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Thursday, June 2, 2011

Heaven or Hell, Pt.2

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” – John 3:36

            In part 1 we learned about the one true account out of the various ones circulating this world concerning death.  This truth comes from the Bible and only the Bible.  Anybody out there who denounces the Bible’s explanation is lost and I pray they will find God and seek His word for clarification.  God is infinitely wise, hence His word is perfect; therefore He has no need to “edit” any of the text found in the Bible, He had it right the first time. 2 Samuel 22:31 says this so wonderfully, “As for God, His way is perfect: The LORD’s word is flawless; He shields all who take refuge in Him.” 
            Hell is a wretched, cursed place.  It is isolated from all; there is no special link to Heaven that allows communication between the two places.  If loved ones are touched by the grace of God and can call Heaven home, you will forever be isolated from them.  This is such a painful thought for me, to think of a day in which I could be forever separated from those I love including Jesus, the One who loved me the most (if the destination is Hell that is, for in Heaven you will forever be in His presence).  This is a driving force as to why we all need to put faith in Jesus and do all that we can to help those around us trust in Him as well.  Jesus explains this separation in the parable found in Luke 16:19-31, the parable about a rich man and Lazarus.  When the rich man died he went to Hell, from which he pleaded with God to relieve him of the torment he was enduring.  Then Jesus tells us about the isolation from Heaven in Luke 16:26, “…between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.”
            So God is sovereign, Creator of all…why would He create someone who is destined for Hell?  Friends let me assure you, God does not create any of us with the purpose for our eternal lives to be destined for Hell.  People go to Hell because they reject Jesus.  Recall that when God created man there was no sin, as His creation was perfect.  Please do not attempt to judge God.  Man created this war with God, not God with man.  We also need to keep in mind that we cannot fathom the knowledge, wisdom, or plan that God possesses.  Hell was created for the devil and his angels as Jesus tells us in another one of His parables found in Matthew 25:41, “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels…”  We do not need to go to Hell; we have the choice of whole-heartedly accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  In a way this is much like a criminal who goes to jail, they only go there after they choose to be a criminal.  Lastly, I want to really stress something to you about Hell… it is eternal.  The choice not to walk entirely by faith in Jesus as your Savior is one that will haunt you for all eternity.  Those who go to Hell… are forever lost.
            This life is about Jesus.  He needs to be at the root of all that we strive towards.  As Paul says in Philippians 1:21-23, “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really don’t know which is better.  I’m torn between two desires: I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me.”  Many wonder if once in Heaven, will they be aware of the suffering of loved ones who are in Hell.  I do not know; the Bible tells us what we need to know, not necessarily what we want to hear.  Revelation 21:3-5 says, “…God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”  Due to the fact that it says that every tear will be wiped away by God, this may imply that there will be grieving, but I cannot say this for sure.  What I do know is that when God wipes every tear away, there will be great joy and happiness!  I pray that the path you choose to take in life is one that passionately seeks to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. 
            “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:12
            “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” – John 14:6

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