Why would a God of love send anybody to hell?
God doesn't send anybody to hell. They go because they refuse to accept God's offer of forgiveness in Christ. Many people live all their lives by their own standards. When they hear of sin and heaven and hell, they mock. All sorts of people have different ideas, they say. Who knows? Besides, nobody ever came back to tell us. (Are they sure?)
God sent His Son to be a sacrifice for sin. Jesus was murdered. He was clearly, incontrovertibly dead. Then He came back to life. Hundreds saw Him. He ate food with His disciples. He told them "A spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."
He told one "Reach your finger here, and look at my hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." Jesus didn't just talk about eternal life. He demonstrated it.
The Christian who has experienced forgiveness of sins knows he is forgiven and is certain that he has a home in heaven. He has God's promise. He has a hope - not in the sense of "I hope so," but a sure hope, a certain hope. He has tasted a little bit of heaven down here. He knows that because Christ lives, he will live also.
If you don't have the assurance of sins forgiven, if you don't know you have a home in heaven, let me ask you a question in all sincerity.
Have you examined the evidence of Christ's resurrection?
Growing old has its advantages. The older you get, the more real heaven becomes.
I know that all my sins are forgiven and I have a home in heaven. Let me hasten to say that this has nothing to do with who I am or what I have done, and everything to do with what Jesus did on an old cross two thousand years ago.
Let no one think that he can get to heaven because of the good life he has lived or the good deeds he has done. If that were possible, Christ would not have needed to have died. Let no one think that salvation is automatic. Like any other gift, it has to be received.
But let no one who has believed on Christ as Saviour for his salvation doubt that Christ has paid the price in full.
There was a time in my life when heaven was something in the distant future. Having received God's forgiveness, I did not fear death, but if I am honest, I might have feared the process of dying.
No more. I realise the time will come when I no longer wish to stay here. At a moment of God's choosing, I will stop breathing and pass from here to there. I hope people won't grieve. I will be as much alive as ever I have been; in fact, more so.
The Bible doesn't tell us everything about heaven, but it tells us sufficient.
Heaven is a place of beauty. It's a place of service. A place of infinite creativity. A place of wonderful relationships. A place of surpassing joy.
"You will show me the path of life;
In your presence is fullness of joy;
At your right hand are pleasures for evermore" Psa 16:11.
The second chapter of Ephesians explains how to get to heaven.
Once, it says, we were all sinners, full of trespasses and sins; children of disobedience, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind; by nature children of wrath. Despite what we think, nothing to commend us at all. But God so loved us that He sent His Son to die to pay the price for our salvation.
There's nothing we can do to earn it, or make ourselves fit to receive it. Because Jesus paid the price in full, there's nothing that we can add. It's a gift. It's the product of grace - God's undeserved favour. It's received simply through faith. We need to believe it and receive it. Until we do, we don't have it.
When we come to Christ, a divine exchange takes place. He takes our sin, and gives us His righteousness. We are His workmanship, Ephesians says, created in Christ Jesus for good works.
But didn't we say there was nothing we could do? Ah, nothing we could do to add to the price He paid for our salvation. After we receive Him we will do good works. Good works are the proof of our faith.
Here's something beautiful. It says we are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. God doesn't just leave us hanging. He has a place for us in His kingdom. He has a plan and a purpose for our lives. There is something that only you can do, and a gift of grace for you to enable you to do it.
So how shall we know what it is that God has for us to do? William MacDonald says that in order to find out the good works that God has planned for our individual lives, we should
1. Confess and forsake sin as soon as we are conscious of it in our lives;
2. Be continually and unconditionally yielded to Him;
3. Study the word of God to discern His will, and then do whatever He tells us to do;
4. Spend time in prayer each day;
5. Seize opportunities of service as they arise;
6. Cultivate the fellowship and counsel of other Christians.
How are we doing?
When was the last time you heard a sermon about heaven?
American negro slaves sang regularly of heaven ("Swing low, Sweet Chariot, coming for to carry me home"). Former generations sang about heaven ("We're marching to Zion." "Shall we gather at the river?")
Not quite so these days. In Christianity, there may be less interest in heaven than at any other time in history. Having settled that they'll go there one day (not by living a good life, or going to church, or doing good deeds, but by trusting in the atoning work of the Saviour) Christians seem in no particular hurry to get there. The truth is they seem to be having too comfortable a life down here, thank you.
In a new book about heaven*, Edward Donnelly bemoans the fact that many people who think they are going to heaven aren't.
"There is no evidence in their lives that they are joined to Christ. They are nurturing a false hope. We hear the flippant comments that are passed when famous men and women die. Someone says that they are looking down from above, pleasantly surprised by the large and impressive attendance at their funeral. We hear about how golfers are enjoying playing golf and fishermen are getting huge catches in heaven. They may have shown little interest in the things of God, they may never have professed faith in the Saviour, but it is taken for granted that heaven is where they now find themselves. To suggest otherwise is to be branded a ghoulish bigot. We talk to people who assume that they are going to heaven and yet they have no good reason for their careless assumption. They are facing a most appalling shock."
God offers to sinful, miserable human beings an eternity of unimaginable happiness. Jesus can bring you to glory forever. But Donnelly says we are not telling people that.
He goes on: "Most of the teaching about heaven in Scripture is not for evangelism but for pastoring the people of God. He explains heaven in his Word primarily for his own children's sake, to help and comfort us, to encourage and strengthen us, to make us more holy, to fill us with joy. . . It is an immense blessing to know much more about heaven. And we can know. . . With his Word in our hands we can know about heaven."
The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Philippi:
For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labour; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.
For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.
Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. Phil 1:21 - 24.
When David Watson became ill with cancer, David Pawson wrote to him and pointed out that there is a difference between being willing to go to be with the Lord, but eager to stay, and being eager to be with the Lord, but willing to stay. It's said that David Watson took the words to heart, and prayed through until he was eager to go, but willing to stay.
I have no desire to go before my life's work is done, but the moment that time comes I want to experience the glories of heaven, and I long to see my Saviour's face.
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love him."
But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit. 1 Cor 2:9, 10.
* Biblical Teaching on the Doctrines of Heaven and Hell. Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust.
Howard Storm tells a remarkable story. At 27 years old, he was a professor of art at an American university. He was also an atheist.
At 38, he was leading a tour by art students in Paris. He was talking with his wife and one of the students in a hotel room when he suddenly dropped to the floor, screaming in pain. His duodenum had perforated.
He was admitted to hospital in a potentially fatal condition, but because it was weekend, no doctor could be found to treat him. After some hours, he lost consciousness.
He found himself standing in the room, looking down at his own body on the bed. He had no pain. He spoke to his wife and another man in the room, and couldn't understand it when they didn't appear to hear him.
Then he heard voices calling his name. "We've been waiting for you," they said. "Come with us. It's time for you to go. Hurry up."
He went with his guides on a very long journey through a grey space that got darker and darker as they went. He realised that he didn't trust his guides and became so terrified he refused to go any further. His guides attacked him, biting and tearing at him until he was ripped apart, unable to move.
A small voice inside his head said "Pray to God." He thought "I don't even believe in God." The voice persisted. He didn't know how to pray, but he decided he was going to pray anyway. "Jesus, please save me!" he shouted.
Storm claims that Jesus appeared to him. He saw his life appear before him - his heavy drinking, his adultery and the rest. He talked with Jesus for a long time, then was told he was to go back to the world and live a different kind of life.
He awoke back on his hospital bed, less than 30 minutes after he lost consciousness. A doctor had been found, and the necessary surgery was done.
As he regained strength, he began to devour the Bible. He attended theological seminary, and was ordained to the ministry.
Howard Storm is now involved in missionary work in Belize.
You can read the full story here.
General Richard Dannatt, until his retirement Britain's Chief of the General Staff, is a committed Christian.
Writing in the Guardian, he says the military needs to have not only good leadership and sound morals, but a spiritual dimension to sustain the soldiers. He quotes a British private who had just shot his first enemy fighter in Afghanistan:
"Afterwards, I sat there and I thought 'Hang on. I just shot someone.' I had a brew and that. I didn't get to sleep that night. I just lay there all night thinking, 'I shot someone.' It's something strange. A really strange feeling. You feel like, you know, a bit happy with yourself - I've done me job, it's what I've come here for, know what I mean? He's Taliban and I've got one of them. You feel quite chuffed about it.
"Then you're feeling like, you know, well you know, sad. You're thinking. . . well, you know. . . you know, the, the geezer's another human being at the end of the day, like. Then you get the feeling, well, you know, it's either him or me. And then you're thinking. . .
"I think people get, like, you know, religious then as well. You're thinking, well, in the bigger picture, if there is a Geezer up there and a Geezer downstairs, what does that mean to me now I've just shot someone? Is that me done for? Am I going to hell or what? And all of that went through me mind that night, for hour after hour after hour."
Young soldiers may not understand the politics that led to war or the ethical considerations involved in their doing what they're doing. They may not have a Christian background, but they still have, it seems, an awareness of the value of human life.
When a man finds Christ and believes, something happens inside. He still has the same name. He still lives in the same house, wears the same clothes and works at the same job. But he's a new man inside. "If anyone is in Christ," the Bible says, "he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."He has the same National Insurance number and gets the same bills. He still loves his wife and children (more than he did before). He still enjoys life (more than he did before). He knows he belongs in this world, but somehow he feels he doesn't belong to it. If you take a fish out of water, it will die, because it's out of its natural environment. If you put a man underwater, he will die, because he's out of his natural environment. A diver can exist underwater, but that's because he has an airline to the surface.A man (or a woman, or child) who finds Christ can live in this world, and live a successful life: but that's because he can breathe the air of heaven. If he doesn't feel completely at home, that's because he's the citizen of another country.When I was young, I had to do National Service. The young man in the bed next to me was a Christian.In the evening, I would go out to the pub. When I got back, he would be tucked up in bed already. Having had a few beers, I would sit on the end of his bed and persuade him to sing The Old Rugged Cross. I didn't understand too much about it, but there was something about that old song that I liked.After we were both demobbed, I was on holiday one year near his home town, so I looked him up. He invited me to his home the following Sunday.He and his young wife had a simple home, but there was something different about it. They said grace before meals. Somehow that spoke to my heart.A few years later, in a different place, in different circumstances, I was converted to Christ. I wrote and told the young man. He was pleased.A lot later, I found out that when he was 29 years old, he died from a massive brain haemorrhage, leaving behind a wife and young daughter, which was sad. But he didn't just die. He went home.As you get older, one by one friends and family disappear. Some of them go to heaven.One day there's going to be a tremendous reunion. I'm looking forward to that. It really is going to be something.
Andy and Heather Skinner, from Darwen in Lancashire, were told that their unborn baby girl had a massive tumour covering the left chamber of her heart that was restricting blood flow. Specialists were convinced she would die in the womb and advised an abortion."I didn't want an abortion," said Heather. "I wanted nature to take its course. The thought of losing my baby was awful. I didn't know how to deal with it. We were left in a room and just cried."Charley-Marie was born by caesarean section. Three days later, the couple were allowed to take her home. All they had bought for the baby were the clothes and a blanket to bury her in.Charley-Marie is now 19 months old. She still has the tumour. Sometimes she gets out of breath, but otherwise she is like any other youngster."She loves Peppa Pig," says her mother, "and always has a cheeky smile on her face."Says Peter Saunders, whose blog I can recommend: "I have lost count of the number of times I have heard stories like this. Why is it that the medical profession responds in this knee-jerk fashion recommending abortion for disabilities we would make every effort to treat or correct in a baby after birth?"Why are not more parents given the opportunity, with proper support, to see their babies' births through? Why is it that offering surgery, other treatment, or if relevant, terminal care, to disabled, sick or dying babies seems no longer to be regarded as a serious option?"Why has our society instead reached the conclusion that these most vulnerable members of the human race, because they are disabled, sick or dying, have lives that are somehow not worth living? That they are, in other words, better off dead?"What do you think?I have another question. What if the parents refuse an abortion and the child dies anyway?Karen Palmer tells how ultrasound showed during her pregnancy that her baby had profound abnormalities and was not expected to live. She went ahead with the pregnancy. When the baby was born, the baby was peaceful and comfortable. She died just five hours after birth.Karen and her husband evidently learned a great deal."What did we learn? We learned that God is intimately involved with us and with a tiny baby. We learned that even such a tiny, damaged life is precious to him. We learned better how to care for each other and our parents and friends. Our church learned how to care for us. We saw that terminating a pregnancy where there is an abnormality denies the parents and wider family the opportunity to grieve and remember a real and valuable member of that family. We learned that God answers prayer."After Jennifer's death, a steadfast friend said that when Jennifer arrived in heaven there would be great rejoicing and celebration because of all she achieved in her short life. I dream that when I arrive there people will say 'Ah! You're Jennifer's mother' and I'll be so proud!"
When I saw the film version of C. S. Lewis' classic tale The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe I was interested, but not tremendously impressed. Perhaps I had heard so much about it, actually seeing it was something of an anti-climax. On the other hand, when I heard the dramatised version of the story on the radio, I was almost in tears.Why the difference? Perhaps because radio offers better opportunity for the imagination to function. A powerful thing, the imagination.Someone said that the Bible doesn't tell us everything about heaven, but enough to allow us to imagine it. And look forward to it.When God has finished what's He's doing down here, He's going to create a new heaven and a new earth. The new heaven isn't going to be up there; it's going to be down here. God Himself is going to come down to dwell among His people."And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God'" (Rev 21:1 - 3).Words can't describe what a wonderful place it will be. There will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. We will have fellowship there with some wonderful people, and with God Himself.It's amazing how people imagine that everyone is going to heaven (except Hitler perhaps, and Saddam Hussein). Jesus said only a few people are going there.And it's surprising how people believe we can get to heaven by being good. Or if the good we do outweighs the evil we do. Or if we belong to this church, or that church or the other church. Heaven is perfect; there'll be no sin in heaven. And we're all sinners, which is why we all need a Saviour. God's Son, born into human flesh, lived a perfect life and died in my place, so that He could take away my sin and give me His righteousness. He's the Saviour of the world."For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).The reason so many people don't go to heaven is not because they aren't invited, but because they fail to take advantage of God's offer of forgiveness and a new life in Christ.God's done everything He can to make it possible. The choice now is yours.
