True Darkness

On Christmas Eve, our pastor gave a sermon relating to Jesus being the light of the world. In contrasting to the light, he told the story of the Thai boys soccer team that got trapped in a cave that was flooded by monsoon rains and the massive rescue efforts to save the 12 boys and their coach.¹

Tham Luang Rescue

To celebrate one of the boy’s birthday, the 12 boys and their coach went cave exploring into Tham Luang, the fourth biggest Thai cave system. This is an undeveloped cave with some spots being so narrow they had to belly crawl through. While they were in the cave, the 4 month monsoon season hit flooding the cavern and forcing them deeper into the cave (almost 3 km). They gathered together on a rock ledge above the water, dug it out a little bigger with rocks and sat there waiting for rescue with only a couple of flashlights, no spare batteries, and no food. They survived on water dripping through the walls of the cave.

These boys sat alone in the cave for 10 days having no idea if they would ever be found and rescued. On the 10th day, they saw a light appear in the water and up popped a diver who started counting the boys and was told that all 13 people were alive. He stayed a little while to encourage them, but then headed back to let everyone know they were alive and try to form a rescue plan to get all 13 out despite the treacherous swim against fierce currents, in near-zero visibility (even with lights), and spots so narrow that a diver and tank couldn’t fit through at the same time. A navy seal died while trying to bring them oxygen tanks due to the treacherous conditions. Many of the boys had never swam before and the trip took almost 4 hours of swimming. Miraculously, all 13 were rescued safely. I recommend reading the links below because it is a thrilling story, but on to the point of this article.

After hearing this story, I thought, “Hell is kind of like that except it is hot instead of cold, you are all alone instead of surrounded by your friends, and you know for certain that it will never end.” Let’s consider this idea.

Total Darkness

I don’t know if you have ever been inside a cave or other spot and turned off the lights. I’m not talking the super dim of a closet. I’m talking about absolutely not one photon of light, where you can wave your hand in front of your eyes and see nothing. A dark so dark that your eyes start playing tricks on you and you think you see something that isn’t there because of the absolute darkness. This kind of darkness quickly becomes oppressive feeling. It is so unnatural to us. Even on a dark, moonless, and cloudy night, there is still a little bit of light, however faint it may be.

The Bible has lots of passages that talk about Jesus as the light:

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12)

It has lots of passages that call us to be a light:

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

It also has lots of passages saying that many will choose darkness over light.

This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)

When the Bible describes Hell, it is described as a place of outer darkness:

Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:30)

For much of my time as a Christian, I technically knew that everyone who didn’t trust Jesus would go to Hell and I technically knew that punishment in Hell was eternal, but I didn’t act or think based on these truths. I acted and thought like people who trusted Jesus went to Heaven for an eternity with God and the rest just died and were gone, but that isn’t reality.

Realizing that Hell is a reality and does last forever has really woke me up and caused me to be much more intentional about sharing the Gospel with people. It has driven me to share Jesus with people that I wouldn’t bother about before. I don’t want anyone being tortured for eternity in Hell if there is anything I can do about it.

As the Apostle Paul says:

To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. (1 Corinthians 9:22) {emphasis mine}

I also like this quote by Charles Spurgeon:

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”

I’ve been in a cave and had everyone stand still and turn off all of the lights and stand there for just a minute or two. It feels like an eternity. It feels like you are being weighed down. It feels like you are alone, even if you are surrounded by people. I can’t imagine being in that kind of darkness for an eternity.

Who Goes to Hell?

Jesus is the light. We are called to walk in His light and to be a light to others and we will have Jesus as our light in Heaven.

but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)

Just as believers walking in the light show (not earn) they will be with the true Light, Jesus, in heaven, so also those who walk in darkness demonstrate they chose darkness and they will therefore be in darkness for all eternity. We get what we choose here on Earth.

But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (1 John 2:11)

Most people accept that the worst of the worst go to Hell:

But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)

But they are much less likely to think it is acceptable that those, who try to live a good life, but reject God, should spend an eternity of torment.

For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9) {emphasis mine}

The fact is that rejecting our Creator and the sacrifice Jesus made for us is enough sin to send any one of us to Hell. Setting our own rules on right and wrong instead of acknowledging our God and Creator as the one who defines right and wrong, is the sin of idolatry of self and is enough to send us to Hell. We downplay the seriousness of these sins because we don’t have a high enough view of God. We look at everything in life as if God was just a super hero God, instead of the unfathomably powerful and holy God that He is. Although I don’t think it is possible for our finite minds to comprehend the awesomeness of our infinite God, we can have a higher view if we read our Bibles and watch the miraculous acts of God.

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;” (Matthew 25:41)

The Bible talks of judgment as complete and certain. There is no question that judgment will come, nor the harshness of punishment on those who reject their holy God.

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; … then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,(2 Peter 2:4,9) {emphasis mine}

What is Hell?

When the Bible talks about Hell, there are two main traits:

darkness

These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. (2 Peter 2:17)

and fire.

So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:49-50)

When I was in college, I took a Chemistry class. One day, the professor went off on a tangent saying somethin like, “The Bible talks about Hell being a lake of fire and brimstone. Brimstone is sulfur. Sulfur is a liquid between 239 F and 832 F. I just thought some of you might need to know this.” In response, there was a bunch of nervous laughter, but the professor just went on with his chemistry lesson like everything was normal.

My point is that Hell is not a nice place. It is not a place that those who reject God throw a big party together (as so many non-believers say). Not only do we not want to go to Hell, we shouldn’t want even those who mistreat us to go there because it is that bad.

As a general rule, I prefer to share how wonderful God is, but Jesus actually talked about Hell a lot. One of the most productive sermons in American History, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was all about sin, Hell, and judgment, and a huge number of people repented and turned to God. When we only talk about the love of God and how he blesses people, we frequently get the people looking for a handout or something to make their lives feel better rather than those who acknowledge our awesome, holy God, truly repent of their sins, and put their whole hope on God. God’s holiness and judgment is as much a part of God as his love and mercy.

You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, (Romans 9:19-23)

God is God and Creator. He can do as He wishes with what He created and can punish or have mercy according to His will. His right comes from His position as Creator. He isn’t just a stronger person or a person with more authority, who would seem a tyrant if he was too judgmental. He is a perfect Creator who has the right to do as He wishes with His creation. It is the greatest affront for the creature to say to his creator, “You can’t tell me how to live.” or “You didn’t create the universe and me.” or “You made a mistake when you created me.”

Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)

This judgment, if possible, is worse for those who accept the mark of the beast (something that I believe is coming soon). Revelation says:

Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” (Revelation 14:9-11)) {emphasis mine}

I hope everyone who reads these words will seek the light, Jesus, and do all in their power to share the light with everyone around them. I believe the time is short (although exactly what short means: days, weeks, months, years I don’t know.) Don’t let anyone you know go another day without hearing the good news of Jesus Christ and the bad news of the judgment to come.

Related Articles:

The full story of Thailand’s extraordinary cave rescue

Documentary follows the divers who risked it all in the Thailand cave rescue

What did Jesus say about hell?

Unused Verses relating to Hell

And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day (Jude 1:6)

If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. (Mark 9:47-48)

22Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. 23In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 24And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ 25But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ (Luke 16:22-26)

Trust Jesus.

your sister in Christ,

Christy

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1. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44791998

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/11/1043363760/thailand-cave-rescue-documentary-film