There are two types of people. I don’t mean liberals and conservatives, oppressed and oppressors, tolerant and intolerant, or even good people and bad people. These have spectrums, a continuum from one to the next. The two types of people we will be looking at in the next two posts are the Lost and the Saved. One is either Saved or Lost. You do not choose your camp. I know you are saying, “Wait, Drew, I thought we got to choose Jesus?” It is true you will hear evangelists use this wording, but it is a poor choice of words.
It is not a choice but a calling. It is not something we just decide on our own to do. It is not your choice to get Saved, but your acceptance of a call of God. When called by the Holy Spirit to the kingdom, you either accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior or you remain with the Lost. Yes, remain with the Lost. This is clearly stated in John chapter three: “Whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (Jn 3:18, emphasis added).
The offer of salvation is offered to a Lost world, to each individual. Yet, one does not stand undecided. Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Matt 12:30) Yes, Jesus is very binary in His thinking, very black or white. It is the world that wants things gray so one can remain in the darkness while claiming to be in the “true” light.
We are going to examine each of these two groups in order to investigate the conclusion for each after death. This will not be a full look at end-times matters, known as eschatology, but we will look briefly at each of these groups’ fate immediately after death, what the final judgment will be like for each, and what their final destiny will be.
The theme graphic for this post is rather menacing, so you would be correct if you guessed we would be looking at the Lost group first. We are all members of at least one ethnic group. We are permanently part of the ethnic group into which we were born. But in this case, the Lost can and, we hope, will heed the call of God, and move from Lost to Saved. One does not move in the opposite direction, from Saved to Lost, but that is a topic for a different post.
The point of using “their” is to call attention to the distinction, to emphasize that one is a member of one group and not the other. It is my hope, if you have not done so already, you will follow the call of the Holy Spirit to accept Christ. But for those who have not or who are still “thinking” about it, we now turn to their eternal destiny.
I do realize the foreboding nature of that last line, “eternal destiny.” It should cause us great pause, for they do not have a good future. As a lost person, one will not spend eternity with their friends or loved ones having a party. The future starts with a Lost person’s death. It is a death without hope, without love, without joy, and most importantly, without God.
One of the most common words used in the OT for the place of the dead, the place where a soul goes after the death of the body, is Sheol (Job 17:13). It is thought of as being deep below the ground (Num 16:32-33). Those in Sheol do not escape (2 Sam 22:6; Job 17:16). As we have looked at in a previous post (More Than Flesh and Bones) humans are more than a physical body. We consist of a mortal body and an eternal soul that outlives the body.
Another name for the underworld in the OT is Abaddon. Its emphasis is on the place of death as a state of destruction or torment. Do not confuse “destruction” with the concept of annihilation or ceasing to exist, for nowhere does the Bible teach that one day people in Sheol or Hell will be annihilated. The opposite is true, our final place after death is an eternal habitat. This is pictured in the use of the word pit (Isa 14:15) as a place one is unable to crawl out of. Jesus tells us, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matt 25:46).
The OT describes Sheol as a place of darkness. In Job 18:18, one is pictured as being removed from the light into darkness. Job 20:26 adds that all one’s treasures are in darkness. Those things one values will be lost to him while he is devoured by fire, i.e., tormented. All our possessions will be consumed, in other words, we don’t get to take it with us.
The understanding of the afterlife was a developing doctrine in the OT which comes into fuller view in the New Testament, yet sadly, the picture for those who have rejected Jesus Christ is just as bleak in the NT as it is the OT. The Lost go to a dark place of torment from which they cannot escape. It is torment which is experienced alone. There are no groups of friends coming together in Sheol. No one will be there to comfort you. One is alone and disconnected from all others, including former friends and family. While God knows what is happening there (Proverbs 15:11), His presence is not felt there (Mat 25:41; 2 Thes 1:7-9).
Instead of Sheol, the NT uses the Greek term Hades to speak of the immediate place of the afterlife. Hades and other Greek terms are, in many translations, translated as “Hell,” but Hell is a vastly different place than is intended by Sheol or Hades. Actually, from a biblical perspective, Sheol and Hades are the same place. This would not be true of the use of Hades in ancient Roman or Greek myths. In common use it is okay to use the term Hell for Hades as long as we keep in mind that Hades (Sheol) is not the final place the Lost will be sent to. The place a Lost person goes at death is an intermediate place (Sheol/Hades) waiting for the final judgment to come. Gehenna (Hell) is the final destination for the Lost.
By the first century, the place of the dead was seen as an abode with two sections. One for the Lost and one for the people of God, with a divide between them. The parable (Lk 16:19-31) of the rich man and poor Lazarus (not Jesus’ friend that is raised from the dead in John 11) is instructive. Lazarus “died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side.” The rich man also dies a brief time later: “The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment.” What a contrast!
We learn in the parable that the rich man cannot go to Lazarus, nor can Lazarus go to the rich man, due to the chasm between them. The rich man may want mercy, but he is reaping the results of his own life. We see that the rich man is in torment and anguish. He and Lazarus, while no longer in physical bodies, have a “physical” form and feel pain or comfort, respectively. The rich man remembers Lazarus by name and that he left brothers behind. He does not want them to face his fate, but no one from the afterlife can go to them (sorry, Ebenezer, Mr. Marley is not coming to warn you of your destiny), nor would it do any good. Abraham tells him if they will not listen to Moses and the Prophets—Scripture—they will not listen to the dead.
After Jesus’ resurrection, things changed for Lazarus, Abraham, and the others who were dead in Christ. We will cover this in more detail in the next post in this series. For now, note that the dead in Christ leave Hades, and the ungodly remain in Hades (Sheol). Yet this is still an intermediate stay. Don’t confuse this with a type of purgatory for those working out their sin and making themselves holy enough for Heaven. Purgatory is not a biblical concept and should be rejected out of hand. Also, there will be no second chance after death.
The next event awaiting the Lost is a resurrection to judgment. It may surprise many that not only are the Saved resurrected at the end, thus being given a new body, but the Lost are also resurrected separately and given new bodies (Dan 12:2; John 5:28-29; Rev 20:11-15). Their resurrection is not in preparation for glory but for judgment. “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Daniel 12:2).
“Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28–29) Judgment is the next step. Don’t be puzzled by “done good … done evil.” Jesus is not saying that our future destination is dependent on our works, but that our work exemplifies where one’s heart is, whether we have put our faith in Christ, living for Him or not. For even works which seem to be good yet are not done to the glory of God are works of self-righteousness. As James tells us, “… faith apart from works is dead.” (James 2:26). Yet, as we will see, how one experiences Hell is impacted by how one lived.
Rev 20:11-15 describes the “great white throne” of judgment. This is a judgment of only the Lost. It is the final judgment. All those—the great and the small, the rich and the poor, the powerful and the disenfranchised—who have not put their faith in Jesus Christ will face this judgment. The evidence will be determined by the entry of their name in the Book of Life. One’s name is written in the Book of Life when we accept Christ as our personal Savior and are born again. It is like a spiritual birth registry. Every Saved person is written there without fail, and no Lost person is accidentally included.
The destination of those convicted in the final judgment is described in Revelation as a lake of fire. The lake of fire matches what Jesus says about Gehenna (Hell) being a place of unending fire and maggots that never die (Mk 9:48). It is a place of weeping, gnashing of teeth, and utter darkness (Matt 8:12; 13:50). It would be proper to see the lake of fire and Gehenna as the same place, what we would refer to as Hell.
At this point, there will be no more death. There will be no need for Hades. Both death and Hades are thrown into the lake of fire. Along with death and Hades, all those whose names are not written in the Book of Life are also thrown into the lake of fire. This is referred to as the “second death” (Rev 20:14), again the soul does not die, as in cease to exist, but is going to eternal separation from God. This is, in a real way, what the godless wanted: existence without God.
As an aside from dealing with the future of the Lost humans, Rev 19:17-21 gives the end for Satan and his demons, the antichrist, and the false prophet. They are also thrown into the lake of fire. Note that there is no indication that Hell is Satan’s home or that he rules there. He is sent there, like everyone else, as a prisoner to be tormented for eternity.
Two areas of concern may come to mind from this account of the future of the godless. Why go to Hades, then be resurrected to only be sent to Hell for eternity? A couple of things come to mind. The best illustration I know for this is the difference between jail and prison. One is waiting in jail (Hades) without bail while waiting for his trial (the great white throne). After the trial, he is given his sentence for his crime. At which point he is sent to the penitentiary (Hell). It is only right that the people hear their indictment and the evidence against them before they are sent away for eternity.
It is also clear from Jesus’ teachings that there are different degrees of punishment in Hell. Twice in Matt 11:20-24, Jesus states those of cities like Capernaum who did not repent and turn to God will have it worse in judgment than those of Gentile cities who had not even seen His miraculous works. Therefore, all will be judged by their work. One could never do enough good deeds to overcome his sin and rejection of Christ. It would be like adding good eggs to a bowl of bad, stinking eggs and then hoping the batch will be okay. None of us would eat that omelet, but we expect God to!
The other major concern is whether this is fair. Does a relatively short lifetime of sin justify an eternity of punishment? Out of this comes the question of how a good God can do this. These are big issues, and much has been written about them, yet unfortunately, we have already gone long on this post. But let me give you some things to think through.
First, the issue of the extent of the punishment; the punishment must meet the depravity of the sin. The issue is not thinking too little of the fairness of God but too little of the gravity of sin. We have sinned against an infinite and holy God. We did not simply act against another person or even an especially important and powerful person. We have sinned against the infinite God of all. A crime so heinous that it required the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, the perfect sinless God-man who died in our place.
Second, those who are sentenced to Hell not only sinned against God but also rejected the free gift that cost God all, His Son! When put in perspective, where does the punishment lack fairness? How could God be holy and just, yet leave this sin unpunished? How could God declare any justice without dealing with this injustice?
Until the next time we see you here at CultivatingFaith.org, God Bless! #CultivatingFaithOrg