Whatever happened to Hell? It’s become traditional to not believe in Hell. Here we are in the city of Victoria, where it’s popular to reject old-fashioned traditions people see as “Victorian.” I’d like to reject an old-fashioned Victorian idea about Hell. This notion about Hell was stated very clearly by one of Queen Victoria’s own chaplains when he said that the idea of Hell is, “blasphemy against the merciful God.”[i] Dr. Albert Mohler noticed how denying Hell became fashionable in Victorian England when he said, “Whereas preachers in earlier eras were concerned to save persons from punishment in hell, many Victorian preachers wanted to save their congregations from the fear of hell.”[ii] The apostle Paul praised God in his second letter to the believers in Thessalonica, because they had listened and believe the Gospel he preached, and he predicted that one day, "[the Lord Jesus will be] revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed,"  (2Th 1:7-10). Many Christians seem to have forgotten that what we believe about Hell should be shaped by God’s Word and not by Tradition or what’s trending on Social Media. A great little book about this is called, Is Hell for Real or Does Everyone Go to Heaven? With chapters contributed by J.I. Packer, Tim Keller, and Albert Mohler, among others.

Writers and thinkers like Tim Keller and C. S. Lewis have tried to show that Hell is not as unreasonable an idea as you might assume. In fact, one way they suggest to think about Hell is as the ultimate destination many people freely choose.[iii] In Revelation 20:11-15, John does not use the word “Hell.” He calls it “the lake of fire.” And even though John uses graphic, symbolic language here—as if, for example, Death and Hades were persons—he describes Hell as a literal and necessary place. In John 14, Jesus made two promises: that after departing this Earth, He would prepare a place to live with His people forever—and that He would send the Holy Spirit to prepare a holy people. In Revelation 20, “the lake of fire” is the only place left for people who don’t want to be with Jesus. It’s been nearly 2000 years since Jesus went up to Heaven and He’s coming back soon. But during that time He sent His Spirit to prepare believers for the Day of His Second Coming, the day of the first resurrection. When He comes back, soon, He will begin making the world ready to be a holy place, where righteousness dwells, where His holy people will live with Him forever and ever. These final verses about the end of this old world describe a throne, a judgment, and a lake of fire and teach us that when there is no place left to hide from the face of God, God will have a place prepared for everyone who refused to be with Jesus. I have three questions about Hell to help us learn what these verses have to teach us: 1) Who rules Hell? 2) Who deserves Hell? 3) Who escapes Hell?

Who rules Hell?

You’ve probably come across imaginings of Hell in which it is Satan’s domain—as one writer put it, “Hell is where Satan rules… where his complete fury is unleashed.”[iv] There’s a popular picture, I think, that Hell is where demons come from instead of where they end up. We just saw, in Rev 19:20, that one day the Beast and the Falseprophet will be thrown into “the lake of fire”; and we saw last Sunday, in Rev 20:10, that at the end of the Thousand Years, Satan himself will be thrown into the Lake of Fire—into Hell. This is also how Jesus described it: that Hell is “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels”—so it might not be a literal lake but it will be real fire and it will be a real place. But Hell, the Lake of Fire, is not the devil’s dominion, it’s his doom; the place of His unending punishment (v10)—for him and his fellow demons’—and Jesus said it will be prepared for them. Nowhere in the Bible is the devil shown ruling in Hell. What the Bible does show is that in the end, God rules everywhere. “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it…” (Rev. 20:11a ESV).

It is a “great” throne and it is a “white” throne, the size and the colour are both symbolic ways of communicating the greatness and glory of the Ruler who sits on this throne-- “him who was seated on it.” So just how great, and how glorious is the One seated on this throne? “From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them,” (Rev. 20:11b ESV). The earth and heavens flee from God’s face. The Universe. From His face. But “no place was found for them”—there is nowhere to hide from the face of God. That’s already true now but not everybody knows it. When this happens, at the end of the thousand year Kingdom of Jesus Christ on Earth, when God has thrown the devil into Hell, and sits to judge the human race, there will be nowhere in all the Universe to hide from His face. The Bible does teach that this present Universe will be burned up and destroyed in the end—to  make way for a new and holy Universe. This throne judgment here seems to be right before that happens. Earth and heaven fleeing from God’s face symbolically shows that when God appears on His throne, nothing corruptible, nothing that dies, nothing that can perish will be able to stand the sight of God’s face. It all flees but there’s nowhere to hide. “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.” (Isa 51:6) The One on the throne is great and glorious and omnipresent. He rules everywhere and there’s no place left for anything corruptible.

The Bible teaches that God is everywhere—theologians describe that as God’s “omnipresence.” God is omnipresent now but what Rev 20 is predicting is that God’s holy omnipresence will be visible and revealed in the fulness of His glory so that everything stained and tarnished and touched by sin will flee like smoke from the sight of His face. The way this is worded in verse 11 seems to draw from a similar picture of the future Kingdom of Jesus Christ in Daniel 2. God showed Daniel that the Kingdom of Christ will come like a mountain that falls on the kingdoms of the world and breaks them into pieces—"and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." (Dan 2:35 ESV) At the end of the thousand year Kingdom of Jesus on Earth, there will be no room for anything besides what Christ has made holy. The holy rule of Jesus Christ will fill the whole Creation, the Mountain of the Kingdom of God will fill the entire Earth. The world will be ready for God. Rev 20 seems to suggest that the filling up of the world by the Kingdom of Jesus, like the mountain in Daniel that grows to fill the earth, is a process that happens during the thousand years between when Jesus returns and the great judgment before the throne of God. God is everywhere. Sin is nowhere. As Paul says, "I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable." (1Co 15:50 ESV) In that same chapter, Paul declared, "Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.  25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death."  (1Co 15:24-26 ESV) And again, "When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."" (1Co 15:54 ESV)

Revelation 20 doesn’t describe Jesus directly until now. The focus has been on the people Jesus made holy: people who believed in Jesus and honoured Him as Saviour and as Lord during their mortal lives, verse 4 says are those “who came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” Verse 5 says that’s the first resurrection, when everyone the Holy Spirit has thus made ready will be resurrected to live with Christ. They will reign with Jesus, they will be priests, verse 6 says, “of God and of Christ” for 1000 years. But Jesus was only mentioned so far indirectly. Until verse 11. Who is on the throne? And the answer is God. Not Christ alone, and not God the Father alone, but God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Some people think of God as Judge but Jesus as Saviour.[v] But Jesus will judge the world in the end as God. 1 Cor 15:28 predicts that Jesus will rule until everything is under Him, so that when He hands everything over to His Father, “God may be all in all.”

Jesus Himself said, "For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done." (Mat 16:27) Again it was Jesus who predicted about Himself, ""When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats."  (Mat 25:31-32) On that day, He will sort the sheep from the goats, the sheep on His right and the goats on His left (and in this parable the sheep represent the righteous and the goats the wicked), and then, "…the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." (Mat 25:34) But to those on His left, the King will say, "'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." (Mat 25:41) And as Jesus said in John 5:22, "For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. " (Joh 5:22-23) Everywhere else in Revelation so far, the One sitting on the throne has been distinguished from the Lamb, Jesus Christ. But ever since the Lamb was introduced in chapter 5, He has been there at the right hand of God on His throne. And in the final chapter, when John sees the river of the water of life flowing from the throne, he calls it “the throne of God and of the Lamb.” So who rules Hell? Not the devil. The throne shows us that God will rule everywhere. And for anything and anyone mortal, corruptible, or perishable, there will be no place anywhere to hide from the face of God.

Who deserves Hell?

“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done,” (Rev. 20:12 ESV). The dead. Not the living. The dead include everyone who was not resurrected int eh first resurrection when Jesus comes again: “The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection,” (Rev. 20:5 ESV). And then…

And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison  8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.  9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them… (Rev. 20:7-9 ESV).

This means that on that day, when the God appears on His throne to judge, there is no one left alive except the resurrected saints. And then John sees the dead—all of them, no matter how important they were in life, “great or small”—standing before God. But even the earth and sky fled from His face! How are the dead able to stand before the throne? Not to mention how dead people can stand at all! Verse 13 explains: “And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them…” (Rev. 20:13a ESV). All Creation, the seas, the grave—or Hades—even Death—so that the entire population of the human race from the very beginning, everyone whose bodies had returned to dust, brings forth the dead.

There’s an old song that laments where have all the young men gone and says they’ve gone to soldiers every one; but where have all the soldiers gone? They’ve gone to graveyards every one; but where have all the graveyards gone? They’ve gone to flowers everyone. Like that expression, “pushing up daisies.” There is so much in this world that is beautiful. But is there anything that hasn’t been touched by death? From ashes to ashes and dust to dust, from life to grave to flowers, this world is filled with those who have perished before. Death came into the world because of Adam’s sin and the evidence of Adam’s sin is literally everywhere. But then John sees that one day, even Death will give back every human being it has swallowed. They have an appointment with God. “…And they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done,” (Rev. 20:13b ESV). They will be resurrected with imperishable bodies to take their stand before the Holy Tribunal of God. Because their bodies will be resurrection bodies, imperishable bodies, the punishment they will receive will be an unperishing punishment. There will be no more decay or decomposing. No more dust to dust. No more ashes to ashes. In the Lake of Fire there will be burning without ever consuming. Even Death will be destroyed, to be replaced by a new kind of Death that doesn’t die: “Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire,” (Rev. 20:14a ESV). This is what Hell will be. But who deserves Hell?

John 3:16-18 gives us one way to answer that question:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (Joh 3:16-18 ESV)

Did you hear that? God’s love, God’s only Son, God’s promise of eternal life, God’s salvation through the Son. God still saves, right now, every single soul who believes in Jesus. But if you reject God’s love, God’s only Son, God’s promise of eternal life, and God’s salvation through Jesus, you will receive the Death you’ve already earned. You are condemned by unbelief. So turn now, while there’s time, and instead of rejecting God, embrace the Son, the Saviour, the Lamb who died so that you can live. If you reject the Gospel of Jesus, the next thing you hear after you die will be the voice of Jesus calling you out from the dead, to stand before His throne. You will listen to Him eventually so hear Him now. He confronted the skeptics and doubters when He said, “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear [the voice of the Son of Man] and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment."  (Joh 5:27-29 ESV) Have you done evil?

You often hear people talk like the good they’ve done outweighs the bad. But I’ve never heard someone really claim to have never done anything bad. Even a man like Stephen King, the famous writer of horror fiction, clearly recognizes that ordinary people are capable of great evil. It’s a theme in many of his books. The victims of our nation’s residential schools bear witness to this truth. The millions of babies killed before they were even born bear witness to this truth. The victims of oppression and cruelty at the hands of the economic machine and power systems of this fallen world bear witness to this truth. The millions of orphan children left alone because of war or poverty or addiction bear witness to this truth. Is there anyone who bears no guilt? Is there anyone who can look at his or her hands and say those hands are clean and innocent? "…If our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us?" (Rom 3:5) "For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,  as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;  no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.""  (Rom 3:9-12)

Verse 12 says “books were opened” and then “another book was opened which is the book of life”. And every person resurrected from the dead to stand before God will be judged by what is written. Verse 12 says, “according to what they have done.” Whatever you have done will be recorded in those books. All wrong, all evil, all abuse, all murder, all injustice will one day be held to account. No one will be judged unfairly. God is just. Jesus died to save anyone who comes to Him for mercy. But everyone who rejects the mercy of God in Jesus Christ will be judged fairly when they stand before the throne. Facing that justice without Jesus is what every sane person should be afraid of. When there is no place left to hide from the face of God, God will have a place prepared for everyone who refused to be with Jesus.

Who escapes Hell?

John describes a meticulous day of reckoning. Everyone will get a fair trial and will only be judged by what they have done. And what everyone has done has earned them the second death. “This is the second death, the lake of fire,” (Rev. 20:14b ESV). Everlasting death. Never-ending Hell. Eternal punishment everyone deserves and everyone gets... Unless… unless when the book of life is opened, their name is written there. Then, and only then, will that person be spared the second death. “And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire,” (Rev. 20:15 ESV). The Book of Life is God’s record of every human being who did not reject His love, His Son, His promise of eternal life, His salvation through Christ. The Book of Life will reveal every name of every believe who fell upon God’s mercy, who asked for pardon on account of the death Jesus died in the place of sinners. The Book of Life contains the name of everyone who loved Jesus and followed Him in this life. Revelation 13:8 says their names were “written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.  9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear…"  (Rev 13:8-9). Jesus said, in Rev 3:5, "I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels." (Rev 3:5) And later, when John sees the place Jesus has prepared for His holy people, where we can be with Him forever, John prophesies, "nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life." (Rev 21:27 ESV)

If we’re honest about what the Bible says about Hell, we have to face the truth: Hell is not something we should be afraid to talk about. We should be afraid to not talk about it. I don’t want to be like one of those old Victorian preaches who wanted to spare people from the fear of Hell. I want to spare you from Hell itself.