ETERNITY -- I CANNOT GRASP IT

      It goes something like this:  "Eternal suffering would be unjust even for the most evil of men.  A million, two million or even a billion years maybe for a Stalin or Hitler, but forever and ever?"  Then the other form of the problem goes like this:  "After a few million years of singing hymns, etc., I will be totally bored in Heaven; what in the world are we going to do forever and ever?"  My reaction to the first one is "you have no concept of the nature of evil"; and my reaction to the second is "you have no concept of what it means to live, really live!"
       "Hell" is an Anglo-Saxon word used since the days of Tyndale to translate (sometimes) the Old Testament Hebrew word sheol and the New Testament Greek words hades, gehenna and tarturus.  We would probably be better off if all English translations had simply brought those four words directly into English and not use the words hell, grave, death, etc. to translate them.  Then we would not have to listen to people with IQ's of minus three using expressions like, "O, hell yes" or "one hell of a time".  I've counted at least fifteen such idiotic and profane uses of the word.   The one Old Testament reference to the enemies of God being "thrown into the blazing fire" is Daniel 7:11 and it is a reference to the one the New Testament calls antichrist.  Jesus used the word gehenna for the place of eternal punishment and in Matthew 25:41 called it "the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels". 
     Claiming that the "eternal" nature of this condition is "unjust and unfair of God" ignores completely the reality of rebellion and evil increasing exponentially throughout eternity on the part of the incorrigible.  For God to admit such beings into the eternal Kingdom to reintroduce rebellion, suffering and death all over again would be . . . well, you get the picture.  As to the worry that God might treat some hypothetical persons "unfairly and unjustly" . . . well, if it wasn't so serious it would be laughable that we fallen and finite sinners are lecturing The Holy One out of a fear that He might just do something wrong!  As to the nature of the fire I am convinced it is metaphorical.  Fire, as we know it, would not be felt by spirit beings like the devil and his angels. 
      As regards the "agony in this fire" that the rich man in Hades felt  (Luke 16:24); we should not forget that he was 'out of' or 'apart from' his body, which was in a grave somewhere.  Like some of Jesus' parables this passage probably raises more questions than it answers.  The theme of this passage was expressed by John:  "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love" (I John 4:8).  Jesus was not so much teaching the nature of Hades (the word he used) as He was warning about indifference to the suffering of people near us while we indulge in luxury.  I cannot refrain from saying that this is one reason why I consider 'cruise ships' as one of the worst possible places for spiritual growth.  I would sense the Presence of God more at an inner city rescue mission than on one of those abominable boats.  At this moment of time most of us already have too much luxury when compared with most people throughout most of history.
      I strongly suspect that Jesus used the symbolic word gehenna (translated hell) because rubbish fires continually burned there and in ancient times it was a place of the horror of infant sacrifices.  Is it possible that a totally literal description of the "lake of fire" (Rev. 20:15) would have misled some to say, "that's not so bad"?  So Jesus (and John, moved by the Spirit) used the strongest metaphor in language to express the worst possible of all destinies, to be "shut out from the Lord and from the majesty of His power" (II Thess. 1:9), so that no one will minimize it.  I am not dogmatic about this but I strongly lean this way.  What each one there will experience will be "according to what they had done" (Rev. 20:12).
     Another overlooked fact is that Heaven is described as being a place of fire.  "A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before Him (God)"  (Daniel 7:10).   John saw Heaven as "what looked liked a sea of glass mixed with fire" (Rev. 15:2).  I am convinced that the fire in both places is none other than the Presence of God Himself.  "For our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29).  "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he too will drink of the wine of God's fury . . . he will be tormented . . . in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.  And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever."  (Rev. 14:9-11)  Everyone is going to a place where there is fire!  The question is:  which one of the two? 
     As I write this on a cold, windy evening, a warm and cozy fire burns in the Vermont Castings Vigilant stove just a few feet from me.  I am rightly related to that fire.  If I choose to defy the laws of physics that the Creator has made and angrily rip that fire apart with my bare hands . . . well, you see what I mean.  The rebels in hell will have chosen to defy the Creator's moral and spiritual laws and hate the Creator Himself.  Their lives may have been filled with what some consider good deeds but if they have refused to believe what the Creator revealed about Himself and how we become rightly related to Him, it is still rebellion.
     As to the matter of being bored in the eternal Kingdom, the New Heavens and the New Earth; this also would be laughable if not so serious.  "His servants will serve Him" (Rev. 22:3).  How endless are the ways of serving Him even now in this fallen and sinful world.  How infinite will be the ways of serving Him then.  How wonderful the continual discovery of the "unsearchable riches" of Him Who is infinite and eternal in His being. 
     "The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it" (Rev. 21:24).  We are talking here about a very real New Earth with nations and kings and splendor and billions upon billions of redeemed humans joyfully serving the One of Whom Augustine said, "You have make us for Yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You". 
     "You will fill me with joy in Your Presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."  (Psalm 16:11)