Seriously?,……Hell?

Hey James.    Wassup buddy?    Where are you going?   I reckon that I am going to hell if I don’t change my ways!!

This was a normal conversation for the biggest part of my life. After I said that last line, or whoever might have said it, there was always a round of laughter. I was a joke to the crowd that I ran with, because we didn’t take it seriously. I came from the, “Highway to Hell” crowd. We would ride up, and down the roads, with this song blasting on the radio, trying our best to sing over full volume!!

Why do you think that we never took hell seriously?   Could it have been that we never took anything else to be all that serious?  After all, a real loving God could not send us into a place that vile. If He did wouldn’t that make Him bi-polar?   Maybe we were like a child who was whistling in the dark? 

There were all kinds of excuses that were made, but none of them changed the facts. The Bible mentions the existence, of a real hell throughout the entire Bible. It is called by many names, but I can’t find even one reference, that makes it seem like the place to be. I can’t find one reference to where hell is going to be the ultimate party, to not be missed!!

I will show you one passage on hell, and if you will notice the words are in red. Jesus is telling this example of what the real hell is like. 

Luke 16:19-26  There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20  And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21  And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.25  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

Instead of giving you my spill on these verses, and what they mean, I am going to a professional. I want to take just one verse from this story, and show you what Albert Barnes derives from this one verse. 

Luke 16:23

In hell - The word here translated hell (“Hades”) means literally a dark, obscure place; the place where departed spirits go, but especially the place where “wicked” spirits go. See the Job_10:21-22 notes; Isa_14:9 note. The following circumstances are related of it in this parable:

1.    It is “far off” from the abodes of the righteous. Lazarus was seen “afar off.”

2.    It is a place of torment.

3.    There is a great gulf fixed between that and heaven, Luk_16:26.

4.    The suffering is great. It is represented by “torment” in a flame, Luk_16:24.

5.    There will be no escape from it, Luk_16:26.

The word “hell” here means, therefore, that dark, obscure, and miserable place, far from heaven, where the wicked shall be punished forever.

He lifted up his eyes - A phrase in common use among the Hebrews, meaning “he looked,” Gen_13:10; Gen_18:2; Gen_31:10; Deu_8:3; Luk_6:20.

Being in torment - The word “torment” means “pain, anguish” Mat_4:24; particularly the pain inflicted by the ancients in order to induce people to make confession of their crimes. These “torments” or tortures were the keenest that they could inflict, such as the rack, or scourging, or burning; and the use of the word here denotes that the sufferings of the wicked can be represented only by the extremest forms of human suffering.

And seeth Abraham ... - This was an aggravation of his misery. One of the first things that occurred in hell was to look up, and see the poor man that lay at his gate completely happy. What a contrast! Just now he was rolling in wealth, and the poor man was at his gate. He had no expectation of these sufferings: now they have come upon him, and Lazarus is happy and forever fixed in the paradise of God. It is more, perhaps, than we are authorized to infer, that the wicked will “see” those who are in paradise. That they will “know” that they are there is certain; but we are not to suppose that they will be so near together as to be seen, or as to make conversation possible. These circumstances mean that there will be “a separation,” and that the wicked in hell will be conscious that the righteous, though on earth they were poor or despised, will be in heaven. Heaven and hell will be far from each other, and it will be no small part of the misery of the one that it is far and forever removed from the other.

Does that sound like something, that you really don’t want to miss out on?   No my friends.    Hell is serious business. It don’t matter how we look at the reality of this place, which was never prepared for human beings. It is a real deal, and once we arrive, in the pits of hell; there is not an escape plan!! The only way to avoid going to hell is by accepted the fact that Jesus has already made a provision for you, by His sacrifice on the cross.    Ain’t Jesus Awesome?

              ….Much Love