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At the end will those
"left behind"
suffer eternal punishment?
Both Old and New Testaments contain prophecy
about the end, when God will make right all that has not been right on earth
since the time of Adam and Eve.
For Jews, this prophecy concerns the restoration
of Israel and the coming of the Messiah to rule on the earth, for God, with
justice. In Isaiah we read that a descendant of the tribe of David, "shall
not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with
righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of
the earth.…Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness
the belt around his loins." (Is. 11:3-5)
Christians read this as referring to Jesus
Christ, but Jews point to the following passages in the same chapter to draw a
different conclusion. "On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a
signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall
be glorious. On that day the Lord…will raise a signal for the nations, and
will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather the dispersed of
Judah…Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not be hostile
towards Ephraim." (Is. 11:10-13)
The reference to Ephraim refers to the
descendants of one of the two sons of Joseph, the son of Jacob, who lived in the
hill country of Samaria that was once part of the northern kingdom of Israel.
These Israelites fought against the tribe of Judah in the tenth and ninth
centuries BCE and were conquered by the Assyrians in the eighth century.
Scriptures written after the exile of Judah in the sixth century refers to the
descendants of Ephraim as Samaritans, and when the Judeans returned from exile
to Jerusalem there was conflict with the Samaritans over rebuilding the temple.
Isaiah 11 proclaims a restored kingdom of David that unites the northern and
southern kingdoms of Israel and exercises power over the nations surrounding it.
The prophet Ezekiel also proclaims that God will
restore the kingdom of Israel. And he, too, prophesies that the tribes of Judah
and Ephraim will be united: "Thus says the Lord GOD: I will take the people
of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from
every quarter, and bring them to their own land. I will make them one nation in
the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all.
Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided
into two kingdoms." (Eze. 7:15-22)
Christians read the words of the prophet Daniel
as referring to Jesus Christ, yet this language can as easily be read as having
the same meaning as the passages in Isaiah and Ezekiel. Daniel writes, "As
I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being coming with the
clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One….To him was given dominion
and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and language should serve
him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his
kingship is one that shall never be destroyed." (Dan. 7:13-14)
The Christian authors of the New Testament
interpreted these and other passages as prophesying the reign of Christ, and
when his dominion did not begin with the resurrection of Jesus they believed it
would come at the end of time. Paul wrote, "For this we declare to you by
the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of
the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself,
with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s
trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then
we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with
them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever."
(1 Th. 4:15-18)
In the gospel of Mark, Jesus explains that the
end of time will come with great distress on the earth and many false prophets.
"But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be
(let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; the
one on the housetop must not go down or enter the house to take anything away;
the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat….Then they will see
‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Then he will
send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of
the earth to the ends of heaven." (Mk. 13:14-27)
The parenthetical phrase in this passage reminds
us that the author, not Jesus, has written these words. The reference to
"the desolating sacrilege" is unclear, but in Judea in the first
century we may suppose that readers would understand this symbol. Certainly, the
author of the gospel expects the end of the world soon, for he adds these words
attributed to Jesus: "Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away
until all these things have taken place." (Mk. 13:30)
Yet, the end did not come before that generation
passed away. Either Jesus was wrong, or the author of the gospel is ascribing
words to Jesus that he did not actually say. The gospels of Matthew and Luke,
which seem to be edited versions of the gospel of Mark, both include this
teaching (Mt. 24:34, Lk. 21:32) Also, Paul believed the end would come within
the lifetime of many of those in his own generation, for he says, "we who
are alive…will meet the Lord in the air…and so we will be with the Lord
forever." (1 Th. 4:17) Clearly, this belief was widely held among the first
generation of Christians, but it was not verified by what actually happened.
Later, Christians reinterpreted these texts to
mean God’s reign on earth would come instead at the end of time. In the
parable of the Great Judgment, which predicts the end without specifying a
particular generation, we find language about what will happen to those who are
not saved. Those who have failed to care for the hungry and the thirsty, or for
strangers, or for those who are sick, or for those in prison, "will go away
into eternal punishment" because, the Son of Man says, "as you did not
do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." (Mt.
25:45-46)
In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus speaks six times
of casting those without faith "into the outer darkness, where there will
be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Mt. 8:12, 13:42, 13:50, 22:13, 24:51,
25:30) There are no similar passages in the other New Testament gospels, but the
first three gospels all refer to hell as a place of eternal punishment. The
gospel of Mark speaks of hell as the place of "unquenchable fire" (Mk.
9:43, 45) In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says those who lack faith will be
"sentenced to hell," (Mt. 23:33) "the hell of fire." (Mt.
5:22, 18:9)
In the gospel of Luke, Jesus warns the crowd
listening to fear the one who "has authority to cast into hell." (Lk.
12:5) Moreover, in this gospel Jesus tells a story about Lazarus, who as a poor
beggar was ignored by a rich man, until the rich man died and found himself
tormented by the fires of Hades. Seeing Lazarus with Abraham in heaven, the rich
man asks Lazarus to have mercy on him, but Abraham says the chasm between them
cannot be bridged. (Lk. 16:19-31)
These passages all use the Greek word "Gehenna,"
which is translated into English as "hell," but there are a few
passages in the New Testament that refer to the Greek word "Hades." In
addition to the story about Lazarus, the author of the gospel of Luke and Acts
uses the word three more times. There is one reference to Isaiah 14:15, which
refers to Sheol or the Pit as the place of the dead. (This passage is also in
Mt. 11:23) In Acts, Peter argues that the author of Psalm 16, which he takes to
be David, "spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah." The words of
Psalm 16:8 are, "For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your faithful
one see the Pit." Peter first quotes the Psalm as saying, "For you
will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience
corruption." (Acts 2:27) Then, he refers to this text a second time:
"He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience
corruption." (Acts 2:31)
For Jews in the first century "Hades, which
is a Greek word translating the Hebrew word "Sheol," refers to a
transitional place where the dead were thought to reside until the final time of
judgment. Hell was the permanent place of judgment. Hades is used four times in
the Revelation to John and there is no use of the word "hell," but
Revelation speaks of a "lake of fire" where the devil, the beast and
the false prophet "will be tormented day and night forever and ever."
(Rev. 20: 10) Also, Death and Hades are "thrown into the lake of
fire," which is described as "the second death." (Rev. 20:14)
They are followed by "the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the
murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars,"
for "their place will be in the lake that burns with fire…which is the
second death." (Rev. 21:8) These are the passages that have convinced many
Christians that hell is a place of eternal fire that awaits all those who lack
faith in Jesus Christ.
Certainly, there are many references in the New
Testament that suggest a meeting of the Lord in the air, for those who are
faithful, and eternal punishment for those left behind. Again, however, we must
measure these images by the astounding love and grace of God, which is the heart
of the gospel message. The God of great love, the God who forgives us for our
sin, cannot preside over eternal hellfire.
Paul, the authors of the first three gospels, and
all the early Christians who thought God’s judgment would come before the
first generation of the church passed away were wrong. Their understanding of
God’s purposes was not only limited, but wrong. The New Testament authors were
also wrong about the eternal judgment promised by scripture for those without
faith.
The idea of eternal punishment contradicts the
revelation of God’s grace, which is the core of the New Testament
proclamation. In Christ we see the self-sacrifice of God, a love for sinners
that knows no bounds. All the New Testament authors witness to this wondrous
love. But when they try to explain why this love in Christ is not ruling the
earth with justice, they fall back on the old view of God as divine judge, which
dominates the biblical witness of the first covenant.
On the cross in Christ, God refuses to be king.
In Christ crucified we see that god refuses to be a more powerful Emperor than
the Roman Emperor. God in Christ renounces the violence of earthly rule!
Therefore, images of Christ in the New Testament, as a reigning king of kings at
the end of time, must be understood as metaphors. Now as well as at the end of
time, those who turn from God will find themselves apart from God’s love, but
they will not literally be cast into eternal fire.
The cross represents God’s love for the world
and our faith in the power of that love. God did not come to judge the world
during the first generation of the church, because God had already judged the
world with love. Those, who believe God has simply postponed judgment to the end
of time, fail to hear the good news of the biblical witness. We are saved by the
grace of God, and we know this in the love of Jesus Christ for the world.
The great mystery and wonder of the revelation of
God’s love and grace in Jesus Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit as the
continuing power and presence of God in the world, involves a renunciation of
kingly power and divine violence. In Christ we see that God has finally chosen
love, completely, absolutely, and without reservation, because only
unconditional love will call men and women everywhere to find their true
humanity together. Not all may accept God’s eternal love, but no one will be
left behind to suffer eternal punishment in hell.
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