On Heaven And Hell
ON HEAVEN AND HELL
Jesus spoke about hell on a number of occasions and using a number of different terms. Occasionally he used the term “Gehenna,” which was Hebrew for “Valley of Hinnon,” the location of the city garbage pits on the east side of Jerusalem where the refuse was burn. This place of stink and destruction became a vivid picture of God's judgment against the wicked.
It was described as a place where both soul and body were destroyed: And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell {literally “Gehenna”}. (Matthew 10:28).
It was described as a place of unquenchable fire: And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell, 48 where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. (Mark 9:47-48). This place of judgment was described as a place of darkness: The sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 8:12). In his second epistle, Peter tells us how God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment (2 Peter 2:4). Instead of the word Gehenna, Peter uses the term Tartaros, a term used by the Greeks in their mythology to describe the abode of the dead. One of the most vivid portrayals of hell is in the parable that Jesus told of the Rich Man and Lazarus. And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried out and said, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame.” But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.” (Luke 16:23-26).
Once again we see a description that encompasses burning and suffering. Furthermore, one of the points of the parable is that once such a fate has begun there are no second chances. Today is the day of salvation and there are no guarantees for tomorrow. God has given a call for all men to repent. Such a call mandates a decision on your part. To make no decision is to decide against God.
Universalism teaches that hell is not eternal and that the punishment effected there will only be of a temporary nature. This teaching seems to be borrowed from the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory. But what do the Scriptures say about such a thing? Hell is described as an eternal punishment and, as such, is contrasted with eternal life: And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (Matthew 25:46). The Bible speaks on several occasions of the eternal fire of hell: Then He will also say to those on His left, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into the fiery hell. (Matthew 18:8-9).
There are some who are quick to point out that the word translated “eternal” in each of these instances is the Greek word aivwnioj (aionios) and that it is derived from the Greek term aivwn (aion) that can describe merely “an age.” The problem is that this same term is also used to describe the eternality of eternal life (John 3:16 and everywhere else in John) as well as the eternality of God Himself (Romans 16:26 speaks of tou aivwniou qeou -- the everlasting God). In Matthew 25:1-46 this term is used in the same verse to parallel the fate of both the wicked as well as the fate of the righteous. The judgment of the sheep and the goats concludes that these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. It is inconsistant to maintain that the first of these is uses of “eternal” is different from the second use. Both the wicked and the righteous are said to go into a state that is eternal. In warning of the seriousness of hell, Jesus described it both in terms of unquenchable fire (Mark 9:44) as well as by using a graphic symbolism of a worm that does not die (Mark 9:48). On the other hand, there some some scholars who, while affirming the Bible's teaching of an eternal hell, question the literalness with which we are to hold to such descriptions as a burning fire, an undying worm or darkness. Charles Hodge writes of the fire in hell:
“There seems to be no more reason for supposing that the fire spoken of in Scripture is to be literal fire, than that the worm that never dies is literally a worm. The devil and his angels who are to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire, and whose doom the finally impenitent are to share, have no material bodies to be acted upon by elemental fire. As there are to be degrees in the glory and blessedness of heaven, as our Lord teaches us in the parable of the ten talents, so there will be differences as to degree in the sufferings of the lost: some will be beaten with few stripes, some with many” (Systematic Theology, Part 4, Chapter 4). The Hebrew term for heaven is rather vague. ~yIm;v' (Shamayim) seem to have been derived from the root ~v' (sham, “there”) and simply means “the over there place.” Given the context, it can refer to the sky or to the dwelling place of God. Do God's elect go to heaven when they die? There are several elements of the Scriptures that make it clear they do.
Jesus told the parable of Lazarus upon his death being taken by the angels to “Abraham's bosom” (Luke 16:22). The is pictured as a place where he is comforted (Luke 16:25). While it must be pointed out that this is a parable and not a specific declaration of such a place, the very nature of parables is that they are generally true-to-life stories given to teach a spiritual truth. This suggests the description of “Abraham's bosom” out to be taken as being descriptive of the afterlife.
Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians 5:6-9 of being “absent from the body and present with the Lord.” There is no idea suggested in this passage that would allow for an intermediate state between these to conditions. To the contrary, Paul specifically says that while we are at home in the body we are necessarily absent from the presence of the Lord.
Paul says in Colossians 1:5 that the believer's hope is laid up “in heaven.”
Paul speaks of every family that is both on earth and in heaven (Ephesians 3:15). Such a statement is meaningless if no families are to be found in heaven.
Paul speaks of a man (perhaps himself?) who was caught up to the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2-4). In that context, he refers to this “third heaven” also by the term “paradise.”
Jesus told this thief who was dying upon the cross next to him, “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). Some have argued both from the English as well as from the Greek text that Jesus is merely telling the thief “today,” not that this is when the described action would take place. However, the way in which this construction normally appears elsewhere in the New Testament regularly supports the idea that Jesus was describing what the man would experience on that same date.
Jesus is currently in heaven and, upon His return, shall bring with Him those who have died (1 Thessalonians 4:14).
What shall heaven be like? The final two chapters of the book of Revelation give us glimpses using all sorts of imagery, but we must understand it as such and not attempt to make dogmatic assertions of the nature of the eternal state by an overly literal approach to those passage. There is a description of the New Jerusalem coming like a bride out of heaven and we are to understand that we are a part of that marriage. We read of the dimensions of the city and take note that it is in the same shape of the Holy of Holies, though measured to the number of 12 thousand stadia on a side. The NAS conveniently converts this number into miles, but it is not the distance that is important but what the numbers represent. The point is that we will enter the place of the presence of God and that it will be big enough for all to come. In the final analysis, we must echo the words of the Apostle Paul as he commented upon the still older words of the prophet:
...but just as it is written, “things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).