Hell – Psalms 9:17

 

“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”

 

In the previous lesson we learned that heaven is throne of God, and that throne is found in the being of believers. So then what does that tell us of hell? If heaven be the kingdom of light, which is God’s word. Then it would make sense for hell to be the seat of darkness and all the chaos it sows. 

 

Psalms 9 is a poem that celebrates a prophecy of justice. In it David praises God for both His justice performed on the wicked and His protection, provision and restoration of the righteous. Verse 17, is the end of the sentence that starts in verse 15. [The nations have sunk down in the pit which they made; In the net which they hid, their own foot is caught. The LORD is known by the judgment He executes; The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Meditation.Selah The wicked shall be turned into hell, And all the nations that forget God. – Psalms 9:15-17]

 

Hell seems to be a condition the wicked built for themselves when intended for others in this passage. What does that tell us? That hell is the result of God’s justice and that justice often looks like the wicked getting caught in the traps that they made. In the book of Proverbs both chapter 5 and chapter 7 warn of how immoral women are the gateways to hell, and they do not spare those who are uneducated to the danger of her charms. Proverbs 27:20 warns that the eyes of a greedy of man are also the gates of both hell and destruction. [Hell and Destruction are never full; So the eyes of man are never satisfied.- Proverbs 27:20 ]

 

Does this mean that certain genders have exclusive rights to certain paths to hell? No. Women can and do find themselves in hellacious pits of agony and turmoil due to being lead by their lust instead of God just like men and the eyes of a greedy woman are just as dangerous as her male compatriot. The scripture makes it clear that hell is a place for the wicked. In Isaiah 14 it’s clear that the King of Babylon is going to hell upon his death. [“Hell from beneath is excited about you, To meet you at your coming; It stirs up the dead for you, All the chief ones of the earth; It has raised up from their thrones All the kings of the nations. They all shall speak and say to you: ‘Have you also become as weak as we? Have you become like us? Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, And the sound of your stringed instruments; The maggot is spread under you, And worms cover you.’ – Is 14:9-10]

 

So just like heaven, hell is a place that the biological dead can be sorted into, however Psalms 9 shows us it too is also a state of being of the wicked. Where the mercies of God don’t go. Where there is no peace. Where terror doesn’t get soothed and brokenness doesn’t get healed. Hell is where conflicts and grievances get replayed and rehashed forever, because there is no forgiveness to set behavior on a different path.

 

Do we see that in our broken world? Whether it’s rival nations or neighborhoods, do we not see humans locked in a perpetual cycle of violence parading as vengeance for a conflict no one was alive to see the genesis of? Families torn away from both fortune & bonds by greed and envy? Doesn’t that seem like hell? What a terrible state to be in where there’s never enough, never enough time to enjoy what you have and never people who truly care about one that are around to share in it. The “nightlife” is a cheap and quick simulation of all that the human soul craves. Love, community and prosperity, are all sold but these imitations offered, only muzzle what the godless soul cries out for so long. That’s why it goes on in an endless cycle. And that is the hell that the wicked find themselves transformed into and that Bible warns us about. Hell is the place of godlessness.