HEAVEN AND HELL
Luke 16: 19-31
As we finish our sermon series on “The Hard Questions of Faith”, I want to talk about the realities of heaven and hell. Within the entirety of the Christian faith, these two concepts, especially hell, produce some of the most difficult questions. We ask such things as: Does hell even exist? Why would an all-loving God allow someone to “go to hell”? Is it possible that everyone will “go to heaven”? These questions are difficult and potentially uncomfortable. That difficulty and discomfort
are precisely why we need to engage and talk about these realities of our faith.
As we begin this exploration, I want to refer us back to last week. If you remember, we spoke last week about God’s judgment. More specifically, we spoke of God’s judgment as a message of hope rather than fear. We also examined some of the truths we find about God’s judgment in Romans 2. Two of those, in particular, are the reality of God as a righteous and fair judge and that, at some point, God would render a final verdict upon all of Creation—a verdict with two options: glory/honor/peace or anguish and distress. With
these in mind, we can now move on to examining the realities of heaven and hell.
Let’s start with the reality of heaven. This is, obviously, the glory/honor/peace option Paul speaks of in Romans 2 and that Lazarus experiences in Luke 16. What comes to your mind when you begin to think about heaven? Images of heaven are not widespread throughout Scripture—insofar as descriptions of what heaven looks like or what happens “in heaven”. We do get a few teasers, though. Throughout the Psalms, the psalmists speak of longing for God’s courts or a desire to be in God’s dwelling place, with all its security, peace, and joy. In Revelation, John provides a few metaphorical images of what heaven looks like, but nothing that is concrete. The rest
of allusions to heaven in Scripture simply speak of it as the “kingdom of God”.
The media and our culture, though, have provided us with a few images of heaven. Heaven is depicted as being inhabited by winged beings, clothed in dazzling white, tranquilly strumming harps, perhaps even with a halo above their head, and these beings are seated on clouds. I have a hard time believing this is truly what heaven looks like. It sounds to me more like something out of a cartoon. I do not doubt that heaven is a place of tranquility, but the notion of everyone strumming a harp while
seated on their very own cloud seems a bit exaggerated and unrealistic to me.
The reality of heaven is, though, that is the dwelling place of God. As the dwelling place God, heaven is therefore surrounded by and ruled by all those things that can be used to describe God. Heaven’s reality is that it is a place of peace—of harmony, it is a place of justice and fairness-where everyone has the same status, it is a place of perpetual praise and worship—God is worshipped and adored constantly. Above all things, heaven
is a place where God reigns supreme; the law of heaven is the law of God.
The reality of heaven is that is also not just a physical place, but also a state of being. Because heaven is state of being, it can also be experienced, albeit quite dimly, in this life on earth. Whenever and wherever we see or experience God’s kingdom, we glimpse heaven. Whenever we see a hand of peace and friendship extended, rather than a weapon of war, we experience a slice of heaven. Whenever, to use the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., people are judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin, we experience a bit of heaven. Whenever people gather to worship and offer praise to God, we experience a bit of heaven. We experience heaven in so many different times and places in this life—all
in anticipation of the full experience of heaven. This is the reality of heaven.
However wonderful and glorious heaven is, a proclamation of the existence of heaven also includes a proclamation of the existence of hell. Scripture makes clear that hell is real and its reality should not be ignored. In both our reading from
last week and our reading for this week, we have allusions to hell’s existence.
As with heaven, culture and media have provided ample images of what hell might look like. It is portrayed as full of dark torture chambers, stinking of fire and brimstone, and overrun with pitchfork-wielding horned devils. In short, it is depicted as place of physical torment.
If you don’t believe me, wait until the Halloween season rolls around.
Unlike heaven, though, there are also a good number of biblical images of hell. In the First Testament, there are roughly 75 images or allusions to hell. In the New Testament, there are roughly 25 images or allusions. In these roughly 100 images or allusions to hell, not one of them speaks of horned devils or of great physical punishment. Instead, nearly all of them reference hell as a place of great spiritual and emotional torment that comes from being separated from God! The anguish Paul speaks of Romans 2 and that the rich man experiences in Luke 16 comes from the feeling
of being completely cut off from God. That, my friends, is what hell really is.
Just as heaven is capable of being somewhat experienced in this life, so too is hell. My guess is that each one of us knows someone (and that someone might be ourselves) who has experienced separation from God. Either they felt as if God had severed all lines of communication or they made the choice to sever those lines. Either way, they experience unrest in their spirit and a sense that they are missing out on something.
They experience the reality of hell in this life.
While we are on the topic of realities, it bears mentioning that the realities of heaven and hell are made possible by human hungers and desires. Each person hungers for SOMETHING. Some may not quite be able to put their finger on it; others know exactly what they crave—love, peace, acceptance, satisfaction in some part of life (whether it be their marriage, their job, or their relationship with another), and the list goes on. Throughout our existence, human beings have also shown that we are willing to do virtually anything in the pursuit of satisfaction for our hungers-- and if we can’t satisfy them we will numb ourselves from feeling that hunger. Inevitably, the pursuit of satisfaction will lead us in one of two ways; either we will be lead toward God or away from God. Some seek to find their satisfaction in the things of God, others feed their hunger on so many other things that they have no appetite
left for God or the things of God, and thus they separate themselves from God.
Fortunately, God knew that human beings’ quest for satisfaction would, ultimately, lead us away from God. In grace, Jesus was sent to be the satisfaction that we all seek and to bridge the great chasm that exists between God and those separated from God. In Christ, God can satisfy even the deepest human hunger! As we allow the Spirit of God to satisfy us and to work in and through us, we will find our hunger is increasingly being more and more of the things of God—we will experience more and more of heaven in this life, as we await the full experience of heaven in the next life. At the same time, those who want increasingly nothing to do with God shall have their heart’s desire. Those who want nothing more than themselves—the best clothes, sumptuous meals, the biggest house, the most toys—shall have it. They shall have their hell, at their own choosing. It is not because God has chosen it, but because
God gives to each what they desire, even at the risk of great pain to God.
The realities of heaven and hell aren’t meant as a tool of fear, but rather as God’s way of giving us options. We alone can decide which reality we desire—thriving in God’s life-giving, joy-filled presence, or anguish and distress because we have separated ourselves from God. To put it simply, there is a hell.
But better yet, there is a Savior. Thanks be to God!
AMEN.
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