David's Sermons - Luke 16 v 19-31

Hell

Date: 21/11/99
Speaker: David Meiklejohn
Text: Luke 16 v 19-31

Luke 16 v 19-31

There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
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;
And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
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.
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.
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.
Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house:
For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

In this sermon, I want to talk about Hell, and next week we'll move on to the subject of Heaven. There's a lot said about Hell in the Bible, and there are many misconceptions held by people. Some of these misconceptions are:

Hell is a temporary punishment

The soul is annihilated

No one will be punished

Hell will be a great place to be

The words used in the Bible for Hell are Sheol, in the Old Testament, and Hades in the New. These literally translate to the grave, or the underworld. The word Gehennon is also used, which refers to the valley of Hinnon, a place outside Jerusalem where children were sacrificed in a great fire. So what kind of place is this? Let's build a picture from what we read in the scriptures.

The underworld is down - Jacob says "I will go down into the grave". Job says in Job 11v8 "as high as Heaven, deeper than Hell". Obviously the grave where someone is buried is down in the ground, but the place beyond the grave is always refered to as being down. Whether this is a physical place beneath us, or somewhere which is "down" in another way is not obvious.

Hades was the destination of all in the Old Testament - again in Job, 14v13, he says "hide me in Sheol". Job, a righteous man, expects to go to Hell. We are given some clarity in our text, where Jesus tells us of the rich man and Lazarus. Both are taken down to Hades, but they are in different parts, separated by an impassable gulf. One was a place of rest: Abraham's bosom, the other a place of torment.

Hell is a place of torment - as we saw in the text, the rich man was in torment where he was. Even a drop of water would have been some relief, but he was denied that. Mark 9 v 43 shows us that Hell is eternal, a place of punishment, and where there is no end, no anihilation.

Paradise was displaced - we have a picture so far of an underworld split in two, with a good part and a bad part, separated by a gulf. But turn to Ephesians 4 v 8-10. Jesus had said to the dying thief "Today you will be with me in Paradise". But Jesus descended on His death. Later we read in 2 Corinthians 12 v 2-4 about being "caught up into Paradise". The phrase in Ephesians, "led captivity captive" must mean that Jesus emptied Paradise, and took the inhabitants with Him up into Heaven. Now that he had paid for their sins, they could enter into the presence of God. This Paradise in Heaven is where the dying believer is taken now.

The bottomless pit - Luke 8 v 31 tells us of another place: the Abyss, or bottomless pit. The demons cast out of the man plead not to be sent there. It must be a place where demons are cast, since in Revelation 9 v 1-11 we read about demons being let loose from there to take part in the Tribulation.In Revelation 20 v 1-3 we also read that Satan is bound in the pit during the Millenium.

Tartarus - we only get a glimpse of this place, in 2 Peter 2 v 4. It is the place of punishment for angels that have sinned. Perhaps it is the same place as the Abyss, we can't tell.

The Lake of Fire - this place, presumably somewhere in Hell, was created for Satan, and at the end of the Millenium, he will be cast into the Lake for all eternity. In Revelation 19 v 20 the Beast and the False Prophet are cast in, then in Revelation 20 v 10-15 Satan and all the unsaved are also placed there. We can assume that the rest of Hell, including the place previously known as Paradise, is left empty.

Let's try and put all this together into some sort of picture. It definitely won't be accurate, but it gives us something to remember and helps us place the different names.

God is a God of love and of mercy, but also a just and holy God. Everyone will be judged. Those whose names aren't in the Lamb's Book of Life will be sent to Hell. This is a place of torment, not a place of revelry, and that torment lasts forever. How does this affect our thinking? Do we know we are safe? Do we know others who need to be told? The more we grasp the reality of Hell, the less we want others to end up there. Will anyone say to us "Why did you never tell me?".