We are told a lot about the new heavens and the new earth but relatively little about hell. In fact, wherever hell is alluded to in the New Testament it is given almost no descriptive embellishment. We are only given symbols, like that of the lake of fire, the valley of Gehenna (where the carcasses of the sacrifices were burned, Mark 9:48) and that of being shut out of something wonderful in a place of darkness (Matthew 8:12). And then there are of course the hard-hitting references to the grief and suffering of such a state (Matthew 25:30). We know more than enough to know that this fate is to be avoided at all costs, but not enough to construct theories about what hell consists of exactly. We know that in hell God’s justice will be perfectly fulfilled; consequences will be assigned in proportion to the extent of each person’s rebellion, no more and no less (Luke 12:47-48). So, we can put aside all concerns about hell being ‘excessive’. It will be right, and it will put things right, because it isn’t right that so much evil has been done in this world without consequence for those who did it. The philosopher Plato felt compelled to believe in the immortality of the soul and some kind of judgement after death because he could not conceive that such a tension of injustice could remain unbalanced. His intuition was right. Justice will be done. But for me it has already been done. The scales of justice were balanced for me when Jesus paid for my guilt on the cross. And that’s available to all.
Thank God for saving you from your guilt.
Read Revelation 21:8 and Luke 16:19-31.
