Rescue from Hell

"For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them."

 Proverbs 1:32

Prosperity in this world is seen as good, not evil.  But to a man that does not fear God, prosperity is the means to bring him to ultimate destruction.  The Bible says it is the fool who says in his heart, "There is no God." (Ps. 14:1; Ps. 53:1)  Fools despise the wisdom and instruction from God, claiming the Bible is no more than rot, rubbish, and fodder for feeble minds.  Proverbs 15:16 reads, "Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith."  Riches and prosperity are not evil in themselves, but in the hands of the foolish it brings certain destruction.  That is why Jesus says it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a sewing needle than for a rich man to inherit eternal life.  Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

What a sobering thought, that prosperity can be the vehicle on which a man races to his eternal doom!  Hell is not merely an expletive, but is a real place of torment.  It is a place God has prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41) where unrepentant men will also face everlasting punishment for sin.  Ezekiel 33:11 writes, "Say to them: 'As I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'"  Death in the world is a result of sin.  So abhorrent is sin and consequent death to God that He sent Jesus Christ, His own Son, to die on behalf of all sinners.  Jesus drank of that bitter cup of the Father's wrath so sinners might be saved.  When a man agrees with God's righteous Law that he is indeed a sinner, confesses his sin and repents, trusting in Christ to forgive and save him, he is born again through the Holy Spirit.  But those who reject Jesus Christ and have no fear of God, choosing sin over repentance, it would be better for them if they had never been born.

Can you see them?  People you know and people you have never met - blindly surging toward the dark chasm of Hell?  They jostle and shove one another, pouring over the brink into unspeakable torment which never ends.  People who say that have experienced "hell on earth" show their ignorance of actual Hell:  a place of outer darkness where the fire is not quenched and the worm dies not.  Instead of a living hell it is a dying Hell, yet man nor spirit can die.  Hell is not a heathen reunion, where the party never stops:  it is a place where the worms continually gnaw your insides and fire is burning your flesh.  The suffocating stench of sulfur is as unbearable as the screams of the tormented.  Have you ever seen a man on fire?  He rolls on the ground, he tears at his clothes.  All his focus is on extinguishing the flame which scorches him.  Nothing else matters.  One minute of burning on earth is too much.  In Hell, the flame cannot be put out.  There is no water, only darkness.  There is no hope of salvation, no second chances.  People will gnash their teeth in the pain, suffering eternal regret.  Does it give you pleasure to read such things?  It gives me no pleasure to write of them.  I would not dare even think upon it but the Bible puts the existence of Hell forth as a stark reality, the inevitable result of sin and a life apart from Christ.

Jesus said in Luke 16:19-31:  "There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. ²⁰ But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, ²¹ desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. ²² So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. ²⁴ Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.' ²⁵ But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.' ²⁷ Then he said, 'I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house, ²⁸ for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.' ²⁹ Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' ³⁰ And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' ³¹ But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.' "

Jesus came and fulfilled what was spoken through God by the prophets concerning the Messiah.  He lived a righteous life in fulfillment of the Law, and instituted a New Covenant (agreement) through His blood.  He proved His deity through rising from the dead three days after being crucified.  If Christ's love, teachings, wisdom, miracles, resurrection, and ascension do not persuade you to believe in Him as LORD and Saviour, nothing will.  For those who believe that Jesus is who He claimed to be - the Way, the Truth, the Resurrection, and the Life - then we are tasked to use our remaining days to save as many as we can through the power of the Gospel.  We are to tap those on the shoulder who are throwing themselves headlong into eternal destruction and ask, "Friend, do you not know the wages of sin is death in Hell but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our LORD?"  Jude 1:22-23 says, "And on some have compassion, making a distinction; ²³ but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh."

Satan would love people to deny God's existence and reckon there is no such place as Heaven or Hell.  But Satan is a liar and a murderer from the beginning.  God speaks the truth in love.  It is because He loves us that He warns us about the eternal consequences of sin.  He does not diagnose our disease without providing a cure.  We are all sinful, but Jesus has paid the price for our sins.  1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  Let us be bold to share the Good News so many will inherit eternal life!