“And
Moses said: “By this you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these
works, for I have not done them of my own will. “If these men die naturally
like all men, or if they are visited by the common fate of all men, then the
LORD has not sent me. “But if the LORD creates a new thing, and the earth opens
its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down
alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the
LORD.” Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground
split apart under them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up,
with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. So they
and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over
them, and they perished from among the assembly. Then all Israel who were
around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up
also!”” Numbers 16:28-34 NKJV
Where
exactly do you believe Hell is? Some of
the answers people give to that question might well surprise you. I have always believed that the Word of God
made it rather clear that the direction we need to look is simply “down”. In the passage above from the book of
Numbers, we find that as a result of their sin, God passes judgment upon Korah
and the people who chose to follow his lead in questioning the authority of
Moses as a spokesman for God. In what I
believe we could consider a “road sign” pointing to the direction of Hell, God
caused the earth to open up and swallow those who rebelled against Moses being
chosen by God to lead the children of Israel.
There
are a couple of things that stood out to me as I read this passage besides the
direction in which these people went.
Notice if you will that the Word makes it clear by stating twice that
they went down “alive” into the “pit”.
Important too, I believe, is that God uses the word “swallowed” to
describe what happens when they are judged for their sin. When I read that word, I immediately thought
of Jonah being swallowed whole, and rather than dying, lived. Is it possible that the earth can “swallow”
men and they can still live? If we
consider the middle of the earth to be the place of Hell, then I think we
can. Look at these words from Solomon
from his very first chapter of Proverbs.
“Let us
swallow them alive like Sheol, And whole, like those who go down to the Pit;” Proverbs 1:12 NKJV
It
would certainly appear Solomon believed that the direction to Hell points
downward, and being swallowed whole is the fate of those whom God judges. The Word of God is full of passages which
indicate that the location of Hell is down, and most often described as a pit,
or the Pit. Here are just a few more
examples for you to read and consider.
“Thus
says the Lord GOD: ‘In the day when it went down to hell, I caused mourning. I
covered the deep because of it. I restrained its rivers, and the great waters
were held back. I caused Lebanon to mourn for it, and all the trees of the field
wilted because of it. ‘I made the nations shake at the sound of its fall, when
I cast it down to hell together with those who descend into the Pit; and all
the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were
comforted in the depths of the earth. ‘They also went down to hell with it, with
those slain by the sword; and those who were its strong arm dwelt in its
shadows among the nations.” Ezekiel
31:15-17 NKJV
Then
the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him
was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke
arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air
were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.
Revelation 9:1,2 NKJV
Then I
saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and
a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is
the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into
the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should
deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after
these things he must be released for a little while. Revelation 20:1-3 NKJV
By
now I am sure you might be wondering why I decided to discuss this subject
today, and share my thoughts on where Hell might truly be. Truthfully, some might wonder if I am
starting to wander into the twilight zone with my reasoning, but as they say,
here goes nothing. We are called as
believers to watch for the signs of the end of days approaching. I, and many of you, choose to do exactly
that. We also are told that of the signs
to watch for, physical unrest of this planet is something which we can expect
to see as those days draw near.
As
of this morning, there are 67 volcanoes in the world actively erupting lava or
ash clouds. If that were not enough, the
number of measureable earthquakes around the world has quadrupled in just the last two months. We also are told in the book of Revelation
that the pit will open up during the tribulation and all sorts of unimaginable
things will come out to torment men during that time. So here is where I choose to wander. As I looked at these things, and thought
about where Hell is, I could not help wondering if there is a correlation
between the location of Hell, the unprecedented geological activity occurring,
and the proximity to what many of us believe is the rapture of the Church and
the beginning of the tribulation period?
I
do.
Keep
watching.
