I received this question from a reader recently:
“Can you pray people out of hell and bring them up to heaven?”
This is an excellent question. How would you answer it?
And most importantly, does Scripture address this question? Does the Bible have anything to say about whether people in hell get a second chance to go to heaven?
Here are two passages that I believe speak to this issue.
Passage #1
Matthew 25:31-46 – The Sheep and the Goats
These are the words of Jesus:
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
What happens to the sheep, those on his right?
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”
And what happens to the goats, those on his left?
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
Jesus concludes this passage by saying, “Then they (the goats) will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous (the sheep) to eternal life” (v. 46).
The key word in the passage, with regard to the question of whether or not people in hell get a second change, is “eternal.” It appears three times. The punishment of the goats is eternal, and so is the kingdom inherited by the sheep.
I take “eternal” to mean “everlasting.” It never ends. Whatever happens to the goats in the next life lasts forever, and whatever happens to the sheep lasts forever. Both the punishment of the cursed goats and the inherited kingdom of the sheep never end.
Passage #2
Luke 16:19-31 – The Rich Man and Lazarus
It is important to remember that this is a parable about the eternal destinies of two men: a beggar named Lazarus and an unnamed rich man who “lived in luxury.”
Lazarus dies and angels carry him “to Abraham’s side.” The rich man dies and goes to Hades, “where he was in torment.” (NOTE: According to the MacArthur Study Bible, in the New Testament, “Hades always refers to the place of the wicked prior to final judgment in hell.” Therefore, Hades is a synonym for hell.)
Then the rich man sees Abraham and Lazarus and cries out, “‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire’ (v.24).
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
Luke 16:26 may be the best verse in the Bible to answer the question, “Can you pray people out of hell and bring them up to heaven?” Answer: “None may cross from there to us” (ESV).
This is a sobering truth. And something that Jesus addressed repeatedly, for in the Bible, no one spoke more about hell than Jesus. There’s a plethora of verses in the New Testament about God’s love. (Check out my blog post “Jesus Loves Me, How I Know.) There are just as many verses, if not more, that speak of God’s wrath.
Here’s another way to look at it: Aren’t the many verses in Scripture about hell actually yet another demonstration of God’s love? Jesus and the apostles preached often about hell because of their compassion for people. Can you think of anything more loving that to warn someone of the horrific consequences of their sin, if they remain in a state of unrepentant unbelief?
Sadly, the prospect of spending forever in hell is an unpopular subject, for sure. When was the last time your pastor preached a sermon about hell? Or even mentioned it?
Jesus preached God’s love, and He also preached God’s wrath. We must do the same.
“But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (Luke 12:5).
Can you think of any other passages in Scripture that address this issue of whether people in hell get a second chance? Let me know by leaving a comment below.
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