Has hell closed down ?
A gallop poll in 1995 found that only 24% of British people believe in hell as an objective reality whereas around 50% believe in heaven.
Is the whole notion of hell bad for Christianity- an embarrassing religious fossil from the middle ages or even as some have argued - an import into the Christian faith dating from when it became the official religion of the roman empire ? You can argue that the idea of tying rewards and punishments to a time beyond death is a good form of social control designed to intimidate stupid people into conformity.
Is it necessary for Christians to believe in a literal hell of damnation and conscious torture any more? It doesn’t sound like an appealing idea to get people coming to church and these days with Sunday football and shopping surely it must be more worshipper friendly just to focus on a god who heals our pain and demonstrates grace.
In a church, which wants to stress, the love of God and the grace of God can there still be any room for the concept of a state of unending spiritual torment?
Traditional biblical ideas of hell are under attack both from the outside culture which stresses individualism rather than authority and freedom rather than moral absolutes. Hell is also under attack from two directions by people working within the church.
(a)
There are those who believe in annihilation. In an official report issued in 1996 the Church of England seems to largely back this position and has redefined hell.. “Rather than a place of eternal suffering, hell is a state of nothingness.” Maybe the Anglican Church should redefine its 39 articles of religion in the prayer book to 38 because article 3 says
III. Of the going down of Christ into Hell.
As Christ died for us, and was buried; so also it is to be believed, that he went down into Hell.
(b) there are those who are called universalists and adopt the idea that ultimately everyone will be saved. Universalism was prevalent in many Baptist churches 200 years ago, ultimately it leads to a loss of zeal for evangelism and a loss of committmen among members. Id everyone is going to be saved then why bother with the church? There are more productive things to do with your time.
C.S. Lewis faced the dilemma of hell and concluded “There is no doctrine that I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture, and specially of our Lord’s own words; it has always been held by Christendom, and has the support of reason.” Later he adds, “I said glibly a moment ago that I would pay ‘any price’ to remove this doctrine. I lied. I could not pay one fractional part of the price that God has already paid to remove the fact.” And here is the real problem: so much mercy, yet still there is Hell.
We need to be clear on one thing. The idea that God tortures people owes more to Dante’s Inferno than it does the Bible. Those ending up in hell go there because they have rejected God’s love. Any agony experienced comes as a direct result of the decision to move in the opposite direction to God because they hate God’s authority. They do not want his rulership over their lives. It is like a child not listening to its parent who tells them not to go near the stove when its hot, they don’t listen and get burned. God doesn’t want anyone to go there and has done what He can to keep people from going there but people are still free to exercise the choice not to listen.
Christians need to think carefully- do they base their faith and their practices on the clear teaching of scripture or on clutter acquired from their culture or the long traditions of the church?
The story of the rich man and Lazarus is a puzzling story found only in Luke’s gospel. It is a story where Jesus talks about a literal place of torment and suffering. Let’s hear that story as we continue to explore the subject “Has hell closed down”
The Rich Man and Lazarus
Luke 19:19
19"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell,[3] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, ’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.’ 25"But Abraham replied, ’Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ 27"He answered, ’Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29"Abraham replied, ’They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30" ’No, father Abraham,’ he said, ’but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31"He said to him, ’If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ "
The context is that Jesus was talking to a mixed audience containing disciples (16:1) and Pharisees (v14). Every audience that a preacher addresses is a mixed audience. There are those who are in the first flush of youthful adulthood and those who are on the last lap of a long life; there are those who are well endowed with this world’s goods and those who have very little. There are those who look and sound very spiritual but who in their secret behaviour may be a million miles from God’s ways- there will be those who know very little about the bible but what they know they believe and they are trusting Christ.
To this mixed audience Christ told this very strange story. If the parable of the prodigal son in chapter 15 is a story of grace then surely this is a story of grace and wrath.
It is a story of continuance of life beyond the grave. Neither the rich man nor the poor men are shown as being annihilated, neither are they shown as reaching identical destinations.
Consciousness continuing beyond the grave is a Christian belief. Notice there is no suggestion of any idea of the circle of life or of reincarnation or rebirth upon the earth. Death is seen to be a one-way street into the next phase.
In the wider setting of his teaching on money Christ is setting before us the idea that this world’s external comforts such as fine clothes, money and a lovely home are not guarantee of preferential treatment in the life to come. In that sense death becomes a jubilee in the biblical sense of the word in that it marks
a liberation and an equalisation.
The Rich Man and Lazarus
Luke 16 gives a frightening picture of two destinations after death but can we – should we- believe it?
(1) Christ spoke of hell
Luke included this account believing it to have come from the lips of Jesus himself. If in earlier weeks we have argued that Luke was aiming for historical accuracy then it is logical to accept this account at face value.
Although the account is sometimes called the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus it differs from other parables in that the characters are named instead of being referred to as “a certain man” or “a certain woman”
There’s not much sense in puzzling about the location of hell any more than there is about puzzling over the location of heaven. It’s a metaphor. Jesus said he was the bread of life but you don’t ask whether or not he was a large brown loaf or a sliced white you accept that it is symbolic picture language helping pointing people towards profound truth. If you accept the symbolic language elsewhere in scripture as pointing to divine reality it is illogical to conclude that the symbols used here of bliss and torment are referring to either annihilation or the idea that everyone ends up with the Lord.
When Christ spoke of hell he used symbolic language but from it we learn that the rich man after death was in some kind of torment from which he hoped for relief. Relief did not come because there was a great gulf fixed between him and Lazarus. The gulf is again symbolic of their being no relief and no escape.
(2) Christ surprised his hearers
The story would have astounded the first hearers because it turned upside down widely held assumptions about God’s blessing and disfavour. People assumed then that the rich were being blessed by God and that the poor and the those with special needs of any kind were under God’s disfavour and therefore must be sinful.
Jesus surprises everyone by saying that the rich man who seems to have been given a good funeral was now in torment whilst the poor man whose burial did not even warrant a footnote in the account was in paradise.
Neither man ended up where they were because of their riches or their poverty. The rich man had been condemned because his heart was not right with God, and because he had neglected the needs under his nose. Lazarus had no material distractions in life and as his name implied, simply, with child-like faith, trusted in God.
The moral of the story is two fold –(i) we may end up with some surprises in eternity because god looks only on the heart not on outward circumstances and (ii) avoid hell at all costs
Christ died to keep you out of hell
–If people could be saved outside of Christ’s death on the cross then there would be no reason for His death. If all were to be ultimately saved regardless of belief then there would be no need to repent and believe the gospel.
By dying on the cross Jesus won back any and all claims Satan had on humanity, on this earth , or as an authority of any kind in the heavens. Satan’s eventual destruction was accomplished upon the cross for which we await now only the final outworkings in history.
Jesus said to the rich man , ’If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ "
Jesus is saying here that there will be people who remain unconvinced and who exercise their free will to turn away from God.
Without hell why would one pray for revival?
When the Holy Spirit revives the church there is always a renewed concern for lost people. Why would this be if all are ultimately saved? If all people are going to be ultimately saved then there would be no understandable reason for the Holy Spirit to give times of special visitation during which many people come to faith in Christ.
How accurately this parable portrays our human desire for the spectacular, the dramatic, the shocking to occur! We have all felt this way at times. We ask, "Why is it so hard to believe? Why doesn’t God do more? Why don’t we see miracles as in the days when Christ walked the earth ?"
Many feel that if they could only see a miracle, or be spoken to by an angel, then they would believe. But we need to ask ourselves: How many who saw the miracles in our Lord’s day still believed in him at the end of his life?
How many stayed with him who believed because of the miracles? Not many – there were more than 500 who had a special resurrection appearance but who apparently melted away before the day of Pentecost reducing the number to around 120 in the upper room. Imagine that – you had seen the risen Christ and even that wasn’t sufficient to get you to the prayer meeting in the upper room.
If God is love how can people who have never heard of Christ go to hell?
God is holy and cannot tolerate sin. Hell was created for the devil and his angels. (See Matthew 25:41.) The whole account of Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross reveals that God has a great heart of love for people. God desires that all should come to repentance. (See 2 Peter 3:9.)
People condemn themselves by wilfully turning away from God. By sending Jesus to offer up His life, God has provided a way of escape from the just consequences of our sins and has called us to let people know about Jesus Christ and His atoning blood that brings reconciliation between God and people.
God has commissioned Christians to deliver tell the world of his love and grace If the message of salvation is not communicated to a lost world, it will not be God’s fault, but ours who are charged by Him to relay the message.
Much of God’s just judgment in eternity is a mystery. It isn’t possible to know and understand what God hasn’t revealed. (See Romans 11:33.) Rather, we must believe and obey the truth God has given to us. Nothing takes away our responsibility to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to all creation. Our part is not to question and speculate, but to recognize God’s holiness and love — that He is both just and merciful. Ultimately God is the judge. Our responsibility is to do everything possible to let the world know about Jesus Christ and His salvation. We must trust everything else to God’s sovereign will.
At Christmas we often read the words from John’s gospel “But as many as received Him, to them he gave the right to become children of god, to those who believe in His name. Have you put your whole trust in Christ as your only hope of salvation?
Has Hell closed down? I wish it had but believe it hasn’
Sources John Bueno ( executive director of Assemblies of God Foreign Missions)
“Not One Chance in Hell”The Rev’d Quintin Morrow St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Ft. Worth, Texas
Ray C Stedman- The main thing
Lambert Dolphin.On Everlasting Destruction
