Laughing on the Way to Hell!

Richard Hollerman

We know that some people are usually sad, pessimistic, or depressed. They seldom smile and laugh. And when they do laugh, it may be about certain issues that are either embarrassing or negative in some way.

Just today I noticed an announcement about a Hollywood star who just died. Perhaps some of our readers would know his name if I were to mention it. The title of the newspaper article said, in part, “…. Carved his own nonconformist path” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 15, 2019). The announcement went on to say that his sister, Jane, was with him until he finally died of lung cancer. She said, “I am very sad… He was my sweet-hearted baby brother. The talker of the family. I have had beautiful alone time with him these last days. He went out laughing.”

Take special note of her last comment: “He went out laughing.” It was no secret that this man lived a self-chosen and sinful life. He made no profession of religion or no love of the Lord Jesus. Yet he died laughing!

How often have we talked to people who say that they plan to have a great time in hell!  They look vainly forward toward being with their friends and loved ones. They plan to “party” for all eternity. Others, of the same mind and attitude, imagine that they will enjoy themselves with golf, with card games, with fishing trips, or with drunken orgies. One well-known false religion imagines that the afterlife will afford eternal pleasures with numerous beautiful women! They think that it will be a great laughing affair—not for a week, a month, a year, but for all eternity! Such is the fallen imagination of sinful men and women who do not know God!

The Word of God, instead, presents the true picture of what happens after death for the one who does not know God. The Lord Jesus tells an account (it is not called a “parable”) of a rich man who died without hope.  The account says, “The rich man also died and was buried” (Luke 16:22). Was that his end? No, the account continues: “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment. . .” (v. 23). Instead of pleasures and party, this hopeless sinner was in “torment”!

The rich man in hades then said, “I am in agony in this flame” (Luke 16:24b). Instead of happiness and sensual pleasure, this lost man was in “agony”! Abraham agreed. He said to this man, “You are in agony” (v. 25). He was dwelling in a “place of torment” (v. 28). All hope was gone. All help was denied. All comfort could not be found.

Contrary to the thought of many, hell will not be a pleasant and happy place! Of course, the rich man went to “hades” or the place of departed spirits, but “hell” comes from Gehenna, the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8). It would seem that the rich man went to a place of torment where his agony was experienced but after judgment the person is consigned to the lake of fire, the eternal abode of the lost—the place of eternal and unending agony and torment!

Even in an earthly manner of speaking, generally one’s last days on earth are not happy ones. The obituaries may say that so-and-so “was surrounded by his family” or “died in peace,” but we know that this is short-lived. Immediately at death, the laughter will be turned into the screams of unbearable agony! “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12b). Let no one console himself or make himself content in his sin by assuming that people are laughing all of the time in the afterlife!

The celebrity who “went out laughing” in our original report above had an empty hope. In Scripture, Asaph tells us of a similar experience he had (Psalm 73). He speaks of the “arrogant” (v. 3) and “the prosperity of the wicked” (v. 3). He says, “There are no pains in their death” (v. 4) and “”they are not in trouble as other men” nor are “they plagued like mankind” (v. 5). He said that they are “always at ease” and “have increased in wealth” (v. 12). But when he thought about their future, he completely changed his mind! “I perceived their end,” said Asaph. He then said, “They are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors!” (v. 19). The psalmist then says that God showed him the end of the wicked and the eternal pleasures of those who know God! (vv. Vv. 20-28).

Please don’t be fooled by sinful fools! Although some few may laugh now and even laugh at the time of death, their day is coming! After death comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27). All laughter will be ended. And the terrors of hades remains.

Come to God through Jesus Christ right now so that you may have eternal joy! You will then have reason to laugh and rejoice because you know God and are prepared for the future—your eternal future!