I Have No Rest

It was all too much for Job—the loss of his wealth, the death of his children, his wife's hopeless urging to curse God and die, his horrible disease, and now his friends crying beside him. He finally let it all come cascading, cursing the day of his birth:

"Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, 'A man is conceived.' Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it. Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. That night--let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it. Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan. Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning, because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. "Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire? Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse? For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest, with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves, or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light? There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster. The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. "Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave? Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? " - Job 3:1-23 ESV

Why? Why? Why?
Why did I not die at birth?
Why did the knees receive me?
Why the breasts that I should nurse?
Why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?
Why is light given to him who is in misery?
Why is life given to the bitter in soul who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasure?
Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

Job's plaintive cries echo the ever present cries of countless men, women and children who find no answers to the question of a God who permits suffering, sorrow, anguish and death? Does He get some sort of perverse pleasure from it all? Who can believe in such a God? Who can delight in His presence, promises and purposes?

These are the questions that haunt us like jackals in the wilderness, laughing and salivating in the hideous hope of devouring our souls, sending them carelessly into the fathomless darkness of hades. Do we dare to crawl along this painful journey with this pitiful man? Are there answers, any answers to our dreadful doubts? Do we dare to turn the page?

Listen to Job's wretched cries, for they are our own. . .

For my sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes. - Job 3:24-26 ESV

The Book of Life or The Lake of Fire

From chapters 6 through 21 John presents seven scenes. Here again is the outline of his book:

In chapters 6 - 21 John presented seven scenes of the End Times, each revealing more about what we are to expect as we await the return of our King. Seven is a most important number in Scripture. As I pointed out in an earlier blog:

Seven is the great number of completion and perfection. The number is used 735 times in Scripture, 54 times in Revelation. It is tied directly to God's creation of all things. The Jewish rabbis traditionally claim that Adam was created on Oct. 7, 3761 B.C. (the first day of Tishri, the 7th month of the Hebrew calendar). God created all things and completed His work on the 6th day, to rest on the 7th. So His children were commanded to follow His example and to "rest" on the Sabbath, the 7th day (Exo 16:23-29).

So the number 7 is John's basic outline for his book on the Revelation given to him. After the messages to the seven churches, he shares seven scenes:

1. Christ opens the Seven Seals (Rev 6:1-8:5)
2. Seven Trumpets are blown (Rev 8:6-11:19)
3. The battle between the Triune God and the Anti-Trinity (Rev. 12:1-14:20)
4. The pouring out of the Seven Bowls of Wrath (Rev 15:1-16:21)
5. Babylon, the Prostitute, is overthrown (Rev 17:1-19:21)
6. The Final Judgment (Rev 20:1-21:8)
7. The New Jerusalem, the Bride, the wife of the Lamb (Rev 21:9-22:5 

Epilogue: Come, Lord Jesus! (Rev 22:6-21)

The following image is presented to assist you, my readers, in imaging what the Great White Throne looks like. The link to which the image is attached contains several statements with which I do not entirely agree.

The Great White Throne

So we are now looking at John's vision of the Final Judgment and the great white throne. He writes:

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. - Rev 20:11-15 ESV

Several questions arise as we look upon this vision, especially since we have emphasized again and again that this is primarily a book of symbols. So we ask,

• What is the great white throne? 
• What is the book of life? 
• What is Death and Hades?
• What is the second death, the lake of fire? 

As noted earlier, the throne or the rule over all things belongs to the King of kings and Lord of lords. In the OT the prophet Daniel referred to the earthly king Nebuchadnezzar as the king of kings (Dan. 2:37). The Apostle Paul picks up this reference as he tells Timothy that the Lord Jesus is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. (1Ti 6:15-16 ESV). John, in turn, picks up this same phrase as he also calls Jesus King of kings in Rev. 17:14.

But what books are opened? Again we turn to the OT.

Moses pleads for the Israelites: "But now, if you will forgive their sin--but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written." - Exo 32:32 ESV

Again the Psalmist condemns God's enemies: "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous." - Psa 69:28 ESV

And the prophet writes: "he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem," - Isa 4:3 ESV

And finally Daniel: "At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. - Dan 12:1 ESV

So John sees a symbolical book in which are written all the names of those chosen to be the children of God, destined to eternal life. But what awaits those whose names are not written therein? All the dead whose names are not recorded in the book of life must now face the second death. This death is also the lake of fire. Earlier John has stated that this lake burns with sulfur (Rev. 19:20; 20:10). But how literally are we to take this? Both the OT and Jesus speak about the burning judgment of God.

• For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. - Deut. 4:24 ESV 
• Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him. - Nah 1:6 ESV 
• and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. - Mat 13:42 ESV 
• And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. - Mat 18:8 ESV 
• "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. - Mat 25:41 ESV 
• And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 'where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.' - Mark 9:47-48 ESV 
• and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. - Luke 16:23 ESV

We shall not here deal with the questions about where this hell, this second death, this lake of fire is. It does not seem that we are to look for some literal location under the earth, etc. The image is rather a warning to us who are yet in the flesh. We are to imagine the physical torment and pain we would endure in such a place and then add to that the emotional and spiritual anguish of being cut off from the presence of God—forever! Those sent there face the extreme opposite of those whose names are recorded in the book of life. Enough said.  Life or death, you choose.

From this sharply contrasting image John now transports us to the new Jerusalem and the glory awaiting those chosen to dwell there.

The Abyss, The Bottomless Pit

As we move into Revelation 20 we are confronted by a strange symbolic anomaly, namely "the bottomless pit and a great chain." I say it is an anomaly, because the image is impossible to conceive. How can a pit be bottomless? That would suggest that it goes on forever and ever and ever and that the "dragon" and that "ancient serpent," also known as the devil and Satan are thrown into it. What is implied by this symbol of a pit with no bottom (the word is abyss) into which the dragon is thrown, with its cover sealed and locked by a great chain for a thousand years? How could a spirit being be constrained by something that seems to be physical?

Well, for one thing, the devil isn't going to get loose to do all the hideous things he'd like to do. His great power for evil is constrained and there is no limit to the constraints put upon him. The bottomless pit has been with us a number of other times in Revelation:

And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. ... They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon. - Rev 9:1-2, 11 ESV

And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, - Rev 11:7 ESV

The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. - Rev 17:8 ESV

You may want to review this blog's comments for those passages. Use search phrases: bottomless pit. Apollyon and the beast to locate them.  

Orc of Mordor

The Greeks and Romans had a couple similar images in their mythology. They spoke about Orcus and Tartarus.

Orcus started out as the god of the underworld. Then his name was given to the underworld itself, the land of the dead. The French word Ogre seems to be a variant form of this word. In Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy we learn about the race of Orcs who serve the great villains of the tale—Morgoth, Sauron and Saruman. Indeed Orcus also survives in many ways in astrology as the demon lord of the undead and all those who practise necromancy. One can find many references to him in various computer games as well.

Tartarus is a Greek word for the deep abyss, the dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and the prison for the Titans. It is as far below Hades—the place of the dead—as the earth is below the heavens. The New Testament preserves this image in the verb tartaroo, "throw down to Tartarus." So we read in 2 Peter 2:

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; - 2Pe 2:4 ESV

There is also a reference to the dark chains that limit the power of the prince of darkness and his minions in the story of Jesus casting out the Gadarene's demons. The demons beg the LORD not to torment them before the time. So Jesus permits them to enter a herd of pigs and dive into the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 8:28-34; cf. also Jude 1:6).

These then are the only references to John's abyss. Both John and Peter borrow from the culture to describe with this word picture the "place" where or how the devil is confined until the thousand years are completed. He is not now free to roam the earth, but is constrained from the deep evil that he intends. When the thousand years end, says the Revelation, this dark lord will be freed for a time. But then God's final judgment will be carried out and all evil rebellion will cease (Rev. 20:7-10).

The Promised Helper, The Spirit of Truth

I was invited to proclaim God's Word to a small congregation in East Texas last Sunday, the Sunday after Jesus' ascension into heaven. Based upon the Gospel lesson, I focused on the anxiety so many of us feel in these unsettled times. Take a brief look at but a few of the events here in the U.S.:

• Boston marathon bombing
• Slaughter of kids in Newtown, Connecticut
• Abortionist doctor convicted of murder
• Jodi Arias found guilty of murder
• Devastating explosion in West, Texas

I've referred only to a few of the recent frightening events in the United States. Yesterday I touched on the extreme hatred and persecution of Christians around the world. Why? Why does all this continue? Where is the Lord God? Why does it seem like Satan and the vast powers of darkness, confusion and death are winning? When will it end? 

To help us in this struggle the Lord Jesus said something we all need to keep hearing: 

"But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. - Jhn 15:26-27 ESV

The Helper, as the ESV translates it, is no one less than the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, called by Jesus the Spirit of Truth, sent by the Father to bear witness about Jesus. In the original language used by Jesus the Helper refers to one who stands at your side to guide, comfort, defend you from the demonically inspired thoughts of despair and doubt that plague so many of us. The KJV calls the Spirit the Comforter. Of this Spirit of God Jesus further taught, 

"he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." - Jhn 14:26 ESV

The Holy Spirit at work in God's Word lifts up for us these important truths: 

• We have no right to expect anything other than that God would reject us and this world we live in altogether. If you followed the Jodi Arias trial for the past four months to the point where she was declared guilty, you learned that the trial is divided into two parts: the guilt phase followed by the punishment phase. Fox news reported that she prefers the punishment to be death. Would that be your preference? In God's eyes there is no righteous person on earth (Ecclesiastes 7:20). All are guilty and deserving death. But the Spirit reveals that death does not mean one ceases to exist. Rather death means that you continue forever in lonely despair and darkness, finally given the arid hell you ask for by your disobedience (Luke 16:19-31). Speaking for that same LORD, the prophet Jeremiah puts it this way: 

". . . for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." - Jer. 2:13 ESV

• But the Spirit speaks again and again a vital second truth in God's Word. Jesus has already endured that hell for you on the cross. This is what was behind his loud, despairing cry at the ninth hour, 

"Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" - Mark 15:34 - ESV. 

• And the Father accepted that lonely sacrifice by raising Jesus up on the third day. All this was foretold by the prophets like Isaiah who spoke about the Suffering Servant who 

"poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors." Why? The prophet continues, "he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors." - Isa 53:12 ESV

• Speaking to our hearts, the Spirit confirms in this way that we are God's children and that despite everything else our Father will not forsake us, but will also raise us up with Jesus on the great day when Christ returns in victory and glory. 

For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For "God has put all things in subjection under his feet." But when it says, "all things are put in subjection," it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. - 1 Cor 15:21-27 ESV 

Comforted and strengthened by our Helper and Comforter, we set out again each day to give witness to our faith and pray that our witness will be used to lead yet others to know and believe in their Savior.  

Hell Must Be Forever

The Christian church has always taught that hell is eternal, forever, unending. Holy Scripture quotes our Lord Jesus' reply to those who reject him in this life, contrasting hell with heaven.

Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." - Mat 25:45-46 ESV

John the Baptist is quoted as saying the same thing,

For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. - John 3:34-36 ESV

Yes, it is true that the term eternity is sometimes used in the weakened sense of long duration. For example,

"This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever (Hebr. 'owlam), you shall keep it as a feast. ... You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. - Exod 12:14, 24 ESV 

The Passover has been replaced by the Lord's Supper. Consequently the term forever does not mean eternal or without end in such references, but in all references to heaven and hell it does indeed mean forever. So the Apostle Paul also writes about the misery of those damned in hell.

Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering-- since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. - 2 Thess 1:4-10 ESV

But why? Why? we ask again. Why would a loving God bring eternal destruction upon a world that he claims to love so much? The answer  lies in the very nature of God. He is totally reliable. You can always depend upon him and his Word. He never lies. He never changes. He is always the same. He is completely worthy of our trust. He does not change his mind. He will do what he has said he will do.

He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. - 1 Thess 5:24 ESV 

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? - Num 23:19 ESV

There is but one God. To reject him is to reject life itself. This was so from the very beginning. And yet God loves us all, regardless of race, status, position or place. But there is not a just man among us who has loved God with all his or her heart, mind and power (Rom. 3:10-18). How can we possibly be reconciled to God? How can God remain true to himself and still forgive us and freely give to us eternal life? Only in Jesus Christ. In Christ God has reconciled us all to himself. So the Apostle writes of Christ,

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, - Col 1:19-22 ESV

It follows then that God has no other choice. To be who he is, both just, faithful and loving, he must pronounce judgment and eternal death upon  those who turn their backs upon his mercy and forgiveness freely offered in Christ. To quote John as I did above, "whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him" (John 3:36).

The Frightening And False Teaching Of Purgatory

I return today to the question of hell awaiting those who reject Christ. How does one reconcile the reality of hell with the Biblical teaching of a God of love as revealed in Christ and his suffering, death and resurrection?

In this connection you may be interested to hear and read the testimony of Bill Wiese who says that he was given a 23 minute vision of hell. His website (Soul Choice) features his book and a video among other items. He quotes extensively from the Scriptures. He says he was given this vision so that he might share his experience and warn us not to ignore what God has revealed about salvation and judgment. Do your own study and draw your own conclusions.

There are many passages from the Bible that we all must consider. Before exploring them, however, I believe it is critical that we explore the question of hell's duration and the idea of purgatory, that place between heaven and hell where supposedly even believers must go to be purged and cleansed in preparation for entering heaven. Here I focus especially on the Roman Catholic teaching. Here's a quote from the Catholic encyclopedia about it. Read the entire article for their more extensive treatment.

That temporal punishment is due to sin, even after the sin itself has been pardoned by God, is clearly the teaching of Scripture. God indeed brought man out of his first disobedience and gave him power to govern all things (Wisdom 10:2), but still condemned him "to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow" until he returned unto dust. God forgave the incredulity of Moses and Aaron, but in punishment kept them from the "land of promise" (Numbers 20:12). The Lord took away the sin of David, but the life of the child was forfeited because David had made God's enemies blaspheme His Holy Name (2 Samuel 12:13-14). In the New Testament as well as in the Old, almsgiving and fasting, and in general penitential acts are the real fruits of repentance (Matthew 3:8; Luke 17:3;3:3). The whole penitential system of the Church testifies that the voluntary assumption of penitential works has always been part of true repentance and the Council of Trent (Sess. XIV, can. xi) reminds the faithful that God does not always remit the whole punishment due to sin together with the guilt. God requires satisfaction, and will punish sin, and this doctrine involves as its necessary consequence a belief that the sinner failing to do penance in this life may be punished in another world, and so not be cast off eternally from God.

According to this teaching, sinners must be purged and cleansed by punishment and pain before they can be admitted into heaven's glory and peace. This is a very frightening teaching. It openly takes away from the work of Christ and transforms salvation and eternal life into something we sinners obtain through our works of repentance, suffering, punishment and prayers in addition Christ's suffering, death and resurrection. In so teaching these teachers have changed radically the Biblical teaching of grace and mercy in Christ. Consider Jesus' word as quoted by the Apostle John.

For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. - Jhn 5:21-29 ESV

Jesus had healed a man on the Sabbath. The Jews who opposed Jesus claimed this was a work done on the Sabbath, something clearly forbidden by God. Beyond that Jesus claimed to be God's Son since he called God his own Father. In their eyes Jesus was claiming to be equal with God—the greatest form of blasphemy. So they looked for a way to kill him. These views were behind Jesus' statement quoted above.

Notice carefully what Jesus says about those who hear his word and believe in him.

• He, God's Son, is indeed equal in dignity and honor to the Father. By honoring him you honor the Father. Fail to honor the Son and you fail to honor the Father. 
• All judgment is now given to the Son.
• To hear and believe Jesus' word is more than merely hearing it as sounds in your ear. To hear him is to comprehend, to understand and to put your trust in what he says. Then you build your life and your future upon that word, just as Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7:24). 
• So what does Jesus say in his word? He says plainly that we who believe him already have eternal life. We will not come into judgment ! We have already here and now, before the death of our physical bodies, passed into life, the life that is Christ. He is our life, as he and his apostles teach over and over again. 
• Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. - Jhn 14:6 ESV
• For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. - (The Apostle Paul in Phil 1:21 ESV)
• The Scripture clearly teaches that only the blood of Christ cleanses and purges us from sin. John speaks about this in his epistle: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." - 1John 1:7 ESV 

The concept of a place of purging between heaven and hell is, as noted, a very pernicious and dangerous teaching. It robs us of the comfort of the Gospel. It puts the burden upon us, our suffering as well as the prayers and good works of others on behalf of those deceased. It turns us away from the wondrous and completely undeserved gift of salvation in Christ.

Instead I urge you to take comfort from the word Jesus spoke to the thief dying beside him on the cross who asked Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom. 

And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." - Luk 23:43 ESV

Hear Jesus' word and be at peace. Your sins have been taken away: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." - Rom 8:1 ESV

Hell And The God Of Love

We're continuing a discussion of the existence of the human soul after death. 

Back in October, 2008 Dr. Ken R Vincent delivered a lecture delivered to the Psi Beta Psychology Honor Society at Houston Community College on The Dark Side of Spiritually Transformative Experiences. The lecture was later published in 2009 in the liberal magazine Universalist Herald as an article titled "Religious Experience Research Reveals Universalist Principles."  In his college lecture Dr. Vincent quoted two people who had negative near-death experiences of hell. 

• “I was in hell…I cried up to God, and it was by the power of God and the mercy of God that I was permitted to come back.” (Rommer, 2000, p. 42)
• “God, I’m not ready, please help me…I remember when I screamed (this), an arm shot out of the sky and grabbed my hand at the last second.  I was falling off the end of the funnel, the lights flashing; and the heat was really something.” (Greyson & Bush, 1992, p. 100)

I won't comment on the validity of these reports. However, I do want to emphasize that even such a far-left leaning journal as the Universalist Herald finds it important to acknowledge the existence of hell. However—and this is critical—they do not believe nor teach that hell is permanent. In his article Dr. Vincent suggests that

“Hell may last as long a sinful humanity lasts, but that does not mean that any individual will remain in it all that time. The time of purging can only continue until purification is reached. And a God driven to employ endless hell would be a God turned fiend himself, defeated in his original purpose…. but God will never desert the soul.”

Is the Biblical teaching of hell indeed a teaching about a fiendish God who loves only selectively? Here are Jesus' comments about hell as reported by Matthew's Gospel:

• But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. ... If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. - Mat 5:22, 29-30 ESV
• And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. - Mat 10:28 ESV
• And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. - Mat 16:18 ESV
• And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. - Mat 18:9 ESV
• Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. ... You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? - Mat 23:15, 33 ESV

Is this indeed the same Lord who said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" - Matt 11:28 ESV? And again, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" - John 3:16 ESV?

How does one reconcile a loving God in Christ with the concept of souls going to hell after the body has died, only to be resurrected and confined body and soul to hell forever?

And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' ... "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ... Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." - Mat 25:30, 41, 45-46 ESV

The Greek for eternal does indeed say that the darkness, fire and punishment will never cease. The huge question that troubles many is how to reconcile this Word of God with His revealing of Himself in Christ as the God of love who bears our burdens and carries our sorrows (Isa. 53:3-4). The brief answer lies in the fact that we have been endowed with the power to choose. While every sin is by its very nature damnable, in the final analysis it is the sin of refusing to accept God's mercy in Christ that condemns.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ... Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. - John 3:17-18, 36 ESV

As someone has said, you can only get into hell over the crucified body of Christ. But there is much, much more that needs to be said about this. That discussion will have to wait for later postings.

You Can Kill My Body, But You Can't Kill Me!

Today we are taking a further look at how the Bible describes a human being. So far we have looked at the Hebrew O.T. and the Greek translation of the O.T., the Septuagint (LXX). Now we move directly into the New Testament, using both the original Greek and the English translations.

Soul (psyche) and Spirit (pneuma) in the New Testament


Everything noted about the Hebrew word nephesh may generally be applied to the Greek psyche in the N.T. This is a man's life, living, thinking and acting. For instance, Jesus says,

"Whoever would save his life (psyche) will lose it, but whoever loses his life (psyche) for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul (psyche, so could be translated life)? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul (psyche)? - Matthew 16:25

"Whoever finds his life (psyche) will lose it, and whoever loses his life (psyche) for my sake will find it." - Matthew 10:39

In both instances Jesus is emphasizing that a man must decide to put his life in Jesus' hands. He is the Savior and Lord of all. To commit your life to anyone or anything else is to lose it. Earlier in Matthew 10:28 Jesus says,

"And do not fear those who will kill the body (soma) but cannot kill the soul (psyche). Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (gehenna)."

This is a very revealing passage. Obviously a man is able to kill the body of another man. The Greek word for kill is apokteino. So the tenants in Jesus' parable killed the son, hoping to gain his inheritance (Matthew 21:33-41). By this story Jesus predicted the Jewish leaders would kill Him. And so they did, by turning Him over to Pilate to be crucified. Jesus died, he ceased to breathe. Joseph of Arimathea placed Jesus' body in his own new tomb (Matthew 27:57-60). Just before He died Jesus cried out with a loud voice and yielded or gave up His spirit (pneuma) into the hands of His heavenly Father  (Matthew 27:50, John 19:30, Luke 23:46). The man Jesus did not cease to exist, however. They could kill His  body, but they could not kill His soul or life (psyche).

What does this mean for us believers? It means exactly what Jesus said. Men cannot kill us. They can only kill the bodily side of who we are. So when Stephen was stoned he taught us how to pray in the face of the death of our bodies. He prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit (pneuma)." - Acts 7:59. Death for the believer has lost its sting, its power, as also the Apostle Paul taught us when he wrote, "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (I Corinthians 15:55, cf. Hosea 13:14).

When Jesus raised the child of the ruler from death, Luke writes that her spirit (pneuma) returned (to her body). Those attending her knew she was dead. Jesus, however, said, "She is not dead, but sleeping" (Luke 8:52-55). Thus Jesus comforts us by reminding us that death is but a sleep and that on the last day He will restore us to full and complete life as He returns our spirits to a renewed and eternal bodily existence in the new creation (1 Corinthians 15:51).

Returning to the Matthew 10:28 passage about not being able to kill the soul, note that Jesus says that God can destroy (appolimi) both body and soul in hell. On the final Day Jesus will raise all to bodily life (Matthew 25:31-46). However, the unbeliever will face a bodily existence in hell, alone, separated from the joy of life in the presence of God, lost in pain, suffering, sorrow and grief (cf. the parable of Lazarus and the rich man in Hades, Luke 16:19-31; 2 Thessalonians. 1:7-9; Revelation 20:11-15).

To find life (psyche) is to lose one's life for the sake of Jesus. This life begins when the Holy Spirit (Hagios Pneuma) grants us new birth and gives us new life (John 3:5-6; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 12:3). Full and complete life is always the life of body, mind and spirit in full communion with one's Creator. Jesus came to give us this life (Greek zoe) and give it abundantly (John 5:21-24; 6:27-63; 10:10, etc.). Believers will share in this life in the new heavens and earth (Romans 8:11-23). More on this next time.

C.S. Lewis on Heaven and Hell

It seems I'm always doing something else and going somewhere that keeps me from writing to this Blog. Right now Sylvia and I have returned to our vacation home in Pagosa Springs, CO. where we are spending a few weeks enjoying the beauty of fall leaves and cool mountain air.

After we arrived and settled in I started looking around at a few of the books I've had stored here for years. I came across a little volume I hadn't read for a long, long time: The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis.

The Wikipedia article about the book summarizes the plot in this way: "In The Great Divorce, the narrator suddenly, and inexplicably, finds himself in a grim and joyless City (the "grey town", a depiction of Hell). He eventually finds a bus for those who desire an excursion to some other place (and which eventually turns out to be the foothills of Heaven). He enters the bus and converses with his fellow passengers as they travel. When the bus reaches its destination, the "people" on the bus — including the narrator — gradually realize that they are ghosts. Although the country is the most beautiful they have ever seen, every feature of the landscape (including streams of water and blades of grass) is unbearably solid compared to themselves: it causes them immense pain to walk on the grass, and even a single leaf is far too heavy for any of them to lift."

As the narrator (apparently Lewis) wanders about in those heavenly foothills he meets a man by the name of George Macdonald (pp.64 ff). Macdonald, he acknowledges, taught him a great deal through his writings. He shares how his reading of Macdonald's book Phantasies started him on the path to becoming a Christian. Now in these heavenly foothills Macdonald continues to act as his Teacher. A lengthy discussion between the two follows. What interested me in this reading is the way Macdonald describes heaven and hell.

Permit a quote about these two places. He calls their present location "the Valley of the Shadow of Life" for those saved. The sad streets of the town from whence the narrator and the other ghosts came would be "the Valley of the Shadow of Death." This leads to a comment about eternity by the Scotsman Macdonald:

"...ye can get some likeness of it if ye say that both good and evil, when they are full grown, become retrospective. Not only this valley but all this earthly past will have been Heaven to those who are saved. Not only the twilight in that town, but all their life on earth too, will then be seen by the damned to have been Hell. That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, 'No future bliss can make up for it,' not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say, 'Let me but have this and I'll take the consequences: little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin.

"Both processes begin even before death. The good man's past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man's past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why, at the end of all things, when the sun rises here and the twilight turns to blackness down there, the Blessed will say, 'We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven,' and the Lost, 'We were always in Hell.' And both will speak truly."

As noted above, everything about the foothills of heaven is so real, so solid that it causes the ghosts pain. That's how the words I quote above struck me. This is so real that it causes pain, but as painful as it is, it is wondrous to hear. Ever since reading this I've been walking around, sometimes with my little dog Wee-Z, admiring and enjoying the mountains, the horses in the neighbor's fence, the sounds of the birds flitting from bush to tree, as well as my dear wife's cooking. And all the while I've been saying to myself, "This is heaven or at least it is the valley that leads to it. And one day, one day very soon I'll have a wondrous, never-ending opportunity to journey onward into the eternity of Deep Heaven itself."