2 Thessalonians 1:8, 9
As a boy, I often heard a description of gospel preaching as, “There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun”. Most of the messages that I heard gave heavy emphasis to hell, with its flames and torment; while paying little attention to heaven beyond “streets of gold”. Heaven was viewed as a final destination and a mystery; one so great that no human could comprehend it, so we need not preach much about it. Hell was viewed as getting bigger and bigger to accommodate the many millions who were falling headlong into it every day.
As I grew older and went into the ministry, I fell into the same habit of heavily emphasizing hell and preaching sermon after sermon on how to gain heaven and avoid hell. Preaching seemed to encompass those thoughts exclusively. I would go so far as to say, “My job is to keep you out of hell and get you to heaven”. Actually, that is not the preacher’s job at all. Jesus said that our job was to feed the sheep (John 21:17). It is the job of the blood of Jesus, met by your faith, to get you to heaven and keep you from hell.
The great messenger of God’s Grace and Goodness was the Apostle Paul. It is a good idea to take our cues on how to preach and how to view God from this giant of the ministry. In the 14 books that he contributed to the New Testament (75% of the total volume), Paul gives us the sum total of the New Covenant. He ministers on salvation, faith, fruit of the Spirit, gifts of the Spirit, the end times and even how to handle problems in the local church. He gives instructions for speaking in other tongues in a church service, and tells us why we should observe communion. In light of all that he tells us, we could possibly learn volumes by noticing what he never tells us.
Paul never mentions hell. He never threatens the believer with flames of fire and he never romanticizes the tortures of the afterlife in order to solidify a sermon. His lack of preaching on this subject is not meant to suggest that the place does not exist, but when we remember that he was writing to churches, composed of Christians, we understand why he leaves it out.
There is no room in hell for the believer! We are promised heaven and an inheritance. If hell were the possible final destination for someone who has accepted Christ, the Apostle Paul should have mentioned it, at least once. The absence of such a warning lends credence to the fact that the New Covenant has no punishment left for believers, for Christ has bore all of God’s judgment (John 12:31, 32).
The closest that Paul comes to this subject is found in 2 Thessalonians 1:8, 9 when Paul warns that Jesus will appear to take “vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” The vengeance of hell will be against those who do not know God and that disobey the gospel of Jesus Christ. This says nothing of disobeying the law and the commandments. The gospel of Christ is good news and all that reject that good news are promised ‘everlasting destruction’.
Saints, there is a hell to shun, but you need not to fear it. Jesus bore your punishment in His body at Calvary and now you never have to think of punishment again. For those who do not believe, they will receive that punishment, but for those of us who do, we rejoice in His suffering for our sake.
As a boy, I often heard a description of gospel preaching as, “There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun”. Most of the messages that I heard gave heavy emphasis to hell, with its flames and torment; while paying little attention to heaven beyond “streets of gold”. Heaven was viewed as a final destination and a mystery; one so great that no human could comprehend it, so we need not preach much about it. Hell was viewed as getting bigger and bigger to accommodate the many millions who were falling headlong into it every day.
As I grew older and went into the ministry, I fell into the same habit of heavily emphasizing hell and preaching sermon after sermon on how to gain heaven and avoid hell. Preaching seemed to encompass those thoughts exclusively. I would go so far as to say, “My job is to keep you out of hell and get you to heaven”. Actually, that is not the preacher’s job at all. Jesus said that our job was to feed the sheep (John 21:17). It is the job of the blood of Jesus, met by your faith, to get you to heaven and keep you from hell.
The great messenger of God’s Grace and Goodness was the Apostle Paul. It is a good idea to take our cues on how to preach and how to view God from this giant of the ministry. In the 14 books that he contributed to the New Testament (75% of the total volume), Paul gives us the sum total of the New Covenant. He ministers on salvation, faith, fruit of the Spirit, gifts of the Spirit, the end times and even how to handle problems in the local church. He gives instructions for speaking in other tongues in a church service, and tells us why we should observe communion. In light of all that he tells us, we could possibly learn volumes by noticing what he never tells us.
Paul never mentions hell. He never threatens the believer with flames of fire and he never romanticizes the tortures of the afterlife in order to solidify a sermon. His lack of preaching on this subject is not meant to suggest that the place does not exist, but when we remember that he was writing to churches, composed of Christians, we understand why he leaves it out.
There is no room in hell for the believer! We are promised heaven and an inheritance. If hell were the possible final destination for someone who has accepted Christ, the Apostle Paul should have mentioned it, at least once. The absence of such a warning lends credence to the fact that the New Covenant has no punishment left for believers, for Christ has bore all of God’s judgment (John 12:31, 32).
The closest that Paul comes to this subject is found in 2 Thessalonians 1:8, 9 when Paul warns that Jesus will appear to take “vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” The vengeance of hell will be against those who do not know God and that disobey the gospel of Jesus Christ. This says nothing of disobeying the law and the commandments. The gospel of Christ is good news and all that reject that good news are promised ‘everlasting destruction’.
Saints, there is a hell to shun, but you need not to fear it. Jesus bore your punishment in His body at Calvary and now you never have to think of punishment again. For those who do not believe, they will receive that punishment, but for those of us who do, we rejoice in His suffering for our sake.
