Now you go down with this truth, down into the vortex of awful agony, right down to the gates of hell, your being is upheaved right from the very bottom, and all the time there is the question Will that truth hold good?
It would seem that hell is largely employed in issuing forth smoke, clouds, vapors, mists of suspicion, question, reservation, in order to infect with uncertainty, mystification, prejudice, fear, discrediting, distrust, aloofness.
With His foreknowledge of the passing of the earthly, temporal and material things; places, systems, fixed locations, and outward forms, the Lord Jesus put the whole matter of survival upon Himself as the constituent of a spiritual structure against which the very powers of hell would not prevail.
Because the Lord must have something against which hell is impotent and by which He demonstrates to the universe that strength of His might which causes to stand and withstand, and having done all to stand.
And the Lord is seeking to have a people who cannot be shaken, against whom hell with all its demonstration of arrogance and pride, is impotent.
May He give us grace to endure whatever the trial may be, along whatever line of metaphor, the wind, the blaze, supreme heat, or pressure of His hand, all of which is to get us into a place where we cannot be moved, where hell cannot shake us, where His power is made manifest as triumphant over all the power of the enemy.
This battle of heaven and hell, God and Satan, goes on in our souls, but there is for us this consolation, that we have a High Priest ever living to make intercession.
If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. § “Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord, “and not a God afar off?
But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.Fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine… I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no savior… I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins. § Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him—for the redemption of their souls is costly. § I have found a ransom. § God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell … No man can tame the tongue.
The accuser may go away rebuked by this, that God has justified us; the judge may go away rebuked by this, that the Lord Jesus has died - has already suffered the judgment, and His work has been accepted to the full in heaven itself; the executioner may go away rebuked by this, that all the malice of earth and hell together shall never drag us away from the firm embrace of our God.
Keys of Death
It is because He can say with authority and grace:- I am He that lives and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore and I have the keys of death and hell.
Applied Truth
God in infinite, gracious mercy, stooped to the pit of hell to rescue you. You know the truth in your head – now apply the truth in your heart – to rescue you who took part in unholy rebellion against the glorious Creator. You know the truth in your head – now apply the truth in your heart – to save you, a bitter son of disobedience, living in the lust of the flesh. You know the truth in your head – now apply the truth in your heart. God, The Day-spring from on High – in His tender-mercy visited you. You know the truth in your head – now apply the truth in your heart – to forgive you – alienated in thought, mind and deed against His Holy Name.
Fathomless Love
The love of God stoops down to the sin-encrusted earth from His hallowed heaven. The love of God scrapes up from humankind the sick, suffering, sin-stained sinner. The love of God rakes from the pit of hell, fallen sons and daughters of Adam.
Depth of Love
The DEPTH of God’s love reaches the pit of hell... encompassing all, including me, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish. (John 3:16) for if I make my bed in hell, behold You are there. (Psalm 139:8)
dedicated prayer warriors to stand in the gap and pray ‘beyond themselves.’ Believers, with a heart for God’s glory; children, with a love for the Lord; Christians who stand between life and death, for the many; warriors, to fight between heaven and hell, for fellow brothers and sisters.
knowing that every enemy is under His feet. The cross of Christ has placed everything under His feet and there is nothing in this universe that is able to overcome – even the least child of God, for Jesus has told us that the gates of hell will not prevail against His blood-bought children.
Indeed, we read they often travelled the world to make one proselyte..one disciple: and when he became a disciple – they made him twice as fit for hell as they are.
Jesus said, I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it..Matthew 16:18
Feast of Pentecost
Jesus Himself declared that He would build His church and the gates of hell would not be able to prevail against her – nothing could overpower His Church and nothing conquer it. And from that day on the Church of Christ started to grow in the power of the Spirit. 3000 Jewish believers were put into Christ on that momentous feast of Pentecost – all were baptised into His Body and all were empowered by the Holy Spirit.
More Wise Words
Stanley continues, Don’t compare yourself to others; compare yourself with Christ. Remember where you came from, and recall what God has saved you from. Without Him, you would be staring at eternity in hell.
either death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither fears for today nor worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God.
Forgiveness unfastens the shackles of selfishness.” Paul reminds us that: “God forgave us ALL our sins” Col.2:13 – only one of which is sufficient to secure the eternal wages of death and hell.
When the Lord Jesus rose from the dead He broke the power of death forever, so that the sting of death and hell is eternally removed, for all who trust in Him.
and Love stooped so low as to embrace you and me from the pit of hell. Love became incarnate and poured Himself into a prepared body – and that same Love has come to reside in a Body, which is the Church.
I am not justified, and you are not justified, in claiming to be Christians except in the measure in which Christ is manifested in me, in you; and all the force and weight and ingenuity of hell is out against that.
Hell is dead set against the revelation of Jesus Christ.
The saving of men from sin,death, and hell, and getting them to heaven, was as nothingcompared with what Paul saw as to the significance of a believernow.