Advent Reflections - The Four Last Things: 4. Hell

Easrt window of St Andrew's, Redbourne - "The Opening of the Sixth Seal" (Revelation 6:12-17)

 Finishing our meditations on the four traditional themes of Advent

Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell; this week we're thinking about Hell

Just as we need to rid ourselves of the mental image of heaven being fluffy white clouds and harps, so we need to rid ourselves of the image of hell as sulphurous fires and devils with toasting-forks doing unspeakable things to people forever. However, these images owe more to mediæval imagination than the biblical record. So what does the bible say about hell?

In the bible there are three words that are usually translated 'hell': sheol, Hades and gehenna. Sheol is a Hebrew word that can mean 'grave', 'pit' or the 'realm of the dead' and is quite neutral, but it is also used in a sense more like what we would think of as hell – a place of punishment. Hades likewise can simply mean the underworld or realm of the dead, but is occasionally used in a context that speaks of punishment. Gehenna is the name of a rubbish dump south of Jerusalem where the filth and dead animals from the city were thrown into in a fire that burned constantly. This is used by Jesus as an illustration of what Jerusalem will become like if it doesn't follow him and by extension an illustration of the outcome for everyone who rejects him.

In order to think about hell we need to remind ourselves of what was said previously about judgement. God is perfectly holy and only perfectly holy beings can be in his kingdom, and on this criteria we all fail and no-one deserves to enter his kingdom. However, because Jesus died to take the punishment we deserve, we can be forgiven and we can enter God's kingdom. But we can only be forgiven if we ask for it. God gives us the free will to be able to choose him or reject him and he honours our decision, but if we reject Jesus we also reject the way to salvation. God “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4) and he “so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:16-18).

On Judgement Day we will see God face-to-face and we will know his verdict on us, and we will know it to be absolutely just and fair. Those who choose to reject Jesus in this life will have that decision honoured in the next; those who choose to be judged on the basis of how good they are will be judged on that basis and be found wanting; those who choose to accept the forgiveness offered by Jesus and unite themselves with him will be judged as he is and be found acceptable to God.

So what happens to those who reject Jesus? In rejecting Jesus they reject his offer of taking the punishment for their sins, therefore in order that justice may be done, punishment is still required. We know that this justice does not come before death so it must come after death. So the question is, what form will this punishment take? The simple answer is that we don't know for sure. Jesus and other parts of the bible use language to describe it, with fire and torment being common images, but it is not clear whether this language is meant to be literal or symbolic. The 'torment' may not mean physical pain but mental anguish at the realisation of the consequence of rejecting Jesus, as Charles Wesley graphically describes it: “deeply wailing shall the true Messiah see.”

The good news of Christianity about hell is that whatever it is, it is not where we're meant to be. God created us to be with him forever and although because of our sins we spoilt that plan, because of Jesus' death that relationship with God for eternity is possible again. Thinking about the 'Four Last Things' reminds us that our future lies in our hands, Jesus invites us to repent and believe in him. What is your response?