In an e-mail teaching letter sent out from the desiring-god website, Dr. John Piper writes:

C.S. Lewis is one of the top 5 dead people who have shaped the way I see and respond to the world. But he is not a reliable guide on a number of important theological matters. Hell is one of them. His stress is relentlessly that people are not “sent” to hell but become their own hell. His emphasis is that we should think of “a bad man’s perdition not as a sentence imposed on him but as the mere fact of being what he is.” (For all the relevant quotes, see Martindale and Root, The Quotable Lewis, 288-295.)

This inclines him to say, “All that are in hell choose it.” And this leads some who follow Lewis in this emphasis to say things like, “All God does in the end with people is give them what they most want.”

I come from the words of Jesus to this way of talking and find myself in a different world of discourse and sentiment. I think it is misleading to say that hell is giving people what they most want. I’m not saying you can’t find a meaning for that statement that’s true, perhaps in Romans 1:24-28. I’m saying that it’s not a meaning that most people would give to it in light of what hell really is. I’m saying that the way Lewis deals with hell and the way Jesus deals with it are very different. And we would do well to follow Jesus.

The misery of hell will be so great that no one will want to be there. They will be weeping and gnashing their teeth (Matthew 8:12). Between their sobs, they will not speak the words, “I want this.” They will not be able to say amid the flames of the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14), “I want this.” “The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night” (Revelation 14:11). No one wants this.

When there are only two choices, and you choose against one, it does not mean that you want the other, if you are ignorant of the outcome of both. Unbelieving people know neither God nor hell. This ignorance is not innocent. Apart from regenerating grace, all people “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18).

The person who rejects God does not know the real horrors of hell. This may be because he does not believe hell exists, or it may be because he convinces himself that it would be tolerably preferable to heaven.

But whatever he believes or does not believe, when he chooses against God, he is wrong about God and about hell. He is not, at that point, preferring the real hell over the real God. He is blind to both. He does not perceive the true glories of God, and he does not perceive the true horrors of hell.

So when a person chooses against God and, therefore, de facto chooses hell—or when he jokes about preferring hell with his friends over heaven with boring religious people—he does not know what he is doing. What he rejects is not the real heaven (nobody will be boring in heaven), and what he “wants” is not the real hell, but the tolerable hell of his imagination.

When he dies, he will be shocked beyond words. The miseries are so great he would do anything in his power to escape. That it is not in his power to repent does not mean he wants to be there. Esau wept bitterly that he could not repent (Hebrew 12:17). The hell he was entering into he found to be totally miserable, and he wanted out. The meaning of hell is the scream: “I hate this, and I want out.”

What sinners want is not hell but sin. That hell is the inevitable consequence of unforgiven sin does not make the consequence desirable. It is not what people want—certainly not what they “most want.” Wanting sin is no more equal to wanting hell than wanting chocolate is equal to wanting obesity. Or wanting cigarettes is equal to wanting cancer.

Beneath this misleading emphasis on hell being what people “most want” is the notion that God does not “send” people to hell. But this is simply unbiblical. God certainly does send people to hell. He does pass sentence, and he executes it. Indeed, worse than that. God does not just “send,” he “throws.”

“If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown (Greek eblethe) into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15; cf. Mark 9:47; Matthew 13:42; 25:30).

The reason the Bible speaks of people being “thrown” into hell is that no one will willingly go there, once they see what it really is. No one standing on the shore of the lake of fire jumps in. They do not choose it, and they will not want it. They have chosen sin. They have wanted sin. They do not want the punishment. When they come to the shore of this fiery lake, they must be thrown in.

When someone says that no one is in hell who doesn’t want to be there, they give the false impression that hell is within the limits of what humans can tolerate. It inevitably gives the impression that hell is less horrible than Jesus says it is.

We should ask: How did Jesus expect his audience to think and feel about the way he spoke of hell? The words he chose were not chosen to soften the horror by being accommodating to cultural sensibilities. He spoke of a “fiery furnace” (Matthew 13:42), and “weeping and gnashing teeth” (Luke 13:28), and “outer darkness” (Matthew 25:30), and “their worm [that] does not die” (Mark 9:48), and “eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:46), and “unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:43), and being “cut in pieces” (Matthew 24:51).

These words are chosen to portray hell as an eternal, conscious experience that no one would or could ever “want” if they knew what they were choosing. Therefore, if someone is going to emphasize that people freely “choose” hell, or that no one is there who doesn’t “want” to be there, surely he should make every effort to clarify that, when they get there, they will not want this.

Surely the pattern of Jesus—who used blazing words to blast the hell-bent blindness out of everyone— should be followed. Surely, we will grope for words that show no one, no one, no one will want to be in hell when they experience what it really is. Surely everyone who desires to save people from hell will not mainly stress that it is “wantable” or “chooseable,” but that it is horrible beyond description — weeping, gnashing teeth, darkness, worm-eaten, fiery, furnace-like, dismembering, eternal, punishment, “an abhorrence to all flesh” (Isaiah 66:24).

I thank God, as a hell-deserving sinner, for Jesus Christ my Savior, who became a curse for me and suffered hellish pain that he might deliver me from the wrath to come. While there is time, he will do that for anyone who turns from sin and treasures him and his work above all.

Trembling before such realities, and trusting Jesus,

Pastor John Piper

From the 2010 Ligonier National Conference.

Dr. R.C. Sproul brought the conference to a close with a message entitled “Can We Enjoy Heaven Knowing of Loved Ones in Hell?” To address this topic, he read from Revelation 21:1-8 and also from Romans 8:19-30. Alex Chediak made these summary notes:

INTRODUCTION
They called it “the shot heard around the world.” It kicked off an 8-year war of independence for the United States of America. But an event took place prior to that in the city of Boston: The Boston Massacre. This event touched Ethan Allen in Vermont, Patrick Henry, George Washington, Sam Adams, and John Adams. In the Boston Massacre, British troops fired upon unarmed civilians.

Do you know how many civilians were killed in the Boston Massacre? Just five. Nothing compared to the destruction of Canaanites. Every time we come together to worship we have a taste of heaven. But what came to the Canaanites (or to the world in the days of Noah) was a taste of hell.

The final consummation of the reign of God over his creation must and will certainly involve separation. There will be an antithesis between those who are faithful and receive their inheritance in the family of God and partake of the inestimable joy of heaven. And there will be those outside the camp who are consigned to the lake of fire. Streets of gold on the one hand, fire and brimstone on the other. Any attempt to water this down exposes ourselves to the curse of God.

So: How Can We Be Happy in Heaven if Our Loved Ones Are in That Lake?

REVELATION 21:1-8
In verse 4 we read, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Heaven is a place where God personally wipes away our tears. And when He wipes them away, they never return. Expelled are death, disease, pain and sorrow. For all who dwell in heaven will drink freely from the water of life.

TWO EMBARRASING EVENTS FROM MY SEMINARY DAYS
Event #1: We had been in chapel at the seminary (a very liberal seminary). Sproul listened reluctantly to a sermon that disrespected and dishonored everything that is precious to those who love the Reformed faith. Sproul walked out of chapel with Dr. Gerstner and they were walking to the parking lot. Dr. Gerstner walked in large strides. And Sproul said to Dr. Gerstner, “If Calvin had heard that sermon, he would have rolled over in his grave.” And Gerstner corrected Sproul in mid-sentence to inform him that Calvin has entered eternal felicity which could not by any means be disturbed.

Event #2: One student asked Dr. Gerstner, “How can I be happy in heaven if I’m aware that one of my loved ones is in hell?” Dr. Gerstner responded: “Don’t you know that when you are in heaven you will be so sanctified that you could look at your own mother in hell and rejoice in the display of the justice of God.” And Sproul burst out laughing, informing Dr. Gerstner that his statement was absolutely ridiculous.

ROMANS 8:19-30
The latter verses comprise the golden chain, the order of salvation. We often read these verses and debate predestination, forgetting to discuss the end or the goal of predestination. The purpose of predestination is that we be conformed to the image of Christ. We are elected in Christ, for Christ, to be brought into conformity to Christ.

At these Ligonier conferences, we often focus on the doctrine of justification. It is the article by which we stand or fall. But the end of the chain is not predestination, or justification, or effectual calling. What is it? Glorification. When is the last time you heard a sermon on glorification.

There are three reasons why we worry about our future happiness in heaven when we discover that our friends or family and possibly even our own spouse is not there.

1. We don’t know who God is.
We are so baffled by God’s holiness that more often than not we are offended by it.

2. We don’t know who we are.
We say “to err is human” and thus minimize our sins and unholiness.

3. We don’t know what glorification entails.
Yes, we will get new bodies and not need glasses, hearing aids, or numerous medications. But do we meditate on the fact that there will be no need for light, because the Lamb of God will illumine everything. But that which will be most conspicuously absent in that place is sin. There won’t just be a new heavens and earth, our sanctification will reach its destination. Glorification is not exaltation. It is the perfection of our sanctification.

Dr. Sproul explained that he used to do a demonstration in seminary. I’d select one student to play Jesus. Another person to represent Hitler. And a third student represents the Apostle Paul. [Dr. Sproul believes that Paul was, apart from Jesus, the most holy man to have ever walked the earth.] So on this continuum between Hitler and Jesus, where do we put the Apostle Paul?

He is close to Hitler. There is a chasm between both Hitler and Paul (on the one hand) and Jesus (on the other). The chasm is so immense that the separation between Hitler and Paul is negligible.

Until our glorification, our concerns and our sympathies rest more with wicked human beings. But not so after our glorification. Then, we will share a greater resemblance with Jesus, and thus there will be a chasm between us (together with Jesus) and unredeemed humanity. When we are glorified, our passion will be for the vindication of God’s name.

CONCLUSION
Because we are so Hitler-esque, we can relate to monstrous sinners more than we can relate to Jesus Christ. That’s why we find the doctrine of hell so repugnant. That’s why we feel sorry for Uzzah when he’s killed for touching the ark (2 Sam. 6), or Aaron’s sons who were struck down for playing at worship (Lev. 10). We don’t feel as sad for the slight Uzzah and Aaron’s sons imparted to the glory of God.

But the day will come when our passion and our identification with the glory of God will be so great that our sympathies will be with God and not with our fellow creatures who belittle God’s glory. We are not there now. But in our glorification we shall be.

The full message can be viewed at this link.

John Piper:

Two of the passages of Scripture that express the unending nature of hell most clearly point to seemingly opposite reasons it will be terrible. One speaks of being “away from the presence of the Lord.” The other speaks of suffering “in the presence of the Lamb.”

“They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

“If anyone worships the beast . . . he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever” (Revelation 14:9–11).

These are not contradictory descriptions.

The first text describes the presence and power of the Lord as glorious in the sense of being thrilling to the souls of the saints. As the next verse says, “He comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed” (2 Thessalonians 1:10). Unbelievers will be excluded from this experience. Christ will not be beautiful or marvelous to them.

The second text simply says the angels and the Lamb will be attending this punishment. They will be present. They “will be tormented in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb” (Revelation 14:10). Their presence is not for enjoyment but for vindication.

God considers it right and suitable that those who rejected Christ see him triumphant, pure, and justified over all who considered him unworthy of their trust. The focus in Revelation 14:10 is not that those in hell have the privilege of seeing what they enjoy, but that they have the remorse of seeing what they rejected.

And — perhaps the deepest sting — they know he sees them.

Christians who suffered for their faith did so in the presence of crowds of onlookers. Ultimately their tormentors will be punished in the presence of more august spectators ‘in keeping with many other scenes of this book where the deepest sting that bitter conscience is dealt is that it must suffer while utter purity is looking on.’” (R. V. G. Tasker, Revelation, 181)