Message: Cast Into Hell
Series: Jesus Said That?!
Date: March 21, 2021
Text: Matthew 10:28

“Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
(Matthew 10:28)

Context:
Jesus has selected the Twelve Apostles, and now he gives them instructions -- "Don’t go here … Do these things … Stay alert … Don’t be afraid of those who threaten you … Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill you …" In these teachings Jesus comments about a place called hell.

An Uncomfortable Subject
For a lot of people, hell is an uncomfortable topic. The subject of hell has been used to terrify people to obey God. Hell, fire and brimstone is a style of preaching. There are those who, because this is such a difficult subject, attempt to explain it away. There are efforts to deny the existence of hell because it seems so hard to reconcile a loving God with such a place. To make things even more uncomfortable, Jesus talked on several occasions about hell.

Words: Sheol and Gehenna
First things, first … let’s talk about words. In the Old Testament there is no mention of hell. There is Sheol – the place of the dead (which the KJV mistranslates as hell). David talks about Sheol. So did Isaiah, and Job.
In the New Testament, the most common word used for hell is “Gehenna.” Jesus uses it 11 times, and James uses it once. The only other word in the New Testament used for hell is tartarus, (used by Peter in 2 Peter 2:4).

Gehenna and Descriptions of Hell
Descriptions of hell that we find in the Bible: fire, judgment, brimstone, torment, suffering. All of this goes with the word – Gehenna – used by Jesus; translated hell in English. During the time of Jesus, Gehenna was a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem. It was the place where garbage was discarded and burned. A continual burning. When Jesus paints a picture of hell, he draws imagery from a place his hearers would recognize. But the history of Gehenna goes way back further than the 1st century.

Gehenna: A History
The word Gehenna finds it roots in an ancient place called the Valley of Hinnom, mentioned in the Old Testament. It was at this place that the Israelites adopted pagan religious practices, most specifically burning children alive to appease the false god Molech. In 2 Chronicles 28:3, we read that King Ahaz sacrificed his sons in this ritual. Later the young King Josiah destroyed the altar used to sacrifice children and cleared this valley as part of his reforms (2 Kings 23:10).

Why Did Jesus Talk About Hell?
When Jesus intentionally uses a word with such grisly baggage to describe hell, he is trying to convey something that will resonate with his hearers; something they won’t miss. Jesus says we should fear God, because he “can destroy both body and soul in hell” (Gehenna). This is a dreadful thing.

The Original Purpose of Hell
Jesus also tells us the original purpose of hell. In a judgment narrative he gives, as recorded in Matthew 25, Jesus inserts this bit of information: “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons” (v. 41). There’s the fire imagery, but there's also something else: hell was prepared as punishment for “the devil and his angels (demons)”.

Fire?
Now there are differing opinions about whether the “fire” Jesus talks about is literal, figurative, or spiritual. For example, how could physical fire hurt spiritual beings (the devil)? Is this a spiritual fire suited for a spiritual, rather than a physical condition? Such questions make this imagery no less disturbing. But what Jesus reveals to us here is that hell is a punishment that human beings were never meant to experience.

A Horrible Place
Jesus also told a story about what will happen at the end of the world – “…The angels will come and separate the wicked people from the righteous, throwing the wicked into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:49-50). Jesus gave this warning as well – “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell with two hands." (Mark 9:43).

A Troubling Truth
Here’s where it gets troubling: when I find a teaching in multiple different places repeated in the Bible, I cannot ignore it. Jesus talks about hell. So does Paul, and John. So what is Jesus telling us by repeating references to hell? Is a loving God really going to send people to such a horrible place and make them suffer for eternity? Let’s try to process.

A Reckoning
According to the words of Jesus it appears that hell is related to a reckoning. One biblical teaching is that “we reap what we sow” (Galatians 6:7). We can all think of people throughout history who committed unspeakable atrocities. Surely God is not going to let them get away with such crimes? Hitler. Pol Pot. Saddam Hussein. Osama Bin Laden. Will unrepentant purveyors of genocide escape the consequences of their actions? The Bible teaches that such people will face a reckoning (1 Thessalonians 1:6-9). There’s even this picture in Revelation of the souls of martyrs crying out to God: “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?” (Revelation 6:10). There is this notion of God setting things right, and that involves a reckoning. Now, it’s hard not to want God to make evil people suffer. That is justice. We like that, unless we are the ones who will suffer for doing wrong, or for choosing not to do what is right. Have you ever heard someone say at a funeral: “he’s in hell”? Probably not, because if what Jesus says is true, any person with a shred of compassion would never wish that on anyone else. Heaven is much more comforting.

Threatening People With Hell
We make a mistake when we threaten people with hell because they don’t share our interpretations, methods, traditions and opinions. Such non-essential matters of faith and the practice of certain methodologies do not consign someone to hell or reward them heaven.

An Eternity of Hell?
Is God actually going to make people burn for eternity? There are things about hell – that I struggle to comprehend. Jesus uses words like “forever” and “always” to describe it. Sometimes the Bible uses physical descriptions to denote spiritual truths (like how Jesus tells stories). Hell is a type of separation from God – or rather from the goodness, generosity and grace of God. It is a place without any good in it. Of course, God is omnipresent, and one person has described hell as being the part of God none of us wants to experience: justice, wrath. Hell can seem like a cruel, primitive idea that is too crazy to be true until it is.

Would a Loving God Send Anyone to Hell?
Why would a loving God send anyone to hell? My short answer: God doesn’t. In his book, The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis writes about heaven and hell. He describes the saints “as being welcomed in heaven because they have humbled themselves and learned to say to God, ‘not my will, but your will be done.” Then Lewis writes about those who choose to stay away from God in this life; “exile into hell will be God saying to them, ‘not my will, but your will be done.”

What God Wants
God does not want anyone to experience the horrors of a place like hell. The Bible reminds us: “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent" (2 Peter 3:9).

A Redemptive Story
We all have a chance to live a redeemed life because Jesus died for us. We all have the hope of a life after death because Jesus was resurrected. Regardless of the lack of understanding we may have about hell (or different opinions), Jesus came to redeem us, to reconcile us, and to recreate us. He came to give us hope that does not disappoint, love that dispels fear, and faith that we can trust God with our very lives. Will you respond to God’s love seen in Jesus? A love that fights for you. A love that died for you. A love that forgives and restores. A love that heals what is broken. A love that beats failure and sin. A love that calls you home.