Dennis R Wiles
FBC Arlington
June 11, 2023
2023 - Why Does It Matter?
SUMMER 2023
Eternity: Why Does It Matter?
June 1 – August 5, 2023
The Righteousness of Judgment
Revelation
20:11-15
www.fbca.org/john316
Tell Me More Podcast
There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ's moral character, and that is that He believed in hell. I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment . . . I cannot myself feel that either in matter of wisdom or in matter of virtue Christ stands quite as high as some other people known to history. I think I should put Buddha and Socrates above Him in those respects.
-Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian
Of all the doctrines of Christianity, hell is the most difficult to defend, the most burdensome to bear, and the first to be abandoned.
-Peter Kreeft, Boston College
MATTERS TO CONSIDER
Is Hell a real place?
Is Hell an eternal reality?
Is Hell a place of torment and suffering?
How could a loving God cast people into Hell?
What about people who have never heard about Jesus?
Barely mentioned in the Old Testament, Hell is mentioned, addressed, and acknowledged by Jesus in all four Gospels—and, by Paul, Peter, James, Jude, and John in their writings in the New Testament.
VOCABULARY
SHEOL – Old Testament word for the “abode of the dead.”
HADES – New Testament word for the intermediate dwelling place of the wicked.
TARTARUS – Used one time in the NT to refer to Hell (2 Peter 2:4).
GEHENNA – Most common word for Hell in NT. Derived from the Valley of Hinnom outside of Jerusalem.
AUTHORITY: Reason or Revelation?
The Bible is the only religious text that portrays God as both a loving and just God.
The Bible affirms there will be a Day of Judgment for all humans to render an account of how we have lived in response to His assignment for us to bear His image and reflect His glory in His world.
-Acts
17:29-31
-Romans
2:12-16
-Revelation 20:7-15
On Judgment Day, the righteous (saved) will receive their eternal reward and the wicked (unsaved) will be cast out into eternal torment.
-Matthew
13:40-43
-Matthew
25:31-46
-Mark
9:42-48
-Revelation 20:7-15
-Revelation 21:8
Hell is an eternal reality where suffering and torment will exist forever. It is reserved for Satan, demons, and those who have rejected God’s offer of salvation.
Hell will be agonizingly dull, small, and insignificant without company, purpose, or accomplishment. It will not have its own stories; it will merely be a footnote in history, a crack in the pavement. As the new universe moves gloriously onward, Hell and its occupants will exist in utter inactivity and insignificance, an eternal non-life of regret and—perhaps—diminishing personhood.
-Randy Alcorn, Heaven
In short, hell is simply one’s freely chosen identity apart from God on a trajectory into infinity. We see this process “writ small” in addictions to drugs, alcohol, gambling, and pornography. First, there is disintegration, because as time goes on you need more and more of the addictive substance to get an equal kick, which leads to less and less satisfaction. Second, there is the isolation, as increasingly you blame others and circumstances in order to justify your behavior. “No one understands! Everyone is against me!” is muttered in greater and greater self-pity and self-absorption. When we build our lives on anything but God, that thing—though a good thing—becomes an enslaving addiction, something we have to have to be happy. Personal disintegration happens on a broader scale. In eternity, this disintegration goes on forever. There is increasing isolation, denial, delusion, and self-absorption. When you lose all humility you are out of touch with reality. No one ever asks to leave hell. The very idea of heaven seems to them a sham.
-Timothy Keller, The Reason for God
Hell’s existence is an affirmation of the significance of humanity.
Hell’s existence is an affirmation of God’s perfect justice.
Hell’s existence is an affirmation of God’s perfect love.
There are only two kinds of people—those who say “Thy will be done” to God or those to whom God in the end says, “Thy will be done.” All that are in hell choose it. Without that self-choice it wouldn’t be Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it.
-C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, The Great Divorce