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Jesus and Hell – What He Said…and Meant

I typically do not write about hell, its a topic I have avoided, I’ve always had a very traditional view on it. Its real, its hot, no one wants to go there. But I will take a blank slate approach to Hell by looking at what Jesus said about the topic.

Jesus And Hell

Matthew 5:22 But I say to you that every who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good for nothing,’ shall be guilty before the Supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

Strongs G1067 Geenna, of Hebrew origin H1516 valley of Hinnom, a valley in Jerusalem used figuratively for the place of everlasting punishment.

Matthew 5:29 and 23:15 and Mark 9:43-47 if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it our and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.

Strongs G1067 Geenna

Matthew 10:28 and Luke 12:5 do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; buy rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Strongs G1067 Geenna

Matthew 23:15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

Strongs G1067 Geenna

Matthew 23:33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?

G1067 Geenna

In every case above Jesus used the word Geenna which was a figurative word for the place of everlasting punishment. I am not going to propose that hell is not a real place I simply have not studied it enough to change my belief about it.

But what I find most fascinating in these verse above is the time when Jesus aggressively addressed the Pharisees. As these devoutly religious men, came out to see him, as far as Jesus was concerned they were already under the sentence of hell. It’s as if they were coming near to their escape of this sentence as they approached Jesus Christ. Jesus’ sharp rebuke was merciful, he was trying wake them up so to speak.

Could it be that humanity, dead in our sin without Jesus Christ is already sentenced to eternal punishment (hell). Eternal because we are eternal beings and punishment by virtue of the distance of God.  Perhaps hell is not a future event because Jesus already passed sentence and we are carrying out our sentence now.

Could it be that life without Jesus Christ is itself “hell”. And that the brief glimpses of goodness and joy and peace we encounter in our earthly life are really glimpses of Jesus Christ? Like the Pharisees we (humanity without Christ) periodically comes close to escape.

And for some of us, those of us whom the father can reveal his son to, are able to escape the sentence of hell and join in the new humanity? The new Adam Jesus Christ being formed and on display in the earth?

Think about it. The terms Jesus and hell may be synonymous to ‘life and death’ or ‘born again and dead in sins.’

May Syncroblog

This post is part of the May Synchroblog, in which numerous bloggers around the world write about the same topic on the same day. Links to the other contributors are below. If you enjoyed my article, you will also enjoy reading what they have to say about the topic of hell.

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The Real Go Getter

I read not too long ago the book The Go Getter by Peter B. Kyne. It is a very good productivity and leadership read for business people.

But, this book and its teachings should not be applied to discipleship or to living the Christian life or ministry.

Motivational business speakers have said:

“There are three types of people in the world:

  1. those that make things happen (the go-getter)
  2. those that watch things happen (masses of followers stuck in the rat race)
  3. those who wonder ‘what’s happening’, (those confused enough to follow around the go getter and feel confused about why they too aren’t the go-getter)”

Never think this list is for the Christian or to Christian ministry. The extent that it is applied is the extent that it has ceases to be a work of God. We just cannot serve God or live out an inspired life for Christ.

Regarding the ministry and the gospel it is a mistake to strive to be one who aggressively makes things happen. I am convinced it is the mistake of a lifetime for those who love and want to serve God.

Jesus Christ himself did not live like this, neither should we. Jesus lived in the opposite of this so should we!

Jesus Christ is The Go Getter…the real one.

The way of life for the Christian is almost in exact reverse order of the businessman list. I attempt to write this list in the same format below:

  1. He wonders what is Jesus doing and only what Jesus is doing. (He is not easily distracted by tradition or by self-help or by vain repetition, falsely called ministry.)
  2. She watches to see and to hear what Jesus is doing around her. She grows to gradually see the difference between man’s religious works and the real thing.
  3. He only does and cooperates and flows with what Jesus is doing, no other work impresses him or sways him. He is not a go getter, he only does, says what he sees the real go-getter of the ages do or say.

Notice the reverse order of the businessman list: (doer, watcher, wonderer) vs. (wonderer, watcher, doer).

It is our job to be diligently obsessed with wondering and watching then doing what he is doing.

If you want be aggressive and hardworking and zealous for Jesus, then live by this second list,…not the first.

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From His Side
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From His Side Book – NOW AVAILABLE!

Well after 2 years of writing and perfecting and re-writing and editing and on and on and on … From His Side book is published!

Now lets get it launched!

If you are reading this, the number one ask is that you would go to Amazon and review the book. This more than anything else increases visibility. I believe this book can help people to know Jesus Christ better. If you are reading this please review it on amazon as quickly as possible, that would greatly help!

If you want to read more before you review read the introduction here, and this post is a sample chapter, of the I Am The River of Life chapter. There are almost 700 scriptural footnotes and the nice thing about this is they are right on the page as you read it. As I was writing I asked myself what sort of book would I want to read? Verses as footnotes was important to me, so you don’t have to go to the end of the chapter, you don’t even have to open the bible, they are right there at the bottom of the page.

The main plot is that Jesus appears to a group of people (as he did in the New Testament) and reveals himself through people who emerge and speak as portions of him.

A subplot is an amazing transformation of group of people go through individually but even more fascinating is the transformation they go through together as a body, something more like what we see in the New Testament.

If you love Jesus Christ and care about the direction and future of his church you have to give this book a try.

Sample chapter

Get the book here:

This book has changed my life in regard to how I view the Lord Jesus and his body.

Consider joining my Facebook group From His Side to help with the book launch.

Enter you email address below to get updates.

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