WILSON REVISITED

Remember Castaway, the Tom Hanks movie a few years back where he found a Wilson volleyball? It kept him company while he waited to be rescued from an uninhabited isle.

I watched a 1958 sermon from the Rev. Billy Graham the other night and he made a point that I was unaware of. He said many joke about going to hell, saying "well at least I'll have a lot of friends there". Maybe so, Rev. Graham said, but you won't see them. He added, you won't even see the devil. You'll not only be separated from God; you'll be separated from everyone. You'll be all alone for eternity.

So what else do we know about hell, Hades (Rev 1:18), Sheol, the lake of fire, or Gehenna? All are referred to in scripture as a place generally thought to be under the earth. The one exception could be Gehenna in the Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem where children were sacrificed to pagan gods (2 Kgs 23:10).

We also know it's for eternity. An eternity separated from God because of rebellion or refusal or denial. It's the biggest mistake a person ever makes. I started to compare it to not being invited to a party and sitting at home alone knowing how much fun everyone else was having there. But it's so much worse than that.

And to think, in hell you won't even have Wilson.