Eternal life means knowing pleasures forevermore, beyond anything the human mind can comprehend. It means being not only joyful, but in the very presence of joy itself, it means knowing and experiencing love, love past anything anyone ever born has known, can even begin to comprehend, it will never abate, never be removed, always and eternally be present.
“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” (John 10:28)
The second death is never knowing pleasure of any sort ever again, yet knowing pleasure exists. It means not only never knowing joy, but never, even for a single moment, being happy, content or satisfied.
In the Lake of Fire there is no love, but there is the firm, never-ending, full and complete knowledge of it, for it was revealed to all there when they stood before Him who is love, who created them, who offered that which they will never experience while they yet breathed the air of this planet.
“And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.” (Isaiah 66:24)
Heaven, being in the presence of the Living God, is hope fulfilled, and that beyond all measure for all eternity. Hell is hopelessness beyond all imagination, forever and without end.
Heaven is where the Lord Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father, its location is really quite irrelevant, where Christ is, heaven is, and that is where we will always be.
There are many Scripture verses that infer that hell is in the center of the earth, which, with no disrespect, is also irrelevant, for those there are not where our Savior is, and never will be, save for one singular moment in time, at the Great White Throne of Judgment. They will in that final moment plead with Him, beg Him, prostrate themselves before Him in great fear, they will cry, scream, yell, hurl curses at Him who sits on the throne of eternity. The reason they are there and what could have been theirs will be revealed to them.
There is in some regard my friends hope in hell, hope that with Him whose mercy endures forever will show mercy to them, that He will repent of Himself when He hears their reasonings, their excuses, hope that when He realizes how sorry they are, He will change His mind, and offer them those blessings that we who have placed our trust in Him will know forever.
“For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2nd Cor. 6:2)
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” (Heb. 9:27)
“And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” (John 5:40)
He will listen, He will show them the truth about themselves, and then they will be cast into eternal darkness, into eternal pain and suffering, into eternal hopelessness.
Far too many of us who are hid in Christ spend far too much time thinking about heaven, and far too little time thinking about those in hell, and those on the wide path to it. A self-centeredness that is not indicative of those who have been sent out with the message of Ephesians 2:8-9.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Who have been sent with the message of eternal love.
For some, that peace that passes all understanding is interrupted by those in hell screaming in anguish, those who once knew a form of hopelessness that was removed from us the day we got up from our knees at the cross and started to follow Him who is leading us to pleasures forevermore, to joy unspeakable.
There is hope in hell, a false hope that will never be realized, but hope, nonetheless.
We are not sent with the message of temporary promises my friends, but with eternal promises. Do not hide these truths from those you speak to.
The promise of eternal life is just as real as the promise of eternal death.
