Many have been shocked and saddened by the news of both David Bowie and Alan Rickman’s deaths. Amidst the dismay that people express, it may become almost easy to forget that both these men died of the same cause at the same age; neither of them were youngsters. One was skilled in music, and the other in acting, but I think their lives were undoubtedly more complex and meaningful than just these skills that we celebrate. However, why are their deaths any more newsworthy than those of the dozens of innocents (including women and children) who live in war-torn lands such as Syria or Palestine-Israel? Were their lives so much more valuable than those of others? I don’t ask these questions to detract from the fact that all deaths are tragic, since death itself was never an original feature of God’s blueprint for humanity.
There was a fascinating discussion on the Radio today about how quickly people have started to conveniently believe in heaven, no matter how militant their apparent atheism, and claim that David Bowie is there now with Bob Marley and the like. There seems to be almost an innate human need to believe that there is more to this life when faced with death. As the Preacher famously states,
God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has set eternity in the human heart, yet also placed ignorance therein, so that no-one can fathom what God has done from start to finish.
– Ecclesiastes 3:11
What does ignorance look like in the face of eternity? What better expression could there be of this than actually singing “Imagine there’s no heaven”?
The two individuals who were talking to this point on the Radio today said that to be in heaven means “to be always in the presence of God,” or words to that effect. However, I don’t know how comfortably this sits with me, as it seems to indicate that, if a dead person found herself somewhere other than heaven, she would be experiencing the absence of God. And surely that’s what hell is, right? Not in my Bible!!
The Psalmist wrote, perhaps somewhat confusingly:
If I go up to heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in hell, You are there.
– Psalm 139:8
So, hell is, in fact, not a place where the Lord is absent at all, but is positively present. He may be differently present than He is in heaven, but His presence is an actuality; there is nowhere in any universe where God is not present; He is, Christians profess, omnipresent. And that should bring us great comfort, since we too often feel like we’re living in our version of “hell on earth.”
Those who are facing death every day are experiencing hell before heaven. And those members of the American Episcopal Church who are tortured by a same-sex attraction that they never asked for, and do not want, will be utterly devastated by the latest developments in their church; they are experiencing the crushing agony of hell at their denomination’s failure to recognise the incredible value of their chastity and fidelity. Whilst others celebrate, those homosexuals who believe that denying themselves is part of the cost of their discipleship, who reckon that their celibacy is honouring to Christ, suffer the silent, shadowy anguish of feeling like He has absented Himself from them and the church they so deeply love. But the good news, the best news, is this: “You are there.” There will undoubtedly be further ecclesiastical schism on the horizon, but God has not, and will not, leave His people, no matter how hellish they may feel as the reality of the ignorance of others sinks in. But God is, He is there and He is here. Nowhere on earth, above the earth, nor under the earth, is beyond His redeeming reach.
So, no matter how big the storm clouds, no matter how cold the night, no matter how broken the heart, no matter how high the cost, no matter how fierce the battle, the Son will soon shine, the bleakness will soon passover, the Great Physician shall quickly heal, the sacrifice will soon be offered, and the victory, already assured, shall soon be won!
Isaac Watts penned this wonderful hymn just over 300 years ago:
How sad our state by nature is!
Our sin, how deep it stains!
And Satan binds our captive minds
Fast in his slavish chains
But there’s a voice of sovereign grace,
Sounds from the sacred word:
‘O, ye despairing sinners, come
And trust upon the Lord.’
2. My soul obeys the almighty call,
And runs to this relief.
I would believe Thy promise, Lord;
O help my unbelief!
To the dear fountain of Thy blood,
Incarnate God, I fly;
Here let me wash my spotted soul,
From crimes of deepest dye.
3. Stretch out Thine arm, victorious King,
My reigning sins subdue;
Drive the old dragon from his seat,
With all his hellish crew.
A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,
On Thy kind arms I fall;
Be Thou my strength and righteousness,
My Saviour, and my all.
Listen to it here: https://youtu.be/d_KKZxwYTZ4
broken inside 
…hell? or Sheol?
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