Day 30 meditation focuses on what the Bible really says about hell.
Although the preaching and the teaching of hell have often been extensive in the history of the visible church, it was rarely mentioned by the early followers of Jesus. Of the twenty-three times hell is cited in the New Testament, Paul, the author of almost half of the New Testament, never use the word. In the gospel of John, which many call the most spiritual of the gospels, the term hell is also not found. James referred to hell only once. Peter also used the term only one time, although in quoting David (Acts 2:27) he used it two additional times. Apart from the gospels and the quoting of David, hell is cited only six times. In all the letters written by the early followers of Jesus that have come down to us, it is presented only two times.
Day 30 meditation reveals that it is Jesus who does all the teaching about hell.
It is Jesus that does most of the teaching about hell. Of the twenty-three times the English word hell is found in the New Testament, sixteen of those twenty-three are cited by Jesus. In the three gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus refers to the the reference of hell fifteen times. Since Jesus did most of the teaching concerning hell, it should be beneficial for all believers in Christ to understand what He meant by the use of the term.
Day 30 proclaims that James, the Lord’s brother, gives the most graphic description of the fires of hell.
Although Jesus used the term hell more than all the other New Testament writers put together, it is James, the Lord’s brother, which gave the most graphic description of hell (James 3). According to James, it is the tongue of man being controlled by his mind dwelling as in the garbage dump of the Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna) that is “an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” The tongue out of control will always defile the basic relationships of man. It is also destructive to the individual’s body. As James would later say the weeping and the miseries of this hell shall “eat your flesh as it were fire.”
