Meditations on Hell

Death seized upon them and they have gone down quick into hell. They have gone down to the chambers of death. They spent their days in wealth, and in a moment they went down to the grave. The coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. They were in danger of hell fire and now they are in hell fire. Their right eye and their right hand had offended them, but they did not pluck out the eye and cut off the hand and cast it from them. Now their whole body is cast into hell. They have gone into the fire that never shall be quenched. The Horror! They are set on fire of hell. On earth their tongue was a fire, a world of iniquity. Now, they lift up their eyes, being in torments, and they cry for the righteous to dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool the tongue, for they are tormented in this flame." Correction was grievous unto them, for they forsook the way. They hated reproof. They died! She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.

We need to see the faces of men and women in hell. We need to hear their horrifying cries. We need to see their awful shame and damnation. Can you see their faces on fire? Can you see the smoke ascending up forever from their burnings? Can you hear them praying, "Water! Just one drop! My tongue, it’s on fire!" Can you hear them scream in their sinfulness, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we're not saved!" How often do you open up the scriptures and allow the spirit of God take you on a tour of hell?

When was the last time that I wept because my neighbor hates God? When was the last time that I pleaded with a sinner to turn from their sin and turn to Jesus? When was the last time I meditated on hell and heard the wailing, the weeping, saw the darkness, saw the flames, saw the faces of men and women doomed and damned forever with no hope! Oh, the horror of sin! When will we be horrified and weep over someone else's sin?

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Abraham Juliot

Oh Abe brother, you have identified my own cowardly heart.

I am cautious not to repent of these things, because I cannot calculate the end of the bargain. I reek with unbelief.

A couple days ago I wrote this verse of prayer and wept at the unreality of it in my own life.

Lord, place in me a dread of hell's reality
Where the wicked are damned with just certainty
Help me spit out the sugary self-love so vile
That allows sinners to pass by me as I smile
Place in me a dread of hell's reality.

Truly, I am a sorry excuse for a disciple. Precious Lord, I own my loveless hypocrisy. Forgive me. Help your Church.

MC

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Mike Compton