter "The Pains of Hell." He says:
Modern arguments against the concept of punishment usually suggest that we are not totally or mainly responsible for our behaviour. It is claimed that our characters are predetermined by our environment, our family background, our upbringing, our economic situation, our genetic make-up, or other factors over which we have no control. Wrongdoers are to be seen as patients, not sinners or criminals; wrong behaviour is to be viewed as an illness, not sin; and the remedy needed is to be sought in terms of treatment, not punishment. The twentieth century has seen a massive shift to these ideas, yet they remain fragile and flawed, and totally unproven. What is more, they come into direct conflict with the Bible's teaching.
Nobody would deny that our behaviour is influenced by certain background factors in our lives, but none of these things determines how we behave. We are responsible beings, not robots; people, not puppets. Made 'in the image of God' (Genesis 1:27), all of us 'have sinned and fall short of the glory of God' (Romans 3:23); and 'we will all stand before God's judgement seat' (Romans 14:10). The Bible focuses our attention on God, not on man. Life is not about bringing happiness and corn fort to humans, but about bringing glory to God. People are sinners by nature, by choice and by desire. Jesus located the source of sin not in circumstances or social background, but in the human heart: 'For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside...' (Mark 7:21-23). We face God as guilty sinners, not as helpless victims of our circumstances.
Even the
'smallest' sin is rebellion against our Creator. Every time we sin we are
shaking our puny fists in God's face and defying his right to rule our lives.
As God is not only a God of love and mercy, but also of law, order and justice,
we should hardly be surprised to discover that he 'does not leave the guilty
unpunished' (Exodus 34:7), but ensures that unrepentant sinners get their just
deserts. The principle is so clear that W. G. T. Shedd says, 'If there were no
hell in Scripture, we should be compelled to invent one.'9
This last point underlines one of hell's most tragic
truths, which is that this dreadful destiny is the sinner's own choice. J. I. Packer
says bluntly, 'Nobody stands under the wrath of God save those who have chosen
to do so. The essence of God's action in wrath is to give
men what they choose, in all its implications; nothing
more, and equally nothing less.'
At yet another level of thinking, C. S.
Lewis wrote, "There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say
to God, "Thy will be done" and those to whom God says, in the end,
"Thy will be done". All that arc in hell choose it.'13
Thousands of years later, Jesus gave this uncompromising
assessment of the bulk of humanity: 'This is the verdict: Light has come into
the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were
evil' (John 3:19). Here is another example of people making a perverse and
tragic choice. Later, lamenting over the city's rejection of the salvation he
offered, Jesus cried, '0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and
stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children
together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not
willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate' (Matthew 23:37-38).
C. S. Lewis underlines the eternal consequences of that
choice:
'I willingly believe that the damned arc, in one sense,
successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the
inside.'13
We can now begin to look at what the Bible says about the nature
of the punishment that goes on behind what Lewis calls 'the
doors of hell'.
The punishment of the wicked in hell is described in the
Bible in both negative and positive terms. The first negative aspect is banishment.
In the previous chapter we saw that Jesus likened the kingdom of heaven to
a feast, and said that those unfit to share in it will be 'thrown outside'
(Matthew 8:12). We saw the same picture in the parable about the improperly
dressed guest at the wedding reception: the king's instructions were to 'throw
him outside' (Matthew 22:13). Jesus also said that when he condemns the wicked
on the
Day of Judgement they will 'go away to eternal punishment'
(Matthew 25:46).
This hardly sounds like punishment to some. They would say, 'I
want nothing to do with God now, and will be perfectly happy for that
arrangement to continue.' They arc like the people in the Old Testament who
said to God, 'Leave us alone! We have no desire to
know your ways' (Job 21:14). But this kind of talk betrays both
arrogance and ignorance, because while the wicked may want nothing to do with God
while they live on earth, they should be grateful that God still wants
something to do with them. They are not living without God; regardless of how
they treat him (or even of whether they believe he exists). He still provides
them with 'life and breath and everything else' (Acts 17:25). One of the
psalmists put it like this:
'[God] makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for man to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:
wine that gladdens the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine,
and bread that sustains his heart'
(Psalm 104:14-15).
Theologians call this 'common grace'. It is what Jesus had in mind when he said that God 'causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous' (Matthew 5:45). When an atheist shouts, "There is no God!', he can do so only because God gives him air to breathe and strength to draw it into his lungs. Sinners can ignore God and still get a great deal of enjoyment out of life only because God supplies them with the natural resources, energy, intelligence and senses to do so. Food, drink, clothing, company, friendship, sport, music, art, laughter, happiness — all of these, and hundreds of other things that contribute to man's well-being, are gracious gifts from a generous Creator. In this life, nobody is forsaken by God, banished from all links with him. But in hell, all those life-giving and life-enhancing links are gone. In hell, sinners will not benefit in any way from the love, goodness, patience and mercy of God. They will receive from God nothing of any value, nothing that is of any benefit to them, or that gives even a moment's pleasure. They will be banished.
Another negative element in the punishment of the wicked in
hell will be separation. As we have already seen, at the Day of Judgement
Jesus will tell them, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed' (Matthew 25:41),
whereas his invitation to the righteous is to enter into the full enjoyment of
their eternal heritance. In the words of the well-known Bible expositor Matthew
Henry, "Those who would not come to Christ to inherit a blessing must
depart from him under the
burden of a curse.'16Sinners are separated from all the
blessings that God graciously provides.
The Bible also
says that hell involves another separation. Human beings love company. There is
something natural about friendship, fellowship and relationships. When Adam was
the only human being on earth. God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be
alone. I will make a helper suitable for him' (Genesis 2:18). Centuries later
David wrote, 'God sets the lonely in families' (Psalm 68:6). The family unit
was God's idea, and all the blessings that flow through loving family
relationships are among his greatest gifts. No earthly ties are greater than
those involving husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, brother and
sister. In hell, no relationship of any kind will exist; everyone there will be
there alone.
There may be a
hint of this in the Bible's statement that 'Each of us will give an account of
himself to God* (Romans 14:12) and another in the story of the rich man and
Lazarus, in which the rich man in Hades cries, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me
and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue,
because I am in agony in this fire' (Luke 16:24). All his concerns are
self-centred, and point to a sense of isolation. In hell, there will be no
companionship, no love, no sympathy, no kindness, no pity, no help, no comfort.
In the final sentence of his book on the subject of eternal punishment, W. G.
T. Shedd says that the person who rejects God's way of salvation 'must through
endless cycles grapple with the dread problem of human guilt in his own person,
and alone'." All of hell is solitary confinement.
A third negative
aspect of sinners' punishment in hell is that of deprivation — there are
things they will be without. Like all who have died, they will be without all
their earthly pleasures and possessions, but whereas the righteous in heaven
will enjoy 'eternal pleasures at [God's] right hand' (Psalm 16:11) and have 'a
treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted' (Luke 12:33), the wicked will be
destitute. David speaks of the wicked as 'men of this world whose reward is in
this life' (Psalm 17:14), inferring that they have no reward in the life to
come. There will be no good things in hell, and the hardest hit will be those
who had more than their share of good things on earth. Many of the most ungodly
people in history have also been among the wealthiest, surrounded with the
finest of everything and revelling in their luxurious lifestyles. In hell,
those things will all be history. Never again will they enjoy a good day, a
luxurious home, a fine meal, a soft bed, or good company. In the words of the
seventeenth-century preacher Ralph Venning, they will be' stripped naked and
deprived of all the good things they have had in this life'."
Yet the greatest
deprivation will be the loss of hope. On earth, all except the most senseless
cling to some hope of forgiveness and heaven, even if it has no biblical basis.
In a survey taken in the United States in 1990, seventy-eight per cent of those
interviewed said they believed there was a heaven, and the same percentage said
they thought they had a good or excellent chance of getting
there." For the sinner, all such hope ends at death: 'When a wicked man
dies, his hope perishes; all he expected from his power comes to nothing'
(Proverbs 11:7). The same terrible truth is put even more starkly later in the
same book, when the writer gives the reason why God's people should never be
envious of the position or possessions of the wicked:
'Do not fret because of evil men
or be envious of the wicked, for the evil man has no future hope,
and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out'
(Proverbs 24:19-20).
In hell, the sinner's situation is quite
literally hopeless. As one writer has put it, 'Despair is the damp of hell, as
joy is the serenity of heaven.'20
Turning to the positive aspects of sinners' punishment
after death, we discover that the Bible uses a variety of words. The first is 'torment'.
In his story about the wealthy but ungodly man who died and went to Hades,
Jesus said that 'He was interment' (Luke 16:23), and the man himself called
Hades 'this place of torment' (Luke 16:28). In a passage from John's vision of
the world to come, we are told that the wicked will be 'tormented with burning
sulphur' and that "The smoke of their torment rises forever and ever'
(Revelation 14:10-11). Later, John says that 'The devil... the beast and the
false prophet ... will be tormented day and night for ever and ever'
(Revelation 20:10).
In one form or another the word
'torment' occurs another fifteen times in the New Testament. Sometimes it
refers to severe distress caused by sickness or disease, and at least once to
being tortured, but without exception the word carries with it the meaning of
severe, conscious suffering.21 In the case of hell's torments this
suffering will last forever. Over 1,500 years ago John Chrysostom, Bishop of
Constantinople, emphasized what this will mean: 'The damned shall suffer an end
without end, a death without death, a decay without decay ... they shall have
punishment without pity, misery without mercy, sorrow without succour, crying
without comfort, torment without ease.'"
A
second biblical word for the suffering of the wicked in hell is 'agony',
which means pain, anguish and distress.23 In the Old Testament it is
used of godless nations which come under God's judgement; they will 'writhe in
agony' (Zechariah 9:5) and 'grieve bitterly' (Zechariah 12:10). Paul uses the
word to express his feelings over the fact that many of his fellow Jews arc in
danger of eternal condemnation: 'I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in
my heart' (Romans 9:2). The word is also used of the sufferings of the wicked
after death. In Jesus' story, the rich man in Hades cries out, 'I am in agony
in this fire' (Luke 16:24). Whatever agonies we may experience here on earth,
they are as nothing compared to those the wicked will endure beyond the grave,
when the torments and agonies of hell will be felt in body, soul, mind,
conscience and will, and when all of their senses — sight, sound, smell, taste
and touch — will convey the agony to them.
One of the most vivid descriptions of the eternal suffering of the
wicked occurs in seven statements which we have already touched on in these two
chapters about the environment and experience of hell. When those who reject
Christ in spite of their privileges are shut out of God's kingdom 'there will
be weeping and gnashing of teeth' (Matthew 8:12); when people arc condemned
like the weeds pulled out of the field and the bad fish pulled out of the lake
they will be thrown into 'the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth' (Matthew 13:42,50); when the improperly dressed wedding
guest is ejected 'there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth' (Matthew
22:13); the wicked servant will be sent to share the fate of the hypocrites,
'where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth' (Matthew 24:51); the
worthless slave will be thrown into the darkness, where 'there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth' (Matthew 25:30); and when those who neglected their
opportunity to trust in Christ see themselves shut out of the kingdom of God
there will be 'weeping there, and gnashing of teeth' (Luke 13:28).
This description
of hell has encouraged some people to think it does not even exist and to mock
the Bible's statements on hell as nothing more than religious fantasy. They
even joke about this particular picture — 'What about people with no teeth?'
Answer:
'Teeth will be
provided.' But stupidity is not an adequate response to Scripture, and we ought
to take very serious notice of the fact that Jesus used the phrase 'weeping and
gnashing of teeth 'more than any other in his descriptions of the sinner's
experience in hell. Only a fool will treat casually what Jesus said so often.
The phrase 'gnashing of teeth' focuses on another emotion, as we
can discover by looking at its use elsewhere in Scripture. At one point in his
life, when he felt at the end of his tether. Job cried out, 'God assails me and
tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at
me' (Job 16:9).
When Stephen was about to be stoned to death he accused his opponents of
betraying and murdering Jesus, the righteous Son of God. Their response was
predictable and passionate:
'When they heard
this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him' (Acts 7:54). From these
two examples we can sec that 'gnashing of teeth' is a way of expressing anger.
In hell, that anger will be more intense than any this world has ever seen. The
wicked will be angry at the things which gave them pleasure on earth but now
give them pain in hell; angry at the sins that wrecked their lives; angry at
themselves for being who they are; angry at Satan and his helpers for producing
the temptations which led them into sin; and, even while compelled to
acknowledge his glory and goodness, angry at God for condemning them to this
dreadful fate.
Wars alone have caused such an unimaginable amount of suffering,
sorrow and tears. As I write these words a memorial service is being held to
commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele, in
Flanders, when 250,000 British soldiers were killed in 100 days in the summer
and autumn of 1917. Who can calculate the grief that has been wrung out of
human lives as a result of that one battle? I remember standing at the
magnificent Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC — a black granite wall
inscribed with the names of 57,939 American service personnel, with an average
age of eighteen, who died in that disastrous conflict. Near to where I was
standing a man knelt quietly in front of one of the names. As tears welled up
in his eyes I wondered how many other tears had been shed over Vietnam in the
previous thirty years, and how many as a result of all the other wars in human
history.
And what of all the tears shed in concentration camps and torture
chambers, or those caused by accident or injury, sickness and disease, violence
and bloodshed? What of the tears caused by rumour and gossip, lies and libel,
poverty and neglect, tension and depression? It is impossible to imagine all
the agony involved, yet even if we could find a way of quantifying it, we
should still fall infinitely short of 'the weeping and the gnashing of teeth'.
Ralph Venning wrote, "The punishment that sinners must undergo will be
such a state of misery that all the miseries of this life are not to be
compared with it... The gripings and grindings of all the diseases and torments
that men can or do suffer in this life are like flea bites to it... Hell would
be a kind of paradise if it were no worse than the worst of this world.'
As if this were not enough, all of the
sinner's weeping will be to no avail because, as Thomas Brooks put it, 'Could
every damned sinner weep a whole ocean, yet all those oceans together would
never extinguish one spark of eternal fire.'
When that intensity of anguish is added to a greater grief than
has ever consumed any human being on earth, this single description by Jesus of
what it will mean to be in hell should make any sensible person tremble at even
the possibility that this might be his or her experience beyond the grave.
As we come towards the end of our study on the experience
of the wicked in hell one major question needs to be answered. In chapter 9 we
established that 'fire' was by far the Bible's most frequent description of
hell. But what does 'fire' mean? Is it literal or symbolic? When Mount Etna
erupted in April 1992 and threatened to engulf the Sicilian village of
Zafferana, scientists estimated that the temperature of the lava core was over
1,000 degrees Celsius, hot enough to melt hardened steel in ten seconds. If
this temperature can be found on earth, will hell be hotter? Or are we not to
think in terms of temperature, but some other kind of intensity? saying is that
God does not cause hell to ignite by remote control, but by the 'breath' of his
own holy presence.
Exactly as we
should expect, these hints come into much clearer focus in the New Testament,
and in John's vision of the fate of the ungodly we are told that they 'will be
tormented with burning sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and of the
Lamb' (Revelation 14:10). As 'the Lamb* is obviously the Lord Jesus Christ (he
is given that name over thirty times in Revelation), John is telling us that
the Son of God, the Judge of all mankind, is present when the ungodly are being
punished. Preachers often warn people about the danger of 'eternal separation'
from God and describe hell in this way, but the Bible never uses the term. It
would be more biblical to warn people about the danger for them of the eternal presence
of God. In John Flavel's words, 'The worst terrors of the prisoners in hell
come from the presence of the Lamb. '32 In a sermon delivered in
1742, Jonathan Edwards said that for the unrighteous and the righteous eternity
would be spent 'in the immediate presence of God... God will be the hell of
the one and the heaven of the other.'