By Gary D. Robinson
That alternative is suffering beyond suffering, a death beneath the grave. The apostle John called it "the second death" (Rev. 20:14). He describes an awesome scene in which those whose names are not found written in the Book of Life are thrown into the "lake of fire" (20:15). Truly, this is the Court of No Appeal.
Jesus paints a different picture in Matthew 25, but the colors sting and smart all the same. At the Last Judgment, he divides humanity down the middle. Those on his right have shown compassion in His name and for His sake. Those on his left have lived like the devil -- for themselves. And so their punishment is that fit for the devil: "'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels . . . Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life" (25:41,46).
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Is there a Hell? Do we believe Jesus?
What, then, is Hell? In the passages quoted above, the English word “Hell” is used to translate the Greek word “Gehenna.” It was a highly graphic term for Jesus to use, and it would have made an impact upon the people to whom He spoke. If any of His listeners cared to, they could have gone and seen the place for themselves! Outside Jerusalem lay what had once been called the Valley of Hinnom. It was a garbage dump. Fires burned there continually. It was a foul, stinking place, always smoking and smoldering, crawling with loathsome worms. What is Hell? To Jesus, it was the place where wasted humanity lay in a smoking heap of blackened desires -- the supreme tragedy.
I walk behind my house across a dry creek to a rusty barrel with holes drilled through it. The holes are to let the smoke out. This is the barrel we burn our trash in. I look down inside and see things down at the bottom, things that used to be new and bright and full of potential. Now, however, in that black, acrid mass I can’t tell what was what. Something remains, but that’s all it is now — remains. This is the result of destruction.
“Destruction” is among the words used to describe Hell (e.g., 2 Thess. 1:9). I do not believe it means annihilation. I do not believe human consciousness destroyed equals human consciousness removed. But what is left? A shambles, a ruin, something that only used to be human. It’s a thought to give us nightmares.
I wouldn’t wish such a fate on my worst enemy. It is a prospect too terrible to consider. But we must consider it, as we consider the question of why such a gruesome fate should befall anyone. The truth is, we can catch glimpses of it even now. Here’s an addict living only for his next fix. See how his craving supersedes everything else. He can’t think about anything else. He’s willing to degrade himself more and more to slake that awful thirst. As we watch him crawling and squirming in his filthy prison, eventually we must ask, “Am I looking at a person, or a mere craving?”