Jesus Had to Rise

Psalms 16:10

This prayer of David is a Messianic prophecy, meaning that it is speaking of the Messiah, who we know to be Jesus. This prayer is being offered by David, but it is a double reference to how Jesus would be dealt with by His Father. From this verse we gather that Jesus descended into the heart of the earth sometime between His death on the cross and His resurrection. This place in the earth is referred to as hell, but not all of it is full of torture and flames.

Jesus spoke of hell as having two compartments. One side was a place of torment where unbelievers were confined to flames of woe. The other side was called Abraham’s bosom, and it was a place of rest and peace for the souls of those who had died in the faith. Jesus shares this information with us in His story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).

Psalm 16:10 says nothing of Jesus suffering in hell’s flames. The latter part of the verse says that the Lord will not allow His Holy One to see corruption, meaning that God would not allow Jesus’ body to lay in the grave long enough to rot. Both of these prophesies came to pass as Jesus resurrected after only three days in the tomb and the New Testament gives us insight into what Jesus was doing during His trip into hell.

The Apostle Paul spoke of every believer as having received grace “according to the measure of the gift of Christ” (Ephesians 4:7). This categorizes grace as a free gift coming because of the work of Jesus, and that it was offered in a specific manner.

“Wherefore he saith, ‘When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.’” (Ephesians 4:8)

We see Jesus ascending to heaven and leading “captivity captive” before giving us the gift of grace, among other gifts. Then Paul explains who the captive are in the next verse:

“(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)” (Ephesians 4:9, 10)

Christ’s arrival in heaven caused Him to “fill all things”. He arrived with a captive group of captives, which He got when He descended first into hell. In Abraham’s bosom were the souls of all that died in the faith prior to the cross. They were not allowed access to heaven because the blood of Jesus Christ had not yet taken away their sins. The blood of bulls and goats could only cover sins, but it would take the perfect sacrifice to remove them. Jesus took the captives, as well as His blood back to the tabernacle of heaven and offered it upon the mercy seat.

“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” (Hebrews 9:11, 12)

Christ did all of this and then rose from the dead. His resurrection was God’s stamp of approval on all that He had just accomplished. He had to raise, to show you and me that we can live also!

A Hell to Shun

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.

Hell’s Favorite Verse

Romans 7:9

More than serving as a catchy title, I firmly believe in that statement. Satan knows what the Bible says, though he has no revelation as to what it means. In his knowledge of the Word is an ability to twist and distort scriptures. He did it to Eve in the Garden and he did it again in the wilderness to Jesus. He will do the same to you and I because he is a liar and the father of all liars (John 8:44).

Some verses need no twisting; they simply need removed from context. Take the “text” out of “context” and you are left with “con”, which is exactly where Satan does his finest work. Other verses do not even need that treatment; they can simply be quoted for what they are and within the framework of the information given, Satan can devise a plan.

In Romans 7:9, Paul is talking about the role of the Law in his life. In case you think that he is speaking of some other law than the Mosaic Law, he actually quotes the 10th Commandment in verse 7 and says that sin took occasion (opportunity) by that commandment to work in him all different kinds of lusts. Without the commandment in his life, he found sin to be dead. In other words, the knowledge of the Law actually caused the very thing that the commandment told him not to do, to get stronger. The more he heard, “Don’t lust”, the more he lusted. Thus it is until this day.

Believe you me, Satan has Romans 7:9 memorized. He knows that when the commandment comes, sin will revive and we will die. I am not claiming that he understands it perfectly or that he even cares to, but I guarantee you that every demon in hell knows that if they can use the Law against the believer, they will be able to heap condemnation and guilt upon them. The more that the Law is placed in front of the saint, the more that sin begins to revive and stir within them. If you were the devil, wouldn’t you use this to your advantage?

At the cross, Jesus stripped the Law out of our way and nailed it to His cross. He then pointed at the Law which was nailed to the cross and made fun of the powers of darkness through this triumphant act. That is what Paul is saying when he reminds us that Jesus, “Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15). Jesus had removed the one weapon that the enemy had to use against the believer: the Law.

When the pulpit brings emphasis back to the Law, we are weaponizing sin. Have you ever heard of something being “weaponized”? This refers to something being put into a form that it can be used to harm people by. Sin has no authority where there is no law, for without the law, “sin was dead” (Romans 7:8). When we put the Law back up as the standard for people to live by, we weaponize sin, giving it a revival of sorts in our life. Why would we do this? This is lunacy!

Satan works day and night to place believers back under a lifestyle of “do this” and “don’t do that” and he plays cruel tricks with us. When we “do this”, he tells us that we haven’t done enough. When we do what we shouldn’t, he tells us that we are guilty and that we are going to hell. How can we stop this cycle?

Put the Law back where it belongs! Jesus nailed it to the cross and “took it out of the way” (Colossians 2:14). Don’t worry about living right; it is His job to change your heart through the finished work of the cross. Your job is to rest in that finished work and trust Him. Do this and you take the weapon out of the enemy’s hands. Isn’t that what we all want?

Jesus Descended First

Ephesians 4:7-11

When Jesus ascended into heaven, following His Passion on this earth, he “led captivity captive” and then “gave gifts unto men”. The five-fold ministry gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are from God, through the finished work of Jesus, to provide for the newly founded church. It is the action of leading the captivity captive that shows us volumes about Jesus’ accomplishment at Calvary.

Jesus told us that hell consisted of both flames for the sinner and Abraham’s bosom for the saint (Luke 16:22). Prior to the cross, no man could enter into heaven for their sins had not yet been taken away, only covered by countless lambs and bulls. Since these sacrifices could not take away sins (Hebrews 10:4), the saints that died went to a paradise, waiting the shedding of the blood of the Lamb, which would take away the sin of the world.

When Jesus died, He descended in spirit into the lower parts of the earth (Ephesians 4:9). While there, He preached deliverance to the captives (Luke 4:18), taking them out of this Paradise and leading them to the Father, the access which had been paid for by His blood. All men that exhibited faith in God prior to the cross were actually looking forward by their faith to that cross, accepting the blood of Jesus as the washing away of their sins. Jesus’ death then brought fulfillment to their faith, becoming a truly finished work.

After descending into the earth, Jesus then ascended far above all heavens, “that he might fill all things” (Ephesians 4:10). The only way that Christ could fill all things is if He has first “fulfilled” all things, and the cross was the complete fulfillment of God’s plan for man’s redemption. By then pouring gifts, in the form of the five-fold ministry, into the church, Jesus has filled us with all that we need for growth and development.

It is beautiful to know that no one was left out by the finished work of the cross. Those who had died prior to the cross were covered by the descent of Jesus into the heart of the earth, while those who lived after the cross had just been paid for by the shed blood of the lamb. Those in Paradise were escorted to heaven to live forever with the Lord, while those of us left on this earth have the resurrection of Jesus, which allows the Holy Spirit to live His life through us. We are both provided for, and that through what Christ has accomplished.

The finished work of Christ is that which fills all things. You are who you are in the Lord because the work of the cross was so complete. The gifts that Jesus paid for are “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). This shows us that though the cross is a finished work, it is still finishing the work in us. We are constantly being molded and shaped into the very likeness and image of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Glory to God for His perfect payment for you, by the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Your past, present and future have been atoned for by His perfect work.

Jesus Had to Rise

Psalms 16:10

This prayer of David is a Messianic prophecy, meaning that it is speaking of the Messiah, who we know to be Jesus. This prayer is being offered by David, but it is a double reference to how Jesus would be dealt with by His Father. From this verse we gather that Jesus descended into the heart of the earth sometime between His death on the cross and His resurrection. This place in the earth is referred to as hell, but not all of it is full of torture and flames.

Jesus spoke of hell as having two compartments. One side was a place of torment where unbelievers were confined to flames of woe. The other side was called Abraham’s bosom, and it was a place of rest and peace for the souls of those who had died in the faith. Jesus shares this information with us in His story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).

Psalm 16:10 says nothing of Jesus suffering in hell’s flames. The latter part of the verse says that the Lord will not allow His Holy One to see corruption, meaning that God would not allow Jesus’ body to lay in the grave long enough to rot. Both of these prophesies came to pass as Jesus resurrected after only three days in the tomb and the New Testament gives us insight into what Jesus was doing during His trip into hell.

The Apostle Paul spoke of every believer as having received grace “according to the measure of the gift of Christ” (Ephesians 4:7). This categorizes grace as a free gift coming because of the work of Jesus, and that it was offered in a specific manner.

“Wherefore he saith, ‘When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.’” (Ephesians 4:8)

We see Jesus ascending to heaven and leading “captivity captive” before giving us the gift of grace, among other gifts. Then Paul explains who the captive are in the next verse:

“(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)” (Ephesians 4:9, 10)

Christ’s arrival in heaven caused Him to “fill all things”. He arrived with a captive group of captives, which He got when He descended first into hell. In Abraham’s bosom were the souls of all that died in the faith prior to the cross. They were not allowed access to heaven because the blood of Jesus Christ had not yet taken away their sins. The blood of bulls and goats could only cover sins, but it would take the perfect sacrifice to remove them. Jesus took the captives, as well as His blood back to the tabernacle of heaven and offered it upon the mercy seat.

“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” (Hebrews 9:11, 12)

Christ did all of this and then rose from the dead. His resurrection was God’s stamp of approval on all that He had just accomplished. He had to raise, to show you and me that we can live also!

A Hell to Shun

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 and His blood does a great job!

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, 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 mentions at all.

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). Paul even goes so far to say that in order to eat the meat of God’s Word instead of the milk, we should leave behind the preaching of “eternal judgment” (Hebrews 6:2).

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.

Hell’s Favorite Verse

Romans 7:9

More than serving as a catchy title, I firmly believe in that statement. Satan knows what the Bible says, though he has no revelation as to what it means. In his knowledge of the Word is an ability to twist and distort scriptures. He did it to Eve in the Garden and he did it again in the wilderness to Jesus. He will do the same to you and I because he is a liar and the father of all liars (John 8:44).

Some verses need no twisting; they simply need removed from context. Take the “text” out of “context” and you are left with “con”, which is exactly where Satan does his finest work. Other verses do not even need that treatment; they can simply be quoted for what they are and within the framework of the information given, Satan can devise a plan.

In Romans 7:9, Paul is talking about the role of the Law in his life. In case you think that he is speaking of some other law than the Mosaic Law, he actually quotes the 10th Commandment in verse 7 and says that sin took occasion (opportunity) by that commandment to work in him all different kinds of lusts. Without the commandment in his life, he found sin to be dead. In other words, the knowledge of the Law actually caused the very thing that the commandment told him not to do, to get stronger. The more he heard, “Don’t lust”, the more he lusted. Thus it is until this day.

Believe you me, Satan has Romans 7:9 memorized. He knows that when the commandment comes, sin will revive and we will die. I am not claiming that he understands it perfectly or that he even cares to, but I guarantee you that every demon in hell knows that if they can use the Law against the believer, they will be able to heap condemnation and guilt upon them. The more that the Law is placed in front of the saint, the more that sin begins to revive and stir within them. If you were the devil, wouldn’t you use this to your advantage?

At the cross, Jesus stripped the Law out of our way and nailed it to His cross. He then pointed at the Law which was nailed to the cross and made fun of the powers of darkness through this triumphant act. That is what Paul is saying when he reminds us that Jesus, “Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15). Jesus had removed the one weapon that the enemy had to use against the believer: the Law.

When the pulpit brings emphasis back to the Law, we are weaponizing sin. Have you ever heard of something being “weaponized”? This refers to something being put into a form that it can be used to harm people by. Sin has no authority where there is no law, for without the law, “sin was dead” (Romans 7:8). When we put the Law back up as the standard for people to live by, we weaponize sin, giving it a revival of sorts in our life. Why would we do this? This is lunacy!

Satan works day and night to place believers back under a lifestyle of “do this” and “don’t do that” and he plays cruel tricks with us. When we “do this”, he tells us that we haven’t done enough. When we do what we shouldn’t, he tells us that we are guilty and that we are going to hell. How can we stop this cycle?

Put the Law back where it belongs! Jesus nailed it to the cross and “took it out of the way” (Colossians 2:14). Don’t worry about living right; it is His job to change your heart through the finished work of the cross. Your job is to rest in that finished work and trust Him. Do this and you take the weapon out of the enemy’s hands. Isn’t that what we all want?

Jesus Descended First

Ephesians 4:7-11

When Jesus ascended into heaven, following His Passion on this earth, he “led captivity captive” and then “gave gifts unto men”. The five-fold ministry gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are from God, through the finished work of Jesus, to provide for the newly founded church. It is the action of leading the captivity captive that shows us volumes about Jesus’ accomplishment at Calvary.

Jesus told us that hell consisted of both flames for the sinner and Abraham’s bosom for the saint (Luke 16:22). Prior to the cross, no man could enter into heaven for their sins had not yet been taken away, only covered by countless lambs and bulls. Since these sacrifices could not take away sins (Hebrews 10:4), the saints that died went to a paradise, waiting the shedding of the blood of the Lamb, which would take away the sin of the world.

When Jesus died, He descended in spirit into the lower parts of the earth (Ephesians 4:9). While there, He preached deliverance to the captives (Luke 4:18), taking them out of this Paradise and leading them to the Father, the access which had been paid for by His blood. All men that exhibited faith in God prior to the cross were actually looking forward by their faith to that cross, accepting the blood of Jesus as the washing away of their sins. Jesus’ death then brought fulfillment to their faith, becoming a truly finished work.

After descending into the earth, Jesus then ascended far above all heavens, “that he might fill all things” (Ephesians 4:10). The only way that Christ could fill all things is if He has first “fulfilled” all things, and the cross was the complete fulfillment of God’s plan for man’s redemption. By then pouring gifts, in the form of the five-fold ministry, into the church, Jesus has filled us with all that we need for growth and development.

It is beautiful to know that no one was left out by the finished work of the cross. Those who had died prior to the cross were covered by the descent of Jesus into the heart of the earth, while those who lived after the cross had just been paid for by the shed blood of the lamb. Those in Paradise were escorted to heaven to live forever with the Lord, while those of us left on this earth have the resurrection of Jesus, which allows the Holy Spirit to live His life through us. We are both provided for, and that through what Christ has accomplished.

The finished work of Christ is that which fills all things. You are who you are in the Lord because the work of the cross was so complete. The gifts that Jesus paid for are “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). This shows us that though the cross is a finished work, it is still finishing the work in us. We are constantly being molded and shaped into the very likeness and image of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Glory to God for His perfect payment for you, by the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Your past, present and future have been atoned for by His perfect work.

Jesus Had to Rise

Psalms 16:10

This prayer of David is a Messianic prophecy, meaning that it is speaking of the Messiah, who we know to be Jesus. This prayer is being offered by David, but it is a double reference to how Jesus would be dealt with by His Father. From this verse we gather that Jesus descended into the heart of the earth sometime between His death on the cross and His resurrection. This place in the earth is referred to as hell, but not all of it is full of torture and flames.

Jesus spoke of hell as having two compartments. One side was a place of torment where unbelievers were confined to flames of woe. The other side was called Abraham’s bosom, and it was a place of rest and peace for the souls of those who had died in the faith. Jesus shares this information with us in His story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).

Psalm 16:10 says nothing of Jesus suffering in hell’s flames. The latter part of the verse says that the Lord will not allow His Holy One to see corruption, meaning that God would not allow Jesus’ body to lay in the grave long enough to rot. Both of these prophesies came to pass as Jesus resurrected after only three days in the tomb and the New Testament gives us insight into what Jesus was doing during His trip into hell.

The Apostle Paul spoke of every believer as having received grace “according to the measure of the gift of Christ” (Ephesians 4:7). This categorizes grace as a free gift coming because of the work of Jesus, and that it was offered in a specific manner.

“Wherefore he saith, ‘When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.’” (Ephesians 4:8)

We see Jesus ascending to heaven and leading “captivity captive” before giving us the gift of grace, among other gifts. Then Paul explains who the captive are in the next verse:

“(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)” (Ephesians 4:9, 10)

Christ’s arrival in heaven caused Him to “fill all things”. He arrived with a captive group of captives, which He got when He descended first into hell. In Abraham’s bosom were the souls of all that died in the faith prior to the cross. They were not allowed access to heaven because the blood of Jesus Christ had not yet taken away their sins. The blood of bulls and goats could only cover sins, but it would take the perfect sacrifice to remove them. Jesus took the captives, as well as His blood back to the tabernacle of heaven and offered it upon the mercy seat.

“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” (Hebrews 9:11, 12)

Christ did all of this and then rose from the dead. His resurrection was God’s stamp of approval on all that He had just accomplished. He had to raise, to show you and me that we can live also!

A Hell to Shun

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.