Hell's Terror

How Advent heals our image of God.

Of all the shameful attitudes religious Christians have displayed through the ages, it is the sheer glee when talking about a hell of eternal, conscious torment that is perhaps the most disturbing.

We’ve all heard folks who are made in the image of a God-who-is-love joke and laugh and look forward to the day when the ones they deem damnable will burn in hell (i.e. “There’s a special place in hell for people like that…”). Instead of mourning the thought of other image-bearers being tortured for all eternity, these beings of love, forgetting who they are and from where they come, seem to anticipate their version of Judgement Day with a deep and disturbing longing. And modern Christians certainly aren’t alone in this. Consider these words by some of the early Contributors to Christian doctrine:

“In order that the happiness of the saints may be more delightful to them and that they may render more copious thanks to God for it, they are allowed to see perfectly the sufferings of the damned…So that they may be urged the more to praise God.” – Thomas Aquinas

“The view of the misery of the damned will double the ardour of the love and gratitude of the saints of heaven.”

“The sight of hell torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever…Can the believing father in heaven be happy with his unbelieving children in hell? I tell you, yea! Such will be his sense of justice that it will increase rather than diminish his bliss.” – Jonathan Edwards

“What a spectacle…when the world…and its many products, shall be consumed in one great flame! How vast a spectacle then bursts upon the eye! What there excites my admiration? What my derision? Which sight gives me joy? As I see…illustrious monarchs…groaning in the lowest darkness, Philosophers…as fire consumes them! Poets trembling before the judgment seat of Christ!”

“At the greatest of all spectacles, that last and eternal judgment how shall I admire, how laugh, how rejoice, how exult, when I behold so many proud monarchs groaning in the lowest abyss of darkness; so many magistrates liquefying in fiercer flames than ever kindled against Christians; so many sages and philosophers blushing in red-hot fires with their deluded pupils…” – Tertullian

If you’re like me, reading through these quotations, from the Gatekeepers of Christian Orthodoxy no less, may have left you with a sinking feeling in your gut. Besides calling into question some of the influencers of accepted Christian doctrine (a.k.a interpretation), what can we learn from the perspectives of these early Contributors of the faith which so many of us still hold fast to in 2023?

The first thing that comes to mind is that these men needed their image of God healed. The God they’ve conjured, who enjoys seeing people damned to hell, is pure invention born of their own fears, cultural influences, and inherited stories. And we here, in 2023, are still in need of healing of our image of God.

No wonder so many people reject Christianity outright and find the message of a loving God who sacrificed everything to be with us and for us completely incompatible with the above sentiments. And, because of this fissure between our dueling images of God, they find Christianity to be untrue and incomprehensible. John Macarthur, a well-known biblical teacher revered by many in the Reformed stream of Christianity, has declared that hell should be the first thing we talk about when we talk about the gospel. And by hell, he means a fiery eternal pit of torment.

Really, the first thing that should come from our mouths when we talk about the gospel is hell? Because that’s not the first thing God talks about, or the angels who came to declare Christ’s arrival in the world, or Mary when she burst into her Magnifcat, or John the Baptist when he began his ministry to prepare a way for the Lord. It’s not what the Apostle John led with in his gospel, or Matthew, Mark, or Luke for that matter. Yes, Jesus spoke a lot about hell, but it is certainly not what he led with either. He led with healing, eating and drinking, washing the feet of his betrayers, and then the cross where he prayed for God to forgive his executors because they “know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Advent helps to heal our blurred and bungled image of God. Suddenly, we see a God who is the exact opposite of the image that Hell Lovers have conjured. Indeed, as Charles Spurgeon so powerfully reflected on the meaning of Advent:

“God with us. It is hell’s terror. Satan trembles at the sound of it; his legions fly apace, the black-winged dragon of the pit quails before it. Let him come to you suddenly, and do you but whisper that word ‘God with us,’ back he falls, confounded and confused. Satan trembles when he hears that name, ‘God with us.’”

Incredible imagery, and in stark contrast with the men quoted above.

Advent is hell’s terror. The Gospel of Christ is hell’s terror. And no matter your viewpoint on hell, the meaning of these words echo with power.

The image of God our forebears have handed down to us may, in significant ways, be broken, untrue, and harmful. The Hell Lovers on Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter may be loud, terrifying, and even confusing.

But if we open our hands, eyes, ears, and hearts to receive the image of God we inherit through Advent, the confusion begins to evaporate like so much mist. God is providing us a clear and powerful image of a vulnerable baby born of a woman, entrusted to her care and wisdom. This baby was fully God and fully human. He grew up and experienced the full spectrum of human emotions, longings, dreams, hopes, disappointments, pleasures, and pain. He did it all with overflowing love and with absolutely no sin.

He made friends with humans, enjoyed being with them, healed them, shared with them, fished with them, built with them, walked with them, talked with them, gave them second chances, and tried really hard to help them see the truth of who God is and who they were meant to be. Then this God-man submitted himself to betrayal, torture, and death – saving, caring, comforting and forgiving until his final ragged breath. And then this God-man was raised from death and appeared to many people. He continued to comfort, forgive, and invite us in,  all the way to the moment he left the earth and entrusted humans with his Spirit and with his Church.

Mystery surrounds hell, Satan, demons, and evil. Many have tried, and failed, to fully understand or explain what these concepts mean and the part they play in eternity. But one thing is for sure. Far from being Hell’s delighted overseer,

The image of God revealed to us in Advent is hell’s terror.

And because of this, Advent is our greatest hope.

“Hear the angels sing of the King of kings

Who made himself poor

See the mystery and the majesty

The Creator is born

Oh the Maker became a man

Let us sing what the angels sang

Glory to God in the highest

Glory to God in the highest

Our hope has appeared

God has drawn near

Glory to God alone.”

Hymn: Glory to God in the Highest