In Revelation, we encounter a powerful and strange image: the prophet is told to eat a scroll. It’s sweet in his mouth, but bitter in his stomach (Rev. 10:9–10). That imagery has haunted me lately. It describes what it feels like to be entrusted with the Word of God—especially the hard parts. God’s Word is always good, but sometimes it’s hard to digest.
This past Sunday, we talked about one of the most difficult doctrines in the Christian faith: hell. It’s not a popular topic. It stirs discomfort, raises questions, and can even cause offense. But as followers of Jesus, we must be willing to hear—and share—the whole counsel of God, even the parts that are “bitter” to speak.
The Parable of the Net: A Warning and a Hope
In Matthew 13:47–50, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a net that gathers fish of every kind. At the end of the age, the fish are sorted—the good are kept, and the bad are cast out. Jesus ends with a sobering image: a fiery furnace where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Why does Jesus use such vivid, unsettling language? Because he’s trying to wake us up. It’s a warning, not out of cruelty, but out of love. We don’t like to think of judgment, but Jesus talked about it more than almost anyone else in Scripture. If we ignore it, we risk silencing the very voice that came to save us.
Three Views of Hell
In the sermon, I explored the three primary views of hell that have emerged in Christian history:
- Eternal Conscious Torment – the traditional view that hell is a place of everlasting suffering for those who reject God.
- Annihilationism – the belief that the wicked will be destroyed or cease to exist after judgment.
- Universalism – the belief that all people will eventually be saved, even after experiencing judgment.
I shared my own conviction: I believe in the classical view of eternal conscious suffering. Not because I want it to be true, but because Scripture consistently teaches it, and the weight of biblical evidence points in that direction. Still, I also emphasized that our posture must always be humble. These are deep waters, and our understanding is finite. But make no mistake—hell is real, and Jesus calls us to respond with urgency.
The Sweetness of Grace
Here’s the good news: you don’t have to stay a “bad fish.” The gospel is the sweet part of the scroll. Jesus came, not to condemn, but to save. Anyone who calls on his name can be rescued. The cross is the place where God’s justice and mercy meet, where the punishment for sin is poured out—not on us, but on Christ, our substitute.
The doctrine of hell only makes sense when we have a proper view of sin, and more importantly, a proper view of grace. We can’t truly grasp the weight of salvation until we understand what we’ve been saved from.
Speak the Whole Word
This message is a call to the church—to all of us. We must speak the truth in love. We must proclaim both the sweetness of the gospel and the bitter warning of judgment. Not to scare people, but to call them to life.
So let’s not shy away from the hard truths. Let’s preach them with courage, with clarity, and with compassion. The world needs the whole Word of God—and we are the ones entrusted to speak it.
