Have you ever wondered if Hell is real?
A man I knew died. I had a dream about him shortly thereafter. As the dream began I had an aerial view of a large beautiful home. The sounds of a warm holiday party wafted through the windows as my view of the home grew closer. Uproarious laughter and deep conversations let me know it was quite a joyous party. But as my vista entered the home the laughter and joy of the party began to fade. As the conversation faded, so did the light in the home. Eventually, the home was left, a large, dim, and dusty shell. In the very center of the now quiet home was a sunk-in living room with an ornate fireplace. There was no fire. The man I knew who had died was there. And he was dancing. And he had a flute. And he danced around in the living room playing his flute. And on the mantle was a statue of a Native American god who was also playing a flute. Then I realized that as the man played with all his might, and danced like no one was watching…no one was watching. There was not a soul to behold his intense performance. No one could hear his music. No one saw him dance. He was there doing what he loved… absolutely alone. That’s hell.
I wasn’t close enough to this man to know whether he lived a life of pride that led him to that place of loneliness. Maybe that dream was just a cautionary tale for you dear reader.
There was a king named Uzziah. He was a great king. God had given him some amazing gifts of influence and creativity. In his time he invented revolutionary machines that brought him fame and renown. But fame has a way of leading to pride. Most human endeavors, unchecked and unguided, have a way of arriving at the throne of pride. One day Uzziah decided that he would go into the temple and be his own priest. This was not right! There is an order to things. There are guardrails that keep us from careening off cliffs. Uzziah jumped the guardrail. Pride leads to guardrail jumping. The moment Uzziah decided to jump that guardrail he mounted the throne of pride and made himself god. His heart was pride and he sat upon its throne. As soon as Uzziah went into the temple and refused to listen to even the caution of the priests, his forehead turned snowy white. It was a disease. An incurable storm. It was leprosy. It was sin personified. Sin in the flesh.
Now the law stated that if anyone had leprosy they had to move outside the city. They had to live in a house….alone. This law even applied to gifted kings. King Uzziah lived the rest of his days alone, outside the city, by himself. Imagine that! One day you are surrounded by people making your meals for you, drawing your bath water, giving you hugs and kisses…and the next day you are utterly and hopelessly alone. That is hell.
I am not sure whether Hell will be literal fire and brimstone, but I am certain it will feel worse than fire and brimstone. If you’ve ever lost a loved one and been drowned in the hollowness and hopelessness of loneliness…..then you know that there are pains far worse than fire. This was the real hell that Jesus faced on the cross as well. It was the moment when God the Father had to look away and the Father had to withdraw His presence from His Son. Jesus was, for the first time ever…..absolutely alone. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (See Matthew 27:46).
The Lord isn’t really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. (See 2 Peter 3:9). It has been said, “Hell is God’s great compliment to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human choice” (G.K. Chesterton/C.S. Lewis/H. Hanegraaff). The point here is, if you want to do it your way and choose to live as the king and god of your own life, God will ultimately let you have exactly what your heart desires. As you will, you will get to sit on the throne of pride. It’s your prerogative. God will let you. God is a good father. Good fathers know that there comes a point when a child must be completely free to make her own decisions, free to choose their own way.
More Thoughts on Sin…Repentance is saying I’m awake to reality
After King Uzziah’s personified pride ostracized him from all human contact, he lived another 10 to fifteen years…all alone. I often wonder why he didn’t just repent. Why didn’t he just look to heaven and ask God for forgiveness? There was another time when sin led to leprosy. Aaron and Miriam, the siblings of Moses, let their pride lead to a similar snowstorm. In this instance, however, Aaron repented on behalf of himself and Miriam. Maybe King Uzziah didn’t have a friend to intercede for him.
There is Good News for you and me. Jesus can intercede for us, that’s what the cross was all about. Jesus could have chosen pride, his own way, but He chose to do His Father’s will instead. As a result, Jesus now sits on a throne, not of pride, but of humility. Humility is the way to life. Humility is the path to treasure for this life and the next. Why not turn to Jesus and ask Him to talk to His Father for you? Then Jesus will plead to the Father on your behalf and you will be healed, just like Miriam was healed when Aaron and then Moses interceded. The storm of leprosy was stopped and its effects were removed from Miriam as quickly as it had come. (And maybe, if you already know Jesus, you need to be someone’s Aaron. Intercede Man of God! Intercede Daughter of the King!)
Leprosy is a symbol of sin. At the root of sin is pride. Can you think of a sin that doesn’t lead back to pride?* “Sin is unwillingness to trust that what God wants for me is only my deepest happiness” (Ignatius of Loyola). If you feel like you are in the desert alone and ostracized, I’ve got bad news for you, it doesn’t get better after this life. The time to wake up is now! You can keep singing songs like, “I Did it My Way,” “It’s My Prerogative,” or “All Eyes on Me.” You can keep dancing to the beat of your own drummer. But time is mortal. It will run out. What if you’re wrong about life? Don’t wait until it’s too late. It’s not too late if you’re reading this…but it might be sooner than later and sooner than you hope. At that point, all hope is potentially abandoned. “Abandon all hope ye who enter here” (the words written above the gates of Hell in Dante’s Inferno).
God loves you friend, more than you can ever imagine! Call on Jesus.
*FREE FLOW FOOTNOTE (A section at the bottom of some of my blog posts where I like to take off on what was potentially a tangent…)
Pride is lawlessness, it is life without guardrails, life without wisdom. Sin is a life lived without gravity, with no thought or care for reality. In short, sin indulged is schizophrenia, a psychotic disorder that is (or leads to) an inability to perceive reality. When people choose to ignore truth pschosis tends to set in (See Romans 1:18-32)! NOW, after you read that HEAVY section there in Romans, read this one: 1 Corinthians 6:11.
Such Were Some of You
1 Corinthians 6:11 follows a similar description of the psychosis of sin seen in Romans 1:18-32 with the words: “Such WERE some of you…”. In other words, if you’re reading this, it’s not too late! Jesus is as close as you want Him to be. Your salvation is coming near…
And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11)
