In John chapter 5, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. At the pool of Bethesda, many sick people, blind, crippled, and lame waited for the waters to move. It was believed that “an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had” v. 4. There was a man who had been a paralytic for 38 years waiting by the pool. Often this man had waited for some kind soul to carry him into the pool; but it never happened. Then he met Jesus. After the man confirmed his desire to be made well, Jesus commanded him to “Rise, take up your bed and walk” v. 8. And immediately the man was healed. Later, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you” v. 14. Some might wonder, the man was a paraplegic for 38 years, so what could be worse? This worse thing that Jesus is talking about is brought on by sin. The result of sin is the eternal hell. In Mark, Jesus said, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— where ‘THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.’ And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— where ‘THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.’ And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire—” Mark 9:43-47. Jesus is not teaching self-mutilation, but rather by the use of figurative language demonstrates by comparison how bad hell will be. The affliction of body and mind can be devastating, but it is not to be compared with one losing his soul. As one stands before God in judgment there is nothing worse to hear than, “He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels’ ” Mat 25:41.
What could be worse than being eternally lost in the devil’s hell? Absolutely nothing. May we strive to live our lives that the very thing that is the worse will not happen but that we will hear our Father say to those on His right hand, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” Mat 25:34.