Season 2 Episode 7 - What Does the Bible Say About Hell
In this episode, we’re talking about hell! If you grew up in the church, maybe you have never really questioned the existence of hell. However, it is becoming a more and more controversial topic and for some Christians, they no longer believe in hell. We’re going to take a look at some of the hardest questions relating to the existence of hell, and compare it to what we know and believe about God. I’ll also talk about how hell relates to evangelism, our history, and the message of the gospel. By the end of this episode, I hope you will not only learn something new, but also be encouraged and inspired to share this message with others, because we can believe in hell and still see God’s love and redemption!
Show Notes
Heaven’s Gates and Hell’s Flames: to view the snippet of the play that I shared, click here
God describes himself in Exodus 34 as: “ compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” Exodus 34:6-7 NIV,
A lot of times people struggle with the existence of hell because it seems contradictory to God’s nature. We know God to be loving and merciful, yet this side of him is difficult to understand and seems inconsistent.
Some of the Hardest Questions about Hell
Why would God create a hell if he loves people?
Why would God feel like he has to punish, or what kind of God would punish his own son?
How can God inflict eternal punishment based on one lifetime of decisions?
How can he send people to the same fate and judgment as Satan himself? Are people that bad? Do they deserve this?
Why is hell such a difficult topic?
In preparing for this episode, I listened to an interview by Brenda Davies, from the podcast God is Grey. The interview was meant to debunk the existence of hell. To view this interview, click here (Note: this podcast is centered on progressive Christianity and is inconsistent with a lot of the traditional values relating to God and the authority of the Bible.)
The interview was helpful in revealing that many times, people reject the notion of hell because it feels like it is a fear tactic or motivator to coerce salvation. Davies describes this as abusive in her interview. Many times, pastors use this tactic to salvation by telling people about hell - and while it is understandable, it is very often done in a way that can actually turn people off to the message of the Gospel. A fitting quote for this is found in one of my favorite and most challenging books from college, the Openness of God by Clark Pinnock Richard Rice, John Sanders, William Hasker, and David Basinger: “How can we expect Christians to delight in God or outsiders to seek God if we portray God in biblically flawed, rationally suspect and existentially repugnant ways?”
Preaching about hell as a means of salvation is part of our American history
The Great Awakening was a series of religious revivals that took place in America between the 18th and 20th centuries. The First Great Awakening began in the American colonies between the 1720s and 1740s. It was birthed in response to an increased secularization of society, and fear was a primary tool for motivating people to salvation.
Jonathan Edwards was one of the primary leaders of this revival, and his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was famous. A short excerpt of the sermon says:
"The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment."
Preaching on hell was a motivational tool, and quite frankly, a scare tactic that led to conversion, but nothing more. Rather than introducing them to the love of Christ and the relationship he offers, they tried to sway them to change behavior by threatening them with hell. Even though Modern Christianity has gotten so much better at not getting trapped in the weeds of legalism, we still see this trend - and along with it, the rejection of hell (and sometimes Christianity) by those who wrestle with it.
Hell in the Bible: The progressive revelation
The Old Testament word for hell is sheol. The Old Testament picture of Sheol is that it is a Land of oblivion, land of darkness, the pit, the grave, a place of silence. One of the psalms talks about how there is No praising the Lord from the grave. It’s a solemn place, but not one of eternal torment. As we move through history within the context of the Bible, the revelation about hell becomes more clear as it gets to the New Testament. It’s through the prophetic books of the OT that we start to see the hope of resurrection, of salvation from Sheol.
Job 10:20-22 - “Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and utter darkness, to the land of deepest night, of utter darkness and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.””
For the sake of time I wasn’t able to dwell on the New Testament words used when referring to hell; however, here are some citations about “gehenna”, if you would like to continue studying on your own:
Leviticus 18:21 - You are not to make any of your children pass through the fire to Molech
Deuteronomy 18:21 - 'Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, '
1 Kings 11:7 - 'On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. '
Gehenna is a valley outside of the city of Jerusalem. It is here, in the Old Testament, that the Israelites sacrificed their children to this Ammonite god, Molech.
Jesus talks about hell more than any other figure in the Bible. The example used in the episode was Matthew 25 and the multiple parables he uses to talk about life in the kingdom/eternal life vs. eternal punishment/separation from God.
The Parable of the Ten Virgins, where the door to the wedding celebration is shut
The Parable of the Talents, where the wicked servant was cast into the outer darkness, “where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (v.30)
The Final Judgment - note that this is not a parable. (v.31-46). In Matthew 25:41 it says, 'Then He will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!”
Matthew 5:30 - 'And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell!'
There are many more verses about Jesus talking about hell. For a list of more verse, click here.
Who was hell created for?
Hell was created for Satan, not for humans.
Luke 10:18 - 'He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a lightning flash. '
Ezekiel 28:14-17 - 'You were an anointed guardian cherub, for I had appointed you. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked among the fiery stones. From the day you were created you were blameless in your ways until wickedness was found in you. Through the abundance of your trade, you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I expelled you in disgrace from the mountain of God, and banished you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud because of your beauty; For the sake of your splendor you corrupted your wisdom. So I threw you down to the earth; I made you a spectacle before kings.'
2 Peter 2:4 - 'For if God didn’t spare the angels who sinned but threw them down into Tartarus and delivered them to be kept in chains of darkness until judgment; '
Understanding hell actually emphasizes god’s mercy
Genesis 6:6 says that sin and evil grieved the Lord. The New Living Translation tells us that “it broke his heart.” Sin doesn’t just hurt us, it hurts God too. Sin causes God pain.
Have you ever thought about the fact that when mankind fell into sin, God’s plan of redemption eventually ended with his own death? That our perfect God died and sent himself to hell, to save his people from it.
Christian Theology by Millard Erickson says, “The Triune God knew that the second person would come to earth and be subject to numerous evils: hunger, fatigue, betrayal, ridicule, rejection, suffering, in death. He did this to negate sin and thus its evil effects. God is a fellow suffer with us of the evil in this world, and consequently is able to deliver us from evil. What a measure of love this is!” (P.456).
Jesus descended to hell to save us from it.
Matthew 27:50-53 -'Jesus shouted again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit. Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was split in two from top to bottom; the earth quaked and the rocks were split. The tombs were also opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And they came out of the tombs after His resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.'
Daniel 7:11-14 - “I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. “I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.'
Ephesians 4:8-10 - 'Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)'
Without hell we can’t truly understand the gravity of God’s love for us.
Hell has so often become the focus and motivator behind salvation, when in reality, it pales in comparison to the full picture of what Jesus did, and his love for us, by becoming human.
How can a loving God send anyone to hell? It’s been said before that “God doesn’t send people to hell; they send themselves.” When it’s said so non-chalantly, it sounds callous, and insensitive. But I love to explanation Erikson writes in Christian Theology:(p. 456) - Sin consists in the human’s choosing to go his or her own way rather than follow God. Throughout life, a person says to God, in effect, “Leave me alone.” Hell, the absence of God, is God simply giving that person at last what he or she has always asked for. It is not God, but one’s own choice that sends a person to hell.
As Christians, we should work on becoming better at presenting the good news, the gospel, as a portrait of extravagant love, rather than using hell as a bargaining chip. This whole explanation of hell shows just how much God loves us, to take on sin for himself, to be grieved and suffer along with us, to spare us from hell.
for further reading and study:
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