Going Deeper – Week 7 Judgement, Heaven, Hell & the Hope of Eternity
- Stephen Sutton
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
This is the final week in our God’s Book series we come to one of the biggest and most emotionally charged topics in the whole Bible:
What happens after death?
Heaven. Hell. Judgement. Eternity.
And for many people, these ideas carry all sorts of emotions, fear, confusion, scepticism, curiosity, anxiety and hope.
Because deep down, most of us sense that human life must mean more than just a few decades between birth and death.
Something inside of us longs for justice.... or wrongs to be made right... for evil not to have the final word. And for LIFE to go on.
And the Bible has a lot to say about it.
The Bible’s Vision of Eternity Is Bigger Than We Often Think
The Bible’s ultimate hope is not people escaping earth and floating off to heaven forever. The great hope of Scripture is new creation.
A healed world. A renewed humanity. Heaven and earth reunited. God dwelling with His people and living together, just like he always intended it.
The Bible does speak about life after death and being “with Christ” but the final Christian hope is all about "resurrection" and "new creation".
That is where the whole story of the Bible is heading.
Not escaping this creation…but a restoration and new start for creation.
Read Ahead This Week
1. Revelation 21:1–5
One of the most important passages in the Bible.
Notice: heaven comes down to earth. God dwells with humanity, tears are wiped away, death is defeated, creation is renewed
“He is making all things new.”
2. Revelation 20:11–15
The great throne of judgement.
This is strong imagery, but remember: Revelation is something called apocalyptic literature - which uses highly symbolic language and images to communicate the big spiritual truths to us.
One of the key themes here is justice. Evil does not get the final word.
3. 1 Corinthians 15:20–28, 50–58
Paul’s astonishing vision of resurrection.
This chapter is foundational for understanding Christian hope.
The end goal is not souls escaping bodies.
It is resurrection life in God’s renewed creation.
Helpful BibleProject Resources
“Heaven & Earth” – BibleProject
Probably the single most helpful video for this week.
It explores the Bible’s vision of heaven and earth being reunited in the new creation. https://bibleproject.com/videos/heaven-and-earth/
“The Day of the Lord” Podcast
If you really want to go deeper then this 7 part podcast series will really help. Its a really important overview of judgement in the Bible; not simply punishment, but God confronting evil and setting the world right.
“Revelation” overview
Helps explain apocalyptic imagery, symbolism, and the deeper hope running through the final book of the Bible.
Judgement as Good News?
This can sound strange at first. But the Bible consistently presents God’s final judgement as good news. Why?
Because if God never judges evil, then, injustice wins, abuse wins, violence wins...etc
The Bible says there is coming a day when everything hidden will be brought into the light. No tyrant escapes justice. No cruelty is ignored. No hidden faithfulness is forgotten. As Psalm 96 says, creation itself rejoices when God comes to judge.
Because finally the world will be healed and set right.
What About Hell?
This can be of the hardest topics in the Bible. And we should approach it with humility, care, and caution. It's important that we do not to reduce “hell” to cartoon imagery or simplistic scare tactics.
The Bible uses a range of vivid images, cleansing fire, darkness, exclusion, destruction, ruin, separation. These images communicate a devastating reality of a life that rejects the life and love of God. Its worth remembering that if God is LIFE and the source of all LIFE then walking away from God naturally leads to a reality that is not marked LIFE.
When Jesus talks about “hell,” the word he most often uses is actually Gehenna.
And Gehenna was a real place. It was a valley just outside Jerusalem called the Valley of Hinnom. That valley had a dark history in Israel’s story. In the Old Testament, it became associated with idolatry, injustice, child sacrifice, and rebellion against God (see Jeremiah 7:31–32). Over time, it became a symbol of destruction, judgement, and ruin.
So when Jesus uses the word Gehenna (hell), He is drawing on a powerful image his listeners already understood.
Now this matters because sometimes modern Christians imagine Jesus talking about hell mainly through the lens of medieval artwork, pitchforks, underground torture chambers, cartoon devils and so on. But Jesus’ language is much more rooted in prophetic imagery and historical meaning.
He’s speaking as a Jewish prophet warning people about the catastrophic consequences of humanity rejecting the ways of God.
Jesus speaks about, Gehenna (hell) and images of fire, darkness, exclusion, destruction, ruin. Not because He is trying to satisfy our curiosity about the mechanics and details of the afterlife…
…but because He is urgently warning humanity that rejecting God’s Kingdom naturally leads toward death and separation from the life of God.
Jesus speaks about Gehenna because He loves people enough to warn them.
And at the same time, the wider story of the gospel is that Jesus Himself takes on the consequesnes of judgement on behalf of the world so that we do not have to
Living “In Light of Eternity”
One of the strongest themes in the New Testament is that The future changes the present. If resurrection is real…If new creation is coming…If Jesus truly is Lord…
then how we live now matters deeply. Not because we are earning salvation, but because the Kingdom of God has already begun breaking into the present.
Every act of, mercy, justice, forgiveness, compassion, holiness, faithfulness, courage, generosity....
is all a part of Gods eternal plans.
A Simple Practice This Week
Spend a few quiet moments reading Revelation 21 slowly.
Imagine the scene:
no death
no mourning
no pain
no injustice
no tears
Then pray:
“Lord Jesus, help me live today in light of your coming Kingdom.”
One Final Thought
The Bible ends not with people escaping the world…
but with God coming near.
The final words of Scripture are full of longing:
“Come, Lord Jesus.”
The Christian hope is not ultimately about leaving earth behind.
It is about resurrection, renewal, and finally being fully at home with God in His healed creation.
See you Sunday.
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