26^th July 2012

Who goes there? At the average funeral the assumption is the deceased is off into the great golf course, yachting marina, quilting glory or whatever their chief desire here on earth. A young person asked me, if, after awhile in hell a person wanted to upgrade, would that be possible? The rich man who went to hell in Jesus' parable didn't ask to get up to heaven, he just wanted more comforts in hell. The thief on the cross wanted to go where Jesus was going. Heaven is the monopoly of Jesus. Heaven is His presence, hell His absence.

It is as simple as this: Do you want to go to heaven? On the day of Judgement Christ might say to us thy will be done !. Heaven is the consummation of a believers earthly prayer, Thy will be done. Hell is the consummation of earthly indifference to Christ. Our hereafter depends on what we are after here! As the lovers desire for his beloved is consummated in marriage so the desires of the lovers of Christ are consummated in heaven

What is hell? When Geoffrey Bull, missionary to Tibet was asked by a Buddhist monk how big is hell he replied; about the size of a pinhead- that's all it would need to be to house all the shrivelled souls that have rejected the love of God.
But it takes the new heaven and a new earth and perhaps an expanding cosmos to house the gifts and blessings which God has in store for his saints, who through childlike trust in his Son, go on to a world of unimaginable goodness and wonder; of responsibility in great works, travel, music, and ecstasies of moral beauty!

Powers of heaven. Christ wants us to do and enjoy greater works. Look at what He did, like walking on water! For a human being to have those powers in the new heaven and earth without exploiting them for selfish advantage or to gain advantage over others requires true transformation of a life. Look at the destructive effect of our power gifts now, like sexuality -man perverts that into, adultery, sodomy and thus foretastes hell.
The gift of repentance surely the greatest opportunity on earth bids us receive the resurrection power today and the resurrection body tomorrow. That resurrection change is inward now, in preparation and will be outward then, in completion!

Its Politics? No external forces to control behaviour, just the force of unforced grace. All will be inner directed according to the law of the Spirit of God. Here the longing to know and do more of His will and law. This necessitates free choice. The New Covenant -I will write my laws on their hearts, functioning fully. Hell or the Second Death is God's good way of dealing with the problem of the rejection of His great universal last resort work of mercy. Lewis puts this insight :
God in his mercy made
the fixed pains of hell.
That misery might be stayed,
God in his mercy made
eternal bounds and bade
its waves no further swell.
God in his mercy made
the fixed pains of hell.

Ian Clarkson (4052011)