THE PRESENT POWER OF HEAVEN AND HELL

From Pastor John Piper’s 1997 devotional book, A Godward Life

Jesus had a lively, daily awareness of heaven and hell. These awesome realities were always relevant for the way he lived and taught. He was radically reasonable about these If we will live forever in bliss or torment, then securing the one and escaping the other is more important than most of what we think about. So he motivated loving actions with the hope of God’s fellowship in heaven, and he motivated radical purity with the fear of separation and torment in hell. For Jesus a profound desire for heaven and a potent fear of hell were practical, daily parts of living a glad and holy life. For example:

• Motivation for sacrificial generosity— “But when you give a reception, invite the poor; the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:13-14)

• Motivation for loving your enemies— “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.” (Luke 6:35)

• Motivation for simplicity and charity— “Sell and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys.” (Luke 12:33)

• Motivation for evangelism and missions-— “Make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.” (Luke 16:9)

• Motivation for enduring persecution with joy— “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great.” (Matthew 5:11-12)

• Motivation for avoiding lust— “I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out 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. (Matthew 5:28-29)

• Motivation not to fear death in the cause of the gospel— “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cost into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!” (Luke 1214-5)

• Motivation to bear good fruit— “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3:9)

• Motivation to be doers and not just hearers of ]esus— “But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house upon the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:49)

• Motivation to give our away for the gospel— “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:24-25)

I never have understood the cynical attitude that treats heaven as an irrelevant pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by nor the apparently-pious claim that the fear of hell is unworthy as Christian motivation. It seems to me that both these misguided claims come from not really believing in the unspeakable glory and horror of these two destinies.

We are playing games if we say we long for heaven more than this earth and then live like earthbound people. “Everyone who has this hope fixed on [Christ] purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3). You can’t put your hope in all that God promises to be for us in Christ and live like everyone else who depends on money, security, and prestige for contentment. And you can’t truly ponder the real possibility of endless centuries of torment and not be driven to the Calvary road that leads to life. May God give us in perfect proportion the fruitful balance of loving heaven and fearing hell.