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Sermon on Hell (page six) 

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Jesus is an expert

on what happens after death

because He is God.
 

If there’s fire, there can’t be darkness. And so you know what happens? We focus on these details and we get all tongue tied. Sceptics say, “If there’s fire then there’s light, and if there’s light there can’t be outer darkness. So explain that!”

  “Oh, well, I don’t know,” we say. We get all defensive and say, “Well, it’s symbolic.” Which is not a bad answer. In fact, I think you’re on the right track there.

   Of course it’s symbolic! Everything about language is symbolic. Language at its heart is metaphorical. We can’t see the reality of hell. We can only think of it in earthly terms.

  We can’t see the reality of heaven either—streets paved with gold. Well, since there are streets, are there any potholes in heaven? But this is not the point! The point is that heaven is the place where the most precious commodity known to mankind (gold) is as common as dirt!

  Human language is inadequate to describe heavenly reality. In order to explain heaven, we end up subtracting from what we know of earthly existence. There is no pain. There is no sickness. There is no sin. There is no death.

   What do we end up with? Something negative. But how can negatives possibly do justice to the overwhelming glory and sheer joy of heaven?

  On this side of death, how can we possibly understand what heaven and hell will be like? We can’t. It’s impossible. So the reality of heaven and hell have to be taught to us in symbolic terms.   But what does the fire signify? I would start with the obvious thing that the parable of the rich man and Lazarus teaches us. To be in hell is to be in a place which so far exceeds any  miseries you can experience in this life that they pale by comparison.

  There are different words used in the Bible for the reality of hell. There is “fire.” Another is “torment.” Then there are the words used in Matthew 25:46, “eternal punishment.” Whatever we understand these words to mean, they must mean that the horror of hell is beyond our comprehension. Rightly understood, hell should strike us dumb with terror.

  Hell does not end. Matthew 25 concludes with a parallel between the sheep and the goats. Both enter an eternal state of being. “Then He will say to those on His right hand, ‘Enter into the kingdom prepared for you.’ ” Enter into happiness! This happiness is beyond our understanding. It’s enough for me that in heaven I will no longer have to struggle with Dan Lundy the sinner. Sin will be behind me! I won’t be exposed to temptations that  pull me away from God.

  Heaven is so far beyond anything that we taste of pleasure now. The Psalmist says, “In your presence there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

  We experience pleasures in this life, even just the pleasure of looking out at the world God has made and revelling in its beauty and the changing of the seasons. There’s something magical about that.

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