BEYOND THE SERMON

It's Hell, But Heaven's Coming

Message 1: The Drive-By

Pastor Rod Meyers  •  Covington Community Church  •  Key text: Matthew 16:13-18 (NIV)

 

Message Overview

Hell is a four-letter word, and it is a blunt one. But Jesus spoke about hell more than anyone else in Scripture, and He was the original preacher on the subject. This series is a "twofer": three messages on hell, followed by four messages on heaven. Both are real. Scripture tells us our world is broken and suffering is real; it also tells us that through Christ Jesus we have hope beyond measure.

This first message is a drive-by. We are not going to camp in hell, and we are not going to stay there. But hell is a landmark, and we need to see it, recognize it, and understand its reality before we move forward. When Jesus taught about hell, He did not use a metaphor or an abstract idea. He pointed to real, physical places His disciples knew — places they could see, smell, and picture. This guide takes the same tour.

Key Scripture

 

Note that the NIV renders Jesus' phrase "the gates of Hades" where the KJV and ESV read "the gates of hell." The word study below explains why both are true to the text — and why the location where Jesus said it makes the phrase anything but poetic.

Word Study

 

Landmark One: Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom

Today it looks like a park — vacant, a few shepherds, some road work on the edge. It is startling that prime land inside Jerusalem has never been built on. Even from a tour bus it feels eerie. In Israel's history this valley was a place of national shame.

A History of Shame

• King Ahaz and King Manasseh sacrificed their own sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom (2 Chronicles 28:3; 2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chronicles 33:6).
• The site was called Topheth. King Josiah deliberately desecrated it so no one could ever again use it to burn a child to Molek (2 Kings 23:10).
• Through Jeremiah, God declared the practice something He never commanded and that "did not enter my mind," and renamed the place the Valley of Slaughter (Jeremiah 7:30-33; Jeremiah 19:1-6).

By Jesus' Day

The valley had become Jerusalem's garbage heap: refuse, carcasses, anything that could no longer be used for any purpose. Fires burned there constantly. The smoke could be seen at night from inside the city; the stench of decay could be smelled. Maggots infested what the fire had not yet consumed. So when Jesus said it is better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into Gehenna, where "the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:43-48, quoting Isaiah 66:24), no one had to imagine it. They could picture it, smell it, and had probably driven by it. For the disciples, hell was a physical point of reference — and it should be real for us.

Think of a modern landfill or the old burn pits: smoke rising, the crackle of fire, the smell of everything that has been thrown away. Now add the religious horror of what had happened there. That is the picture Jesus handed His audience.

Landmark Two: Caesarea Philippi and the Gates of Hades

Now travel north, to the headwaters of the Jordan River at the foot of Mount Hermon. Here stood Caesarea Philippi — earlier called Paneas — with the Temple of Pan carved into a massive rock face. Pan was the Greek god of nature and fertility, pictured with goat horns and cloven hooves; some of our mental imagery of Hades comes from him. Beside the temple yawned a deep cave with water so deep it was considered bottomless. The locals called it the gate to the underworld — the gates of Hades.

Sacrifices were thrown into that cave to appease the gods. Child sacrifice and every kind of debauchery took place at the shrine. For the Jewish people, this was the darkest, most spiritually corrupt place in the region. Mount Hermon itself carried an ancient reputation as a place of evil. It was no ordinary place — and Jesus walked His disciples straight to it.

What Jesus Did There

Standing in front of the gates of Hades, Jesus asked, "Who do you say I am?" Peter confessed, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered: on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it (Matthew 16:15-18).

Notice where He did not say it. He did not say it from the safety of a synagogue or the hallowed halls of a church. He made the declaration at the very gate of hell, in front of the shrine, with people walking in and out of it — "Even here, in the darkest stronghold of evil, my church will prevail." And then, from that spot, He turned toward Jerusalem and walked into Passion Week to secure every word of it (Matthew 16:21).

 

Two Landmarks, One Lesson

 

Jesus and the Keys

Jesus promised victory over the gates of Hades, then went to Calvary and secured it. He did not merely describe hell; He lived every piece of the way to the cross and rose from the grave to seal the victory forever. The pit of hell is not the believer's problem today, because of what Jesus did.

 

• Jesus came "to proclaim freedom for the prisoners" — to set the captives free. That was all of us; hell was where we were headed naturally (Luke 4:18-19; Isaiah 61:1).
• "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:55-57).
• By His death He broke the power of the one who holds the power of death, and freed those held in slavery by their fear of it (Hebrews 2:14-15).
• Jesus is not afraid to show us what hell looks like — even in a drive-by — so that we understand what He conquered on our behalf.

What Jesus Said About Gehenna

 

Application

Hell is real, and so are our choices — and they matter. Every person will spend eternity somewhere: either in God's presence in heaven or separated from Him in hell. Jesus is the only person who has a cure for hell and death. He holds the keys.

• Because hell is real, our mission is urgent. Sharing the gospel is not an option; it is the remedy, and it is the most loving thing we can do.
• Because Jesus has overcome it, believers do not fear hell. He told us not to. The gates of Hades cannot prevail against Him or His church.
• Because Jesus spoke His boldest words at the gate of hell, we do not make our confession only in church or when it is convenient. We make it in the hard places, too.
• Our task: make it hard to go to hell in Covington, Washington, because of Jesus Christ.

 

Series Roadmap

 

 

Reflection Questions

1. Pastor Rod said hell is "not a metaphor, not a concept or an idea." Before this message, how concretely did you think of hell? What changes when you picture Gehenna as a real, burning valley the disciples could smell?

 

 

 

 

 

2. Read Matthew 16:13-18. Why do you think Jesus chose the gates of Hades at Caesarea Philippi — rather than the synagogue or the temple — as the place to ask, "Who do you say I am?" and to make His promise about the church?

 

 

 

 

 

3. Jesus made His boldest declaration in the darkest place in the region. Where are the "hard places" in your own life where it is difficult to confess who Jesus is? What would it look like to make that confession there?

 

 

 

 

 

4. Read Revelation 1:18 and Hebrews 2:14-15. As believers we do not fear hell, but many people around us do — or fear death. How does Jesus holding the keys change the way you talk with someone who is afraid?

 

 

 

 

 

5. "Sharing the gospel isn't an option — it's the most loving thing we can do." Who is one person you could drive by hell with this week, so they can see what Jesus conquered? What is your first step?

 

 

 

 

 

6. What would it take to "make it hard to go to hell in Covington"? Name one concrete thing our church — and you personally — could do toward that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Further Study

• Jeremiah 7:30-34 and Jeremiah 19:1-13 — the full account of the Valley of Hinnom and the Valley of Slaughter.
• 2 Kings 23:1-14 — Josiah's reforms, including the desecration of Topheth.
• Isaiah 66:22-24 — the undying worm and unquenchable fire that Jesus quotes in Mark 9.
• Luke 16:19-31 — the rich man and Lazarus: Jesus' most detailed picture of Hades.
• Revelation 20:11-15 — the great white throne and the lake of fire, where death and Hades themselves are finally thrown.
• John 14:1-3 — a first look ahead to Part Two: the place Jesus is preparing for us.

 

Next week: a deeper dive — pardon the pun — into what hell is, what Scripture says about it, and why it matters for how we live and witness.