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How
Lost are the Lost?
by Major Howard Webber
Part 2 of a 3 part series
Who are the lost? Those who live separated from God, in
rebellion to God. How lost are the lost? Or to put it another
way, how serious are the consequences for those who are lost?
Very serious indeed, according to God; so much so that he went
to the extreme measure of sending his own Son in human form to
suffer and die, that those who believe in him should not
perish but have everlasting life. So great is God’s love for
us that he has done everything necessary for us to have a
perpetual, everlasting relationship with him that beyond this
life will be more wonderful than we can ever imagine, better
by far than the indescribable taste of joy, love and peace
those of us that know him have with him now. The last thing he
desires for anyone is the alternative, which is equally
unimaginable.
A difficult truth
Consideration of the consequences for those who die apart from
God (i.e. Hell) is as unfashionable today as it is an
unpleasant thing to think about. We live in an age where our
first concern is not offending anyone or upsetting anyone or
losing anybody else from our diminishing congregations. But
the truth is, as the Anglican South African Bishop Frank
Retief reminds his clergy, “people without Christ go to hell”.
Jesus always spoke the truth whether it was accepted or not,
whether it made him enemies or friends. He often received
derision for so doing, and because of his teaching, he watched
his congregation or those who had previously followed him,
desert him (John 6: 66).
William Booth knew that a day such as ours might one day come.
When asked at the beginning of the 20th century what he saw to
be the chief dangers in the coming century, he replied, “I
consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming
century will be religion without the Holy Ghost; Christianity
without Christ; forgiveness without repentance; salvation
without regeneration; politics without God; and Heaven without
Hell.”
The Biblical hell
‘The word ‘hell’ occurs in the New Testament twelve times,
eleven on the lips of Jesus. It is not a myth created by
dismal angry preachers, but a solemn warning of the Son of God
who died to deliver sinners from its curse. We ignore it at
our peril,’ wrote John Piper. Jesus had more to say about
eternal life than anyone else in the bible, but he also had
more to say than anyone else about the eternal punishment of
the wicked. He spoke of hell as a place; a place of doom,
‘outer darkness,’ (Matt 8:12), ‘where the fire never goes
out,’ (Mark 9:43), causing ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth,’
(Matt 13:42), and where ‘their worm does not die.’ (Mark 9:48)
He said that those confined to hell will be like guests shut
out from a feast, (Matt 25:10-11) branches that are burned,
(John 15:6) weeds that are burned and bad fish that are thrown
away.(Matt 13:30, 48).
Greater than we can possibly imagine
We have no concept of how glorious and wonderful heaven is. As
Paul says, “No eye has seen, or ear has heard, no mind has
conceived what God has prepared for those who love him,” (1
Corinthians 2:9), although God has given us a glimpse. A
little like someone going home from work and getting a whiff
of the aroma of the dinner that awaits them. They can’t see
it, they can’t taste it, they are not sure of all that has
been prepared, but they have breathed in enough of the
fragrance to know that it’s going to be wonderful indeed, and
their saliva glands are already active in joyful expectation.
We live in a world where heaven and hell meet, where both God
and Satan are active. We cannot imagine it otherwise; we can
only dream of a world without Satan; without sin and pain and
tears.
The real thing is unimaginably more fantastic than anything we
can conceive or any picture that Christ has painted for us. He
cannot paint a picture that is beyond painting. It is so
fantastic that even the worst experiences here will melt into
insignificance there. “I consider that our present sufferings
are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed
in us” (1 Cor 8:18). “For our light and momentary troubles are
achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all”
(2 Cor 4:17). These words were written at a time when
Christians were being flogged and chained and imprisoned,
stoned, sawn in two and put to the sword. (Hebrews 11:36-37).
Light and momentary troubles? What about the reality of hell?
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