HELL

You don't need to be a Christian to believe in heaven. Belief in some kind of happy after-life to which we are all destined, good and bad, is nearly universal in the materialist west, even among pagans.

Yet alongside this belief there is also a deep scepticism about the reality of hell. Such scepticism exists also within the church as a fruit of modern theological agnosticism. It reasons that the idea of hell is unworthy of God's wisdom and goodness. How intolerable, it says, that in addition to all the suffering of this life, one must also fear eternal death on account of God's anger. It cannot bring itself to believe in such a reality, still less in such a God.

Sacred Scripture, however, admits no equivocation when it comes to the reality of hell as a state of eternal condemnation and separation from God. It is true that in the Old Testament, the term 'Sheol' is often used to refer to the general realm of the dead, to which all mortals are destined. Yet the Old Testament too knows of a time when the dead will rise to face judgement, 'some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt' (Dan 12:2).

Still, it should not surprise us that it is only with the coming of Christ, whose cross and death reveal the true depths of the world's sin, that a clear understanding of 'hell' as the wrathful consummation of God's judgement upon sin becomes apparent. Scripture posits a universal judgement with diverse, irreversible consequences: everlasting life or condemnation (Jn 5:29; Rom 2:6-8; 2 Tim 4:1). Hell is a place of punishment, darkness, suffering, and divine wrath reserved for all who oppose Jesus' gracious reign (Mt 5:29; 8:12; 13:50; 2 Thess 1:8). Deliberate and persistent rejection of the forgiveness won for the world with the blood of Christ can only lead to 'a fearful expectation of judgement' (Heb 10:27).

No human being was created for this end. It was to deliver us from this hell that Christ came. Reflecting on the biblical revelation of hell and the state of the damned is a fearful, sobering exercise. It cultivates in us recognition of the danger of mortal sin, with which saving faith cannot co-exist.

But we should not reflect upon hell in isolation of the gospel. God's holy law rightly leads us to dread hell's punishment. But his holy gospel drives us to 'flee for refuge to his infinite mercy.' He is the Saviour who 'wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth' (1 Tim 2:4). Only a faith that hides in Christ, who has suffered hell's horrors in our place, can conquer our dread of divine wrath. Such faith, say our Confessions, 'has its existence in penitence' (Apology IV.142). It is a faith manifest in the words of one of Christianity's oldest hymns, the Te Deum:

We believe that you will come to be our judge.

We therefore ask you to help us, your servants,

whom you have redeemed with your precious blood.

Let us be numbered with your saints

in glory everlasting….

Dr Adam G Cooper