What Does The Bible Say About Hell 1 | Hell...It's Hot!

There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and he fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at the rich man's gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table... So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom... "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed..." (Luke 16:19-31)

What does the Bible—and Jesus Himself—actually say about hell? More than we may want to hear.

Art, Life, and a Cultural Shift

The ancient Greek philosophers had a concept they described using the Greek word mimesis, from which we get English words like "mimic" and "mime." Some 2,600 years ago they judged art by whether it imitated reality. In English we'd summarize it: art imitates life. In the 19th century, Oscar Wilde flipped this 180 degrees into anti-mimesis, declaring that life imitates art.

Fast forward to our day and things have drastically changed. In the 20th century it's as if those ideas were jumbled together in a bag, especially with the rise of TV and film. Today the arts typically do one of three things: provide social commentary on the world (as grew popular in the 1970s), engage in social engineering by pushing the edge of the envelope to pull culture in a certain direction, or reflect the conscience and mindset of the day—what's often called the Zeitgeist.

All Dogs Go to Heaven

That last category describes the 1989 animated film All Dogs Go to Heaven. The main character, a German Shepherd named Charlie, is on death row, yet he's ushered into heaven very quickly—because all dogs go to heaven. By the end, even his double-crossing, murdering former partner Carface ends up in heaven, because all dogs go to heaven.

For more than 1,600 years the predominant mindset in Western civilization was that upon death a person ends up in one of two places: a place of paradise we call heaven, or a place of torment we call hell. But in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, the ability to travel quickly brought an influx of Eastern ideas, philosophies, and religious perspectives that began to mix with the West. A massive shift took place—many of you in your own lifetime—and that shift is illustrated by the philosophy behind that film.

In 2004 the Gallup polling agency found that 71% of Americans believe there is a hell. Two years later, another group called Belief Net found that 70% of Americans believe all good people, even those of other faiths, go to heaven. Obviously the same people who believe in hell believe all good people go to heaven—so what exactly is the point of hell? Does it even exist? The basic view of 21st-century Westerners is essentially that all people ultimately end up in heaven.

Hell Has Disappeared—Should It?

Hell as a concept of the afterlife has all but disappeared from modern Western culture. The only time you hear the word is as a four-letter curse. Even within the church over the last 25 to 30 years, most pulpits have decided not to talk about hell. It has nearly vanished from the lexicon of most churches in the West.

Some Christians, like former pastor and author Rob Bell, think this disappearance is a good thing. His 2011 book Love Wins made a huge splash; he appeared on Good Morning America and other shows. Bell holds essentially the same view as the majority in America. He writes:

There will be endless opportunities in an endless amount of time for people to say yes to God.

At the heart of this perspective is the belief that, given enough time, everybody will turn to God. The love of God will melt every hard heart, and even the most depraved sinners will eventually give up their resistance. In this view, any place of torment after death exists only to purify and prod people toward heaven—but everyone ends up there.

Honestly, that sounds nice. It's easier to say to a neighbor, coworker, or family member who asks what happens to those who don't believe. We don't want to offend, so we'd much rather say, "They're purified."

Believe What Is Biblical

Against better judgment, I first wanted to call this series "What the Hell"; we changed it to "What the Bible Says About Hell." I was told the first title could be offensive—but understand, the biblical teaching on hell is offensive. It is gut-wrenching. In a culture where the worst thing you can do is offend someone, we don't like to talk about things that make us uncomfortable. Hell is offensive to both believer and non-believer.

Part of me doesn't want to believe in hell. Part of me would like to say there isn't such a place. Francis Chan, responding to Bell's book in 2011, wrote Erasing Hell. He says:

Don't believe something just because you want to, and don't embrace an idea just because you always believed it. Believe what is biblical. Test all your assumptions against the precious words God gave us in the Bible.

We would all like to reinterpret Jesus and the Bible in light of our hopes, fears, dreams, and desires. We'd like to make these things less sharp, more palatable. We'd like it if hell were merely a place where really wicked people go to be purified before finally getting to heaven. We'd like it if AC/DC were right—"Hell ain't a bad place to be"—because, of course, all our friends will be there. That would be the easy way out.

The question I want to address over this and the following two weeks is what the Bible—and specifically Jesus—says about hell. The Scriptures reveal Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God, and what He says about any matter is authoritative.

Jesus Believed and Taught That Hell Is Real

That's the first and essential point: Jesus believed and taught that hell is real. We can't start anywhere else. Why does this matter? Because Jesus, as revealed in the Bible, is the Christ, the Son of God. When He chooses to speak on spiritual things, He is the authority we should look to.

Furthermore, in the first-century Jewish world, the predominant view of nearly everyone was that after death there is a place of blessing and a place of torment. The Jews of His day believed 100% that there was a place of destruction for the unrighteous. Pew Research recently found that 0% of Jews in America today believe in hell—a lot has changed in 2,000 years. But in Jesus's day, if there were no such place, or if it were drastically different than expected, He would have corrected the record. Instead, He affirmed the reality of hell, and He spoke of it more than any other person in the Bible.

Jesus Translates Hell with Words and Metaphor

This passage in Luke 16 is the most detailed and descriptive of all Jesus's teachings on hell. He chose words borrowed from the culture of His day that people could latch onto. Two thousand years later we have to go back and explain them, but His hearers understood them instantly.

Jesus predominantly uses two Greek words. One is Hades, used in this text—a term drawn straight out of Greek mythology from 500 years earlier, describing the place of the dead, the disembodied spirits, a place of darkness in the underworld. Jesus isn't literally telling us the place of torment is named Hades; He's using a familiar term so people could grasp it.

The other word is Gehenna, which describes a real place outside Jerusalem's walls, southeast of the city—the Valley of the Son of Hinnom. About 800 years before Jesus, King Ahaz, during the time of Isaiah, instituted heinous practices there. The people worshiped the Canaanite deity Molech by offering their infant and toddler children in the fires. There was weeping and gnashing of teeth in that valley. So when Jesus speaks of what comes after death, He uses Hades or Gehenna as a link people could picture.

To give us the same mental frame of reference today, we might replace those words and say "Hiroshima" or "Nagasaki." Instantly you have a picture and feel the weight. These words were chosen for impact, not to tell us the literal name of the place. So Jesus translates the concept of hell with words and metaphor to help us understand—and we cannot take everything said about this place perfectly literally. We must look at the principles behind the language.

Think of it this way: if I say "Phoenix in July is hotter than hell"—and Phoenix runs about 120 degrees—am I literally claiming hell is less than 120 degrees? No. You understand the concept through the language. Jesus is explaining something otherworldly in worldly terms we can understand.

Not a Parable, But a Reality

In His ministry Jesus told many stories, some of them parables—fictional stories illustrating spiritual truth. But this text in Luke 16:19-31 does not fit the model of a parable, primarily because in none of His other parables does Jesus ever give a person a name. Here He names the poor man Lazarus. This indicates Jesus is giving us insight into an actual reality, not merely an illustration.

From these short verses come ten truths about hell.

Two Destinations, and Conscious Life After Death

First, there are two possible destinations after death. Elsewhere in the New Testament these two destinations are shown to be temporary, but there are still only two. At the end of the Bible, Revelation describes a coming day when Hades, the place of torment, is cast into a lake that burns with fire, while those comforted by the Lord are taken into Paradise, the New Jerusalem. Whether in Luke 16 or Revelation 20, there are still only two possible destinations.

Second, there is some form of consciousness, awareness, or life in both destinations. In verses 22-23 the beggar dies and is carried to Abraham's bosom (better translated "Abraham's side"; "bosom" doesn't carry the same meaning today as in the 1611 King James), while the rich man is in torment in Hades. He lifts up his eyes, sees Abraham, speaks to him, and feels the flame—all indicating awareness and cognition after death.

Third, there is an awareness of both places by those in each place. Lazarus with Abraham can see the man in the flame, and the man in the flame can see and even interact with them, though a gulf separates them.

Fourth, there is a remembrance of this life after death. Abraham tells the rich man, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented."

No Crossing, No Return, Sufficient Witness

Fifth, there is no way to pass between the two destinations. Though some, like Rob Bell, hold that those in torment will eventually be translated to comfort, the text does not support it: "Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, and those who want to pass from you to us cannot" (v. 26).

Sixth, there is no return to this life after death. The rich man begs that Lazarus be sent to his father's house, and Abraham responds, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them" (vv. 27-29).

Seventh, there is sufficient witness in this life to bring us to comfort and keep us from torment. Many today say it doesn't seem fair that we have only one life to decide. Yet Jesus says they have sufficient opportunity—"Moses and the prophets." Even when we are challenged by the apparent lack of fairness, we must recognize that God is more just than our sense of justice.

Riches, Royalty, and Religion Will Not Save

Eighth, riches, royalty, and religion will not get you out of hell. This is veiled to us but obvious to Jesus's Jewish audience. Verse 19 says the rich man was clothed in purple—signifying royalty, the upper echelon—and in fine linen, the clothing of the priests. So he is a royal priest from the household of the chief priests. Abraham even calls him "son," a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet upon death he found himself in torment.

In Jesus's day people assumed that if you were rich you were blessed by God, and would be blessed for eternity. But riches do not equal eternal comfort. Neither do royalty, religion, or even physical descent from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Faith and Repentance Are Essential

Ninth, faith in this life is essential for the next. What set Abraham and Lazarus apart was not mere descent from the patriarchs—the rich man, a high priest of Israel, is in torment. Romans 4 tells us Abraham is the father of all those who have faith.

Tenth, repentance in this life is essential for the next. In verses 29-30, Abraham says, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." The rich man objects, "No, Father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent." Even children of Abraham, members of the high priest's household, wealthy and clothed in purple, still need to repent.

So repentance and faith are essential in Jesus's teaching on hell. That's why Paul's message in Acts 20:21 was "repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."

"If One Goes From the Dead"

The rich man insists that if just one would go from the dead, his brothers would repent. I wonder if that's true. Interestingly, there was a man named Lazarus who lay dead for four days, and Jesus called him from the tomb: "Lazarus, come forth." Lazarus walked out alive.

What was the response of the chief priests? John 12:9-10 records that a great many came to see Lazarus, "but the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also." "If one goes from the dead, my brothers would believe and repent"—yet to test that very hypothesis, Jesus raised a man named Lazarus, and the response was, "We won't believe. Let's kill him." I suggest the matching name is no coincidence.

Why This Matters—Passion for Grace and the Lost

Why teach this just weeks before Easter? The sad reality is that a right understanding of the final state of humanity isn't talked about much in church today. But throughout Christian history, when people honor God's word and teach the whole counsel of Scripture—even when it's culturally and politically incorrect—it has at least two effects.

First, it gives the body of Christ a passion for the grace and mercy of God. When a neighbor asks, "What's so special about you?"—nothing. It's God's grace and mercy. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." It's a free gift, offered to all; no one is excluded. Whosoever will may come.

Second, it increases our passion for the lost. There are 7.2 billion people alive today, and all of them—including you—will die, many of them apart from the grace of God. That number is hard to comprehend, but within five miles of this building there are 480,000 people, and less than a third of them have any contact with a church. The Southern Baptist Convention found that of San Diego County's 3.2 million people, less than 10% have any connection to an evangelical church that preaches the gospel.

People ask why we change service times, why this discomforts us. We need more seats, we want more people, because there are people going to hell and we don't want them to. May God give us a passion for His grace and a passion for the lost. We live in a nation where many believe in hell but think it's empty and everyone goes to heaven—because all dogs go there. Jesus didn't teach that, and I don't believe it. I believe what He said.

Closing Prayer

Father God, we're just weeks out from the greatest display of Your love being celebrated, when You gave Your only begotten Son for us, that He would endure the agonies of death and separation from You—even for just a moment—so that we could know salvation and be brought back into connection with You and one another. God, would You stir our hearts to take that message to those in our families, among our friends and coworkers who don't know You, that we would be more bold to declare the gospel, the good news that salvation is found in You. Though there is bad news, the good news against the backdrop of that bad news is so much more beautiful. God, give us a passion for Your grace and a passion for the lost as we prepare to celebrate the goodness of the resurrection and the life we have in You. In Jesus's name, amen.