What’s a book or movie that genuinely scared you?
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Two moves that I remember from childhood were Frankenstein and Dracula. Of the two, Dracula was much more creepy. I genuinely scared me. In later years, I didn’t watch many horror movies, but when I did, I tended to just laugh at them.
I sometimes think of Dracula when I wonder how I would feel in heaven about those in hell. In Dracula, when people were were bitten, they’d turn into vampires themselves. So, though they looked the same, you didn’t view them as the same person. In heaven, all the evil will be removed from everyone there. So, we’ll be different, but maybe we’ll retain some of our distinctive personalities. And in hell, perhaps any traces of goodness will be removed. So, maybe we just won’t view people that we would have known in the same way. Another illustration is when you hear about some nice celebrity who turned out to have been terribly sinister. I won’t mention any names, but you know the kind of people that I’m thinking about. One thing that makes me wonder about that is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man doesn’t seem all that bad he’s in hell because he’s concerned for this family. But parables generally make one point – in this case the fact that his brother’s should be reading and responding to the Scriptures. We shouldn’t build our picture of hell on parables. Even visions in the Book of Revelation mightn’t give us the precise, literal details of the future. But just as heaven is better than anything in this world, we can assume that hell will be worse than anything in this world.
If course, here and now, we should just pray for everyone and long for them to be saved and safe. I think of two examples of this from the Old Testament.
In Exodus 32:7–14, because of their idolatry, God declared his intent to destroy the Hebrews and start afresh with the family of Moses. But Moses pleaded with God not to. And God responded by not destroying them. Surely, God did this to provoke Moses to show his love and care for the Hebrews and to pray for them. So, the prayer of Moses was answered.
In Genesis 18:16–33, Abraham repeatedly prayed that God would not destroy Sodom, fearing that innocent people would be destroyed along with the guilty. Perhaps Abraham was thinking of his nephew Lot and Lot’s family, who lived in Sodom (Genesis 13:12). Not even 10 innocent people could be found. Utimately the cities were destroyed, though Lot and his daughters escaped. One of the strangest Old Testament stories was Lot’s wife looking back at her city when she was told not to and being turned into a pillar of stone. It sounds like a legend, but if I’m not told in the Bible that it’s just a story, I’ll believe it. Jesus mentioned the incident in Luke 17. Maybe there was more evil in her heart than we realize. And God made an example of her, just as He did with Ananias and Saphira in the New Testament. God sometimes does unusual things to make a point. I’m just pleased that He doesn’t do that kind of thing more often. Where would I be if He immediately judged all my sin? But without Jesus as my Saviour, I would face His wrath on judgement day – even if He left me alone throughout my life.
Interestingly, Sodom is mentioned by Jesus in the New Testament when He is responding to the unbelief of the people of Capernaum.
Matthew 11:23-24
23 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
Anyway, stories whether fictional or factual. can be so useful. I remember hearing the story of the boy who cried wolf as a child. I was never sure whether there was any truth in it, but it certainly scared me and taught me a valuable lesson.
I often like to close with a few hymns. People like to emphasize God’s love rather than His judgement, but we musn’t ignore his threats of judgement. It’s hard to find songs or hymns about judgement, but here are a few that touch on the return of Christ.
