Hell, You Say

Josh 7:16 - 21 (RSV) ¹⁶So Joshua rose early in the morning, and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken; ¹⁷and he brought near the families of Judah, and the family of the Zerahites was taken; and he brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken; ¹⁸and he brought near his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. ¹⁹Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory to the LORD God of Israel, and render praise to him; and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.” ²⁰And Achan answered Joshua, “Of a truth I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I did: ²¹when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them, and took them; and behold, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

 

John Milton, in Paradise Lost, describes Hell as

 A dungeon horrible, on all sides round

As one great furnace flamed, yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible
Served only to discover sights of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all; but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed
With ever-burning sulfur unconsumed:
Such place of eternal justice had prepared
For those rebellious, here their prison ordained
In utter darkness, and their portion set
As far removed from God and light of heaven
As from the center thrice to utmost pole.
O how unlike the place from whence they fell!
 

Jesus speaks more of Hell than he does of Heaven. It is clear from the Scriptures that everyone deserves punishment of Hell but no one deserves the glories of Heaven. The greatest thing about Heaven is that it means you are saved from the eternal pains and sorrows of Hell.

Achan (see the passage above) is a marked man. He is hiding his rebellion from his neighbors. His evil places the whole community in jeopardy. God knows who is guilty of the crime in question and gives the means to Joshua to find out who it is. Every nation is brought before Joshua, who cast lots to see if the nation is guilty. Once the nation is discovered he cast lots over each tribe, then each family, then each person in that family. Achan stands guilty as sin and waits for the lot to fall on him. When it does he confesses his sin.

When I first read how Achan confessed his wrongdoing I half expected God to show His mercy. God rightfully cast a judgment on Achan and his family.  It is a death sentence. That seems so harsh! Was God wrong to have Achan killed for the crime of theft? “The judgments of God are right and true all together.” So, by God’s nature, Achan was justly killed with his whole family.

It is possible that people you love will go to Hell and suffer its torments forever. That seems harsh. Is God just in His judgments? Yes, I believe, he is. I know that I deserve to go to Hell. I stand there as the lots are cast to find the sinners. I am sure, that I am the one they are looking for. It is only because of God grace that I am saved from Hell’s torments. God gave me the grace to, through faith, repent of my sins and ask for mercy. “O to grace how great a debtor.” It is Hell that I am saved from. It is also the state of being lost that I am spared from. God has taken me from the darkness of Hell and placed me into His glorious light. I shutter at the prospect of going to Hell.

No one who is lost believes they are going to Hell. (If they did, I would think they would turn to God for mercy.) Everyone who is saved appreciates the grave nature of their salvation.

 

God will never send anybody to hell. If man goes to hell, he goes by his own free choice. Hell was created for the devil and his angels, not for man. God never meant that man should go there. Billy Graham (1918– )

Hell is where no one has anything in common with anybody else except the fact that they all hate one another and cannot get away from one another and from themselves. Thomas Merton (1915–1968)

The pain of punishment will be without the fruit of penitence; weeping will be useless, and prayer ineffectual. Too late they will believe in eternal punishment who would not believe in eternal life. Saint Cyprian (200–258)

 The safest road to hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. C. S. Lewis (1898–1963)

 We must picture hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment. C. S. Lewis (1898–1963)

 Anyone can devise a plan by which good people may go to heaven. Only God can devise a plan whereby sinners, who are his enemies, can go to heaven. Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871–1952)