Hell (7)
[Luke 16: 22 -26]
“Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. ‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.'”
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This is the 7th session of Hell sermon series. We sometimes hear the testimonies of those who have been to or seen Hell.
Some say they saw Heaven or Hell when they almost died and came back to life.
Some of the believers in the Lord see Heaven or Hell in dreams or visions.
And many of their lives change dramatically after seeing Heaven or Hell.
They realize they have been living a meaningless life not knowing there is such a beautiful heaven.
Some of them experience spiritual awakening, thinking they should never go to such a horrifying hell. And they begin to lead a more fervent Christian life.
It was the case with the apostle Paul. Just by seeing the Paradise in heaven, he came to preach the gospel much more enthusiastically.
He gave up all his good things and good environment and walked the rough way.
It was the same with my life, too. Especially since the time I saw the souls suffering in Hell, I had increased fervor for saving souls.
I have to admit that this fervor kept me going until today.
Although you have not seen it firsthand, you will be able to feel Hell as if you’ve seen it and touched it when you listen to the messages.
I hope your heart will be renewed as you listen to today’s message.
You should have nothing to do with sins and go beyond the level where you are just afraid of Hell.
You should become passionate witnesses of the Lord and save many souls from death.
I urge you to give great comfort to God’s heart by doing so.
Moreover your hope for heavenly kingdom will grow greater as you act this way and you will be able to take hold of better heavenly dwelling place by force.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will later be able to reminisce in New Jerusalem with the persons whom you evangelized that your life changed through these messages on Hell.
Main
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, when those who are not saved die, they are taken by the two messengers of hell and go to the waiting place of the Lower Grave.
The spirit that came out of the body will be thrown into a place like a big pit and spend three days there.
During this time, ugly and dreadful looking birds will peck them with sharp and large beaks. Their skins may peel off, too.
They will also face the miserable reality of Hell during this time. After 3 days, they will go to their respective places to receive their own punishment.
They will continue to receive their respective punishments according to their sins until the Final Judgment, namely the Great White Throne Judgment.
The number of kinds of punishments inflicted in the Lower Grave is countless.
They suffer from pain of their flesh getting rotten. Some are eaten up by warms or their blood is sucked. Their limbs are torn apart by birds or ferocious animals.
Some of them are pressed down by a rock that is heated up red. Others are standing on very hot sand.
Some receive tortures in burning flame, boiling water, or dirty water with foul smell.
Sometimes, the messengers of hell, who look so fearful, torture them directly with weapons. They utilize many kinds of methods to maximize the pain in the torture.
Brothers and sisters, heavenly kingdom is the area that belongs to the good God. It’s filled with only happiness.
It’s because when He made the heavenly kingdom, God the Father has used all His wisdom to give the greatest happiness to His children.
Hell is exactly the opposite of Heaven. It is filled with only pain and suffering. Especially, the Lower Grave is a place where evil spirits use all their wisdom to inflict the maximum pain and suffering.
Of course, the Lower Grave is also under the control of God in general but He doesn’t govern it directly.
It’s an area that He has given to the evil spirits so they have the control and govern it as they want.
The head of the Lower Grave is Lucifer who has betrayed God and become the head of the evil spirits.
About this Lucifer, I will explain to you in detail when I explain about the Abyss.
Therefore, if a soul goes to the Lower Grave, it means he will be completely entrusted to the hands of Lucifer who has no mercy or compassion whatsoever.
God is love itself, but Lucifer and the evil spirits are evil itself.
They always think of how to lay more pain on the souls, torturing them with various evil ways. They just make the Lower Grave a place of fear.
How many kinds of tools and methods of torture are there on this earth alone?
It’s so horrifying just to see and hear about them.
In the human history, some ruling countries cruelly tortured prisoners of war or the rebels of the colonized country.
Some people were tortured while struggling against dictators. There are many people who are tortured because of their beliefs.
Many of the believers in early churches were also tortured and martyred for their belief.
Some of you must have seen some scenes of tortures in movies or TV dramas.
They are TV dramas, but we can imagine how cruel real tortures can become.
For example, they put big needles or big skewer under the finger nails, which are very sensitive parts of body. Then, it’s said that the pain goes to all over the body.
Sometimes they pull out the finger nails or toe nails one by one, or they pull out teeth one by one. They put chilly powder with water and pour it on their faces. They forcefully put some strong food or objects into the gullet and kill them.
They put the face into water and wait until he is about to drown and pull him back.
They sear different places of the body with a hot iron or a cigarette.
They pour oil on a person and light it to burn him to death.
They hang the person upside down and beat him with a club until his bones are crushed and his intestines gush out of the body.
In case of the torturing with electricity, the veins are burst and the intestines are burned.
They put the person behind a horse-pulled cart with a rope, and they run until his flesh is taken off and his bones are exposed.
In case of women, they make them feel ashamed sexually. They torture them not only physically but also mentally.
Some of those who survive such tortures say that it is better for them to die than live.
It’s because they have to live miserable lives being unable to get away from the physical and mental pains.
Those who have been tortured say that tortures do not only destroy the body but also the soul.
It is the evil spirits of darkness that incite the people to act this evil. They are the enemy devil, Satan.
Just by seeing the evil things that people do on earth, we can imagine how cruel and merciless the evil spirits are when they control the punishments of the Lower Grave.
The enemy devil and Satan are spiritual beings, and they are beyond human wisdom and power.
So they can torture the souls with much more sophisticated and evil ways than the ways that are devised by men.
What is more gruesome is that they enjoy the pain of the souls.
Even on earth, they say those who torture others do not have any sense of guilt.
They rather have more pleasure as they torture with more cruelty.
Sometimes they compete with each other in the brutality of the tortures they can create.
Of course, although the evil spirits have the authority to govern the Lower Grave, they can torture the souls within a certain limit.
Because Hell is also run by the spiritual rules, they can give the punishments that are in accordance with the sins of the souls.
So, the evil spirits try to invent the most painful ways of torture within the limit.
So the viciousness goes to the extreme.
The punishments of the Lower Grave are conducted by the messengers of Hell.
Then, what are these messengers of Hell?
They are like the servants of Lucifer.
They control the Lower Grave according to the heart and will of Lucifer who governs the Lower Grave.
They used to be angels made by God. They were lower level angels who stood against God and corrupted with Lucifer.
Jude 1:6 says, “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,”
Most of the corrupted angels are confined in the Abyss, but some of them are managing the Lower Grave, torturing the souls.
Except in special cases such as taking the dead soul to the Lower Grave, most of them are staying in the Lower Grave.
But before they corrupted, when they were doing the work of God in heaven, they all had beautiful appearances.
But they were no more beautiful after they fell.
Their appearances changed in a way that they look so ghastly just by seeing them.
Their appearance is generally dark. Some of them have faces of human beings and others have faces of detestable animals.
In Leviticus chapter 11, we can read about detestable animals including the pigs.
These messengers of Hell are cursed and they have extremely ugly appearances.
They have the colors and hair styles that God hates the most, and they decorate their bodies with abominable things.
Some of them wear fearful looking steel armor and combat boots.
They have on their body some torturing tools that look like they will cut the skins of people just by touching.
Some of them have these sharp swords, spears, or whips on their hands.
Because they have the authority of darkness, their appearance is very coercive.
They can feel the strong force of evil when they just move, and they will be suppressed by the terror.
It is another kind of torture just to look at these ugly and fearsome messengers of hell.
They torture those who are fallen into the Lower Grave, and they will torture brutally even little babies who cannot even speak.
Because the heart of Lucifer is transferred to them directly, the same kind of evil of Lucifer is shown in them.
Of course, the messengers of Hell take care of the heavy punishments among the punishments of the Lower Grave.
Brothers and sisters, the punishments in the Lower Grave are generally divided into four levels according to the magnitude of the pain.
Those who did not know the Lord in this life and have not passed the judgment of conscience will receive relatively light punishments.
But those whose consciences are seared as with a hot iron, like Judas Iscariot, will receive the heaviest punishments.
To know the truth and not believe, and to betray after receiving grace is much greater sin than not believing because they don’t know.
Before I explain about these four levels of punishments, let me first explain about the punishments inflicted on children.
Children who died before the puberty will receive a kind of punishment exclusively for them.
The four levels of punishments apply for only adults who passed their puberty.
Here, you may have a question.
Those who are saved will become 33 years old when the Lord comes back in the air.
Little children will also become 33, and those who have died of old age will be 33, too.
But why is it that the punishments in the Lower Grave are differentiated according to the age?
It’s because those who go to Hell will have the same appearance of the time when they die.
If they die as children, they remain as children, and if they die as elderly persons, they remain as elderly persons forever.
They don’t have resurrection because they don’t have spiritual life.
Of course, they will also have the body of spirit that is similar to the resurrected body of those who are saved.
So, when they receive punishments, they can feel the pain as it is.
I hope you will understand this difference.
Brothers and sisters, even little children who do not know much, if they are born of and raised by parents who have no faith, it’s difficult for them to be saved.
Of course, some of them will pass the judgment of conscience, but if they cannot pass it having an evil conscience, their spirit will fall into hell.
But their sins are much less than adults, so their punishment is relatively lighter.
It is the punishment for those little children to feel fear, hunger, and pain in their instinct.
It’s much lighter than the tortures of the messengers of hell, but it’s unbearable pain for those little children.
Among them, new born babies who do not even walk or speak are put into a big, separate place.
They have the appearances and senses of the time when they died.
They cannot really sense anything or walk around by themselves.
They don’t know about their father or mother, or whether they are in hell. They don’t know where they are, and they just cry because of hunger out of their instinct.
When they cry, the messengers of hell will come and pierce their stomach, limbs, eyes, finger nails or toe nails with some sharp tools.
Then, the babies will cry all the more. The whole place will be filled with cries. The messengers of hell find it amusing.
When they are bored of it, they pick up one of the babies and blow air in him.
When the baby’s body is inflated like a balloon, they play with him like a ball.
Those who died even earlier than babies, those who died as fetuses are no exceptions.
They will fall into the Lower Grave and suffer if they are not saved. I will explain to you about this in the next session.
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, all those children of God who are saved will turn 33 and wear white robes when the Lord comes back in the air.
They will also wear much more splendid and wonderful clothes in the kingdom of heaven, according to their sanctification and faithfulness.
Those who are to go to Hell will also change their clothes as they fall into the Lower Grave.
They will wear tattered clothes.
They’re torn here and there and stained with many filthy things. They are closer to rags rather than clothes.
Those tatters are relatively better. Some of them just cover a part of their bodies with a piece of cloth. Some others are completely naked.
They will have more shameful costumes according to the magnitude of their evil and sins.
On this earth, regardless of the characters of a person, one can be treated nicely if he has wealth, fame, social power, and ability.
People will serve them at least on the outside.
But in hell, everyone will be treated below the level of human beings.
In the Lower Grave They will be treated as lesser beings than animals or even insects by the pitiless messengers of hell.
And because those who go to Hell are evil, they don’t have any humane attributes.
They step on others to avoid just a little bit of pain on themselves. They always curse and complain with their lips.
Therefore, I hope you will not follow the wealth, fame, pride, or lust, but cultivate good heart and the image of God on earth.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will not live in such a horrifying hell but live as beloved and respected children of God in the beautiful heavenly kingdom.