Why do we laugh at hell? It’s a nervous laughter! Even in our humor, there is the underlying sense that it all might be true, after all. This joke is typical:
The Pope, Billy Graham, and Oral Roberts, (famous as a healing fundraiser) die unexpectedly. Saint Peter realizes to his consternation that their places in heaven aren’t quite ready yet. So he says to these famous men, “I’m so sorry, but, your places in heaven aren’t ready yet! Would you mind terribly, spending a few days in hell? We’ll leave you there the shortest amount of time possible.” The 3 men reluctantly agree. Well, after the first night, heaven gets an urgent phone call from Satan demanding that heaven do something! Peter stops Satan’s screaming long enough to ask him, “What in the world is wrong down there?” Satan starts ranting again: “You see, these 3 men you sent down here are ruining everything! Billy Graham is evangelizing the whole place, and everyone is repenting! The pope is forgiving everyone and granting them absolution! And, worst of all, Oral Roberts is raising enough money to get this whole place air-conditioned! Get these guys out of here!”
Now, that joke is funny at first reading! However, its theology is really bad Biblical theology. So, what’s wrong with it? Consider the following points:
Satan isn’t the prince of hell at all. He is its prisoner! Revelation chapter 20 makes that quite clear.
No one’s death is unexpected. Psalm 139 makes that quite clear too.
Once people do arrive in hell, there is no forgiveness. There are no second chances. Luke 16 makes that point clear as well. The greedy rich man in this parable knows that he will never escape his terrible fate!
And, regarding air-conditioning? Well, … you get the idea! A bottomless lake of burning sulphur as described by Revelation 20 has no chance of being air-conditioned!
Jesus took hell so seriously that He willingly let the Romans drive half inch spikes through the median nerves in his wrists! This produced waves and waves of unimaginable spasms of pain through his whole nervous system! There he hung in that horrible condition for hour after agonizing hour! Why? Because, for Jesus, hell wasn’t funny! Matthew 25:41 tells us that hell was never even designed for humans. It was designed only for the devil and his wicked angels. It is an inhuman place to which humans do go, but only over the dead body of Jesus.
How do we know that Jesus has the power to rescue us from hell?
Jesus overcame hell by never committing a human sin.
Jesus overcame the grave by resurrecting himself from a human death.
Jesus fulfilled enough prophecy to leave no doubt that He knows all about our future. If he says that hell is coming, we can believe him. If He says that a rescue is possible, we can trust him. Jesus went through inhuman suffering to rescue us from an inhuman place! And, yes, hell is a place-not a state of mind-not the hell we make for ourselves here on earth-and not something to laugh about. With all the passion I can humanly muster, I say, cry over hell and rejoice over heaven! What would you be willing to do to escape a raging fire here on earth? Would you jump out of a building? What would you be willing to do to rescue someone else? Would you warn them, grab them, throw them out of a window into a net they couldn’t see through the smoke? How much more urgent then is the eternal raging fire!
By
Chris Hansen
Books by Chris Hansen: “Revelation Revisited,” is a very dramatic retelling of John’s amazing visions of heaven, hell, worldwide cataclysms, antichrist, and the glorious return of Jesus! “Secret of the Psalms,” walks through the life of Jesus prefigured and predicted in the Psalms, centuries beforehand. “Grandfather’s Journal,” is a touching illustrated children’s book in which a young boy, who is bored with Sunday school, and terrified of dying, finds a reason to love going to church, a reason to smile again, and a reason to pray for the first time. He discovers that because Jesus really rose from death, then Jesus can be trusted, and Jesus can give real hope, at Easter or any other time.