Month: December 2010

 

The rebellion in Eden has changed humanity from what God originally intended. Because of that rebellion, humanity has inherited a sinful inclination that devastates all our attempts at being good and doing good things. We are tainted with evil, depraved to the core. Legally, we stand condemned before God, so that even our obedience is never enough to justify us. We all sin in so many ways and so many times throughout our lives that destruction in Gehenna hell is almost the only solution for a just God to apply to the problem of us.

Hell

Every life so corrupted by the initial rebellion of Adam – so separated from God by its inherently selfish sinful inclination – deserves the punishment that God warns us of in the Bible. Unfortunately, there has been so much unbiblical tradition added to what the scripture says about that punishment that the term “hell” has ceased to be a helpful word to describe it. A better term – the one Jesus used – is Gehenna. Unlike the hell of tradition, this hell does not begin at death, but begins after judgment at the end of the age. Also, unlike the hell of tradition, this hell is not a place for the torment of disembodied spirits, but is the place for the punishment and destruction of the whole person – body and spirit.

Originally designating a valley near Jerusalem where garbage was burned, Gehenna for Jesus is a place where every sin – no matter how small it might seem – counts. It is an event and a place for the punishment of every act of violence. It is also a place for the punishment of every careless thought and word of violence. Jesus said “everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment … and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”[1] The reality of hell should make us careful about how we express our emotions.

Gehenna will also punish all those who have followed false teachers, and willfully passed on their deceptions. This idea makes modern humanity a little less comfortable, because it implies that humans are held accountable for the lies they are told as well as the lies they tell. But Jesus clearly taught that the religious leaders of his day were going to Gehenna, and taking with them all of their converts. He called the scribes and Pharisees hypocrites, because they “travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, (they) make him twice as much a child of hell as (them) selves.”[2] The reality of Gehenna should make us all wary of accepting any “new” doctrine.

The scribes and Pharisees were considered the super-spiritual of their day. If anyone envisioned what a holy man looked like, the appearance would be similar to that of a scribe (scripture expert) or Pharisee (law expert). Yet Jesus detected an inner spiritual defilement in these religious leaders. He said they “outwardly appear righteous to others, but within (they) are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”[3] He warned them by saying “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?”[4] The reality of Gehenna should make us all yearn for genuineness in our relationship to God and obedience to his word.

The hell of tradition is a different matter. Rather than teaching that hell is a place where sin is dealt with ultimately by God, tradition teaches a hell that is a sort of repository where God puts all those pesky sinners that he could not cure. It is a place of punishment and confinement, but not destruction. Having bought into the Greek concept of the immortality of the human soul, tradition is not in a place where it can accept what Jesus literally says about Gehenna. For Jesus, the judgment will take place not during the intermediate state (between death and the resurrection), but “on the last day.”[5]

That “last day” will be truly the last day for all sinners, because they will be raised not for life but for condemnation,[6] punishment (including torment) appropriate for each of their personal sins,[7] and then destruction. Yes, destruction. God has not created anything that he cannot destroy. Jesus said that he “can destroy both soul and body in hell.”[8] Jesus compared the Day of Judgment to the day the world was destroyed by Noah’s flood,[9] and the day the people of Sodom were destroyed by fire.[10] In calling people to himself, he urged them to take the narrow gate which leads to life, not the broad gate, which leads to destruction.[11]

Gehenna is a place for that destruction of both soul and body. That is why Jesus said “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”[12]

Gehenna is not a place known for life, but death. Those who suffer on judgment day will suffer for only as long as it takes to punish them for their sins, and then they will experience the same reality as anything else that is thrown into fire: they will die. The redeemed who are not condemned to Gehenna are said to “enter life.” But those condemned to Gehenna have entered death. That is why Jesus said “if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.”[13]

Destruction in Gehenna hell is almost the only solution for a just God to apply to the problem of sinful us. Thankfully, there is another solution. In fact, since sin is so pervasive, and its consequences in our lives so comprehensive – God has provided in salvation a set of solutions which touch upon every problem that sin has caused for his creatures.

Substitutionary Atonement

The apostle Paul put forth an axiom which applies to every aspect of sin discussed. He said “the wages of sin is death.”[14] Carried to its logical conclusion, that axiom would place every human being who has ever lived in the fires of Gehenna for a just destruction. Fortunately, there is a “but” in Paul’s statement: “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The gospel tells us that Christ’s death on the cross can serve as a substitute punishment for the personal sins of everyone who turns to him in faith.

This substitutionary atonement is God’s idea. It is a free gift from a loving God who is determined to destroy all sin, but does not want to depopulate his universe in doing so. It is a manifestation of God’s attribute of grace. It is also a manifestation of his attribute of justice, since the punishment and death due us for our sins has been meted out on the substitute. The lesson Abraham learned on Mt. Moriah was that God will provide.[15] In that case, he provided a ram, whose head was caught in thorns. That ram served as a substitute for Abraham’s son, Isaac. The event prefigured another substitute God provided, when he allowed his own son to wear a crown of thorns, suffer punishment he did not deserve, and die. The wages of our sin was his death on the cross.

Resurrection

Since the wages of sin is death, the countryside of every country on this planet is littered with cemeteries. The sin imputed to all humanity as a result of Adam and Eve’s rebellion has resulted in just what God predicted: mortality and eventual – inevitable death. God offers a solution to this problem as well. He cannot simply reverse the curse and make it so that human beings will never die. He will not undo his just penalty. Instead, he offers a resurrection unto eternal life at Christ’s return.

This solution is once again a miraculous combination of God’s justice and his grace. His just punishment of mortality and eventual death still reigns. The cemeteries are still being filled. But the free gift of God is eternal life. This life will begin with a resurrection unto eternal, immortal life. It is the believer’s inheritance.[16] Peter says that God “has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”[17] Resurrection life is God’s solution to the problem of imputed sin, which keeps us heading to the grave.

Glorification

The axiom “the wages of sin is death” is also true spiritually. Our inherited sin has resulted in spiritual death. We not only experience death because of God’s justice, we also have died to his justice (and his grace too). Paul described this dilemma well: “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”[18] As much as we might want to do the right thing, spiritual death causes us to continue to sin.

God has provided a solution for this sin-reality as well. For every believer who trusts in Christ for his justification, God initiates through his Holy Spirit a process that will eventually lead to glorification – a complete restoration to a sinless state. This is a work of God from start to finish. Paul says “those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”[19] He speaks of glorification as a past tense event because he is emphasizing that it is a work of God.

In the present, however, most of us do not feel all that glorified yet. Our lives are a struggle where we keep getting in the way of the Holy Spirit as he seeks to sanctify us more and more. In fact, if anyone ever starts boasting that she has arrived and no longer sins, she is calling God a liar, and his word is not in her.[20] But we can look forward to more and more victories over sin as we yield to the Holy Spirit. He is the seal and guarantee of the glorified life that awaits us.[21]

In this life, believers do not have to experience the wages of spiritual death. This is true because “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh (sinful inclination) with its passions and desires.”[22] We have been spiritually resurrected. Our baptism symbolizes this truth. Paul says “we were buried … with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”[23] Our death to sin allows Christ to live his resurrected life through us. This allows us to experience a glimpse of the glorified life now – in victory over sin.

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[1] Matt. 5:22.

[2] Matt. 23:15.

[3] Matt. 23:28.

[4] Matt. 23:33.

[5] John 12:48.

[6] Matt. 12:37; Mark 12:40; 16:16; Luke 20:47; James 5:12; 2 Pet. 2:3.

[7] Rev. 20:13.

[8] Matt. 10:28.

[9] Luke 17:27.

[10] Luke 17:29.

[11] Matt. 7:13-14.

[12] Matt. 5:29-30.

[13] Matt. 18:9.

[14] Rom. 6:23.

[15] Gen. 22.

[16] Gal. 3:18; Eph. 1:11,14,18; 5:5; Col. 1:12; 3:24; Heb. 9:15.

[17] 1 Pet. 1:3-5.

[18] Rom. 7:22-24.

[19] Rom. 8:30.

[20] 1 John 1:10.

[21] 2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13-14.

[22] Gal. 5:24.

[23] Rom. 6:4.

 

The sinful inclination – what the Bible calls the flesh – is present within everyone – believer and unbeliever alike. Although believers have the choice to follow the Holy Spirit, we do not always take advantage of that option. So each of us is in danger of the consequences of personal sins that we commit. For someone not led by the Spirit, sins are like dominoes. Once one has toppled, it starts another, and then another. Paul describes this kind of life as “foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.”[1]

Murphy’s Choice

Most people are familiar with Murphy’s Law, “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.” It is a humorous bit of pessimism, but it can also be helpful advice, encouraging people to build evaluation into their production plans, and look for glitches. One of the consequences in the human life as a result of sin is that Murphy’s law rules. Sin causes people to do the wrong thing most of the time. Humans have lost an innate hesitancy that would cause us to stop and ask important questions before making the choices that we make. We put too much trust in our own ability to evaluate between options, and we fail to take God’s desire into consideration.

Unauthorized Personnel Only

The sinful inclination also causes humans to mistrust or oppose those in authority more often than not. In most cases, personal experience has proven that those in authority cannot be trusted as a matter of course. Those in authority are naturally suspected of having ulterior motives, or of being corrupt or inept. Paul taught the Roman Christians to let “every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”[2] These were the very same authorities who were persecuting Christians, some even to death. It was a dangerous thing for the Roman Christians to submit to these rulers. But doing so demonstrated to the authorities that Christians were not a subversive cult.

Breathing Out Lies

The book of Proverbs speaks of some to whom deception is so habitual that they are said to breathe out lies.[3] Their words are taken to be reflections of their inner character, and assumed to be false. They are like the Cretans, whose own prophet said that they are always liars.[4] Such statements pose a dilemma for listeners. If a person who admits that his race is composed of habitual liars tells you that his people always lie, can you believe him?

But this problem is bigger than Crete. It affects us all, because we have all been influenced by the kingdom of Satan. He is “a liar and the father of lies.”[5] He has taken the creative powers given him by his creator and turned them to the task of deception on a cosmic scale. He deceived an untold number of angelic beings into rebelling against God’s authority. He deceived humanity into rebelling against God’s prohibition in Eden. He leads nation against nation in violent conflict with one another by deceiving both sides. He leads individuals to lie to one another, and does not stop to explain to them that they are lying to God as well.[6] Lies are like traps that catch the person who sets them.

Believing Lies

Those traps catch us all at times. As much as believers try to live by the truth, we are also caught at times by the deception that permeates this world. We tend to believe things that we are told, and do not have enough “Murphy’s Law” wariness to check the facts before coming to a conclusion. We tend to reject the truth when it comes in conflict with our own selfish desires.[7]

Slavery, Please!

Humans are also quite accustomed to some forms of slavery, and tend to choose bondage over freedom when given the choice. Ironically, many of the freedoms that humans hold dear are the opportunities to enslave ourselves. Our addictions to substances and experiences, to sexual lust, to bombastic speech, to fame and fortune – are all choices that we tend to eagerly make. Those choices take away our freedoms and keep us in bondage to the very things we celebrated as freedoms.

In reality, freedom is extremely limited during this age. I am free to travel to the other side of the world, but I am limited by my bank account. I can do it, if I can afford it. I am also limited as to my means of travel. I can go where others go. I am also limited by my present responsibilities and commitments, because travel takes time, and my available time is limited. Paul taught that believers will one day “obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”[8] Our limits will be destroyed along with the sin that created them. We will know true, unhindered freedom then, because we will have been set free from the sources of our present corruption and limitation.

Hiding From God

After Adam and Eve rebelled in Eden, they immediately started playing hide and seek with God. Sin has disrupted the casual and deep relationship our first parents had with their creator. The one who knows all things went along with this game and asked them where they were.[9] He knew where they were. He wanted them to realize where they were as a result of what they had done.

As a result of sin, we tend to hide from God. We tend to adopt a secular mindset, and treat this world as if it is a hiding place where we can take a vacation from God’s presence, and the relationship that God wants. We need that relationship. We were created to be in God’s presence. He is everywhere, so we really cannot escape his presence, but we can pretend to. That is another thing that sin does to humanity.

Ashamed of Ourselves

The clothing made of fig leaves in the garden also speaks to the consequences of sin. From that time on, humanity has felt personal shame due to a disruption of personal relationships. Clothing was a good idea, but it failed to solve the ultimate problem. The problem was not that Adam and Eve were naked. They had been naked and unashamed in God’s presence before. The problem was that they were naked and ashamed. Their understanding of themselves was drastically altered. To this day, psychologists tell us that many human problems are caused by an improper self-image.

Misc.

In many other ways, sin “diminishes and thwarts the great potencies with which God endowed human beings.”[10] We live with those consequences every day. They have become so natural that it is difficult to imagine a world where they do not exist.

But that day will come when sin and its consequences will no longer be part of God’s universe. Christ came into this world and endured the consequences of sin himself, including death on the cross. He did this so that he might destroy the devil.[11] God plans for this universe to be restored and glorified. We may not even be able to imagine the half of what that restoration entails. But we can certainly see the damage that sin is causing now. What we see today makes us long for and “haste the day when the faith shall be sight.”[12]

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[1] Titus 3:3 NET.

[2] Rom. 13:1.

[3] Prov. 6:19; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9.

[4] Tit. 1:12.

[5] John 8:44.

[6] Acts 5:4.

[7] 2 Thess. 2:12.

[8] Rom. 8:21.

[9] Gen. 3:9.

[10] Joe R. Jones, A Grammar of Christian Faith. (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2002), 362.

[11] Heb. 2:14.

[12] Horatio G. Spafford, Hymn: “It is Well With My Soul”