Eternal Destinations  by Paul R. Van Gorder

   HEAVEN: A REAL PLACE

   Man was not made for the present, and the present was never intended
to satisfy man. Man's life on the earth cannot and does not fulfill the
eternal longings of man. This principle continues throughout his
existence and even up to the point of death.

   The small child can't wait until he's old enough to start school.
The schoolboy yearns for the teenage years of high school. When he
reaches that level, however, he looks forward to college life. These
hopes give way to manhood and all the responsibilities of adult life.
But the heart is always discontent with the present; it is the future
that holds the challenge.

   Mankind was created to glorify God and to enjoy eternal fellowship
with Him. But through the sin of Adam, we enter the world in a state of
alienation from our Maker and under the sentence of death. Yet we bear
the image of God, and therefore we cannot find the fulfillment of our
deepest longings apart from Him. How wonderful that God provided
salvation through Jesus Christ, the last Adam! When we believe on Him,
we become the members of a new humanity. Our connection with the first
man, Adam, is broken, and we are now associated with Christ, the Second
Man (see Romans 5:12-21). We are already citizens of heaven, the place
where He lives in His resurrection body, and we shall someday join Him
there (see Philippians 3:20, 21). Then and only then will our eternal
longings be fully satisfied!

   This eternal destination is HEAVEN. The apostle Paul spoke of "the
hope which is laid up for you in heaven" (Colossians 1:5). Peter said
God has "begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and
undefiled, and that fadeth now away, reserved in heaven for you" (1
Peter 1:3, 4).

   Our expectations are centered in a Person and in a place. The church
of Jesus Christ has a hope. It is a heavenly hope, not an earthly one.
The writer to the Hebrews addressed Christians as "holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling" (Hebrews 3:1). Paul told believers
that "our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we look for the
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:20).

   In this chapter and the next we will investigate what the Bible
teaches about heaven. In chapters 3 and 4 we will consider the other
eternal destination.

   Suppose someone were to ask you, "What do you think heaven will be
like?" What would you answer?

   Two passages in Scripture have largely determined our impressions of
heaven. One is Revelation 5, where we are let in on a great worship
scene in heaven. Four living creatures and the 24 elders have fallen
down before the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. They are singing, "Thou
are worth to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for Thou wast
slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred,
and tongue, and people, and nation" (v. 9).

   The other passage is Isaiah 6, where the prophet was given a vision
of God's glory. The Lord was sitting upon a throne, and the seraphim
were crying, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts" (v. 3).

   Some Christians think that heaven is only like this--an eternal
temple worship service with hymns and harps and a host of the redeemed
singing praises to God. Admittedly, this is part of the heavenly scene.
but it certainly does not characterize the totality of life in that
eternal dwelling place.

   Never forget this truth: The salvation that is ours in Christ is
effective for the whole being--spirit, soul, and body. Whether we are
translated without dying or we go by way of death into heaven, we shall
be taken without the loss of anything but the carnal nature and the
frail physical frame. Heaven is a place where our capacities find full
development. Something in that heavenly home will bring into fullness
the latent powers within this being called "man".

   THE WORD "HEAVEN" IN SCRIPTURE

   To distinguish clearly the use of the word "heaven" in the Bible, we
will observe that the word is applied in at least three different ways.

   First, the word is used to denote the sky, the region of the clouds,
the atmosphere that envelopes this globe. We read that following the
flood the "windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was
restrained" (Genesis 8:2). Speaking to the Pharisees, Christ said,
"When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather; for the sky
(heaven) is red" (Matthew 16:2).

   Second, the word "heaven" is used in the Bible to designate the
realm of the planets, the "starry heavens". The psalmist exclaimed,
"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His
handiwork" (Psalm 19:1). Following His resurrection, the Lord Jesus
went through these heavens on the way to the Father's throne. "Seeing,
then, that we have a great high priest, that is passed (through) the
heavens, Jesus, the Son of God" (Hebrews 4:14). And right now, as we
read in Hebrews 7:26, Jesus Christ is "made higher than the heavens".

   The third use of the word is the specific meaning on which the first
two lessons of this study center. It designates heaven as the abode of
God and the place of His throne. Beyond the atmosphere of the clouds,
past the galaxies, far above all principalities and powers is the
heaven of heavens, God's dwelling place.

   With the pen of inspiration, Isaiah wrote:

   How are thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How
art thou cut down to the ground, who didst weaken the nations! For thou
hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my
throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation, in the sides of the north, I will ascend above the
heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be
brought down to sheol, to the sides of the pit (Isaiah 14:12-15).

   This passage describes the daring rebellion of Lucifer that marked
the entrance of sin into God's universe. They tell of Satan's revolt
against God. According to Ezekiel 28:14, Satan was once the "anointed
cherub". But pride was found in his heart, and God cast him out of
heaven.

   The ambitious ascent that this created being, Lucifer, attempted is
described for us in Isaiah's account of his fall. We will look closely
at three of the phrases the prophet used, for they give us some
important information about the dwelling place of God.

   First, Lucifer boasted that he would "ascend above the heights of
the clouds" (v. 14). His proud, wicket plan, if successful, would take
him beyond the atmosphere surrounding this planet.

   "Above the stars of God" (v. 13). The habitation of God, the
location of His throne, is above outer space. It is beyond the area
where sun, moon, and stars are held on course by the Almighty.

   But Isaiah 14 contains a third descriptive phrase that pinpoints a
location. This archenemy of God said, "I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation, in the sides of the north" (v. 13). J. N. Darby
translated this phrase, "in the recesses of the north." The American
Standard Version of 1901 translates it, "in the uttermost parts of the
north".

   William L. Pettingill wrote that the Bible always speaks of heaven
as being "up" from earth. And "north" is the same direction from every
point on earth. North is "up" from everywhere. We note with amazement
that when the "glory of Jehovah" came to Ezekiel in a vision, it was in
a whirlwind "out of the north" (see Ezekiel 1:4).

   This phase spoke of the place where Jesus Christ sits today at the
right hand of His Father. It was to this heaven, the third heaven, that
Paul was caught up. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul called it "paradise"
(v.4). Paul was so overwhelmed by what he had heard and seen that God
gave to him a "thorn in the flesh" so that he would not be "exalted
above measure through the abundance of the revelation" (v. 7).

   I consider it dangerous gullibility to believe the fanciful stories
related by cultists in our day who claim to make journeys to heaven and
see visions of the celestial. God has given us in His Word, however,
all that He chooses for you and me to know about that place above the
sun and beyond the stars. It is the place where those who have been
saved through Christ's blood will make their abode.

   THE INHABITANTS OF HEAVEN

   If we are going to heaven someday, we want to know who will be
there. Perhaps one of the more neglected portions of the Bible is
Hebrews 12:22 through 24. Take a moment to read these important verses
carefully, for they identify the inhabitants of heaven.

   But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, who are written in
heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect, And to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to
the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel
(Hebrews 12:22-24).

   The writer to the Hebrews made a tremendous contrast between the
threatening Law of Sinai and the glorious grace of God. God's grace
will not bring believers to a smoking mountain but to a goal of glory,
the city of our God, the Heavenly Jerusalem.

   If you want a preview of the population of heaven, then note what
the Scripture tells us. Hebrews 12:22 says that heaven has "an
innumerable company, " and that this multitude include five entities.

   1. A festal assembly of angels (v. 22). The word translated
"assembly" in the text denotes a gathering for celebration. No longer
are angels the administrators of the Law; they are now observers of
God's grace. Think of it, Christian! In heaven we shall be privileged
to see the tenants of the unseen world. WE will behold the messengers
of the eternal God, the ministering spirits to the saints. We shall not
be angels ourselves. Perhaps you have heard that silly song, "I want to
be an angel, and with the angels stand." Oh, no! They belong to a
different order of creation. And heaven will be inhabited by myriads of
angels.

   2. The church (v. 23). This group is made up of all whose names have
been written in heaven. The hosts of heaven will include not only
angels but also redeemed men and women who are registered in heaven. By
their faith in Christ, they are citizens of that wonderful place.
Beginning at Pentecost and continuing until the Lord Jesus comes for
His people, all who have been born again by faith in Christ will be
inhabitants of the heavenly city. What a marvel!

   3. God, the Judge of all (v. 23). The One who has removed from us
all condemnation through the blood of His Son will be in heaven. In the
person of His Son, He will judge the world in righteousness. What elite
company we shall enjoy in the Heavenly City!

   4. The spirits of just men made perfect (v. 23). Who are these
people who will also be in heaven? They are the Old Testament saints. I
read of these believers, "And these all, having received witness
through faith, received not the promise, God having provided some
better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect"
(Hebrews 11:39, 40). But the writer described them as all being in the
Heavenly Jerusalem. They are not now in the same company as the church.
They are in their own sphere. But they will join us in the eternal
habitation.

   5. Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. We used to sing many
years ago a gospel song, "Where Jesus Is, "Tis Heaven There." Indeed,
what would heaven be without His wonderful presence? He is the
foundation of all blessing. He is our only hope for time and eternity.
If the perfect Lamb, God's Son, has not met and fully paid for our
sins, satisfying the broken Law and God's justice, then not one sinner
would ever enter the gates of that city. But His atoning work is done,
and He will surely be there.

   Yes, I am glad to tell you that "there is one God, and one mediator
between God and men, Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). Friend, when you
and I enter the place called heaven and sing the songs of the redeemed
and join with that innumerable company, it will be because Christ has
opened the way to the Father's house by the shedding of His blood. He
paid the full price of our redemption.

   THE INHABITANTS OF HEAVEN

   The well-known hymn writer Fanny Crosby penned these words: "Someday
the silver cord will break, /And I no more as now shall sing;/ But oh
the joy when I shall wake/ Within the palace of the King!" Beautiful
sentiments! But maybe your response is the same as many, "That's pie in
the sky. It's just some more of the 'sweet by and by.'"

   The people of the world label Christians as hopeless visionaries. In
their concept of heaven, they caricature us a dressed in long white
robes, with our feet hanging over a fleecy cloud while we strum a
golden harp. But when we look at what the Bible teaches about heaven,
we see it as a real place inhabited by a host of real people and spirit
beings.

   HEAVEN IS A PLACE

   Heaven is our Father's house. It is where our Lord has gone to
"prepare a place" for us (John 14:2). It was from heaven that christ
came down to earth, for "no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that
came down from heaven, even the Son of man who is in heaven" (John
3:13).

   Go with me to an incident recorded in the book of Acts. Stephen was
standing before the religious leaders of his day. They were about to
hurl the stones that would crush out his life. Because they could not
resist the powerful words of his testimony, they were determined to
silence his voice forever. We read:

   but he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into
heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand
of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man
standing on the right hand of God (Acts 7:55, 56).

   The place of which Christ spoke in John 14, "My Father's house," is
the city John saw coming down from God out of heave (see Revelation
21:1-8). The writer to the Hebrews said, "For here have we no
continuing city, but we seek one to come" (Hebrews 13:14). This is the
Heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. It is now located "in
the recesses of the north, " far above the atmospheric heavens and
beyond the planets and galaxies. It is the everlasting home of the
redeemed. It is the eternal destination of all who are children of God
through faith in Christ.

   The apostle Paul was taken in a vision into the third heaven, into
paradise, but he was not allowed to speak of what he saw. John the
apostle, however, after his vision on Patmos, was commanded, "Write;
for these words are true and faithful" (Revelation 21:5). The Lord said
to John, "Seal not the words of the prophecy of this book" (Revelation
22:10). If you will read Revelation 21 and 22 carefully, you will learn
the shape of the Heavenly Jerusalem, the eternal destination of the
church of Jesus Christ. You will also find out its size. (By the way,
you do not need to fear being crowded into a little 8' X 10' cubicle in
heaven and having it called a mansion.) When the redeemed of the ages
are gathered home to glory, there will be sufficient room for all to
have one of the many mansions, the many dwelling placed, that Jesus
said were in His Father's house.

   In his description of the eternal abode of the righteous, the New
Jerusalem, John said, "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of
the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did light it, and the
Lamb is the lamp of it" (Revelation 21:23). This is a partial
description of the eternal heaven, and God wanted us to know about it.

   HEAVEN'S INHABITANTS AND DESCRIPTION

   In the preceding study, we considered who would be present in the
dwelling place of the redeemed. Let me mention them briefly again. Then
I will add the "what" of heaven; that is, the elements that give
delight and fulfillment to that wonderful place.

   The author of Hebrews told us that there will be an innumerable
company in the "city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem." It
will have myriads of occupants (see Hebrews 12:22-24). Among them will
be a celebrating assembly of angels. Our Lord said of children in
Matthew 18:10 that "in heaven their angels do always behold the face of
My Father, who is in heaven." All ranks and orders of these heavenly
beings will be present in that celestial city. We read in Deuteronomy
33 that vast numbers of these beings were on Mount Sinai when the Law
was given. Israel was afraid to draw near to that mountain. The people
would not come close to the angels who surrounded Jehovah in the
inaccessible light.

   But the church of the firstborn, those whose names are registered in
heaven, will have no fear of drawing near to that company. The hymn
writer expressed it:

   On that bright and golden morning when the Son of man shall come,
And the radiance of His glory we shall see; When from every clime and
nation He shall call His people home, What a gathering of the ransomed
that will be!

   Greater and even more glorious is the truth that we will not be
afraid of drawing near to God, the Judge of all. The God who was "in
Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself" will welcome us home.

   All this is made possible through "Jesus, the mediator of the new
covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things
than that of Abel" (Hebrews 12:24). No one will be permitted to enter
that city, the Heavenly Jerusalem, unless he is purified by the blood
of Christ. It is by the blood shed at Calvary that our guilt is
expiated, and because of it God can be just in pardoning our sin.

   We've noted briefly who will be in that fair land to which believers
travel. Now let your "fingers do the walking" through the blessed pages
of Divine revelation, and your heart will well up with joy as you see
what will be in the place of our eternal destination. We begin in
Peter's first epistle.

   Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who,
according to His abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a living
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an
inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for you (1 Peter 1:3, 4).

   Because we are the children of God, we are "heirs of God, and
joint-heirs with Christ--if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may
be also glorified together" (Romans 8:17). Think of it! All that the
Father has given to the Lord Jesus has also been given to us. All that
He has planned for His glorious Son for the countless ages of eternity,
He has also planned for us as joint-heirs with Christ. This inheritance
is reserved in heaven for us. All that Jesus is, all that He has, all
that He does--in all of that, we are joint-heirs with Him. We may count
on it! For the child of God, the best is yet to be!

   If doubts push in upon you and the magnitude of this overwhelms you,
let me give you this assurance from God's Word that He has made us
qualified for heaven's glories:

   Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us fit to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light (Colossians 1:12).

   Commenting on this verse, John Bunyan said, "The believer is now
through grace clothed in so perfect and blessed a righteousness that
even the holy Law of Mount Sinai can find no fault or diminution
therein." Give thanks to God today, Christian, that through the work of
Christ you have been made fit to receive and enjoy the inheritance
reserved in heaven for you.

   CITIZENS OF HEAVEN NOW

   As Christians, redeemed by the blood of Christ, we are traveling
toward our eternal destination. But we are already part of the church
of the firstborn. In his first epistle, Peter described us as
"sojourners and pilgrims" (1 Peter 2:11). I think it was Dwight L.
Moody who said, "There is a difference between a pilgrim and a tramp.
The pilgrim has a destination and is going somewhere. The tramp has no
destination, and he is going nowhere."

   Christians are on a journey. We are pilgrims on the move. It began
with the cross of Christ, and it was initiated in us by our act of
faith in Him. We were born from above, we received a new parentage, and
we were put into a family. The path that began at salvation will end
when we meed our Savior face to face. Meanwhile, we are going
somewhere. We do not belong here. The Lord Jesus said in His prayer in
John 17, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world" (v.
16).

   Yes, we belong to heaven now! This is what the apostle Paul
announced to the Phillippian believers:

   For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we look for the
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall change our lowly body, that it
may be fashioned like His glorious body, according to the working by
which He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself (Philippians
3:20, 21).

   The truth of these verses is lost upon many twentieth-century
believers. We are a heavenly people, pilgrims and strangers in this
world. Like all who live by faith, we look "for a city which hath
foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Hebrews 11:10). We
"desire a better country, that is, an heavenly" (Hebrews 11:16).
Already our citizenship is in heaven, where "God shall wipe away all
tears from (our) eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the
former things are passed away" (Revelation 21:4).

   A question may come to your mind that needs to be answered in our
discussion of the eternal destination of the children of God. We know
that the means of access to that place is by the work of Christ--by His
merits alone. But what are the ways a Christian enters heaven?

   WAYS HEAVEN IS ENTERED

   We come now to a heartwarming truth that is of great comfort to the
child of God. There are two ways the believer may traverse the
immeasurable span from earth to glory, from time to eternity, from this
earthly pilgrimage to the heavenly city. In both there is blessing and
triumph.

   One way is through death. Christians who look forward with
anticipation to the Lord's return sing, "Oh joy! oh, delight! should we
go without dying, no sickness, no sadness, no dread, and no crying."
But let's face it, a lot of God's children have died. If Christ
tarries, you and I will also enter the presence of God, joining the
saints of past ages in heaven, through death. But the Christian does
not dread death, for he knows that to be absent from the body is to be
present with the Lord. Here is what the Word of God tells us:

   For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens.

   For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our
house which is from heaven (2 Corinthians 5:1, 2).

   I gather from this Scripture that God provides a spiritual body for
the believer who dies. That body is suited for life in heaven until the
morning of the resurrection. Some people talk about the "dark, sullen
stream of death." No, never! For the child of God, it is "absent from
the body, " this old worn-out tent, and "present with the Lord." Where?
In our eternal destination, in heaven.

   The second way of entering heaven is by the rapture. This revelation
was made known through the apostle Paul to the Christians in Corinth.
It is the blessed hope of the church of Jesus Christ.

   Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep (that is, die),
but we shall all be changed, In a moment, In the twinkling of an eye,
at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51,52).

   So, whether by death or by rapture, beyond the storms and tears of
this life, there awaits for the child of God "...a glad tomorrow/ Where
gates of pearl swing open wide;/ And when I pass this vale of sorrow/
I'll camp upon the other side./ Beyond the reach of mortal ken, / God
only knows just how, just when/ The wheels of mortal life shall all
stand still, / And I shall go to dwell on Zion's Hill."

   I ask you pointedly, friend, is this your certain expectation? Do
you know that you will go to heaven? You can be certain, but only if
you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. He
is the way to heaven, the entrance into eternal life. He said, "I am
the door; by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved" (John 10:9).

   HELL: A BIBLICAL REALITY

   You will live somewhere forever. Within every one of us is an
intangible element that is not known by the senses, yet we are all
directly conscious of its reality. The mind, the affections, life
itself cannot be measured by sight, or smell, or touch. Something that
is unseen controls and governs the physical body. It is the soul of
man. The Word of God teaches clearly the soul's immortality. Yes,
somewhere you will live forever!

   In the two preceding lessons we considered briefly the eternal
dwelling place of those who by faith have received Jesus Christ as
Savior. The Lord JEsus said, "I go to prepare a place for you..." (John
14:2). And in response we sing these words of Charles Gabriel:

   When, by the gift of His infinite grace, I am accorded in heaven a
place, Just to be there and to look on His face, Will through the ages
be glory for me.

   Beyond the atmospheric heavens, far above the planets and galaxies,
in the city not made with hands and eternal in the heavens, the
redeemed will dwell forever. This is the eternal destination of all
whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

   But in this lesson and the next, I want us to look at the teaching
of God's Word on the subject of the other eternal destination: hell.
Since man has been made by God "a living soul, " he cannot and will not
be annihilated at death. If he is not destined for heaven by his faith
in Christ, he will spend eternity in hell.

   The Heavenly City awaits the children of God; likewise, and just as
certainly, a prepared abode awaits the children of Adam who have
rejected God's provision in Christ. I realize that it is not popular to
declare that the Bible teaches eternal punishment for the wicked. But
the portrait of God painted by man-made religion does not resemble the
God of the Bible. The current concept of God is of a weak figure whose
sword is in its sheath. God is pictured as one who looks on iniquity
like an indulgent father. The popular God is one whose arm hangs
powerless by His side.

   But the God of the Bible is unchanged and unchangeable in His
character. He is the same God who plunged the pre-Adamic world into
judgment. He is the same God who placed a flaming sword at Eden's gate,
and who drove Cain out from His presence. He is the same God who opened
the windows of heaven and broke up the fountains of the deep to send a
worldwide deluge upon the earth. He is the same God who rained fire and
brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah.

   A God of love? Indeed He is! But He is also a God of holiness and
justice. He will not wink at sin, and He will by no means clear the
guilty. The words of the apostle Peter serve to point up these
distinctive in the character of God.

   The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to
reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished (2 Peter
2:9).

   If I were to choose one verse more familiar to more people than any
other it would be John 3:16. You probably could quote it.

   For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

   This verse brings into focus both the love and justice of God. God
loves the world, and He proved that love by giving His Son. But God
also will judge those who do not receive His Son as Savior; they will
"perish". What is the meaning of the word "perish"?

   Let me first state if negatively. To perish does not mean that the
soul is annihilated at death. Nor does it mean that the soul will exist
forever in some unconscious state.

   If you read through the Bible, you will discover that the eternal
state of the lost is spoken of with the words "death" and
"destruction." The lost are said to "perish". The word "death" as
applied to sinners does not mean nonexistence; rather, it means
existence in the wrong way. They will have a wretched, debased
existence. The word "perish" in the Greek, and the noun for the same
word, is sometimes translated "destruction" or "perdition" in our
English versions. We read in Revelation 17, for example, of the beast
that shall "go into perdition" (v. 8). Later in the same book, we read
that he will be "cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone"
(19:20). One thousand years later, that same wicked being is still in
conscious torment in that place.

   I mention the word "perish" to point up the fact that when men and
women do not come to Christ, they perish. They must go into
destruction. This is clearly taught in the Word of God to be a
conscious and unending torment, an eternal punishment. Let us look at
several important words used in the biblical teaching about the eternal
destruction of the unbelieving.

   GRAVE

   To understand the biblical teaching on the destination of those who
reject God's provision of salvation in Christ, we must consider several
words that are used to describe the future state after death. First we
will look at the word "grave" as translated int he Old Testament. Note
these words from Genesis:

   And Jacob set a pillar upon (Rachel's) grave: that is the pillar of
Rachel's grave unto this day (Genesis 35:20).

   The Hebrew word here for "grave" is geber. In the Old Testament this
word is translated "grave" 34 times, "sepulcher" 26 times, and 4 time
"burying place." It refers to a place where dead bodies are buried. It
is never used in reference to the soul, only to a place for a dead
body. The grave does not end all!

   SHEOL

   The Spirit of God, the divine Author of the Word of God, used a
second, entirely different word when He spoke of the place where the
soul goes. Remember, we are looking at the Old Testament. Let's look
again into Genesis, this time at the incident when word was brought to
Jacob that Joseph probably had been slain.

   And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but
he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into sheol
unto my son mourning (Genesis 37:35).

   Jacob spoke of a place where his should would be mourning.
Unfortunately, the translators have sometimes substituted the word
"grave". But the Hebrew word used is not geber, "grave", but sheol,
meaning "the place of departed spirits." In the Old Testament, the
abode of the soul when it leaves the body was always spoken of as being
down. All souls before the resurrection of Jesus Christ went down to
sheol. This includes both the souls of the righteous (as we read in the
statement by Jacob), and the unrighteous, as Psalm 9:17 declares. "The
wicked shall be turned into sheol, and all the nations that forget God."

   Thus, in the Old Testament, all persons who died--good and bad--went
to sheol. They did not go to the same part, and their state was not the
same. In Numbers 16:33, we read that Korah and his followers "went down
alive into sheol." In Isaiah 14:9, we read these words spoken to the
King of Babylon: "Sheol from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at
thy coming."

   It was to sheol that the Old Testament saints went after they died.
We are certain that Abraham was there, because the Lord Jesus spoke in
Luke 16 of the actual person of Abraham as being present in that place.

   HADES

   The Greek word "hades" is the New Testament equivalent of the Old
Testament term "sheol". Most certainly, the word "hades" was used by
the Greeks for the unseen world. But we do not have to base our
conclusions upon the imaginations of the heathen. The Holy Spirit, the
author of the Bible, has caused to be written in the New Testament His
own equivalent of the Hebrew word "sheol". Note this very important
verse from Psalms, written prophetically about Christ:

   For Thou wilt not leave My soul in sheol, neither wilt Thou permit
Thine Holy One to see corruption (Psalm 16:10).

   The Holy Spirit used this verse in Acts 2:27 and 31 in the message
of Simon Peter on the Day of Pentecost. Under inspiration, Peter quoted
Psalm 16.

   Because Thou wilt not leave My soul in hades, neither wilt thou
allow Thine Holy One to see corruption (Acts 2:27).

   And verse 31 reads:

   He, seeing this before, spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that
His soul was not left in hades, neither His flesh did see corruption.

   In the concluding lesson in this series we will focus upon the words
of Christ in Luke 16. There He spoke, not in parable but in actuality,
about two men who died. One went to hades and was in torment. The
other, Lazarus by name, went to "Abraham's bosom." Both of these men
were in hades, but not in the same state or condition. The tormented
rich man in hades was Abraham and those with him who were in bliss. A
great gulf was between them, and their condition was fixed and
unalterable.

   Luke 16 is the picture of hades before the resurrection of Christ.
We have previously seen from the Scriptures that when Christians die
now, they do not go to hades, that compartment in sheol where the
righteous dead of Old Testament times went. Christians who die now are
absent from the body, but present with the Lord. The believer's body
goes into the grave, but his soul goes immediately to be with Christ.

   The Savior spoke these significant words to the repentant thief on
the cross: "Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). From
Acts 2:31 we learn that Christ's soul went to hades, which at that time
was in "the heart of the earth" (see Matthew 12:40). But some time
after Christ's resurrection, we read of the apostle Paul's experience
when he was "caught up" into paradise (2 Corinthians 12:4). Paradise is
no longer that part of hades where Christ went, but it is up in the
third heaven.

   Furthermore, since the death and resurrection of our Lord, every
believer who dies goes up--not down! Is it any wonder that Paul cried
triumphantly, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:55). By His resurrection, the Lord Jesus
broke open hades and took the souls of the departed saints to be in
heaven with Him. He left behind only those that are reserved for
punishment.

   Let me close with one solemn note. If I could accurately contrast
the eternal state of a sinner saved by God's grace through faith in
Christ with that of the person who rejected the Son of God, I am sure
that you would not wait a moment longer to trust the Savior. The
torment of hades is only a holding cell for the punishment that awaits
those who reject God's grace in Christ. For the "unbelieving...shall
have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone"
(Revelation 21:8). This is the second death.

   Friend, you can escape the fearful doom of hell. The door of God's
grace still swings open on the hinges of His love. You can still hear
His voice, trust in His Son, and rest upon His promise.

   There is nothing for you to pay. God's Son, God's eternal love,
God's grace--for these, there is nothing to pay. They are gifts of God.
By believing on God's Son, you receive the gift of eternal life. As
Richard Baxter said, "So then let 'Deserved' be written on the floor of
hell; but on the door of heaven and life, 'The Free Gift'".

   Trust the Savior today. Then your name will be written in heaven,
and you will know that it is your eternal destination.

   He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath
everlasting life, and shall into come into judgment, but is passed from
death unto life (John 5:24).

   THE PLACE OF EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT

   You may remember these words by Thomas Gray in his "elegy Written in
a Country Churchyard."

   The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all
that wealth e'er gave Awaits alike the inevitable hour. The paths of
glory lead but to the grave.

   But is that all? What lies beyond time? What goes into eternity?

   History may tell us a broken and sketchy story of the past. We may
make some calculated guesses about the immediate future. But when we
pass beyond time and our footsteps lead into eternity, only the
revelation of God can speak with authority. In the words of the ancient
Job we ask, "If a man die, shall he live again?" Man in his own
reasoning, apart from God, says, "The dead do not know anything." But
is that the case? Is there an answer? Yes, praise God, there is! That
answer is found in the book of divine revelation, the Bible. It tells
us of the eternal destination of those who believe in Christ and those
who do not. It describes the eternal place of the host.

   THE RIGHTEOUS

   What happens to the child of God, the believer, at the moment of
death? There are only two places a Christian can be: (1) in the living
body, which is absent from the Lord; (2) personally present with the
Lord by way of death or the rapture. Paul wrote these words to the
believers at Corinth:

   Therefore, we are always confident, knowing that, while we are at
home in the body, we are absent from the Lord (For we walk by faith,
not by sight); We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent
from the body, and to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6-8).

   At death the soul of the believer goes into the presence of Christ.
He enters the Heavenly City while his body, which is in the grave,
awaits the first resurrection. When the Lord Jesus returns to receive
His own unto Himself, the transformed, glorified bodies of believers
will be united with their souls, which are now with Christ. Together
with the saints who are living at Christ's return, they will be caught
up to meet the Lord in the air, and they will be forever with the Lord.
At Christ's coming, a people whose citizenship is now in heaven will be
transported by the rapture to inhabit forever the Heavenly Jerusalem.

   But friend, I would be untrue to my calling and negligent of the
teaching of God's Word if I were to avoid the subject of the eternal
destination of those who die without receiving Christ.

   THE LOST

   Bishop Ryle said, "The saddest road to hell is that which is under
the pulpit, past the Bible, and through the midst of warnings and
invitations." I think we must admit that not much is heard these days
on the subject of eternal punishment. To be true to the Bible and to
declare the whole counsel of God, I must not close this booklet without
facing squarely the teaching of the Word of God on the subject of hell.
I do so with the full assurance that these words of Paul to Timothy
express the desire of God, "Who will have all men to be saved, and to
come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). If people reject
Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God and man, they must bear the
consequences of the rejection (v. 5). The inspired penman Simon Peter
wrote:

   For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to
hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto
judgment; The Lord knoweth how to...reserve the unjust unto the day of
judgment to be punished (2 Peter 2:4, 9).

   This passage tells us that God has cast the angels who sinned down
to hell. But the word translated "hell" is the word tartarus. This is
the only time the word is used, and it designates the separate place
prepared for the angels that sinned. There they await the judgment of
God.

   We are also told in 2 Peter 2:9 that the unjust, the wicked, are
reserved for a day of judgment. Then they too will have punishment
meted out to them. The place where the unconverted, the sinners, are
awaiting the day of judgment is designated by the Greek word "hades".
IT is the prison house for sinners awaiting judgment; it is the holding
cell for the condemned. All who leave this life without believing in
Christ for salvation go to this place. They are not to be immediately
judged but await a future time.

   I ask you to read the account (which I believer to be true, and not
a parable) that our Lord gave in Luke 16. Here is one occasion in the
teaching of the Lord Jesus when the curtain is drawn back and we are
allowed to look at life beyond the grave. I urge you to get your bible
right now and read Luke 16:19-31.

   Mark this point, please: hades is not the eternal destination of the
lost. It is the place where they are reserved "unto the day of judgment
to be punished." Even so, it is a place of torment. "In hades he lifted
up his eyes, being in torments" (v. 23). It is a place of consciousness
after death. Although the rich man's body was in the grave, his soul
was in hades, and he was in full possession of his faculties of memory,
affection, conscience, imagination, and reason.

   The good and bad are mingled together in this world. But this mixed
condition will not continue beyond death. The rule of the next world is
separation. O friend, if you want to be among those who are redeemed,
who are made acceptable to God through the work of His Son, the
transformation must take place now, in this life. Death brings eternal
separation between the believer and the unbeliever. The child of God
goes into the presence of Christ; the unbeliever goes into hades to
await the day of judgment.

   Why did the rich man in the account in Luke 16 go into hades, the
place of torment? Our Lord gave no evidence to prove him guilty of any
open, flagrant sin. What could have brought him to the prison house of
the damned? What was his plea across that great gulf to faithful
Abraham? Read these verses carefully:

   I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him
(Lazarus) to my father's house (For I have five brethren), that he may
testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets (the written
Word); let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham; but if one
went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him,
If they hear not Moses and one rose from the dead (Luke 16:27-31).

   This is the error that led to this man's ruin: it was his unbelief.
He did not believe God's written revelation. Both in his life upon
earth and his confinement in hades he refused to believe the record as
given in God's written testimony. If men will not receive what God has
written in the Bible, no vision, no heavenly messenger, no spirit from
another world will persuade them to believe on the Savior.

   To pass from this life into the region called hades with its torment
should cause unspeakable terror to arise in the heart of any thinking
person. But hades is not the eternal destination of the lost! Our
Savior used another word in the New Testament; it is the Greek word
gehenna. This is the word that designates the eternal place of the lost.

   GEHENNA

   Gehenna, or hell, is the equivalent of the lake of fire about which
we read in the Revelation. Here is what the Lord Jesus said in the
Sermon on the Mount:

   And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from
thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should
perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell (Matthew
5:29).

   Jesus said this a little later in His ministry:

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

   In both of these passages, the Greek word translated "hell" is
gehenna. "Gehenna" means literally "the valley of Hinnom". This was a
valley outside the southern walls of the city of Jerusalem. During the
reign of Solomon it was a veritable garden spot, with parks, driveways,
fountains, and groves. But during the apostate period of Isreal, when
the people permitted the worship of Baal and constructed altars in high
places, the people actually offered human sacrifices--their own
children--to the god Molech in this area (see Jeremiah 7). In the reign
of Josiah, as recorded in 2 Kings 23, the groves were cut down, the
altars to the false gods were destroyed, and the valley of Hinnom was
made into a place for the continual burning of garbage. It became the
symbol to all of Israel of the unending judgment of God upon the wicked.

   Christ used gehenna as a type of the eternal state of those who
reject God's grace, refusing to believe in Christ. It pictures the
place of everlasting punishment; it designates the eternal destination
of the lost. This is the final abode of the unjust reserved "unto the
day of judgment to be punished" (2 Peter 2:9). It is the place, the
eternal hell, where Antichrist and the false prophet will be cast at
the end of the tribulation. The devil will be sent there 1, 000 years
later. The Scriptures call it "a lake of fire burning with brimstone"
(Revelation 19:20).

   When the 1, 000-year reign of Christ over this earth is completed,
the great white throne judgment will take place. It is described in
these verses from Revelation 20:

   And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books
were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life.
And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the
books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were
in it, and death and hades delivered up the dead that were in them; and
they were judged every man according to their works. And death and
hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the
lake of fire (Revelation 20:12-15).

   This is the eternal hell! Who are the dead that stand before Christ
in that day? They are the unsaved dead. Their bodies will be
resurrected from the grave, and their souls will come from hades. These
are the bodies of the lost and wicked dead--the souls of the
unconverted.

   The bodies and souls of the unsaved dead, having been reunited, will
be cast into the lake of fire. This is the "everlasting fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels." They will be cast into that place, the
gehenna of fire, where the "worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched" (Mark 9:44). When our blessed Lord spoke of everlasting fire,
He was not exaggerating.

   Read carefully, please. Read as though your whole eternity depended
upon it! All who die in the rejection of God's infinite provision for
the forgiveness of sins will endure the consequences of those sins in
the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. That punishment will last
for the countless ages of eternity.

   God is so loving, however, He gave His "only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life" (John 3:16). But God is also so holy that He will not let sin
into heaven. He will cast the unrepentant sinner into the lake of fire.

   Today Christ offers you His gracious salvation. No one needs to
perish forever. Salvation, full and free, can be yours by grace through
faith. It comes by faith in the Word that tells of the guilt and ruin
of man, but it also tells of the redemption secured for the condemned
by the death and resurrection of God's Son. "If thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9).

   Oh, the marvel of grace! Your name may be written in the Lamb's book
of life. Heaven will be your eternal destination if you will place your
trust in Christ as your personal Savior!

   --- Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version, (c)
1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

   "Eternal Destinations" by Paul R. Van Gorder Copyright 1984 Radio
Bible Class, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Used by Permission.