Sermon and Worship Resources

Mark 9:42-50 · Causing to Sin

42 "And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. 44 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 46 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where " 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.' 49 Everyone will be salted with fire.

50 "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other."

Salty Saints

Mark 9:42-50

Sermon
by Donald B. Strobe

“He’s the salt of the earth!” That’s a common expression. We all know what it means. It means that the person is “grand guy, one in a million.” It is a badge of honor, an accolade reserved for someone we admire tremendously. And it all got started in Jesus’ words to His disciples.

I. ACTUALLY, AS IT APPEARS IN MARK’S GOSPEL, THE SAYING IS A BIT CONFUSING. Commentators have been tearing their hair out for centuries trying to understand what the verse at the tag end of Jesus’ harsh saying about radical surgery means. What on earth does “For every one will be salted with fire” mean?

It may be, as William Barclay says, that Jesus often dropped pithy little sayings along the way which stuck in people’s minds. Often, while they could remember the saying, they did not remember the context in which it was said. The result is that we sometimes get a whole bunch of disconnected sayings of Jesus stuck together because they stuck in the writer’s mind in a certain way. That seems to be the case here. Mark got off on a tangent about salt, one thing led to another, and he strung together everything he could remember that Jesus had ever said about salt. The result is several very confusing sentences!

On the other hand, a textual variant (noted in the footnote in the RSV) may help to explain it. It is possible that some early scribe put a reference to Leviticus 2:13 concerning preparations for ritual sacrifice in the margin, and a later copyist simply took them over into the text. According to Jewish Law every sacrifice must be salted with salt before it was offered to God on the altar. The reference to ritual sacrifice would be obvious to Mark’s readers. It may also reflect the early church’s experiences of persecution and sacrifice at the hands of a pagan world in which they tried to be “the salt of the earth.” Mark may have meant to tell us that the hardships which the earliest disciples were to undergo in their faithfulness to Christ were like the fire of sacrificial offerings that purifies, or like salt which stings and smarts but has a preservative effect.

The idea of actually sacrificing something for one’s faith is a novel idea to many of us. A lot of contemporary Christians seem to be like salt...in that they hesitate to venture outside on a Sunday morning if there is a little rain, for fear that they might melt. They would never understand the first Christians who braved “peril, fire, and sword” for the privilege of gathering together in worship every Lord’s day. Wild horses (and wilder emperors) couldn’t keep them away! Such an idea is so foreign to most of us as to be almost laughable. In his book on the Parables of Jesus, Presbyterian David Redding writes: “Consider the Connecticut Yankee and his bicycle factory. It will take more than strikes and taxes to put him out of business. Foul weather and flat tires won’t keep him from work. A houseful of company can’t make him stay home at night if he’s needed on the job. Competition doesn’t break his spirit; he will make do, think of something, try everything, even to working on Sunday, and he will simply ‘never say die.’ But imagine some Presbyterian excommunicated. He would simply turn over in bed and become an Episcopalian or Methodist. Watch the weather’s tyranny over church attendance - it is worse than on baseball. House guests literally paralyze Christian production. Saturday night sabotages Sunday morning. This is the way the church died, not with a fight, but a sniffle.” (“The Parables He Told,” Westwood, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell, Co., 1962, pp. 111-112) One wonders just how a Presbyterian might go about getting excommunicated. My observation is that it would be practically impossible to get kicked out of almost any mainline church these days. I have heard supposedly devout members from several different denominations espouse positions antithetical to everything that Jesus said and did; and yet, they consider themselves good, pious Christians. As the King in the musical “The King and I” used to say: “Tis a puzzlement.” But I digress.

Jesus told His disciples that they were “the salt of the earth.” In doing so, He was paying them a high compliment. In the ancient world, salt was a valuable commodity. It was so scarce that it was actually used as currency in some countries...even into modern times. During an invasion of Ethiopia in the late 19th century, Italian soldiers found blocks of salt stored in bank vaults along with other forms of currency. Jesus was paying His students a high compliment when he called them salt.

II. I IMAGINE THAT YOU HAVE HEARD MANY SERMONS ABOUT THE WAYS IN WHICH WE CHRISTIANS CAN EMULATE THE PROPERTIES OF SALT. For one thing, salt preserves. In ancient times, before refrigeration, it was regularly used as a preservative. The Greeks used to say that salt acted like a soul in a dead body. Dead meat left to itself goes bad, but pickled in salt, it retained its freshness. Salt seemed to put a kind of life into it. Christians are supposed to be those who put zest into life. In ancient times salt defended against rottenness and corruption. Jesus says that His disciples were being sent into the world to do something for that world. It was a pagan, heathen society and the disciples were supposed to be salt in it. Preserving it. Saving it. And they were.

Salt also seasons. An old story has the proverbial “Johnnie” being asked by his teacher, “What is salt?” To which he replied, “Salt is what spoils the potatoes if you leave it out.” Not bad. It is what leaves life flat and tasteless when it is omitted. Folks on a salt-free diet can attest to that! Kenneth Wilson, editor of the Christian Herald some years back, noted that Jesus nowhere said “You are the potatoes of the earth,” but “You are the salt of the earth.” This was not only because potatoes are not one of the cash crops of the Holy Land, but that potatoes are the things that are acted upon, not the thing doing the acting. He says, “We usually act as if we had been commissioned to be potatoes, rather than to be salt.” (p.90) What does he mean? Salt is supposed to do something to something else. It is supposed to serve, rather than to be served. (This gives the concept of a “couch potato” whole new meaning!) The world seems to be filled with Christian “couch potatoes” who lay around all day waiting for someone to get the Gospel to them; when Christ’s call is for them to help get the Gospel out to others.

There is one more thing that needs to be said about salt. This is an insight which has only come to me recently. Salt has a “bite” to it. If you ever have the opportunity to swim in the Dead Sea - don’t. Not if you have any open sores or cuts anywhere on your body. Boy, does that smart! The Dead Sea is 25% solids, and has approximately five times the concentration of salt than the oceans. Salt smarts. It stings. It reminds us of our sore spots. Salty Christians do that, too. Their very presence is a rebuke to our laziness and selfishness. They don’t even have to say anything. Their lives of quiet faithfulness to the Gospel shame us all. They make us uncomfortable. Sometimes we need that. One of my all-time favorite authors, Halford Luccock once wrote: “There are many more endearing characters than the professional ‘radiator’ of goodness. Too much sugar is not good for the body...continuous good cheer and uplift can be hard to take. Maybe that is the reason why one man said he never liked the clergy ‘in bulk.’ Tea is improved with a little lemon; and a squeeze of the lemon, a bit of sharp, astringent tartness, adds much to the interest of life and conversation.” (LIKE A MIGHTY ARMY, New York: Oxford University Press, 1954, pp.21-22)

“You are the salt, not the sugar, of the earth,” said Jesus. I am not arguing for obnoxiousness. We have had our fair share of that. You know: the kind of Christians whose perpetual expression is a frown of disapproval. Jesus had His problems with people like that, too. But I think that equally offensive in Christ’s eyes are those nice, sweet, harmless Christians who have the very best of intentions but never get around to doing anything or making any difference or upsetting anybody. Jesus called on His disciples to be the salt of the earth. III. BUT THEN HE ASKED, “WHAT GOOD IS SALT IF IT HAS LOST ITS FLAVOR?” What Jesus is saying is: “What good is it to be a follower of mine if there is nothing whatever distinctive about your life? If by following me you make no real contribution to life, what’s the use of calling yourself by my name?” Of what value are our values if they are not different from the values of those around us? What good is our parade if we do not march to the tune of a different drummer? What good is our professed faith in Jesus if, when the crowds about us are clamoring for something that is diametrically opposed to everything Jesus stood for, we can only say, “Me, too!” Of course, Jesus’ ethic is hard. Nobody ever said that it would be easy. And none of us live it fully. But the questions is: are we even trying?

Frank Sosienski was a letter carrier in Louisville, Kentucky, who got tired of lugging around all of that mail. And so, over a six year period he squirreled away 15 tons of it in 1200 bags in his attic. When the mail was finally discovered, he was charged with delaying mail intended for delivery. A letter-carrier’s job is to see that the mail gets through. What good is a mailperson if he or she doesn’t deliver the mail? What good is salt if it doesn’t season? If all that it does is lie there in the salt shaker day after day? What good is our Christianity if it never gets outside of these walls? What good are Christians who are reluctant to even try to follow their Lord?

The Greek word used in the New Testament to express God’s love for us and the love we are supposed to have for each other is “agape,” spelled a-g-a-p-e. I once heard of a delegate to a church assembly who kept hearing that strange word and had no idea what it meant. He did not want to show his ignorance by asking, so he went to a dictionary and looked it up. There it was: a-g-a-p-e, and the meaning: “with mouth wide open.” That’s the way it is so many times - our mouths are wide open, but our eyes, ears, hands, arms, are not. One cynic said:

After two thousand years of saying mass,

We’ve got as far as poison gas. Or, as Harvard humorist, songwriter, and mathematician Tom Lehrer put it in a song titled “Who’s next?”

“The Lord’s our shepherd,” says the psalm.

But, just in case, we better get a bomb.

Today (and yesterday) is designated as “Peace Sabbath” in churches and synagogues in our community. If there is any one area in which we Christians have compromised with the world’s values more than this, I don’t know of it. Polls regularly tell us that there is basically little difference between church members’ attitudes towards war and peace than those of the general public. In fact, church members tend to be a tad more bloodthirsty than the public at large. I watched Bill Moyers’ interview with Isaac Asimov last Monday evening on PBS with great interest. Asimov explained all the the reasons why he was not “religious” in any formal sense (although science seems to have become his religion). But one thing struck me: he said that if you take a look at those nations which are religious and those which are not, you can discern little difference between them. Violence and crime and plain dishonesty does not seem to be any less. In other words, there isn’t much saltiness left in the salt. I would like to have asked Dr. Asimov to make a distinction between “religion” and “Christianity,” but then I remembered my Christian history. Down through the centuries from the time of the Emperor Constantine onward, most Christians have acted more like attack dogs than apostles of the Prince of Peace. The government (any government) says: “Kill!” and Christians obediently say: “Tell me who.” They don’t even stop to ask: “Is this what Christ would do?” Or better, “Is this what Christ would have me do?” We are much like the fellow I saw in a cartoon many years ago. It showed a historical scene, the runner from the Battle of Marathon bringing news of the victory to Athens. A group of Athenian city fathers was waiting in strained anxiety. The runner arrived, carrying a torch, and gasped out, “I’ve forgotten the message.” Many times throughout history we’ve forgotten it, too. Or mislaid it. Or misunderstood it. Or purposely ignored it.

William Howard Taft’s great-granddaughter was asked to write her autobiography in the third grade. This is what she wrote: “My great-grandfather was president of the U.S., my grandfather was a U.S. senator, my father was an ambassador, and I am a Brownie.” God meant for the church to be a great force for peace in the world. The church carries, like that third-grader, the genetics of greatness. But it rarely fulfills its promise because so many of its members would rather be potatoes than salt. We have the notion that the church is here to serve us (it is, in a sense); but even more it is here to equip us to serve the world, in the name of Christ, the Servant Lord of us all. A certain popular comedian used some pretty salty language following his heart attack awhile back. I’ll clean it up a bit for use in church. He said something like this: “I have a great heart, but my arteries aren’t much good.” The church has a great Gospel, a great heart, but the arteries which are supposed to get the lifeblood out into the world have broken down somewhere along the way.

Several years ago there was a PEANUTS cartoon in which Schroeder, that piano-loving intellectual, was interrupted as he often is by his infatuated admirer, Lucy. Lucy asks Schroeder, “Schroeder, do you know what love is?” Schroeder abruptly stopped his playing, stood to his feet and said precisely, “Love: noun, to be fond of, a strong affection for, or an attachment or devotion to a person or persons.” Then he sat back down and resumed playing his piano. Lucy sat there stunned and then murmured sarcastically, “On paper, he’s great.” SO ARE WE, on paper. There are some 1500 members of this church, on paper. There’s nearly ten million United Methodists in this country, on paper. On paper, Christians make up the majority of folks in our country. How about on performance? Why don’t we make more of a difference? “But if the salt loses its saltness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Dynamic Preaching, Collected Words, by Donald B. Strobe

Overview and Insights · Following the Suffering Messiah #2 (9:30–50)

For the second time, Jesus predicts his upcoming suffering and death (9:30–31). Yet again, the disciples fail to understand but are too afraid to ask for clarification. They do, however, have a heated argument about which of them is the greatest (9:34). It must have been extremely painful for Jesus to watch his followers go the wrong direction spiritually at the exact …

The Baker Bible Handbook by , Baker Publishing Group, 2016

Mark 9:42-50 · Causing to Sin

50 "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other."

Commentary · Causing to Sin

The final narrative is a graphic warning against causing others to sin, or “stumble.” Verse 42 asserts the inestimable value of the small and insignificant. Not causing “one of these little ones . . . to stumble” does not refer to children but to those “who believe in me”—that is, to disciples. Whatever is done to a follower of Jesus, whether good (9:41) or bad (9:42), is done to Jesus. Verses 43–48 shift the focus from jeopardizing others to endangering self. The instruction to cut off hands, feet, or eyes is not a command to literal physical mutilation. Like the millstone of verse 42, these are metaphors that are exaggerated for effect: let nothing—not even things as dear as hands, feet, and eyes—prevent you from entering the kingdom of God. Some ancient manuscripts insert the saying in verse 48 after the saying about hands (9:43) and feet (9:45). “Gehenna” (NIV “hell”) is a Semitic word for the Hinnom Valley, southwest of Jerusalem, where human sacrifice was practiced under Ahaz and Manasseh (2 Kings 16:3; 21:6). Ever after Ahaz and Manasseh, the Hinnom Valley symbolized the divine wrath and punishment of hell, which was to be avoided at all costs. The concluding references to fire and salt—both of which accompanied temple sacrifices (Lev. 1:1–17; 2:13)—are probably further metaphors of the trials and cost of discipleship.

The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary by Gary M. Burge, Baker Publishing Group, 2016

Big Idea: Discipleship demands becoming like Jesus in self-sacrificial service to others. His people must embrace diversity in the group and defeat sin and temptation in their lives.

Understanding the Text

The disciple-centered movement of Jesus from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem continues in this section. The series of interactions carry on the gradual uncovering of the disciples’ inability to understand and their self-seeking responses to the various stimuli that they receive.

Structure

This passage is organized via catchwords: “in my name” (vv. 37, 38, 39, 41), “stumble” (vv. 42, 43, 45, 47), “hell” (vv. 43, 45, 47), “fire”/“salt” (vv. 48–50). There are two primary units, each having three sections. First, there is the contrast between Jesus’s self-sacrificing second passion prediction (vv. 30–32) and the two self-serving failures of the disciples: their desire for greatness (vv. 33–37) and their desire to reject the exorcist who was not “one of us” (vv. 38–40). Second, there is a series of discipleship sayings on rewards and punishment (vv. 41–50), with the thesis on the two sides (vv. 41–42), then a warning against stumbling (vv. 43–47), followed by a concluding set of “salt” sayings giving the dynamics of discipleship (vv. 49–50).

Interpretive Insights

9:30–31 did not want anyone to know where they were.They are now headed south through Galilee toward Jesus’s destiny in Jerusalem. On the way to Capernaum, Jesus eschews public exposure (probably meaning that he stayed in the wilderness away from villages and towns) in order to spend his time privately with his disciples. On the “road to Jerusalem” Jesus trains his followers and prepares them for both the terrible events to come and their ministries afterward.

delivered into the hands of men.This is the shortest of the three passion predictions, with the primary addition “is going to be delivered,” both a futuristic present (emphasizing the certainty of it) and a divine passive. There might also be an echo of Daniel 7:25, which speaks of the delivery of “the holy people” into the hands of the “little horn.”

9:32 they did not understand . . . and were afraid to ask.Incomprehension (8:32) and fear (9:6) continue. Some call it a “holy fear,” a sense of wonder,1but that does not fit well. More likely, they are afraid to ask Jesus further and are unwilling to face the implications of what he is saying.2

9:34 argued about who was the greatest.It is astonishing that just after Jesus has taught about his coming suffering and death, the disciples are debating who is preeminent among them (on the “house” setting, see on 9:28; this may have been Peter’s home [1:29]). The argument probably came in light of Jesus’s teaching on his imminent death.

9:35 Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last.Jesus “sits down” like a rabbi giving instruction, providing one of the truly important injunctions on true leadership, what we would call “servanthood leadership.” The Jewish people (like all of us) were mesmerized by status, so Jesus spoke of this often (e.g., 2:17; 8:35–38; 10:35–45). Success in God’s eyes demands humility. Those who seek greatness will have nothing (8:35), and those who lord it over others will be least before God (here and 10:42–44).

9:37 welcomes one of these little children. This is not children as models of the true disciple (for this, see 10:15) but rather children as exemplars of those with little honor or status in society. Children were not prized but were tolerated, especially in Jewish society (see, e.g., Gen. 30:1; 1 Sam. 2:20; cf. Prov. 17:6). Jesus is saying that the true disciple will accept and minister especially to the weak and unimportant in society. To prove this, Jesus embraces a child (v. 36 [possibly one of Peter’s children]), indicating that he considers this child to be important and a member of his family.

9:38 we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us. This is understandable. Jewish exorcists often invoked the names of archangels or Old Testament figures such as Solomon to drive out demons, so it would make sense that a great “prophet” like Jesus would also be named. Still, there is a question about whether this was a Jewish exorcist or an unknown follower of Jesus.3Mark does not make it clear, but the latter fits the tone better. William Lane notes the irony of the disciples’ rejecting someone for succeeding in exorcism when they had just failed (9:14–29) in that very thing.4

9:39 does a miracle in my name.To use Jesus’s name alongside the archangel Michael or King Solomon means that the person could hardly be opposed to Jesus. Such a ministry will honor Jesus and should not be negated. It will not slander Jesus’s name. The proverb of verse 40 (“whoever is not against us is for us”) seems excessive (there should be a middle ground) but is intended against the sectarian exclusivism of the disciples here (cf. Rom. 14:11–15:13).

9:41 gives you a cup of water in my name.Most place this with verses 38–40, but it repeats the idea of verse 37 (receiving a child) and fits well with verse 42 (reward and punishment). Still, there is contrast with verse 38: rather than rejecting such people, show them kindness. Romans 12:17–21 applies this specifically to persecutors. (On “reward,” see Matt. 10:41–42.)

9:42 a large millstone were hung around their neck.From the concept of reward Jesus turns to punishment. In verse 37 Jesus commanded that the “child” be welcomed (shown kindness in v. 41), but here we see that the opposite has happened: the “little ones” (the insignificant followers of Christ) have been caused to “stumble”—that is, fall into sin and fall away from Christ (see on 4:16–17). The penalty is horrific, suggesting eternal punishment in Gehenna (vv. 43, 45, 47). The millstone, turned by an ox or donkey, is huge; some were six feet or more in diameter.

9:43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off.In verse 42 the danger is external, as wicked leaders lead God’s people into sin. Here the danger is internal, as believers willingly give in to sin. The next three verses (vv. 43, 45, 47)5use critical parts of the body (hand, foot, eye) as metaphors for the danger of falling into sin (see Job 31:1–8; Prov. 6:16–18). The command to amputate these parts is an element of the imagery and not intended literally. Jesus uses hyperbole to emphasize the violent rejection of temptation that is necessary to be victorious over sin.

9:47–48 enter the kingdom of God.The “kingdom” in Mark thus far has referred to Jesus’s earthly ministry and the community that he is establishing on earth (1:15; 4:11, 26, 30), but now it parallels “life” in verses 43, 45 and refers to the eternal state.6

and be thrown into hell, where . . . “the fire is not quenched.”Here “hell” is Gehenna (Gk. geenna), which was the Valley of Hinnom, in ancient times the site of human sacrifice to the pagan god Molek (2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 19:5–6) and in Jesus’s day the place where the garbage of Jerusalem was burned day and night. It provided a powerful image of eternal punishment. This is a gruesome depiction of the horror of eternal hellfire and the strongest reason imaginable to gain control over sin and temptation.

9:49 salted with fire.This is the first of three “salt” sayings that bring to a close the discipleship sayings of chapter 9. Most likely the background is the use of salt as a purifying agent, especially its presence in the cereal (Lev. 2:13) and burnt offerings (Ezek. 43:24) to symbolize a pure sacrifice. This is probably not the image of eternal hellfire but rather considers the life of discipleship as a sacrifice to God and the process by which God purifies one’s life via testing and trials (the “refiner’s fire” in Mal. 3:2).

9:50 how can you make it salty again?Now we turn to salt as a preserving agent, often used to keep food fresh as well as to flavor it. Also, here it depicts the believer per se, as in the parallel Matthew 5:13: “You are the salt of the earth.” Strictly speaking, salt never loses its saltlike qualities, but this could refer to the salt from the marshes of the Dead Sea, which contained many impurities; moreover, if a farmer put too much salt on land, it became infertile. Jesus’s point was not scientific but ethical, warning that God has placed his people in the world to make a difference. An insipid Christian is a useless Christian.

Have salt among yourselves.This builds on the second use of salt (v. 50a) and means that the whole community should exercise the quality of “saltiness.” The second half interprets the first and states that when salt characterizes God’s people, they will remain “at peace,” unlike the disciples who were just debating the crowds (9:14) and especially in conflict with each other (9:33, 38).

Theological Insights

This complex passage contains several important insights. (1) Jesus as the Son of God (and as prophet) knows what is to transpire in the future and tries to prepare his followers by telling them of his passion and resurrection. (2) The disciples continue their obtuse failure to understand and are interested not in Jesus’s future suffering but only in their potential future greatness. They need to understand that the only path to greatness in the kingdom demands servanthood. (3) The prejudice of the disciples against outsiders will seriously hinder their future value to the kingdom community. They must be open to all who are called and used by God and not accept only those who are like themselves. (4) Sin (and those who bring sin into God’s people) must be eradicated from the community. God demands holiness. (5) Like salt, we must seek purity, make a difference in the world, and live in peace with one another.

Teaching the Text

1. Defining truth on the basis of our own traditions is harmful.Every tradition has its “delusions of grandeur,” that all truth begins and ends with its own particular set of beliefs. Within the larger evangelical traditions there are cardinal doctrines that are accepted (and demanded) by all: the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the Holy Spirit (but without agreement on the charismatic issue), substitutionary atonement, justification by faith (but without agreement on predestination or eternal security), the return of Christ (but without agreement on millennial issues). However, traditions and denominations err when they elevate their distinctives to absolute truth. We must learn to “agree to disagree” on these lesser areas and follow Paul’s advice from Romans 14:1–15:13: learn to respect and accept our differences and realize that God is using both sides of these debated areas. We will never agree on all issues, and we must find a deeper unity so that the church may be “one” (John 17:21–23) and work together to reach a lost world.

2. Get rid of sin and temptation.Jesus uses incredibly strong (and shocking) imagery to emphasize the violent rejection of sin that must characterize the believer. If we lead others (v. 42) or ourselves (vv. 43–47) into sin, we will heap judgment on ourselves from God. Rather, we must cast sin far away from ourselves. A related term is to “put off” or “throw away” such vices (Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:8; Heb. 12:1; James 1:21); they are old, useless clothes that must be completely discarded. The tendency of all too many of us to rationalize our cherished sins is a terrible, dangerous gambit that will backfire on us and bring present misery as well as future judgment.

3. Trials are essential to spiritual growth.Too many people believe that Christians are not supposed to have difficulties, that since we are “the king’s kids,” God is obligated to make everything go well in our lives. This could not be further from the truth. Trials and tribulations are not just important; they are the necessary path to spiritual growth. In James 1:2–4 trials are a “test of our faith,” intended to produce endurance and make us completely whole. In 1 Peter 1:6–7 our troubles are the crucible of life that boils off our sinful tendencies and makes us become “pure gold.” We are “the salt of the earth” (Matt. 5:13) and as such need the purifying fire of Christ (Mark 9:49) that “refines” the people of God (Mal. 3:20) so we can serve him.

Illustrating the Text

Casting off human impurities

Science: In places with long and snowy winters, roads are often salted to melt ice. One result is that cars have a tendency to rust from the salt. Some try to deal with this problem by painting over the rust. This is really not a solution, as it only delays the inevitable. The paint will temporarily cover the rust but fails to deal with the underlying problem. The rust has to be removed or the panel on the car replaced. Many people simply “cover up” their sin by ensuring that no one sees it. They often try to ignore it themselves. What we need to do is to acknowledge our sin and take steps to effectively deal with it through prayer, accountability, and changes in lifestyle.

Being the salt of the earth

Science: In the making of ice cream with a hand-cranked ice-cream maker, salt is used because of its ability to lower the freezing temperature of water. When salt is poured on ice, it creates a mix that has a temperature nearing zero degrees Fahrenheit. Although the mixture is not solid like ice, it is actually colder and can easily freeze the ice-cream mixture. The addition of salt to the process has a powerful effect on the outcome. In the same way, we are to be salt in the world, having a powerful effect and making a difference for God in the world.

Accepting other Christians who are different

Applying the Text: Christian unity goes beyond theological tradition and denominational affiliation. Consider highlighting the biblical truths that are not negotiable and that transcend particular denominations or groups. One effective way to both teach truth and demonstrate unity is to recite one of the ecumenical creeds.

Teaching the Text by Grant R. Osborne, Baker Publishing Group, 2016

Dictionary

Direct Matches

Hell

The place where the lost are assigned by God to eternal punishment of both body and soul (Matt. 10:28). This agony of eternal torment in hell is the greatest of all possible tragedies.

This topic of the afterlife unfolded only gradually in Scripture. “Gehenna” originally referred to the Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem, the location of the notorious sacrificial offerings of children by fire to the god Molek by Ahaz (2 Chron. 28:3) and Manasseh (2 Chron. 33:6). Later, the meaning of this term was extended to the place of fiery punishment in general. Still later, the geographic location of this place of punishment was shifted to under the earth, but the idea of fiery torment continued. By NT times, the Pharisees clearly believed in the punishment of the wicked in the afterlife.

It is primarily in the teachings of Jesus that the reality of a place of eternal punishment comes into clear focus. Jesus describes hell as involving unquenchable fire (Matt. 18:8 9; Mark 9:42–43, 48), a place where the worm does not die (Mark 9:48). Jesus also pictures the extreme anguish of those who suffer the ultimate punishment of being “thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 8:12).

The idea of a severe eternal punishment for the lost is also taught by the apostles. At the return of Christ, those living outside a proper relationship with God will experience sudden destruction (1 Thess. 5:3) when the angels will come “in blazing fire” and “punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thess. 1:6–9). The author of Hebrews speaks of the “fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God” (Heb. 10:27). Revelation describes how “the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever” (Rev. 14:11), and how the ungodly will be cast into “the fiery lake of burning sulfur” (21:8).

Kingdom

A kingdom signifies the reality and extent of a king’s dominion or rule (Gen. 10:10; 20:9; Num. 32:33; 2 Kings 20:13; Esther 1:22). Some kingdoms were relatively small; others were concerted attempts to gain the whole world.

A kingdom presupposes monarchy, rule by an individual, human authority. Although kings only have as much authority as their armies and the general populace allow, they nevertheless exercise an almost absolute power, which invites either profound humility or hubris. Royal arrogance, unfortunately, is the primary motif characterizing kings in the Bible (e.g., Dan. 3).

God originally intended Israel to be governed as a theocracy, ruled by the one, true, living God (but see Gen. 17:6; Deut. 17:14 20). Israel was to be a “kingdom of priests” (Exod. 19:6), but the people demanded a king (1 Sam. 8:1–22). However, even when God granted their request, God remained King over the king and even retained ownership of the land (Lev. 25:23, 42, 55). The Israelite king was nothing more than God’s viceroy, with delegated authority. With few exceptions, most of the kings of Israel and Judah were corrupted by authority and wealth and forgot God (1 Sam. 13:13–14; 15:28; Matt. 14:6–11). But God made a covenant with David, so that one of his descendants would become a coregent in a restored theocracy, the kingdom of God (2 Sam. 7:1–29; Pss. 89:3; 132:11). In contrast to David’s more immediate descendants, this coming king would return to Jerusalem humble and mounted on a donkey (Zech. 9:9; cf. Isa. 62:11). The Gospels present Jesus Christ as this king (Matt. 21:1–9 pars.). Those who are likewise humble will inherit the land with him (Matt. 5:5).

Kingdom of God

The kingdom of God is a major theme in the Bible. While the theme is most fully developed in the NT, its origin is the OT, where the emphasis falls on God’s kingship. God is king of Israel (Exod. 15:18; Num. 23:21; Deut. 33:5; Isa. 43:15) and of all the earth (2 Kings 19:15; Pss. 29:10; 99:1 4; Isa. 6:5; Jer. 46:18). Juxtaposed to the concept of God’s present reign as king are references to a day when God will become king over his people (Isa. 24:23; 33:22; 52:7; Zeph. 3:15; Zech. 14:9). This emphasis on God’s kingship continues throughout Judaism and takes on special significance in Jewish apocalypticism and its anticipation of the kingdom of God in the age to come, which abandoned any hope for present history. Only at the end of the age will the kingdom of God come. This idea of God’s kingdom is further developed throughout the NT.

Millstone

One of several different types of stone implements used to grind grain, usually by hand. This chore was often performed daily, so the sound of mills grinding grain became a symbol of normal life (Jer. 25:10; Rev. 18:22). Women (Matt. 24:41) or servants (Exod. 11:5) typically used mills, or prisoners, like Samson (Judg. 16:21), might be made to perform the mundane task.

Sacrifice

The words “sacrifice” and “offering” often are used interchangeably, but “offering” refers to a gift more generally, while “sacrifice” indicates a gift consecrated for a divine being. Sacrifices were offered to honor God, thanking him for his goodness. More important, they enabled persons to be made right with God by atoning for their sins. Whereas sin upset the fellowship God desired to have with people and kindled his wrath, sacrifice restored the relationship.

Leviticus introduced five main sacrifices: the ’olah (1:1 17; 6:8–18), the minkhah (2:1–16; 6:14–23), the shelamim (3:1–17; 7:11–36), the khatta’t (4:1–5:13), and the ’asham (5:14–6:7). Most of these focused on uncleanness or sin. The worshiper who brought such an offering was not allowed to eat any of it, as it was wholly given to God. Even when priests were allowed to eat part of a sacrifice, their portion was “waved” before God, indicating that it belonged to him.

1. The ’olah, or burnt offering, is the basic OT sacrifice connected with atonement for sin (Lev. 1:4). When rightly offered, it was accepted as “an aroma pleasing to the Lord.” The worshiper brought a male animal (young bull, sheep, goat, dove, or young pigeon) without blemish, laid a hand upon it, and then killed it. After the priest sprinkled some of the blood on the altar, the rest was burned up.

2. The minkhah is simply a gift or offering. The Hebrew word is often used for a present given to another person or tribute to a ruler. When used of sacrifice, it is usually rendered as “grain offering” or “meal offering.” A minkhah can, on occasion, include flesh or fat (Gen. 4:4; Judg. 6:18–21). Considered “an aroma pleasing to the Lord,” it consisted of unground grain or fine flour mixed with oil and incense and was presented either cooked or uncooked. Part of the offering was burned as a “memorial portion,” the rest being given to the priests (Lev. 2:1–3). It usually was accompanied by a drink offering—wine poured out on the altar. Grain offerings frequently complemented burnt offerings or fellowship offerings. The showbread may have been considered a grain offering.

3. The shelamim (NIV: “fellowship offering”) has traditionally been called the “peace offering,” as the term is related to shalom. This offering most likely indicated that the worshiper was at peace with God and others; all the worshiper’s relationships were whole. Classified into three types, it could be used to express thanksgiving, to signify the fulfillment of a vow, or simply to denote one’s desire to bring an offering to God out of free will. Only those who made a vow were required to offer a shelamim; the other forms were wholly optional. The worshiper brought a male or female animal (ox, sheep, or goat) without blemish, laid a hand on its head, and slaughtered it. The priest sprinkled its blood on the sides of the altar and burned the fat surrounding the major organs. It is described as “an aroma pleasing to the Lord.”

This offering significantly recognized the covenant relationship existing between those who shared in it. God received the fatty portions, the officiating priest received the right thigh, the other priests the breast, and the remainder was shared among members of a family, clan, tribe, or some other group.

4. The khatta’t, or sin offering, atoned for the sin of an individual or of the nation and cleansed the sacred items in the tabernacle that had been corrupted by sin. Since a sin offering could purify ceremonial as well as moral uncleanness, people who were unclean due to childbirth, skin diseases, bodily discharges, and so forth also brought them (Lev. 12–15).

5. The ’asham, or guilt offering, provided compensation for sins. A ram without blemish was sacrificed, its blood was sprinkled on the altar, and its fatty portions, kidneys, and liver were burned. The rest was given to the priest. In addition, the value of what was misappropriated plus one-fifth of its value was given to the person wronged or to the priests.

Christians quickly came to understand Christ’s death as the final sacrifice that completed the OT system. Various NT authors consider the nature of Christ’s death and metaphorically relate it to OT sacrifices, but the writer of Hebrews develops this in the most detail. According to Hebrews, the sacrificial system was merely the shadow that pointed to Jesus. Although the blood of animals could not adequately deal with sins, Jesus’ sacrifice could (Heb. 10:1–10). Jesus is regularly identified as the sacrificial lamb whose blood purifies humanity from sin (John 1:29, 36; Rom. 8:3; 1 Cor. 5:7; Eph. 5:2; 1 Pet. 1:19; 1 John 1:7; Rev. 5:6, 12; 7:14; 12:11; 13:8). His sacrifice is considered a propitiation that turns away God’s wrath (Rom. 3:25; 1 John 2:2).

Salt

A crystallized mineral compound, often harvested from the Dead Sea, used with food for flavor and preservation (Job 6:6) and medicinally rubbed on infants (Ezek. 16:4). Salt was to be added to the grain offering to represent the covenant (Lev. 2:13). Just as salt survives the sacrificial fires, so does the covenant survive the difficulties of life. In the first century, salt was known as a preservative, seasoning, and fertilizer. All these uses may be behind Jesus’ statement that his disciples were “the salt of the earth” (Matt. 5:13), indicating that they were important for the welfare of the world.

Sin

Sin enters the biblical story in Gen. 3. Despite God’s commandment to the contrary (2:16 17), Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil at the prompting of the serpent. When Adam joined Eve in eating the fruit, their rebellion was complete. They attempted to cover their guilt and shame, but the fig leaves were inadequate. God confronted them and was unimpressed with their attempts to shift the blame. Judgment fell heavily on the serpent, Eve, and Adam; even creation itself was affected (3:17–18).

In the midst of judgment, God made it clear in two specific ways that sin did not have the last word. First, God cryptically promised to put hostility between the offspring of the serpent and that of the woman (Gen. 3:15). Although the serpent would inflict a severe blow upon the offspring of the woman, the offspring of the woman would defeat the serpent. Second, God replaced the inadequate covering of the fig leaves with animal skins (3:21). The implication is that the death of the animal functioned as a substitute for Adam and Eve, covering their sin.

In one sense, the rest of the OT hangs on this question: How will a holy God satisfy his wrath against human sin and restore his relationship with human beings without compromising his justice? The short answer is: through Abraham and his offspring (Gen. 12:1–3), who eventually multiplied into the nation of Israel. After God redeemed them from their slavery in Egypt (Exod. 1–15), he brought them to Sinai to make a covenant with them that was predicated on obedience (19:5–6). A central component of this covenant was the sacrificial system (e.g., Lev. 1–7), which God provided as a means of dealing with sin. In addition to the regular sacrifices made for sin throughout the year, God set apart one day a year to atone for Israel’s sins (Lev. 16). On this Day of Atonement the high priest took the blood of a goat into the holy of holies and sprinkled it on the mercy seat as a sin offering. Afterward he took a second goat and confessed “all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and sending it away into the wilderness. . . . The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a barren region; and the goat shall be set free in the wilderness” (Lev. 16:21–22 NRSV). In order for the holy God to dwell with sinful people, extensive provisions had to be made to enable fellowship.

During the next four hundred years of prophetic silence, the longing for God to finally put away the sins of his people grew. At last, when the conception and birth of Jesus were announced, it was revealed that he would “save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). In the days before the public ministry of Jesus, John the Baptist prepared the way for him by “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:3). Whereas both Adam and Israel were disobedient sons of God, Jesus proved to be the obedient Son by his faithfulness to God in the face of temptation (Matt. 2:13–15; 4:1–11; 26:36–46; Luke 3:23–4:13; Rom. 5:12–21; Phil. 2:8; Heb. 5:8–10). He was also the Suffering Servant who gave his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45; cf. Isa. 52:13–53:12). On the cross Jesus experienced the wrath of God that God’s people rightly deserved for their sin. With his justice fully satisfied, God was free to forgive and justify all who are identified with Christ by faith (Rom. 3:21–26). What neither the law nor the blood of bulls and goats could do, Jesus Christ did with his own blood (Rom. 8:3–4; Heb. 9:1–10:18).

After his resurrection and ascension, Jesus’ followers began proclaiming the “good news” (gospel) of what Jesus did and calling to people, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38). As people began to experience God’s forgiveness, they were so transformed that they forgave those who sinned against them (Matt. 6:12; 18:15–20; Col. 3:13). Although believers continue to struggle with sin in this life (Rom. 8:12–13; Gal. 5:16–25), sin is no longer master over them (Rom. 6:1–23). The Holy Spirit empowers them to fight sin as they long for the new heaven and earth, where there will be no sin, no death, and no curse (Rom. 8:12–30; Rev. 21–22).

As even this very brief survey of the biblical story line from Genesis to Revelation shows, sin is a fundamental aspect of the Bible’s plot. Sin generates the conflict that drives the biblical narrative; it is the fundamental “problem” that must be solved in order for God’s purposes in creation to be completed.

Stumbling Block

In the OT, this image is used to convey the concept of a “stumbling block” in a literal (Lev. 19:14) or figurative (Jer. 6:21) sense. In the NT, the image is used as a messianic reference—Christ as a stumbling block (Rom. 9:32 33; 1 Cor. 1:23; 1 Pet. 2:8). This rendition of messianic expectation plays off the Isaianic presentation of God as a stumbling block to his faithless people. The NT Greek words that are translated as “stumbling block” (skandalon) or “to cause to stumble” (skandalizō) have either a christological or a moral application.

Direct Matches

Fire

Human Uses and Metaphors

Fire is a basic necessity for various human activities such as cooking (Exod. 12:8; Isa. 44:15–16, 19; John 21:9), warming (Isa. 44:16; Jer. 36:22; John 18:18), lighting (Isa. 50:11), manufacturing (Exod. 32:24), and refining metals (Num. 31:22–23). Fire is also an important means of maintaining the purity of God’s people, used to punish sinners (the sexually immoral [Lev. 20:14; 21:9; cf. Gen. 38:24] and the disobedient [Josh. 7:25; cf. 2 Kings 23:16]) and to destroy idols (Exod. 32:20; Deut. 7:5, 25; 2 Kings 10:26), chariots (Josh. 11:6, 9), and the cities of Canaan (Josh. 6:24; 8:19; 11:11; Judg. 18:27). As an essential means of worship, fire is used to burn sacrificial animals (Gen. 8:20; Exod. 29:18; Lev. 1:9; 3:3; 9:10, 13–14, 20) and grain offerings (Lev. 2:2, 9; 9:17).

The Mosaic law has several regulations concerning fire. Regarded as work, starting a fire is forbidden on the Sabbath (Exod. 35:3). It is the responsibility of the priests to keep the fire burning on the altar (Lev. 6:9, 12–13). The use of an “unauthorized fire” for sacrifice is forbidden (note Nadab and Abihu’s death [Lev. 10:1–2; cf. Num. 3:4; 26:61; 1 Chron. 24:2]). Also, contrary to the Canaanite religious custom, burning children is forbidden (Deut. 18:10), though the Israelites failed to keep this command and elicited God’s judgment (2 Kings 16:3; 17:17; 21:6; Jer. 7:31; 32:35; note Josiah’s ban in 2 Kings 23:10).

As a metaphor, fire also signifies human anger (Ps. 39:3), wickedness (Isa. 9:18), self-reliance (Isa. 50:11), evil planning (Hos. 7:6–7), lust (Prov. 6:27–28), evil speech or tongue (Prov. 16:27; James 3:5–6), and, paradoxically, kindness to an enemy (Prov. 25:22; Rom. 12:20).

Divine Uses and Metaphors

In the Bible, God is described as the ruler of fire (Ps. 104:4; cf. 1 Kings 18). Positively, God sends fire to signify his acceptance of worship (Lev. 9:24; Judg. 13:19–20; 1 Kings 18:38; 2 Chron. 7:1–3; cf. Luke 9:54). God also purifies his people by fire in order to provide them with abundance (Ps. 66:12), to cleanse them of their sins (Isa. 6:6–7), to refine them into the true remnant (Zech. 13:9), to restore true worship (Mal. 3:2–3), to bring forth genuine faith (1 Cor. 3:13, 15; 1 Pet. 1:7), and to give Christians a true joy of participating in Christ’s suffering (1 Pet. 4:12). God also promises to make his people like a firepot and a flaming torch that will burn the surrounding enemies (Zech. 12:6). Negatively, God uses fire to punish the wicked and disobedient (Gen. 19:24; Exod. 9:23; Num. 11:1; 16:35; 2 Kings 1:10, 12; Isa. 29:6; 34:9–10; 66:24; Ezek. 38:22; 39:6; Rev. 20:9). God is a farmer burning unfruitful trees (John 15:2, 6; cf. Matt. 3:10; 7:19; 13:40) and “thorns and briers” (Isa. 10:17). The eternal fire of hell is the place where God’s final judgment will be executed (Matt. 5:22; 25:41; Mark 9:45–49; Jude 1:7; note the “lake of fire” in Rev. 20:14–15; cf. 14:10; 21:8).

Fire is also a symbol used to image the indescribable God. It symbolizes God’s presence: a smoking firepot with a flaming torch (Gen. 15:17), the burning bush (Exod. 3:2; cf. Elijah’s expectation [1 Kings 19:12]), the pillars of fire and smoke (Exod. 13:21–22; Num. 14:14), the smoke on Mount Sinai and in the tabernacle and the temple (Exod. 19:19; Num. 9:15–16; Deut. 4:11–12; Isa. 6:4). Fire marks God’s protection: the “horses and chariots of fire” (2 Kings 6:17; cf. 2:11), the “wall of fire” (Zech. 2:5). Fire also represents God’s glory: God’s throne (Dan. 7:9; cf. Ezek. 1:4, 13; 10:2, 6–7), God’s form (Ezek. 1:27), the seven spirits of God before the throne (Rev. 4:5). God in his holy wrath is also likened to a burning fire (Pss. 79:5; 89:46; Isa. 5:24; 33:14; Jer. 15:14; Ezek. 21:31; 22:21; Hos. 8:5; note the expression “consuming fire” [Deut. 4:24; Isa. 33:14; Heb. 12:29]) and even to a fiery monster (Ps. 18:8; Isa. 30:33; 65:5; cf. Job 41:19–21). Fire is an important element in the description of the day of the Lord (Joel 2:3; cf. 2 Pet. 3:12). God’s words in the prophet’s mouth are likened to a fire (Jer. 5:14; 20:9; 23:29).

Fire is also used to speak of Jesus. John the Baptist refers to Jesus’ baptism as one with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matt. 3:11). Jesus identifies the purpose of his coming as casting fire on earth (Luke 12:49). The returning Jesus is portrayed as coming in “blazing fire” (2 Thess. 1:7), and the eyes of the glorified Christ are likened to “blazing fire” (Rev. 1:14; 2:18; cf. “flaming torches” in Dan. 10:6). In Acts 2:3 the Holy Spirit is portrayed as the “tongues of fire.”

Gehenna

This name is a Latin and Greek derivation of the Hebrew place name “Valley of Hinnom” (Neh. 11:30), the deep ravine on the southern end of the ancient city of Jerusalem. It was also called the “Valley of Ben Hinnom” (Jer. 19:2) and was the northern boundary of Judah from the time of the conquest (Josh. 15:8; 18:16). It marked the northern boundary of Judahite settlement in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. This placed the city of Jerusalem just inside Benjamite territory. It became a name of infamy because pagan cultic places were located there during the time of the later monarchy (2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chron. 28:3; 33:6; Jer. 7:31; 32:35), cults that involved the sacrifice of children to Molek and Baal. Jeremiah renamed it the “Valley of Slaughter” (Jer. 7:32; 19:5–6).

It is easy to see, therefore, how in later Jewish writings Gehenna could become a metaphor for the fiery punishment that was the lot of the wicked on the day of judgment. This is reflected in NT usage. Jesus spoke about those who cursed others as being “in danger of the fire of Gehenna [NIV: ‘hell’]” (Matt. 5:22). He said that the fate of the wicked was to have their bodies “thrown into Gehenna [NIV: ‘hell’]” (5:29–30). It is a place of destruction (10:28), and fire is its tormenting and destructive element (18:9). Jesus described every hypocritical Pharisee as “a son of Gehenna [NIV: ‘hell’]” (23:15), for such hypocrisy would lead to their being sent there for punishment (23:33). The fact that this word is repeatedly found on the lips of Jesus (cf. Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5) means that this teaching cannot be dismissed as exaggeration or condemned as inconsistent with loving concern for the sinner facing punishment. Outside the Synoptic Gospels, “Gehenna” appears in the NT only in James 3:6 as part of his teaching on controlling the tongue. See also Hell; Hinnom, Valley of.

Halt

An older word meaning “lame,” used in the KJV at Matt. 18:8; Mark 9:45; Luke 14:21; John 5:3. See Lame, Lameness.

Hell

The place where the lost are assigned by God to eternal punishment of both body and soul (Matt. 10:28). This agony of eternal torment in hell is the greatest of all possible tragedies.

At times, there is confusion about this topic, since the English word “hell” is used in different ways in our English Bibles. Sometimes it is used to translate the Hebrew word she’ol or the Greek word hadēs, which refer generally to the place of the departed dead. Other times it is used more properly to translate the Aramaic-derived Greek word geenna, which refers to the place of the eternal punishment of the wicked following the final judgment. This second usage will be the focus of this present study.

It is primarily in the teachings of Jesus that the reality of a place of eternal punishment comes into clear focus. Jesus describes hell as involving unquenchable fire (Matt. 18:8–9; Mark 9:42–43, 48), a place where the worm does not die (Mark 9:48). Jesus also pictures the extreme anguish of those who suffer the ultimate punishment of being “thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 8:12).

One significant controversy related to this topic is annihilation or conditional immortality (taught by, e.g., Seventh-Day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses), where the lost cease to exist, either immediately following death or after a limited period of punishment. Appeals for this view are found in the language applied to the wicked such as “death” (Rom. 6:23; James 5:20), “destruction” (Matt. 7:13; 10:28), and “perishing” (John 3:16). Yet other Scriptures speak of the place of punishment as being where “the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched” (Isa. 66:24), and where “God’s wrath remains on them [present tense]” (John 3:36), and as being “everlasting,” “eternal,” or “for ever” (Isa. 33:14; Matt. 18:8; 25:46; 2 Thess. 1:9; Rev. 20:10). Historic orthodoxy has generally maintained that the bliss of the redeemed and the punishment of the unsaved will continue for all eternity.

Another controversy involves universalism, the belief that ultimately all will be saved following death, possibly after a period of punishment. Yet this view, as attractive as it might be to human nature, falls short of the teachings of Scripture about “the coming wrath” for the ungodly (Matt. 3:7). The Roman Catholic belief in purgatory and the practice of praying for the dead represent other denials of the standard position that one’s eternal destiny is inevitably fixed at the time of death.

Another question involves how literally or figuratively to take the language of unquenchable fire and worms that do not die (Mark 9:48). Will the fire be the same as the fire that we know on earth? And will there be literal worms? It is best to conclude simply that such punishment will be the worst that we can possibly imagine. Jesus clearly and emphatically warns about the dangers of hell as the greatest of all tragedies, characterized by “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (an expression found seven times in the Gospels).

There is also the question of whether there will be degrees of punishment in hell. In Mark 12:40 Jesus implies that there will be degrees of punishment, telling of hypocrites who will receive greater condemnation, and in Luke 12:47–48 speaking of some who will “be beaten with many blows,” whereas others who have less knowledge of their master’s will will “be beaten with few blows.” The underlying principle both in the degrees of reward in glory and in the degrees of punishment in hell is this: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (Luke 12:48).

Worm

In the Bible, the worm is used as an image closely associated with destruction, death, and the grave. In several passages the worm is a metaphor for humanity’s lowly position before God (Job 25:6; Ps. 22:6; Isa. 41:14). As an agent of destruction, the worm eats vineyards (Deut. 28:39; Jon. 4:7), clothes (Isa. 51:8), and sinners (Job 24:20; Acts 12:23). A picture of death and the grave includes worms covering one’s dead body, along with dust and maggots (Job 21:26; Isa. 14:11). The undying worm covering the dead bodies of those who rebel against God in Isa. 66:24 is used in Mark 9:48 to describe hell.

Secondary Matches

The following suggestions occured because Mark 9:42-50 is mentioned in the definition.

Bartimaeus

Mark 10:46–52 tells of this blind beggar who properly identifies Jesus as the “Son of David” (cf. Matt. 20:29–34; Luke 18:35–43). Because blindness can be a symbol of unbelief (Isa. 43:8), restoring sight was a sign of the coming Messiah (Isa. 29:18; Matt. 11:2–6). The Bartimaeus story is part of a larger unit (Mark 8:22–10:52), framed by Jesus’ healing of another blind person (8:22–26). Seeing and believing, Bartimaeus is cast as an ideal disciple, “following” Jesus (10:52). Mark’s use of the name implies a well-known disciple (cf. Jairus in 5:22).

Cook

In the ancient Near East the type of cooking and heating utilized within a household depended upon the family’s socioeconomic status and lifestyle. A nomadic or seminomadic pastoral lifestyle demanded portability; permanent ovens or heating installations would have been impractical. A stable urban lifestyle made possible the construction of more complex heating and cooking equipment.

Cooking within the Seminomadic Lifestyle

Seminomadic groups, such as Abraham and his family or the Israelites before the settlement of Canaan, probably used an open fire or fire pit. A campfire was kindled on top of the ground or on flat stones. An open fire of this nature could also be ringed with a small stone circle. Shallow holes or fire pits were also dug into the ground near the front of a tent or outside, in the encampment. Since tents did not have chimneys, the smoke from a fire would escape through the door. The seasonal climate dictated whether a fire was kindled inside or outside the tent.

Fires were ignited with twigs or kindling by friction or sparks (Isa. 50:11; 64:2; 2 Macc. 10:3), a skill learned during the early Stone Age. Once lit, the burning embers of the fire could be moved around, kept smoldering, and fanned into a blaze with fresh fuel (Isa. 30:14; cf. Lev. 6:13). Abraham carried some type of an ember or fire with him when he went to sacrifice Isaac (Gen. 22:6). The “smoking firepot with a blazing torch” that symbolized God’s presence before Abraham may refer to a portable device for transporting fire (15:17).

Fuel for fire was gathered from the materials most readily available to seminomadic groups. Potential fuels included thorns and briers (Isa. 10:17), dried grass (Matt. 6:30; Luke 12:28), charcoal (John 18:18 NRSV), twigs or sticks (Isa. 64:2), wood (Gen. 22:6), and dried animal dung (Ezek. 4:15). Fire pits provided some means for keeping a family warm, as well as being used for cooking.

Cooking within the Urban Lifestyle

The sedentary urban lifestyle of the monarchial period provided the opportunity to construct permanent cooking and heating installations. In the four-room Israelite house, cooking normally was done in a fire pit or clay oven in the courtyard of the home. The baking oven ordinarily was located outside, but archaeologists have found cooking utensils and ovens in the central room of the house. This indoor oven also served as a means of heat during the colder wet season. The family most likely utilized the courtyard oven during the hotter dry season.

Egyptian and Mesopotamian reliefs provide illustrations of the structure of ancient ovens. Archaeologists have uncovered scores of examples of different types and sizes all across the ancient Near East. Small domestic ovens (Exod. 8:3) were made of clay in two basic forms. The first had an open top and was cylindrical in shape. It ranged from two to three feet in height and was about two feet in diameter. The second, about the same size, was more egg-shaped, with small openings at the base and in the top.

Some ovens were covered with a plastered layer of potsherds on the outside to improve insulation. They could be embedded in the ground or raised above it. The oven floor was lined with pebbles, and the fire was built upon it. Commercial ovens were larger and were concentrated in specific areas of a city (Neh. 3:11; 12:38).

Ovens and fire pits were used for cooking and heating in the home. Other hearths or heating ovens were employed to warm larger buildings or to perform specific tasks not related to food preparation. A large oval hearth was discovered in the central room of an Iron Age II house at Shechem. Jeremiah 36:22–23 speaks about a “firepot” or hearth used by Jehoiakim to warm his winter apartment. This hearth may have been a raised copper or bronze basin on a three-legged stand. A “fire basin” (NIV: “firepot”) is also mentioned in Zech. 12:6.

Cooking Utensils

Many types of pottery utensils, which were undoubtedly associated with cooking and eating, have been discovered in archaeological excavations in the ancient Near East. Although rare, metal and stone implements have also been found. One area in the tent or the home would be employed as a “kitchen.” A kitchen in the palace of Ramesses III is depicted on an Egyptian wall, and Ezekiel mentions the kitchens located in the new temple (46:24). Cooking and serving vessels included platters, bowls, chalices, jugs, juglets, and cooking pots. Storage vessels and grain pits also were needed to contain spices, oils, grains, and other foodstuffs.

Larger bowls designed specifically for cooking were in common use during the Bronze and Iron Ages. These “cooking pots” often were placed directly into the fire or on hot coals and were used to boil meat or make soups and other similar types of food. Iron Age II cooking pots from Palestine generally bore the trademark of the potter. Cooking pots had a short life and were replaced often. Because the style of these types of pots changed systematically over time, they have become very important in helping archaeologists date the particular level or stratum of a tell in which they were found.

The Cooking of Food

The type of food eaten by families also depended on their socioeconomic status and lifestyle. Food staples included milk products, wine, bread, and occasionally meat. Richer families could afford vegetables, fruits, dates, figs, and other less common foods. All types of households ate bread.

Grains. The most common grains used in bread making were wheat, barley, and spelt (Isa. 28:25). Wheat grew wild in Palestine, and there is evidence that seminomadic people stayed in one place long enough to cultivate small plots of grain. Grain could also be acquired in trade for other agricultural products such as goat’s milk or wool. Grain was winnowed to separate the chaff from the kernels (Matt. 3:12; Luke 3:17). Roasted grain was grain that had been “popped” in the fire instead of being milled (1 Sam. 25:18).

After being winnowed, wheat and other grains were ground initially in a hand mill. Hand mills, or querns, were of two types. The first was a simple device of two stones. The base, or “saddle,” was a flat, elongated stone that became curved through the backward and forward motion of the upper stone. The upper, or “rider,” stone was flat on one side and curved on the top to allow the user to grip the stone with both hands. The grain was placed on the saddle, and the rider stone was run repeatedly over it to grind it. This was considered menial work (Lam. 5:13). This type of grinding may have been assigned to the blinded Samson (Judg. 16:21).

The second, later type of hand mill consisted of two stone disks approximately twelve inches in diameter. The lower stone, or base, had an upright wooden stake at the center. A hole in the upper stone allowed it to fit over the base, and a handle on the upper stone was used to rotate it against the lower stone (Matt. 24:41). Grain was fed through the central hole, and the milled flour exited along the sides. The millstone mentioned in Matt. 18:6; Mark 9:42; Luke 17:2 is a larger example of this type.

Milling grain was a necessary task of the household (Jer. 25:10). Course grain was further milled into fine flour with a mortar and pestle. Course grain could be used to make boiled porridge or gruel. Finely ground flour was used in sacrificial offerings (Exod. 29:40; Lev. 2:4).

The flour was mixed with water and kneaded (Gen. 18:6; 1 Sam. 28:24; 2 Sam. 13:8; Jer. 7:18), small amounts of leaven and salt were added, and then the bread was baked. Three methods of baking bread are mentioned in the OT: over hot coals (1 Kings 19:6; Isa. 44:19), on a griddle (Lev. 7:9; cf. Ezek. 4:3), and in an oven (Lev. 26:26). Leaven was withheld from the dough if the bread was to be made and eaten in haste (Exod. 12:39; Judg. 6:19; 1 Sam. 28:24). Griddle “cakes” were also made in this fashion (Hos. 7:8; cf. Ezek. 4:12).

Bread often was baked in different shapes. Thin bread was used to scoop food from a common pot (Matt. 26:23). Other breads were formed into loaves (John 6:9). In one man’s dream a round loaf of barley bread is described as rolling down a hill and striking and overturning a tent (Judg. 7:13). Both men and women baked bread (Gen. 19:3; 1 Sam. 28:24), and priests baked bread for ritual usage (Lev. 24:5). A king could afford to have men and women as professional bakers (Gen. 40:1; 1 Sam. 8:13). Professional bakers may also have served the larger urban population (Neh. 3:11; Jer. 37:21; Hos. 7:4) in Jerusalem.

Fruits and vegetables. After settling in Canaan, the Israelites made some additions to their diet. Foodstuffs grown in cultivated gardens were now available. These included foods such as cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic (Num. 11:5). Some of these vegetables were added to stews; others were eaten uncooked. Vegetable, bean, and lentil soups were prepared in large cooking pots placed directly on the fire. Esau particularly enjoyed lentil soup (Gen. 25:30). Herbs and spices (mint, dill, and cumin) were now accessible as well (Isa. 28:25, 27; Matt. 23:23). Salt came from the Dead Sea.

Fruits too were grown and harvested. Of particular interest was the olive. Olives were crushed in a press to render oil. Olive oil was used in cooking and baking. It was mixed with fine flour to make bread (1 Kings 17:12; Ezek. 16:13; cf. Num. 11:8).

Meat. When a guest arrived or when a special occasion called for it, meat was added to the stew. Meat often was boiled (2 Kings 4:38; Ezek. 24:3–5). Spices were also added (Ezek. 24:10). Since the meat was cut up to boil, this method had the advantage of avoiding the problem of ensuring that the blood was properly drained out of an animal before it could be roasted (Lev. 17:10–11). Milk could be used in the stew; however, cooking a kid in its mother’s milk was prohibited (Exod. 23:19; 34:26; Deut. 14:21).

Meat was roasted over an open fire on a spit. Meat was available from flocks and through hunting. Abraham served his guests veal (Gen. 18:7); Gideon and his guests ate goat meat (Judg. 6:19); Samuel appears to have served Saul a mutton leg (1 Sam. 9:24). Contrary to ritual regulations, Hophni and Phinehas demanded meat for roasting (1 Sam. 2:13–15). Meat certainly was roasted as a sacrifice on the altar of the tabernacle and the temple. It also normally was roasted on feast days such as Passover (Exod. 12:8–9).

Fish were counted among the foods given to Noah and his sons after the flood (Gen. 9:2–3). The Israelites ate fish in Egypt (Num. 11:15), and fishermen plied their trade along the Nile (Isa. 19:8). Fishermen could hook, spear, or net fish (Job 41:1, 7; Eccles. 9:12; Ezek. 29:4; 47:10). In Israel, fish were taken from the Sea of Galilee or the Mediterranean. Jerusalem had a “Fish Gate,” where fish were sold (2 Chron. 33:14; Neh. 3:3; 12:39; Zeph. 1:10). The Phoenicians most likely exported several varieties of edible fish to Israel. Fish with fins and scales were clean, but those without fins or scales were not (Lev. 11:9–12). In Nehemiah’s day Phoenicians were selling fish to the inhabitants of Jerusalem even on the Sabbath (Neh. 13:16).

In NT times, the Phoenicians continued to import much of the fish brought into Palestine. The ministry of Jesus revolved around the smaller fishing industry on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus called several fishermen to follow him as disciples (Matt. 4:18). On a number of occasions Jesus helped his disciples to ply their trade by directing them where to cast their nets (John 21:6, 11). Fish were caught in dragnets (John 21:8) and hand nets (Matt. 4:18). After his resurrection Jesus ate fish with his disciples in Jerusalem and on the Sea of Galilee (Luke 24:42; John 21:9).

Fish became a staple of the common people (Matt. 14:17; 15:34). The fish used to feed the multitudes probably were salted. Fish normally were grilled over an open fire (John 21:9).

Cooked

Cooking within the Seminomadic Lifestyle

Cooking within the Urban Lifestyle

Cooking Utensils

The Cooking of Food

Fish became a staple of the common people (Matt. 14:17; 15:34). The fish used to feed the multitudes probably were salted. Fish normally were grilled over an open fire (John 21:9).

Cooking

Cooking within the Seminomadic Lifestyle

Cooking within the Urban Lifestyle

Cooking Utensils

The Cooking of Food

Fish became a staple of the common people (Matt. 14:17; 15:34). The fish used to feed the multitudes probably were salted. Fish normally were grilled over an open fire (John 21:9).

Cooking and Heating

Cooking within the Seminomadic Lifestyle

Cooking within the Urban Lifestyle

Cooking Utensils

The Cooking of Food

Fish became a staple of the common people (Matt. 14:17; 15:34). The fish used to feed the multitudes probably were salted. Fish normally were grilled over an open fire (John 21:9).

Eating

Cooking within the Seminomadic Lifestyle

Cooking within the Urban Lifestyle

Cooking Utensils

The Cooking of Food

Fish became a staple of the common people (Matt. 14:17; 15:34). The fish used to feed the multitudes probably were salted. Fish normally were grilled over an open fire (John 21:9).

End Times

Eschatology is the study of last things. The word “eschatology” comes from the Greek word eschatos, meaning “last.” From this same Greek word is derived the term “eschaton,” which is sometimes used to refer to the end times.

Eschatology deals with such future events as the end of the world, Jesus’ return, the resurrection, the final judgment, and the afterlife in heaven or hell. The tribulation and the millennium also belong to eschatology, but their timing and nature vary with different views. Although from one perspective human history entered its final phase in NT times so that people today are already living in the “last days,” eschatology normally focuses on the unfulfilled prophecies that remain still in the future for present-day believers.

Eschatology deals with questions regarding the future. Every religion and philosophy of life has offered answers to these questions. Plato taught about the immortality of the soul. Buddhism has its nirvana, Islam its sensual paradise, and Native Americans their happy hunting grounds. The belief that the soul survives death is widely held. Even atheists and materialists have their own views of eschatology. Yet only in Christianity does eschatology become the crown and capstone of everything else that God has been doing throughout history, when he will be perfectly glorified, Christ completely victorious, the power of sin entirely overcome, and the people of God given a complete salvation.

Yet it is difficult to find a topic on which Christians are more divided. Frequently, people studying eschatology fall into one of two opposite traps: unwarranted dogmatism or simple avoidance. Yet eschatology should be a source of comfort and hope to believers as well as an ongoing reminder of the lateness and urgency of the hour. Consequently, eschatology deserves most careful attention and should create a sense of excitement and anticipation.

Reasons for Controversy

Eschatology is by no means a simple discipline. The sheer magnitude of this topic is a significant challenge involving hundreds of different unfulfilled prophecies from virtually every book of the Bible. Difficulties in interpreting these prophecies with their figures of speech, apocalyptic language, and complicated symbolism create still greater complications. Then there is the challenge of organizing these individual prophecies together into a coherent timeline when each will be fulfilled. Discerning the period of fulfillment for some prophecies is relatively clear and easy, but for others it is much less certain.

Even the question of how many periods of future time remain in God’s timetable has often been the source of considerable debate. For example, will there be a future period of tribulation, or were these prophecies already fulfilled in AD 70, or perhaps more generally throughout church history, with its countless martyrs? Similar questions have been raised about the millennium: is this to be understood in a still future sense, as premillennialists assert, or is it already in the process of being fulfilled, as amillennialists and postmillennialists claim? The fact that there is no common agreement even on these fundamental questions virtually guarantees that believers will remain divided on this issue.

Then too there is the final step of trying to assign specific unfulfilled prophecies into this grid of prophetic time slots. For example, is the prophecy “The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox” (Isa. 65:25) a symbolic picture of God’s blessings in this present church age, in a future millennium, or in eternity itself? The vast majority of these unfulfilled prophecies contain few clues regarding the precise time of their fulfillment, and interpreters often are left with little to guide them. We should not be surprised that eschatology leaves believers more divided than do other areas of theology.

Jesus’ Return and the Tribulation

The fact of Jesus’ return is clear. When Jesus was taken up from his apostles at the end of his earthly ministry, two angels promised them, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Today believers look forward to Jesus’ second coming, as “the blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). The common understanding has always been that this return will be personal, visible, and bodily—just as real as his first coming two thousand years ago.

Christians, however, have been divided over the timing of Jesus’ return and the tribulation. Here there are five interrelated questions.

1. The first question is whether Jesus’ return is a single event or will occur in two stages. Dispensationalists distinguish two phases to Jesus’ return: a secret rapture that removes the church from a period of intense tribulation involving Israel here on earth, and then a later public second coming in judgment at the end of the tribulation, when he will establish his kingdom. A number of recent “left behind” books and movies have popularized this approach. Yet this two-stage model is difficult to document in Scripture, and many understand Scripture to describe Jesus’ return as a single unified event.

2. How one answers this first question has implications for the second question of the timing of Jesus’ return relative to the tribulation. Here there are three popular options regarding the timing of Jesus’ return: pretribulational (before the tribulation), midtribulational (in the midst of the tribulation), and posttribulational (after the tribulation). Yet if Jesus’ return is pretribulational or midtribulational, logic would require that there be two phases to Jesus’ return: a secret rapture either before the tribulation (for pretribulationalism) or in the middle of it (for midtribulationalism), and then a separate public return at the conclusion of the tribulation to establish his kingdom. Thus, a two-stage return of Jesus goes hand in hand with pretribulationalism and midtribulationalism, and a single return with posttribulationalism.

3. A third question focuses on the nature of the tribulation period. There are three main views. Pretribulationalists assume that the tribulation will be a period (usually seven years) of great suffering such as this world has never seen. Midtribulationalists believe that Jesus will return after three and a half years of less intense tribulation, followed by a considerably more intense second period of three and a half years of wrath, from which believers will be spared. Posttribulationalists see this tribulation as the suffering and persecution of Christians at various times and places around the world, with possibly some intensification in the final days. Consequently, how one understands the intensity of the tribulation is another factor affecting the choice of one tribulational view or another.

4. A fourth interrelated question involves whether one believes that Jesus may return suddenly and unexpectedly at any moment (Matt. 24:42) or whether there are still unfulfilled prophecies that must take place first (initially including at least Peter’s death [John 21:19] and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem). Pretribulationalists pride themselves on how their view of a secret rapture allows for Jesus to return imminently without any intervening signs or other warnings. Midtribulationalists believe that the church will need to experience three and a half years of moderate tribulation, so there is less emphasis on an imminent return (although one could argue that the first period of tribulation is potentially more ambiguous in nature). Posttribulationalists are divided into two groups. Many have held that the tribulation will be a period of significant tribulation, so typically they have downplayed the idea of imminence. However, other posttribulationalists (sometimes called “pasttribulationalists” or “imminent posttribulationalists”) assume that the tribulation described in Scripture may already be fulfilled either at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 or more generally throughout church history, and therefore Jesus may return at any time.

5. The fifth question focuses on how literally or figuratively one should interpret the two key passages of Scripture related to the nature of the tribulation: the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24 pars.) and Rev. 6–19. Much of the Olivet Discourse focuses on the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, and many have understood at least parts of Revelation as being fulfilled historically either in John’s own day or during church history. The more one assumes that at least portions of these prophecies were already fulfilled, the less one awaits a future fulfillment. A more literal approach to these prophecies will predispose one toward pretribulationalism or possibly midtribulationalism, and a more figurative approach toward posttribulationalism.

Hyperpreterism, or consistent preterism, has emerged in the last few decades with a still different approach to the timing of Jesus’ return. The driving force behind this movement is Jesus’ apparent promise to return within a generation of his death (Matt. 24:34). Consequently, hyperpreterism has assumed that all the future prophecies in the NT must have been fulfilled by the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, including Jesus’ return, the bodily resurrection, the final judgment, and the new heaven and new earth. The bottom line is that in order to take literally Jesus’ promise to return within a generation, everything else in eschatology needs to be reinterpreted as having been fulfilled in one way or another within that same generation. A more moderate preterism sees many, but not all, of these eschatological events fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. Jesus returned as the Son of Man in judgment against Israel in these first-century events, but the final judgment of all people and the new heaven and new earth await his second coming.

The Resurrection and the Final Judgment

The bodily resurrection takes place at the time of Jesus’ return. Although many other religions and philosophies have assumed the immortality of the soul, whereby the nonmaterial part of human nature survives death, Christianity is distinctive in its strong commitment to the idea of a bodily resurrection. Death marks the separation of the body from the soul and the time when believers are immediately ushered into God’s presence (Eccles. 12:7). Thus, Jesus was able to promise the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). However, people do not immediately receive new resurrection bodies at the time of death, but must wait until the time of Jesus’ return, when “the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thess. 4:16). This bodily resurrection is the precursor to the final judgment of the saved and the lost, when “all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:28–29). At that time, Christ “will judge the living and the dead” (2 Tim. 4:1).

This theme of judgment is foundational to Christianity, although Christians remain divided about the exact number and character of these judgments. Yet the time will come when all people will be judged, both “the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42), when “we will all stand before God’s judgment seat” (Rom. 14:10), and “each of us will give an account of ourselves to God” (14:12). God himself will be the judge, and Christ will be given a special place in presiding over the final judgment and separate those who truly belong to him from those who do not. Even though this judgment will be “according to what they have done” (Matt. 16:27; Rom. 2:6; Rev. 22:12), these deeds are simply an outward demonstration of whether a living faith is present, so there is no contradiction between justification by faith and the necessary place for a changed life in the believer. Yet, as Jesus warns, some will be surprised: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). God’s judgment will be both just and inescapable.

Christians remain divided about the number of resurrections. Premillennialists who are also pretribulationalists or midtribulationalists would conclude that there is a minimum of a resurrection of believers at the time of the rapture, when Jesus returns for his church; another resurrection when Jesus returns at the end of the tribulation for believers who came to faith and died during the tribulation; as well as another resurrection at the end of the millennium for “the rest of the dead” (Rev. 20:5). Premillennialists who are also posttribulationalists would conclude that there are as few as two resurrections: one at Jesus’ return and another at the end of the millennium. An amillennialist or a postmillennialist would assume that there may be only a single bodily resurrection when Jesus returns and establishes his kingdom.

There is one other aspect that completes this theme: God’s judgment also includes the destruction of the devil in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10). Someday sin and evil will be forever removed from God’s creation.

The Millennium

The millennium is a thousand-year reign of Christ described most clearly in Rev. 20. Again, there are sharp differences of opinion regarding this topic.

Premillennialists believe that Jesus’ return will be “pre” (before) the millennium, and that this millennial kingdom will be a golden age of unprecedented glory and splendor. Dispensational premillennialists, with their emphasis on the distinction between Israel and the church, have focused on the fulfillment of all the remaining OT prophecies made to Israel. Historic premillennialists, on the other hand, lack this sharp distinction between Israel and the church and see themselves as being in continuity with the view of a future reign of Christ on earth found throughout church history. In recent years, premillennialism has become the leading view in American Christianity.

Postmillennialists believe that God will build his church for “a thousand years” and then Jesus will return “post” (after) this millennium. The millennium here is comparable to a silver age involving significant and unprecedented advances of the gospel throughout the world. Postmillennialists remain divided about how literal this thousand-year period might be and whether this period has already begun or not. Postmillennialism has had a significant following throughout most of church history but more recently has become a minority view.

Amillennialists believe in a different kind of millennium. Here there are two different varieties. Some believe that those reigning with Christ in Rev. 20 are simply believers living here in this present life experiencing the intimacy of Christ’s presence in their daily lives. Others see this period as involving departed believers, who are currently reigning with Christ in the intermediate state between death and his return. The millennium here is neither the golden age of the premillennialist nor the silver age of the postmillennialist; it is simply life today.

Again there are predisposing factors. Those who place more weight on potentially unfulfilled OT prophecies will tend to be premillennial, whereas those who place more weight on the words of Jesus and Paul will tend to be amillennial or possibly postmillennial. Those who see more of a distinction between Israel and the church will tend to be dispensational premillennialists, whereas those who emphasize the unity among God’s people throughout redemptive history will choose one of the other alternatives. Those who tend toward a more literal approach to interpreting Scripture will tend to be premillennialists, whereas those who give more weight to symbolic and figurative language will choose one of the other options. Those who tend to be more pessimistic about the future and believe that things are getting worse will tend to be premillennialists, whereas those who are more optimistic about what God is doing in this world and who emphasize the transforming power of the gospel will tend to be postmillennialists. One’s eschatological convictions are the logical outgrowth of many other earlier commitments and persuasions.

Each of these millennial views also has implications for a number of other topics: the nature and intensity of Satan’s binding in Rev. 20, the number of different resurrections, and the number of different judgments. The ultimate question, again, is which approach does the best job of putting together all the prophecies of Scripture and consequently is most faithful to God’s word.

Heaven and Hell

God’s judgment inevitably leads either to final and permanent torment in hell or to untold blessings in the new heaven and new earth (Matt. 25:46).

The ultimate hope of believers involves the bodily resurrection and a new earth to go along with these glorified bodies. The glad time will come when God “will wipe every tear from their eyes” and “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Rev. 21:4). There will be the joys of physical bodies healed and restored, seeing friends and loved ones, but the greatest joy of all will be seeing the Lord himself in all his glory and majesty.

Hell will be the very opposite, experienced by those who deliberately rejected and avoided God during their earthly lives. They will find themselves rejected by God and cut off from his presence (and all the blessings that go along with his presence). Although there are various debates about how literal or figurative some of the biblical descriptions of hell are in terms of unquenchable fire and worms that do not die (Mark 9:48), it seems safe to say that hell will be the greatest of all possible tragedies and far worse than any of these descriptions suggest.

Annihilationism or conditional immortality, with its assumption that the souls of the lost will cease to exist at some point after death, represents an attempt to soften the explicit teachings of Scripture. Universalism—the belief that ultimately everyone will be saved—is another human strategy to avoid the clear teaching of Scripture. Ultimately, there is a heaven, and there is a hell, and human choices do make a difference for time and eternity.

The Benefits of Eschatology

Eschatology should give balance and perspective to life so that the affairs and accomplishments of this present life do not take on an inappropriate importance. Whenever people are caught up with materialism and a this-worldly perspective on life or become complacent about their lack of spiritual growth or the spiritual condition of others, the underlying cause is often a lack of attention to eschatology. Although many difficult and controversial questions surround the nature and timing of the return of Jesus Christ, Scripture is clear about the fact of his return and the final judgment. A new life with Christ that will last for all eternity is described in Scripture as the greatest of all possible blessings. At the same time, a life apart from God both in this life and in the life to come is described as the greatest possible tragedy in life. Perhaps even the spiritual deception and confusion around us, whereby many “will abandon the faith” (1 Tim. 4:1) and “not put up with sound doctrine” (2 Tim. 4:3), are a sign of the lateness of the hour. A proper appreciation of eschatology can be a means that God uses to change people’s lives.

Eschatology

Reasons for Controversy

Jesus’ Return and the Tribulation

Christians, however, have been divided over the timing of Jesus’ return and the tribulation. Here there are five interrelated questions.

The Resurrection and the Final Judgment

The Millennium

The millennium is a thousand-year reign of Christ described most clearly in Rev. 20. Again, there are sharp differences of opinion regarding this topic.

Heaven and Hell

God’s judgment inevitably leads either to final and permanent torment in hell or to untold blessings in the new heaven and new earth (Matt. 25:46).

The Benefits of Eschatology

Eschaton

Reasons for Controversy

Jesus’ Return and the Tribulation

Christians, however, have been divided over the timing of Jesus’ return and the tribulation. Here there are five interrelated questions.

The Resurrection and the Final Judgment

The Millennium

The millennium is a thousand-year reign of Christ described most clearly in Rev. 20. Again, there are sharp differences of opinion regarding this topic.

Heaven and Hell

God’s judgment inevitably leads either to final and permanent torment in hell or to untold blessings in the new heaven and new earth (Matt. 25:46).

The Benefits of Eschatology

Everlasting Punishment

Jesus refers to hell more often than any other NT figure. Hell is where people go if their righteousness does not surpass the false piety of the Pharisees and teachers of the law (Matt. 5:22, 29–30; 7:19; cf. Mark 9:43–47). People go to hell when they persist in choosing sin, self, and safety over the call to discipleship, whatever the latter’s immediate consequences (Matt. 10:28; 18:9; Luke 12:5; 16:23). Peter says that false prophets will go to hell (2 Pet. 2). Hell is also the place prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41; cf. Rev. 12:9; 19:20; 20:10). Jesus uses the images of fire and outer darkness to capture the agonies of hell. John sees hell as a “lake of burning sulfur” (Rev. 20:10) and a “lake of fire” (Rev. 20:14–15). The biblical writers always assume, and sometimes openly proclaim, that God will pour out his wrath upon all sin—that is, upon either a vicarious substitute (Jesus Christ) or unbelieving sinners themselves; and hell is where God does this fully and finally.

Some theologians worry that this doctrine might undercut God’s perfection, believing that he cannot be maximally loving if he also sends people to hell. But since the Bible says, in stark and unambiguous terms, that he will do so, several interpretation strategies have been suggested, each of which intends to soften this doctrine. God will punish people in hell, it is conceded, but their punishment either annihilates them, or lasts for a limited time, or is strictly and eternally voluntary. None of these alternatives, however, agrees with the biblical witness. The first option collides with the fact that sinners weep and gnash their teeth in hell (Matt. 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28), longing for some relief from its miseries (Luke 16:22–24). At the very least, we can say that hell does not annihilate anyone straightaway: unrepentant sinners suffer in hell for at least some duration, leaving aside the question of how long they do so. But even the second option, that of a limited time in hell, carries a heavy burden of proof, since the Bible draws a parallel between the durations of joy and punishment in the afterlife (Matt. 25:41; Mark 9:47–48). In Rev. 20:10 the devil and his angels are “tormented day and night for ever and ever,” and the place of their punishment is also where sinners go (cf. Rev. 14:9–11).

The third option, that people stay in hell forever because they will never repent, fares somewhat better compared to the first two. The book of Revelation makes it clear that some sinners never repent. Neither great suffering (Rev. 9:20–21; 16:9, 11) nor seasons of providentially secured bliss (Rev. 20:7–10) turn them away from sin, so great is the depth of human depravity. Nevertheless, this interpretation tells only half the story. On one level, perhaps the bars of hell are locked from the inside; but the Scriptures also represent hell as a prison into which sinners are cast or locked, and it is a place where God actively pours out his righteous wrath against sin. Nothing happens in the universe apart from God’s sovereign will (versus his moral will, which often is violated), and he takes personal responsibility for the punishment of the wicked (Rev. 6:10; 19:1–3; cf. Rom. 12:19). He is indeed the God of “second chances,” but the latter will run out someday, and then “all the peoples of the earth will mourn” when they “see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:30). By then, it is too late to repent.

The doctrine of everlasting punishment reminds us that God’s moral perfection is not maximal niceness, as if any form of happiness preferred by sinners would satisfy him too. On the contrary, he is extreme in both his justice and his love; and neither of these attributes is reducible to the other. In fact, we can celebrate God’s love and mercy properly only when we have seen the awful punishment that his justice requires of our sin. This doctrine also constitutes a strong motive to preach the good news to lost sinners, who, outside of Christ, will suffer eternally. See also Gehenna; Hell.

Heating

Cooking within the Seminomadic Lifestyle

Cooking within the Urban Lifestyle

Cooking Utensils

The Cooking of Food

Fish became a staple of the common people (Matt. 14:17; 15:34). The fish used to feed the multitudes probably were salted. Fish normally were grilled over an open fire (John 21:9).

Lake of Fire

Reasons for Controversy

Jesus’ Return and the Tribulation

Christians, however, have been divided over the timing of Jesus’ return and the tribulation. Here there are five interrelated questions.

The Resurrection and the Final Judgment

The Millennium

The millennium is a thousand-year reign of Christ described most clearly in Rev. 20. Again, there are sharp differences of opinion regarding this topic.

Heaven and Hell

God’s judgment inevitably leads either to final and permanent torment in hell or to untold blessings in the new heaven and new earth (Matt. 25:46).

The Benefits of Eschatology

Last Day

Reasons for Controversy

Jesus’ Return and the Tribulation

Christians, however, have been divided over the timing of Jesus’ return and the tribulation. Here there are five interrelated questions.

The Resurrection and the Final Judgment

The Millennium

The millennium is a thousand-year reign of Christ described most clearly in Rev. 20. Again, there are sharp differences of opinion regarding this topic.

Heaven and Hell

God’s judgment inevitably leads either to final and permanent torment in hell or to untold blessings in the new heaven and new earth (Matt. 25:46).

The Benefits of Eschatology

Last Time

Reasons for Controversy

Jesus’ Return and the Tribulation

Christians, however, have been divided over the timing of Jesus’ return and the tribulation. Here there are five interrelated questions.

The Resurrection and the Final Judgment

The Millennium

The millennium is a thousand-year reign of Christ described most clearly in Rev. 20. Again, there are sharp differences of opinion regarding this topic.

Heaven and Hell

God’s judgment inevitably leads either to final and permanent torment in hell or to untold blessings in the new heaven and new earth (Matt. 25:46).

The Benefits of Eschatology

Latter Days

Reasons for Controversy

Jesus’ Return and the Tribulation

Christians, however, have been divided over the timing of Jesus’ return and the tribulation. Here there are five interrelated questions.

The Resurrection and the Final Judgment

The Millennium

The millennium is a thousand-year reign of Christ described most clearly in Rev. 20. Again, there are sharp differences of opinion regarding this topic.

Heaven and Hell

God’s judgment inevitably leads either to final and permanent torment in hell or to untold blessings in the new heaven and new earth (Matt. 25:46).

The Benefits of Eschatology

Return of Christ

Reasons for Controversy

Jesus’ Return and the Tribulation

Christians, however, have been divided over the timing of Jesus’ return and the tribulation. Here there are five interrelated questions.

The Resurrection and the Final Judgment

The Millennium

The millennium is a thousand-year reign of Christ described most clearly in Rev. 20. Again, there are sharp differences of opinion regarding this topic.

Heaven and Hell

God’s judgment inevitably leads either to final and permanent torment in hell or to untold blessings in the new heaven and new earth (Matt. 25:46).

The Benefits of Eschatology

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1. They Are Not Suggestions!

Illustration

Donald B. Strobe

I always liked Ted Koppell, the first moderator of the news show "Nightline." In a speech at Duke University when his daughter was graduating, he said this: "We have actually convinced ourselves that slogans will save us. Shoot up if you must, but use a clean needle. Enjoy sex whenever and with whomever you wish, but wear a condom. No! The answer is no. Not because it isn't cool or smart or because you might end up in jail or dying in an AIDS ward, but because it's wrong, because we have spent 5,000 years as a race of rational human beings, trying to drag ourselves out of the primeval slime by searching for truth and moral absolutes. In its purest form, truth is not a polite tap on the shoulder. It is a howling reproach. What Moses brought down from Mount Sinai were not the Ten Suggestions." Right on! Jesus, in our Scripture of the morning, is not giving us a tiny tap on the shoulder. He is giving us a howling reproach.

2. Be at Peace with One Another - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

One person armed with the Gospel of peace can change the world. Telemachus did. He was a monk who lived in the 5th century. He felt God saying to him, "Go to Rome." He was in a cloistered monastery but he put his possessions in a sack and set out for Rome. When he arrived in the city, people were thronging in the streets. He asked why all the excitement and was told that this was the day that the gladiators would be fighting in the coliseum, the day of the games, the circus. He thought to himself, "Four centuries after Christ and they are still killing each other, for enjoyment?" He ran to the coliseum and heard the gladiators saying, "Hail to Caesar, we die for Caesar" and he thought, "this isn't right." He jumped over the railing and went out into the middle of the field, got between two gladiators, and tried to stop them. The crowd became enraged and stoned the peacemaker to death.

When the Emperor of Rome, Honorius, heard about the monk he declared him a Christian martyr and put an end to the games. Legend has it that the very last Gladiatorial game was the one in which Telemachus died.

Jesus said, "Have salt in yourselves - be at peace with each other." Sometimes it seems we have gladiatorial games going on inside the church, inside our homes, at work? The games have been going on for as long as we can remember! Who will be a Telemachus? Who will be the monk who jumps into the arena, sacrifices himself, and brings peace? Peace can be made but it sometimes comes at a heavy price.

My question this morning is why are we so often at odds with one another? Why don't we have peace in our lives?

1. We fight to protect our turf.
2. We destroy the weak among us.
3. We will not let go of that which destroys us.

3. A Problem Being At Peace

Illustration

Brett Blair

The Society of International Law, in London, states that during the last 4,000 years there have been only 268 years of peace. This in spite of thousands of good peace treaties over the centuries. In the last 300 years alone there have been 286 wars on the continent of Europe alone.

OR THIS VERSION OF THE SAME FACTS:

The Personnel Journal reported this incredible statistic: since the beginning of recorded history, the entire world has been at peace less than eight percent of the time! In its study, the periodical discovered that of 3530 years of recorded history, only 286 years saw peace. Moreover, in excess of 8000 peace treaties were made and broken.

4. I Love You More than Salt

Illustration

King Duncan

An ancient king once asked his three daughters how much they loved him. One daughter said she loved him more than all the gold in the world. One said she loved him more than all the silver in the world. The youngest daughter said she loved him more than salt. The king was not pleased with this answer. But the cook overheard the conversation, so the next day he prepared a good meal for the king, but left out the salt. The food was so insipid that the king couldn't eat it. Then he understood what his daughter meant. He understood the value of salt.

In the ancient world salt was a valuable and scarce commodity. It was used as currency in some countries even into modern times. During an invasion of Ethiopia, in the late 19th century, Italian soldiers found blocks of salt stored in bank vaults along with other familiar forms of currency. Jesus was paying his disciples a compliment when he called them salt.

5. Feeding Sin

Illustration

King Duncan

In 1939, a coast guard vessel was cruising the Canadian Arctic when the men spotted a polar bear stranded on an ice floe. It was quite a novelty for the seamen, who threw the bear salami, peanut butter, and chocolate bars. Then they ran out of the food. Unfortunately, the polar bear hadn't run out of appetite, so he proceeded to board their vessel. The men on ship were terrified and opened the fire hoses on the bear. The polar bear loved it and raised his paws in the air to get the water under his armpits. We don't know how they did it, but eventually they forced the polar bear to return to his ice pad but not before teaching these seamen a horrifying lesson about feeding polar bears. No coast guard team has made that mistake since.

Some people make the same mistake with sin that these sailors nearly made with the polar bear. They begin feeding it a little at a time without thinking through the consequences. "It says something about our times," writes Willard D. Ferrell, "that we rarely use the word SINFUL except to describe a really good dessert."

6. A Compliment to Freedom

Illustration

Lieghton Ford

Many things we don't know about hell. But Jesus and the New Testament writers used every image in their power to tell us that hell is real, it's terrible, it's something to be feared, and something to avoid. In his description of the last judgment, Jesus taught that some would go to eternal punishment, some to eternal life (Matt. 25:46). In other words, hell will be as real and as lasting as heaven.

The horror of hell is not physical pain. After all, the Bible tells us hell was "prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:41), and they're not physical beings. Rather the fire and outer darkness and the thirst depict spiritual separation from God, moral remorse, the consciousness that one deserves what he's getting.

Hell is disintegration the eternal loss of being a real person. In hell the mathematician who lived for his science can't add two and two. The concert pianist who worshiped himself through his art can't play a simple scale. The man who lived for sex goes on in eternal lust, with no body to exploit. The woman who made a god out of fashion has a thousand dresses but no mirror! Hell is eternal desire eternally unfulfilled.

But there's another side. G.K. Chesterton once remarked, "Hell is God's great compliment to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human personality." Hell, a compliment? Yes, because God is saying to us, "You are significant. I take you seriously. Choose to reject me choose hell if you will. I will let you go."

7. Hell: Ocean of Oatmeal

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

Wes Seeliger has given us a fresh definition of hell.

“Most people picture hell as a lake of fire, with the souls of the damned floating around, screaming in agony. But here is another picture...close your eyes. Visualize in your mind a large bowl of oatmeal. Cold oatmeal. With lots of lumps. Now picture the atlantic as an ocean of oatmeal. Put yourself in the middle of the oatmeal ocean a mile below the surface. Get the picture? That's hell.

"Hell is cold oatmeal. It is life without passion or desire. Hell is numbness, not pain. Hell is believing there is nothing worth getting excited about. Hell is a swamp of blandness."

Does that speak to you? It does to me. Hell: the deadness of a huge ocean of oatmeal in which we are caught. It may look like this: sad...wanting joy; despairing...looking for hope; anxious...needing courage; bereaved...hoping for sympathy; lonely...longing for friendship; bored...searching for meaning; hostile...needing love; guilty...desperate for forgiveness; dead...grasping for life.

Is there hope to escape such hells? Take courage -- there is!

Jesus provided the good news -- "I am come that you may have life and have it abundantly."

8. Mastering the Virtue of Humility

Illustration

Our Daily Bread

"What do you think of the candidates?" That's what a reporter for a news magazine asked a young woman at Dartmouth University after a debate among presidential hopefuls. She didn't say a word about their positions on the issues or their skill at debate. She simply remarked, "None of them seems to have any humility."

Benjamin Franklin, the early American statesman, made a list of character qualities that he wanted to develop in his own life. When he mastered one virtue, he went on to the next. He did pretty well, he said, until he got to humility. Every time he thought he was making significant progress, he would be so pleased with himself that he became proud.

Humility is an elusive virtue. Even Jesus' disciples struggled with it. When Jesus learned that they had been arguing about who was the greatest, He responded, "If anyone desires to be first, he should be last of all and servant of all" (Mk. 9:35). Then He took a little child in His arms and indicated that we need to humbly serve others as if we were serving Christ.

If a news reporter were to talk to our friends, neighbors, or fellow church members and ask them to describe us, would they use the word humble?

9. Death: The Hell Club

Illustration

Paul Lee Tan

In the 18th century, Archibald Boyle was the leading member of an association of wild and wicked men known as "The Hell Club" in Glasgow, Scotland. After one night of carousing at the Club's notorious annual meeting, Boyle dreamed he was riding home on his black horse. In the darkness, someone seized the reins, shouting, "You must go with me!" As Boyle desperately tried to force the reins from the hands of the unknown guide, the horse reared. Boyle fell down, down, down with increasing speed. "Where are you taking me?" The cold voice replied, "To hell!" The echoes of the groans and yells of frantic revelry assaulted their ears. At the entrance to hell, Boyle saw the inmates chasing the same pleasures they had pursued in life. There was a lady he'd known playing her favorite vulgar game. Boyle relaxed, thinking hell must be a pleasurable place after all. When he asked her to rest a moment and show him through the pleasures of hell, she shrieked. "There is no rest in hell!" She unclasped the vest of her robe and displayed a coil of living snakes writhing about her midsection. Others revealed different forms of pain in their hearts. "Take me from this place!" Boyle demanded. "By the living God whose name I have so often outraged, I beg you, let me go!" His guide replied, "Go then but in a year and a day we meet to part no more."

At this, Boyle awoke, feeling that these last words were as letters of fire burned into his heart. Despite a resolution never to attend the Hell Club again, he soon was drawn back. He found no comfort there. He grew haggard and gray under the weight of his conscience and fear of the future. He dreaded attending the Club's annual meeting, but his companions forced him to attend. Every nerve of his body writhed in agony at the first sentence of the president's opening address: "Gentlemen, this is leap year; therefore it is a year and a day since our last annual meeting." After the meeting, he mounted his house to ride home. Next morning, his horse was found grazing quietly by the roadside. A few yards away lay the corpse of Archibald Boyle. The strange guide had claimed him at the appointed time.

10. The Peace that Jesus Gives

Illustration

Lee Griess

There is a road in southern Italy that begins in the city of Eboli and ends in the mountain village of Gagliano. To anyone who makes that journey, it is an ascent to hell. Gagliano is no more than a scattered cluster of fallen down whitewashed old buildings, hanging desperately to barren slopes near a rocky cliff. The village has been there for centuries and for as far back as the oldest person can remember it has always been a place of severe poverty, unrelenting disease, frightening superstition, monotonous despair, and death. Oppressed and defeated by those conditions, it is said that the peasants of Gagliano do not sing and there is a saying among them that "Christ stopped in Eboli," that somehow God had forgotten them and Christ stopped at the other end of the road. Because hope and joy, the fullness of human life that God means for us to have, are not found there, the road to Gagliano is a road that leads to hell.

Likewise, there are some stairs in a New York City tenement that go up six flights to an apartment that houses a family of ten -- a grandmother, her two daughters and their seven children. Anyone who has climbed those stairs and shared in the experiences of that family this past year has made an ascent to hell. Unemployed, with few or no job skills, the family subsists on welfare payments and the meager wages one daughter brings home from work at a fast-food restaurant. Often the heat does not work and there is no hot water. Many days there is no food, for alcohol and drugs often eat up their money. Five days before Christmas, while the grandmother was down on the first floor to fetch the mail, one of the little boys climbed up on the gas stove, turned it on and set himself ablaze. While the rest of the world was singing "Joy to the World," that family, already dead to the world around them, mourned the painful death of one of their children.

In another part of the world, there is a trail in eastern Turkey that winds its way through the rocky barrens to the squalor of a refugee camp. Here thousands of people are housed in makeshift tents -- tattered blanket homes. If you were to take that road and visit those camps, you would hike yourself into hell. Sickness and disease are rampant there. Death is a frequent visitor where fresh water and food are scarce and sanitary conditions are unheard of. The people who live in those camps are trapped -- unable to move forward into Turkey and, because of war and fighting behind, unable to go back to their homes.

In this so-called modern world, which is supposed to be undergoing a revolution of change in the direction of a "new world order," so many of its roads lead not up, or forward, into the future, but back and down into hell. Sickness stalks the streets of Zaire under the name of the Ebola virus. In fact, all over our world, and even here in the United States, there are streets and stairways, elevators and superhighways that lead to hell, places of evil where people are trapped in boredom, bigotry, loneliness, leukemia, poverty, psychosis, despair, and death.

Trouble is all about us and the words of Saint Paul ring true when he wrote, "Outwardly we are wasting away. Daily we are being given over to death." To us Jesus speaks this morning, saying, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled. Neither let them be afraid."

11. Saving the Lost

Illustration

Quoted by Anglican Bishop J.D. Ryle about 100 years ago:

A flood of false doctrine has broken in upon us. Men are beginning to tell us "that God is too merciful to punish souls for ever...that all mankind, however wicked and ungodly...will sooner or later be saved." We are to embrace what is called "kinder theology," and treat hell as a pagan fable...This question lies at the very foundation of the whole Gospel. The moral attributes of God, His justice, His holiness, His purity, are all involved in it. The Scripture has spoken plainly and fully on the subject of hell... If words mean anything, there is such a place as hell. If texts are to be interpreted fairly, there are those who will be cast into it...

The same Bible which teaches that God in mercy and compassion sent Christ to die for sinners, does also teach that God hates sin, and must from His very nature punish all who cleave to sin or refuse the salvation He has provided. God knows that I never speak of hell without pain and sorrow. I would gladly offer the salvation of the Gospel to the very chief of sinners. I would willingly say to the vilest and most profligate of mankind on his deathbed, "Repent, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be save." But God forbid that I should ever keep back from mortal man that scripture reveals a hell as well as heaven...that men may be lost as well as saved.

12. Gentle Jesus’ Terrible Words

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

That great preacher at City Temple in London, Leslie Weatherhead, made this profound observation: "Jesus Christ, the person with the gentlest lips in history, said the most terrible words about sin ever spoken. It was gentle Jesus who referred to people as 'lost.' He described hell as the everlasting fire, the shut door, and the outer darkness where there are endless tears and gnashing of teeth." Jesus did not slant judgment and hell toward those who were broken and imperfect, but toward those who proudly refused God's mercies, those who were too self-satisfied to repent.

John Wesley, our Methodist founder, pulled no punches in talking about judgment and hell. He referred to hell as banishment from God. He declared, "There is no company in hell, no respite from pain, no interval of relief, only uninterrupted night with uninterrupted misery. The term of the sentence is forever."

13. Are You Willing to Live in Hell?

Illustration

Randy Hyde

In his book The Great Divorce, C. S. Lewis, the great Christian apologist, draws a stark picture of hell. Hell is like a great, vast city, Lewis says, a city inhabited only at its outer edges, with rows and rows of empty houses in the middle. These houses in the middle are empty because everyone who once lived there has quarreled with the neighbors and moved. Then, they quarreled with the new neighbors and moved again, leaving the streets and the houses of their old neighborhoods empty and barren.

That, Lewis says, is how hell has gotten so large. It is empty at its center and inhabited only at the outer edges, because everyone chose distance instead of honest confrontation when it came to dealing with their relationships.

"Look, she's the one who said that about me. Let her come and apologize!"

"We may go to the same church, but that doesn't mean I've got to share a pew with that so-and-so!"

"It'll be a cold day in July before I accept his apology."

That's all well and good, I suppose... if you don't mind living in hell. Are we really so willing to give up our relationships with others – relationships that have come about and been forged by our desire to follow Jesus? Nowhere, and I do mean nowhere, in the New Testament gospels will you find Jesus saying that the first order of things is always to be right. But he does have a great deal to say about forgiveness, about relationship, about reconciliation, about service and humility and vulnerability.

He makes it sounds like family, doesn't he?

14. It's Not All That Bad

Illustration

Bill Bouknight

Most nice respectable American churches don't talk about sin, judgment, or hell. Why? Because they are post-modern. Most Americans read the Bible selectively, omitting those parts they don't like. The first thing many American churchgoers throw out is the concept of hell, because (in their view) a nice, well-behaved God wouldn't let anybody go to hell. After you lose hell, you lose a sense of sin. Nobody is guilty of anything. Everybody is just a victim.

The call to repent has no meaning. Dr. Calvin Miller of the Beeson Divinity School claims that instead of repenting we play a nice little game entitled, "It's not all that bad." It sounds like this---"Yes, I did have a brief affair, but my wife was not meeting my needs. I didn't divorce her, so don't call it adultery; it's not all that bad." "Yes, my daughter and her fiancée share the same bedroom when they visit us, but most engaged couples do. After all, this is the 21st Century; it's not all that bad." "Sure, I sometimes drink too much, but never in front of the kids. I don't do any harm and it never causes me to miss a day of work. It's not all that bad." Many American churchgoers live in a state of denial.

When Charlie Brown did something wrong, he felt humility. But when Bart Simpson does something wrong, he feels entitlement. What a huge moral slippage this reveals in our culture. (1) Jesus message of good news always began with the word "repent." "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Matthew 4:17) Jesus bragged on a notorious sinner, a tax collector, because he uttered this simple prayer, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." A prayer of repentance always rings bells in heaven. (Luke 18:10-14) The greatness of this tax collector was that he knew how to repent, how to say, "I'm sorry." All of us can be forgiven, if we are humble enough to say, "I'm sorry."

15. God’s Gift Comes in Quiet Moments

Illustration

King Duncan

On Christmas Day a small manger scene sat on a table just inside the doorway to a neatly kept home. People hurried past it all day, barely noticing the tiny figures gathered around the infant tucked into golden straw. In the morning children raced by it on their way to the Christmas tree. At noon, arriving guests pushed past it, one accidentally knocking over a shepherd as he took off his winter coat.

Later in the afternoon the well-fed assembly of adults and children moved somewhat slowly by the manger again as they drifted from the dining room back into the living room. Almost none of them stopped to look at the manger. In fact, none of them even noticed it - well, none except two.

An older woman, walking with a cane, paused in front of the scene. Gently she put the shepherd back in the upright position. Then she looked at the child in the middle of the figures. Presently, she became aware of a small grandson by her side. As voices drifted in from the living room, the two continued to look deeply on the scene. At length a smile spread across the woman's face. The child smiled back at her as he took her hand. In the midst of a day filled with much busyness, the two of them quietly received God's gift.

God came to a humble maiden in an obscure village called Nazareth. An angel told her that she would bear a child. That child would be the hope of the world. And he is.

OR THIS ALTERNATE ENDING:

That's how Christmas enters our lives. Not in great leaps but in quiet moments that we can miss if we're not prepared. In Mark Jesus tells us "Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come...And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake."

16. An Old Enemy

Illustration

John E. Sumwalt

We met on a commercial flight between Minneapolis and Detroit sometime in the late 1950s. He was Oriental. It was almost 15 years after the war. I don't remember his name, but I still have his business card somewhere in my desk. I'm not sure why I sat beside him. In those days the airlines still allowed you to pick your own seat. I could have sat with any number of people, or I could have sat by myself. For some reason I chose to sit beside him.

The plane took off, and after we had been flying for a little while I asked him if he was Japanese. He said yes. On an impulse I decided to tell him a story that I had just heard -- about a man who died and was given the option of going to heaven or hell. He decided to go to hell because he thought that was where his friends were most likely to be. When he arrived in hell he discovered that there was plenty of rice and other good things to eat, but everyone was starving because the chopsticks were all six feet long. He didn't like the looks of things in hell, so he asked if he could go to heaven instead. He was given permission to go and when he arrived he discovered that everything was exactly the same, except in heaven they were feeding each other.

"Oh," my companion said, "you must be a Christian. I am too." He went on to tell that his mother was a Christian and that he had become a Christian after the war. I asked him what he had done during the war. He said that he had been a fighter pilot in the Southwest Pacific. I told him that I had been a fighter pilot too, in the same area. We quickly compared notes and discovered that we had flown missions over Formosa at the same time. Neither of us said it aloud but I'm sure it occurred to him as it did to me that had we met in the air during the war we would have tried to kill each other.

We went on to talk about our work. He was serving on the Economic Council of the United Nations as a representative of Japan. I thought about the great number of people throughout the world that he was able to help with his work, and me with mine, and it struck me what a great tragedy it would have been if one of us had killed the other. When I got off that plane I didn't hate the Japanese people anymore, and I knew the meaning of forgiveness.

Author's Note: Kendall W. Anderson related this account of his unexpected meeting with his old enemy to the author in September of 1990. Ken served as a pilot with the 39th Fighter Squadron in the Southwest Pacific in World War II. He is a graduate of Bangor Theological seminary and served pastorates in New England and Wisconsin before retiring in 1984. Ken resides in Turtle Lake, Wisconsin, where he does some counseling and serves as the editor of the 39th Fighter Squadron Association Newsletter.

17. IN THE PROVERBIAL PITS

Illustration

John H. Krahn

Most of us think we are pretty good - not worthy of going to hell. In commercials we are told to use a variety of products. Why? Because we are worth it. Commercials and best-selling books discourage us from seeing ourselves in a negative light, unable to be in control over every situation in life - even over our life beyond life.

Therefore, if someone says to you, "Go to hell," it is an affront. The person who says such a thing infers that in his opinion you are not number one but that you are the pits. We have no right to say such a thing, for it is much like the pot calling the kettle black. Yet, when Jesus Christ returns to earth at the end of time, he will have to tell billions of people to "Go to hell." Why? Because all people are sinners and cannot save themselves. Until we recognize our sinfulness, we will never desire a savior. The problem is that we all think we’re pretty good people. Compared to what? - other sinners, maybe - but not to a righteous God.

And what is the Bible’s standard for salvation? Jesus told us when he said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as my father in heaven is perfect." Perfection. One hundred percent is the only passing grade. God doesn’t grade on a curve. The Book of James puts it another way, "If we offend in one point we are guilty of all." If we commit just one sin, we step outside the realm of the law and become an outlaw. You don’t have to break every law in the book to be a criminal - just kill one person.

Sin is a "four-letter word" ... a dirty word, that will someday keep us out of heaven if left alone. It puts us in the proverbial pits. It is a cancer of the soul, and if left untreated, it brings everlasting death. I cannot imagine anything more awful than to stand before the Lord Jesus at the end of time, and have him say, "John, go to hell!" Satan works overtime to delude us into thinking that we are good enough to make it to heaven on our own. If we want to know how black and hideous our hearts are in the sight of God, we need only take a long look at the cross. God considered our sin so terrible and our lives so important that he sent his Son to the cross to die for us.

Heaven is a free gift and is not earned or deserved. Grace is God’s riches at Christ’s expense. People are sinners and cannot save themselves. Our sinful condition will lead to eternal death if left unchecked. If we accept God’s gift of forgiveness through Jesus Christ, we can have the confidence of everlasting life in heaven.

18. But I Wasn't Running

Illustration

Our Daily Bread

When Mike Peters won the Pulitzer Prize for political cartoons (1981), he wasn't expecting the honor. He described his response by saying, "It is like you are asleep and it is 2 in the morning and you are hugging your pillow and you are in your funny pajamas and somebody bursts through the door and they come over and start shaking you and they say, 'Wake up, wake up!' And you say, 'What is it?' And they say, 'You have just won the Boston Marathon!' And you say, 'But I'm not running in the Boston Marathon.' And they say, 'Doesn't make any difference, you won.'"

We can find at least one element that is common to both Mike Peters' analogy and the account in Mark 9. Jesus taught that heaven too will hold some surprises. Honor and glory will be granted for behavior that was so natural, so undistinguished, and so noncompetitive.

Take, for instance, the simple illustration of receiving a child in Jesus' name. He was talking about having a humble servant attitude, being willing to reach out and help the lowliest of people so that we might show them the love of Christ. Such simple acts will be greatly rewarded.

Yes, many of God's children will be surprised to find that their faithful service has brought them top honors.

19. Growing In Grace

Illustration

James Packer

I am the least of the apostles. 1 Cor 15:9

I am the very least of all the saints. Eph 3:8

I am the foremost of sinners. 1 Tim 1:15

Humility and a passion for praise are a pair of characteristics which together indicate growth in grace. The Bible is full of self-humbling (man bowing down before God) and doxology (man giving praise to God). The healthy heart is one that bows down in humility and rises in praise and adoration. The Psalms strike both these notes again and again. So too, Paul in his letters both articulates humility and breaks into doxology. Look at his three descriptions of himself quoted above, dating respectively from around A.D. 59, 63, and 64. As the years pass he goes lower; he grows downward! And as his self-esteem sinks, so his rapture of praise and adoration for the God who so wonderfully saved him rises.

Undoubtedly, learning to praise God at all times for all that is good is a mark that we are growing in grace. One of my predecessors in my first parochial appointment died exceedingly painfully of cancer. But between fearful bouts of agony, in which he had to stuff his mouth with bedclothes to avoid biting his tongue, he would say aloud over and over again: "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth" (Ps. 34:1). That was a passion for praise asserting itself in the most poignant extremity imaginable.

Cultivate humility and a passion for praise if you want to grow in grace.

20. Song of Bethlehem

Illustration

Melva Rorem

I was a shepherd on that star-filled night
In Bethlehem. I thought of long ago ...
I thought of brave Naomi taking flight
From Moab's land, of Ruth who chose to know

A stranger's lot—a royal daughter, she.
"Entreat me not to leave thee," she had said,
"Thy people shall be mine—so let it be."
Humbly she gleaned the fields, and there she wed

Boaz, and there she bore him a son.
And from this line came David. In these hills
He roamed and played, and fought at last and won.
Ah, memories-my heart with rapture fills

For here of David's family Christ was born
And alleluias rang from night till morn!

Yes, I, a shepherd on that holy night
In Bethlehem, saw the bright, whirling star
Shatter the darkness like a shaft of light,
Shedding great gleams of glory from afar.

With fright, yet filled with dreams, I heard the song
"Come, find the Child." Joy overflowed the brim
Until I found I could not go along.
I sent instead a lamb to welcome Him.

Though mine shall be a humble walk for long,
I shall not sorrow, for I saw the Light,
And I shall hear the glory of the song-
My days shall always mark that one great height.

They told me that the blessed mother smiled,
And that she placed my lamb beside the Child.
Ah, Bethlehem, my home, my house of bread,
Here let my body and my soul be fed!

Keyword: Christmas

21. All Great Bridges Stem from Tiny Beginnings

Illustration

Keith Wagner

A hundred feet above the Apurimac River, near the remote village of Huinchiri, Peru there is a suspension bridge that connects the Limi-Cuzzo Road. It has been there since the 14th century. Using four miles of braided coya grass, the Inca constructed the bridge in phases. First a bowman attached a fine thread to an arrow and fired it across the gorge. A man on the other side tied a cord to the thread and fired it back across the gorge. The cord was then pulled across. One by one the Inca added thicker and thicker ropes, finally hauling into place a 200 pound floor cable that was created off site.

Made of grass, this is the last remaining Inca rope bridge. It is reconstructed every June and continues to serve as access accross the gorge. It began with a single thread. Think how many changes take place in life because of a single phonecall, the implementation of one idea, one visit, or a single letter. All great bridges stem from tiny beginnings.

It is the same for our faith. A single act of forgiveness, a personal commitment to be more involved in the life of the church, a gift or an invitation to a stranger. Major construction is overwhelming. But every change that is made for the betterment of humankind starts with a single act.

Isn't that what God did with the birth of Christ? God introduced the possibility of total transformation with the gift of a child in a manger. In a remote place of the world and through a humble peasant couple, God set the stage for a new kingdom to emerge.

Note: for more see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_rope_bridge

22. Offending the Little Children

Illustration

Editor James S. Hewett

One of the most arresting statements ever made by Jesus during his sojourn on earth was concerning the offending of children. He said it would be better for one to have a millstone tied around his neck and be cast into the sea.

An old woman was noticed to be picking up something in the street—a poor slum street. The policeman on the beat noticed the woman's action and watched her very suspiciously. Several times he saw her stoop, pick up something, and hide it in her apron. Finally, he went up to her and with a gruff voice and threatening manner demanded, "What are you carrying off in your apron?" The timid woman did not answer at first, whereupon the officer, thinking that she must have found something valuable, threatened her with arrest. The woman opened her apron and revealed a handful of broken glass. "I just thought I would like to take it out of the way of the children's feet," she said. Oh, how we need people like this timid little woman who cared about what hurts "children's feet."

23. O Little Town of Bethlehem: A Story of Faith

Illustration

Keith Wagner

One of my all time favorite Christmas hymns is "O Little Town of Bethlehem." It has been around since 1868. It is packed with emotion, a song about the Christ Child, born to Mary, a song filled with the creative power of God intervening in history with the gift of a savior. It's a story where the divine and the human come together in an amazing but humble way.

What might surprise you is how this great hymn came to be. It was written by Phillips Brooks, Episcopal priest. Brooks was serving the Holy Trinity Church in the City of Brotherly Love (Philadelphia, PA). He had just returned from a trip to The Holy Land which inspired him to write the words. "When he returned to America he still had Palestine singing in his soul." (from Stories of Christmas Carols by Ernest K. Emurian, Baker Book House Co., page 97)

Brooks was a bachelor. His church organist and Sunday School superintendent, Lewis Redner was also a bachelor and Brooks gave the words to him and asked him to create a tune for the upcoming Christmas celebration. Redner procrastinated and struggled with the creation of a tune to go with the 5 stanzas that Brooks had written. It wasn't until the night before the celebration that Redner got inspired in the middle of the night and created the song as we know it. The following day a group of 36 children and 6 Sunday school teachers introduced the song created by the 2 bachelors. That was on December 27th, 1868. It wasn't published as an official hymn of the Episcopal Church until 1892. The following January, Phillips Brooks died, never knowing the magnitude of the hymn that he created.

For some reason the 5th stanza has been dropped from the original score."Where children pure and happy Pray to the blessed Child, Where misery cries out to thee, Son of the mother mild; Where charity stands watching And faith holds wide the door, The dark night wakes, the glory breaks, And Christmas comes once more." The stanza includes the line, "And faith holds wide the door."

This hymn, like the story of the annunciation of Mary in the gospel of Luke, is a story about faith.

24. Belief in Hell

Illustration

King Duncan

While the majority of Americans believe in heaven and eventually expect to end up there, studies show most people today do not believe in hell.

It reminds me of a P. D. James' story. A young woman discovers that she was adopted. Almost immediately, she begins looking for her biological mother and father. She is stunned to discover that as a baby she had been taken from her parents when they were sent to prison for the murder of a ten-year-old girl. Although the father subsequently died in prison, the mother was soon to be released on parole. After getting acquainted with her mother, the young woman arranges for her mother to move into an apartment with her.

Interestingly enough, the mother wants to attend church services, something the daughter was not accustomed to doing. But out of friendship she accompanies her mother to services. One Sunday the minister says something in his message about Hell. Later, as the mother and daughter talk, the daughter says with exasperation, "But you can't believe in Hell."

The mother responds gravely, "You can once you've been in it."

She spoke from experience. There are people who know what it is to live in hell, for they have been there.

25. Oh, How The Mighty Have Fallen! - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

I am holding in my hands a copy of one of the world’s most revolutionary documents. In it are found these immortal words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. . .” Of course, that document, the Declaration of Independence, is the charter of the American Revolution. Though we have not yet lived up to it, it has been the vision that inspires us.

The only document I know that is more revolutionary is in our Bible. It is called the Magnificat and is found in Luke, chapter 1, verses 39 through 56.

Back before India won its independence, it was under British rule. Bishop William Temple of the Anglican Church warned his missionaries to India not to read the Magnificat in public. He feared that it would be so inflammatory that it might start a revolution!

The document is all the more remarkable when one remembers that it came from the lips of a simple, teenaged girl named Mary. She grew up in the obscure village of Nazareth in what is now northern Israel. The angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she had been chosen to be the mother of the long-awaited Messiah. Gabriel told Mary that her aunt Elizabeth, well past the child-bearing age, had become pregnant. Immediately Mary went to visit Elizabeth. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, both women sensed that God has chosen them for special tasks and would do great things through their children.

Mary was then given by the Holy Spirit insights far too profound for a simple teenager to originate. She declared the impact that her son would have upon the world. She announced three distinct revolutions, which Jesus would instigate and activate. She spoke of these revolutions in the past tense, as if they had already happened. The world has been reeling ever since under the influence of our revolutionary Lord.

A world shaping revolution is in place. Just this past week many wrongs in the mid East were set on the path of being righted: the proud have been scattered, the mighty have fallen, and the humble He has lifted. With these events in view let us turn not to the UN, not to any world leader, but to a young peasant girl named Mary, for it is HER words that are illustrated by these world events. Let’s consider that it was SHE that gave birth to the Revolution that is the pattern for all others.

1. The first nature of the revolution is spiritual.
2. The second nature of the revolution is social.
3. The third nature of the revolution is economic.

26. We Wait for Light

Illustration

Katerina Katsarka Whitley

Isaiah, the poet-prophet paints a vivid picture of a depraved society that has turned away from God, a whole community that is contaminated by sin and injustice. There is nothing in the words of the prophets that would not apply to our times and our society also. And it brings chills down the spine. Listen to the words:

"We wait for light, and lo! there is darkness; and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope like the blind along a wall, groping like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among the vigorous as though we are dead."

Unlike the spiritually blind society described by Isaiah, this one physically blind man named Bartimaeus reacts as though he has been waiting for the coming Jesus. He can't run because he cannot see. He cannot even walk, because the crowd is so thick; he might get trampled over.

But he knows it is now or never. From where he is sitting he raises his strong voice and shouts words that can get him in trouble. But he doesn't care. Listen to the words: "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." He knows the name of the Nazarene, because his fame has reached in all towns and villages. But when he says, "Son of David," that immediately puts Jesus in the royal succession and identifies him as the Messiah. Now, the acceptance of that title on the part of Jesus is what the enemies of Jesus were waiting for in order to arrest him. To claim the title Son of David would be to lay claim to royal kinship and to the role of the awaited Messiah.

27. Clothed with Humility

Illustration

John R. Gunn

The word "humility" means literally a low estimate of self. But this does not imply self-deprecation. When you hear someone deprecating himself, usually you can put it down as a sort of counterfeit humility. Someone has said, "The true way to be humble is not to stoop until you are smaller than yourself, but to stand at your full height before some higher nature that will show you how small your greatness is." "Walk humbly with thy God." Here is where we learn true humility. Walking with God, seeing ourselves by the side of His greatness, we see how little we are. And seeing how little we are is the first step toward becoming what we can and ought to be.

We never become truly great, we never do our best work until we are "clothed with humility"; until, like our Lord and Savior, we are willing to live to serve others.

28. Sole Possession

Illustration

Robert Short

Several years ago a book was published entitled Looking Out for Number One. On the dedication page the author wrote, "Dedicated to the hope that somewhere in our universe there exists a civilization where the inhabitants possess sole dominion over their own lives." There is such a place. It's called Hell.

Bottomless pit, no physical, solid surroundings, total isolation. Utter darkness--a person is isolated, restricted, totally and forever to himself/herself. The doctrine of hell is probably the major stumbling block to the return of a de-Christianized world to Christ. The doctrine of eternal damnation, more than any other teaching of the church, produces atheism. If you examine closely all the big name atheists like Feuerback and Nietzsche it is this teaching more than any other that offended them and turned them away. Out of these famous atheists came all the movements that have caused so much hell here and now. If God is to practice what He preaches, then it makes it hard to believe in eternal damnation.

In the New Testament, Peter asks how many times he should forgive his brother and Jesus tells him, "I don't say 7 times, but 70 times 7" which is a way of saying "infinitely." If God commands that of us, then how does He get away with not being infinite in His forgiveness?

29. Clear and Plain

Illustration

H. A. Ironside

On one occasion Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, the agnostic lecturer of the last century, was announced to give an address on hell. He declared he would prove conclusively that hell was a wild dream of some scheming theologians who invented it to terrify credulous people. As he was launching into his subject, a half-drunken man arose in the audience and exclaimed, "Make it strong, Bob. There's a lot of us poor fellows depending on you. If you are wrong, we are all lost. So be sure you prove it clear and plain."

No amount of reasoning can nullify God's sure Word. He has spoken as plainly of a hell for the finally impenitent as of a heaven for those who are saved.

30. Service

Illustration

James W. Moore

Have you heard the beautiful children's story about the three trees? The trees were talking in the forest one day about their dreams for the future. The first tree said it would like to be made into a cradle, so that it might go on living as a support for the fragile life of a tiny new baby. The second tree wanted to be made into a big ship, so that it might go on living, carrying important cargo and influential people to exotic new lands. The third tree longed to stay right where it was, existing only as a tree, but growing ever taller, and pointing ever higher, to remind everyone that there is a God in heaven who loves them. Those were their dreams: One wanted to be a cradle, one wanted to be a mighty ship, and one wanted to be a tall tree, pointing people toward God.

But then one day the woodcutters came and chopped down the three trees...and destroyed their dreams. The first tree was not made into a cradle, but into a simple feeding trough, a manger for animals. But the manger was sold to a family in Bethlehem, and on the night Jesus was born, that simple feed box became the cradle for the Christ Child.

The second tree was built into a boat, but not the kind it had dreamed of--not a mighty ocean-going vessel--but a tiny inexpensive fishing boat. A man named Simon Peter bought the boat, and on one warm afternoon when the crowds pressed in, Jesus himself climbed aboard that small fishing boats that he might preach good news to the multitudes.

The third tree also was deprived of its dream. It wanted to remain standing tall and pointing toward God. Instead, it was cut down and shaped into a horrible instrument of torture, a cross. But it was on that very cross that Jesus was crucified, transforming a symbol of cruelty into a powerful reminder of God's eternal love for all the people.

The three trees were humbled, but in the plan of God, they were exalted.

That's the way it works: When we, in humility, give ourselves to God, our Lord can do great things through us and for us greater than we can ever imagine.

31. Doing Nothing and Going to Hell

Illustration

King Duncan

The famous evangelist Billy Sunday was once asked, "What must I do to go to hell?" Sunday answered, "Nothing." That's the message of Matthew 25. If we want to have hell on earth and hell for eternity, then we will look the other way. The goats were those people in Jesus' parable who saw the need, but did nothing to help. The goats' response is captured perfectly in this paraphrase of today's passage: "I was hungry and you said apply for food stamps. I was homeless and you said there is a shelter in town. I was lonely and you said get a Sony Walkman. I was beaten and you said avoid dark alleys. I was naked and you said a local church has clothes. I was sick and you said apply for Medicaid. I was illiterate and you said there are library cards. I was poor and you said God loves the poor. I was imprisoned and you said try the parole board. I was depressed and you gave me a Smile button. I was dying and you said there is eternal life.

"Now I know why the answers are not solutions."

32. The Devil's Plan

Illustration

Staff

The devil and his cohorts were devising plans to get people to reject the Gospel. "Let's go to them and say there is no God," proposed one. Silence prevailed. Every devil knew that most people believe in a supreme being. "Let's tell them there is no hell, no future punishment for the wicked," offered another. That was turned down, because men obviously have consciences, which tell them that sin must be punished. The concave was going to end in failure when there came a voice from the rear: "Tell them there is a God, there is a hell, and that the Bible is the Word of God. But tell them there is plenty of time to decide. Let them 'neglect' the Gospel, until it is too late." All hell erupted with ghoulish glee, for they knew that if a person procrastinates on Christ, they usually never accept Him.

33. Two Kinds of Life and Death

Illustration

John R. Brokhoff

Two Kinds of Life: The Greeks had two words for "life" and both appear in the New Testament. One is bios from which we get "biology." It refers to biological and physical life. It is not true life but mere existence. This is life in terms of quantity and extension. Methuselah, the oldest man in the Bible, had this kind of life. He lived 969 years, but there is no record of any contribution he made to the welfare of society.

The other Greek word is zoe. It is used to denote true life, the quality of life. It is spiritual life with God as the source of life. While bios is temporal, zoe is eternal. The one deals with the body and the other with the soul. But this eternal life also has quantity, for it extends through eternity. To distinguish this type of life from the former, the New Testament uses "eternal life."

Two Kinds of Death: As there are two kinds of life, there are two kinds of death. The bios type of life ends in physical death. The body declines, deteriorates, and dies. This is in accord with the natural order, for all living things die, including Homo sapiens. If a human were only a physical body, the person would come to an end. In this case, death has the last word and is the ultimate victor over life.

There is another kind of death. The Bible speaks of death in terms of separation from God. "The soul that sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4). Sin is the dreadful agent that separates us from God. To be apart from God, from life, love, joy, and peace, is to be dead. Does this mean that the soul is exterminated or extinguished? If so, there would be a merciful nothingness. However, the Bible teaches that a soul apart from God, living in death, is in hell, a state of misery. Paul describes the condition in hell: "They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might" (2 Thessalonians 1:9). As there is eternal life, there is also everlasting death. It is to save us from this fate that God gave his Son to die for us and to reinstate us with God in whom we have eternal life. The scriptures repeatedly assure us that God does not want a single soul to perish or to be lost or to go to hell. In Christ, God the Father gave his very self to prevent people from going to everlasting death.

34. Satan's Board Meeting

Illustration

King Duncan

Most of you are familiar with that time honored story about the board meeting that Satan called in hell. He put this question to his senior advisors: We need to develop a new strategy for causing havoc upon earth. Do you have any suggestions for a new means of reaching human beings for our side?

One advisor suggested, “Tell them there is no heaven.”

Another said, “Tell them there is no hell.”

But the prize winning suggestion was judged to be much more effective. “Tell them there is no hurry.”

There is built into life an important urgency when it comes to the things that really matter. Such it is with your relationship with Christ.

Satan’s most effective tool--tell them there is no heaven? No. Tell them there is no hell? No, not that either. Tell them there is no hurry. My friends, there is a hurry. It really is urgent! Today! Now!

35. Hell is Self-Worship

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Margaret Evening (pseud.) relates the following in her book Who Walk Alone (p. 38):

Many years ago I had a dream. It was one of the few coherent dreams that I have ever had, but it was so vivid that even now I can remember the details of it clearly.

In the dream, I visited Hell, where the sub-Warden showed me round. To my surprise, I was led along a labyrinth of dark, dank passages from which there were numerous doors leading into cells. It was not like Hell as I had pictured it at all. In fact, it was all rather religious and “churchy”! Each cell was identical. The central piece of furniture was an altar, and before each altar knelt (or, in some cases, were prostrated) greeny-grey spectral figures in attitudes of prayer and adoration. “But whom are they worshipping?” I asked my guide. “Themselves,” came the reply immediately. “This is ‘pure’ self-worship. They are feeding on themselves and their own spiritual vitality in a kind of auto-spiritual-cannibalism. That is why they are so sickly looking and emaciated.”

was appalled and saddened by the row upon row of cells with their non-communicating inmates, spending eternity in solitary confinement, themselves the first, last and only object of worship.

The message was clear. According to the teaching of the New Testament, Heaven is community. My dream reminded me that Hell is isolation.

36. Breaking Down Barriers

Illustration

Bill Hybels

“Jesus’ perspective was shaped by a deep sense of humility. It was a humility where none was called for; Jesus, as God, clearly deserved His titles, position, and praise. But as we have seen, Jesus “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.” He wanted instead, to relate with man on an equal level. Where religious leaders of His day relished the separation between themselves and “the common people”, Jesus sought to break down the barriers, even those imposed by His divine rights. Humility was at the core of His philosophy. More times than not, He used His power for the powerless, showed love to the loveless, and served those who could not possibly return the favor. With characteristic consistency, He repeatedly rejected a Pecking Order based on conditional response.”

37. The Idea of Resurrection

Illustration

Scott Hoezee

The Sadducees thought the idea of resurrection to be silly. Maybe they had been influenced by Greek thinking, maybe they felt you could not build a good case for it based on the Scriptures. But they thought it silly and had come to the conclusion that Jesus believed in it. Since Jesus was a prominent teacher, they thought it would be fun and instructive to publicly humiliate him and so concocted their over-the-top scenario that exploited the old Israelite practice of levirate marriage to wonder what a woman who on earth had seven husbands would do in the afterlife.

The set-up reminds you of the time someone wanted to get under the skin of C.S. Lewis. Lewis was fond of suggesting that in heaven, animals (and maybe even our cherished pets) could very well find a place. A person who thought that to be silly snidely asked Lewis "Well, what about the mosquitoes?" to which Lewis replied that God was clever enough to combine a hell for humans with a heaven for mosquitoes! (Or it reminds you of the famous line, attributed by some to Augustine: when a cynic asked what in the world God had been doing in all those eons prior to the creation of the universe, Augustine was said to reply, "He was making hell for the curious.")

38. Clothing and Spiritual Change

Illustration

Mickey Anders

Clothing is a common New Testament metaphor for spiritual change. Paul wrote in Romans, "Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature" (Rom 13:14).

And in First Corinthians, "The perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:53).

In Colossians, we read, "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12).

Finally, in First Peter we are admonished, "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble'" (1 Peter 5:5).

Being clothed anew is a consistent New Testament expression for holiness and righteousness. The old clothes have to come off and new ones put on.

This text confronts us with the paradox of God's free invitation to the banquet with no strings attached and God's requirement of "putting on" something appropriate to that calling. The theological point is that we are warned of the dire consequences of accepting the invitation and doing nothing except showing up.

39. Incentive To Improve

Illustration

Lee Iacocca

When you give a guy a raise, that's the time to increase his responsibilities. Reward him at the same time you motivate him to do even more. Hit him with more while he's up, and never be tough on him when he's down. When he's upset over his own failure, you run the risk of hurting him badly and taking away his incentive to improve. As a mentor used to say, "If you want to give a man credit, put it in writing. If you want to give him hell, do it on the phone.

40. The Law and the Gospel

Illustration

David Ernst

The primary purpose of the Law is, like a mirror, to teach man the true knowledge of his sin. We see this in the example of the publican. The publicans were tax-collectors for the Roman imperialists. They were Jews, but were not respected by their people. They were considered traitors and thieves, with some justification.

So the publican did not approach God with pride, demanding what was owed him. On the contrary, he approached the Lord with maximum humility and true repentance. Repentance is essential to receive the forgiveness of sins in Christ. That is why the Law should be preached to unrepentant sinners, but the Gospel to those who are troubled by their sins and terrified of damnation.

The Law demands, threatens and condemns; the Gospel promises, gives and confirms our forgiveness and salvation. God offers forgiveness of sins only in the Good News that we are saved because Christ fulfilled the Law, suffered, died and rose from the dead for us. So let us draw near to God in humility and repentance, of course, but also in the hope and faith that we are justified through faith, not by works, and that in Christ we are children of God.

41. God's Unforced Love

Illustration

Staff

Non-Christians often ask the Christian, "But how can the God of love allow any of his creatures to suffer unending misery?" The question is, how can he not? The fact that God is love makes hell necessary. "Hell," as E.L. Mascall once said, "is not compatible with God's love; it is a direct consequence of it."

That was his way of stressing the fact that the very God who loves us is the one who respects our decisions. He loves us, but he does not force his love on us. To force love is to commit assault. He allows us to decide. He loves us, he encourages our response, he woos us, he pursues us, he urges us, but he does not force us, because he respects us.

42. There's a Story

Illustration

Source Unknown

A young fellow wanted to be a star journalist but lived in a small town (not much possibility). One day the dam upstream broke and the town was flooded. He got in a rowboat and headed out to look for a story. Found a lady sitting on her rooftop. He tied up the boat and told her what he was after. (They both watched as various items floated by).

She says, "Now there's a story."

"No, that's not a story."

Finally a hat floats by and then does a 180 degree turn, goes upstream a ways and does another 180 degree turn, etc. The fellow says, "There's a story."

"Oh no, that's not a story. That's my husband Hayford. He said that he was going to mow the lawn come hell or high water!"

43. A Parental Judgment

Illustration

Michael P. Green

Neglect is one of the most devastating ways a parent can abuse a child. O. Henry, in one of his short stories, tells of a little girl whose mother had died. When the father would come home from work, he would fix their meal, then he would sit down with his paper and pipe, put his feet up on the hassock, and read. The little girl would come in and say, “Father, would you play with me?” And he would say, “No, I’m too tired, I’m too busy. Go out in the street and play.” This went on for so long that finally the little girl grew up on the streets and became what we would call a streetwalker, a prostitute. Eventually she died, and when, in the story, her soul appeared at the gates of heaven, St. Peter said to Jesus, “Here’s this prostitute. Shall we send her to hell?” Jesus said, “No, no; let her in. But go find the man who refused to play with his little girl, and send him to hell.”

44. All the Way to Hell

Illustration

J. Ellsworth Kalas

Without forgiveness, we will be destroyed ourselves--we have a basic duty to forgive. Whatever you do, don't let those who have wronged you remake you in their image.

When three young men were brought to trial in a West Memphis, Arkansas, court for killing three eight-year-olds, the father of one of the victims suddenly rushed at the young man screaming, "I'll chase you all the way to hell!" We can understand the father's fierce anger, but there is something almost prophetic about his words. If we allow our hatred for those who have wronged us to go unchecked, it will eventually destroy us. We will follow our bitterness "all the way to hell."

45. Are You In a Rut?

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

“Most persons prefer the hell of a predictable situation rather than risk the joy of an unpredictable one.”

We get in ruts and we stay there because ruts are predictable and comfortable.

Security may be our greatest enemy and change a frightening threat.

I ask you -- when was the last time you took a risk? When was the last time you knew real joy? In my experience, the sense of accomplishment and joy is almost in direct proportion to the risk I’m willing to take.

Think about it: is there a person with whom you need to risk a relationship?

A commitment you need to make?

A change in your life or even your job?

A noble but unpopular cause you need to champion?

To march to the sound of a different drummer is demanding. The unpredictable may be frightening, but the promise of joy is there as well -- to break out of the hell of our predictable lives is worth at least considering.

46. Electing Servants - Sermon Starter

Illustration

Brett Blair

With Election Day upon us, I thought this text about hypocrisy was appropriate. I am reminded of a story about Theodore Roosevelt. During one of his political campaigns, a delegation called on him at his home in Oyster Bay, Long Island. The President met them with his coat off and his sleeves rolled up.

"Ah, gentlemen," he said, "come down to the barn and we will talk while I do some work."

At the barn, Roosevelt picked up a pitchfork and looked around for the hay. Then he called out, "John, where's all the hay?"

"Sorry, sir," John called down from the hayloft. "I ain't had time to toss it back down again after you pitched it up while the Iowa folks were here."

As we go to the polls this Tuesday I know who I am going to vote for. Let me tell you who: I am going to vote hypocrisy out of office and humility in. I am going to vote greatness out and servanthood in. I am going to vote honor out and duty in. That's whom I am going to vote for, and I wish it were that simple. Truth is, leadership, the way Jesus described it, is hard to find, even among the religious.

So what is it exactly that Jesus wants out of leaders and how do they get there. We will look at that in a moment. First we must diagnose the problem?

1. And the Problem is Hypocrisy
2. The Solution is Humility

47. BE A DARKNESS DISPELLER

Illustration

John H. Krahn

As you got out of bed this morning, did you feel like you belonged to a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God? And tomorrow morning, as the daily grind begins again, will you be thinking as you brush the old ivories, "What ways am I going to declare God’s wonderful deeds today?" Will any of us plot how we might upset the devil, the prince of terrorists? How many of us will let the light of Christ shine through us and be among the darkness dispellers? Will any of us seek to be the light of Christ in a darkening world?

Reading the Bible, it becomes evident that Christianity is not a solo proposition. Christianity comes to us through Christian community. Without a relation to the community or church, our individual Christianity is weakened and incomplete. The church is Christ’s body on earth today. The light of Christ shines in the world through each of us as we take seriously that we are a chosen people belonging to God.

There is no disembodied Christianity. The Lord calls us to relate to him in the community of the church with all of its warts and imperfections. Christianity is a social faith, a community of fellow believers. Jesus continues to build his church upon our confession of faith that he was the one promised by the Father to die and pay the penalty of our sinfulness and to defeat death and the grave by rising again. No individual makes the church. Saint Paul speaks of members of the body of Christ; members mean absolutely nothing when they are severed from the body. Every functioning, contributing, participating member is important to the good of our witness.

Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the church. We are each to be a living stone cemented to the cornerstone and to one another. Each of us has a divine destiny and a place in the drama of divine redemption. We have been baptized into a high vocation. We were once nobody’s people, destined to hell. We are now God’s people, called to serve the Lord, on our way to heaven. We have gone from rags to riches, from a pig sty to a royal palace.

We are God’s own people. We belong to God, saved from hell by the sacrifice of Christ. We are, therefore, called to produce - produce the light of Christ in our words and deeds. We are called by Christ to servanthood, to sacrifice, into ministry. Such ministry is fed and coordinated in the local parish. If each Christian took seriously the Lord’s Word, our ministry and effectiveness as darkness dispellers would double, perhaps even triple. With the help of God, let’s turn on our lights ... full strength.

48. Many Parts, but of One Body

Illustration

John R. Steward

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ." (v. 12)

There was a man who had a dream one night that he had died. In his dream he found himself in a large room. The room had a very large banquet table filled with different kinds of food. There were people seated around the table but they were seated five feet away from the table. In his dream, the people were very hungry and wanted to eat but were unable to get out of their chairs. To make matters worse their arms were not long enough to be able to reach out and obtain the food.

As the man looked more closely, he saw a very large spoon that was five feet long that the people were fighting over for possession. In his dream, he watched with amazement how one person used the spoon to dish up some food and then carefully turned the spoon around toward his mouth with all the food falling off the spoon and onto the floor. Then another person grabbed the spoon but was unable to feed himself because of the length of the spoon.

Then the man turned to his guide and said: "This is hell; to have food and not be able to eat it." The guide replied, "Where do you think you are? This is hell. But this is not your place. Come with me." The guide took him to another room that was also filled with a large banquet table and delicious food. In this room, there was also a large spoon with a handle that was five feet long. However, in this room no one was fighting. Instead, one person would take the spoon and use it to feed another. They in turn would use the spoon to return the favor. The guide turned to the man and said, "This is heaven."

Source: Robert Schuller, Be an Extraordinary Person in an Ordinary World (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company), p. 113."

49. Everything You Ever Wanted

Illustration

Maxie Dunnam

Years ago, John Balderson wrote a play about a man who died and woke up in another world. All of a sudden every wish was granted. A mysterious attendant came and ministered to every need he had -- every single need. After awhile he said, “If I could just have the variety of some refusal.” That didn’t happen. He continued to get everything he wanted.

Finally, one day, in an unheavenly manner, he shouted, “I want something that I cannot have without earning it!”

His attendant said, “That is not possible here.”

“In that case,” the man responded, “I don’t want to be here. I much prefer to go to hell.”

The attendant asked, “Where do you think you are?”

Think about it. Hell is where everything you want is yours just for the asking or taking. How many of us have thought that was heaven and have nearly killed ourselves to arrive at such a place?

50. Breaking The Pastor's Heart

Illustration

Michael P. Green

A man said to a friend, “I hear you dismissed your pastor. What was wrong?” The friend said, “Well, he kept telling us we’re all going to hell.”

The first man then asked, “What does the new pastor say?” The friend replied, “The new pastor says we’re going to hell, too.”

“So what’s the difference?” asked the first man. “Well,” said the friend, “the difference is that when the previous pastor said it, he sounded like he was glad about it; but when the new man says it, he sounds like it is breaking his heart.”

That is what Paul is saying in this passage. It is breaking his heart that he has to say harsh things to and about nonbelievers, especially those among his fellow Jews.

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