"He Had A Bad Weekend”

An man breaks into the apartment of an 85 year-old-woman. He rapes her, stabs her to death and steals a small amount of cash. When her grandson was interviewed he said. “Well she was a Christian so she’s in heaven now, for eternity. So, really, it wasn’t that big a deal. At most all she had was a bad twenty minutes.”

A four-year-old girl is abducted. Three weeks later her body is found, dumped in a creek. A detective tells the Reporter, “Knowing what we know about these cases, she was dead within a couple hours of her abduction. In reality, she had a bad half hour. I mean, she’s a little kid. She’s in heaven so I don’t see what the big deal is - really.”

That’s what atheists like to joke about regarding our Lord and Saviour - Jesus - being tortured to death.

“He had a bad weekend. Yep I think it is pretty funny.” hugo - 7/3/10

On the one hand, when confronted with what God’s wrath against sin looks like, atheists declare hell to be a place so horrific that they say it can’t be true.

“Hell isn’t rational!”

That’s what atheists tell us. So how is it that on the one hand hell is so awful that it can’t be real, BUT on the other hand, to atheists, it’s all a big joke? Are they like little kids who laugh at what causes them fear?

I’ve had clients tell me things like, “I must be going to heaven because I’ve already lived through hell.” And I think, as horrendous as your life has been, it’s not even the tiniest fraction of how awful hell is going to be.

Hell, is the complete absence of God.

Jesus, the Son of God, the only innocent human to ever live, the only pure soul to ever exist, the only perfect love to ever dwell on this planet volunteered to endure hell on your behalf. Jesus, out of love, absorbed the total absence of anything good, He took upon Himself the full wrath of God for the whole of humanity.

The complete absence of good and the full wrath of God is what awaits those who maintain their rejection of salvation until the day they die.

The punishment will indeed be horrific beyond imagination. Yet that is what Jesus endured for you. God’s rage and wrath and fury at sin was poured out on Jesus so that you would not have to endure it. The atheist’s response?

“It was no big deal. At the very worst, Jesus had a bad weekend.”

Whatever you think of the suffering involved in this life, God showed by example that He does not exist apart from it.

Creator God loved the world so much that He volunteered through the Person of Jesus to experience a complete and total separation from the Holy and Loving presence of God. He went beyond what we will ever endure during this life. Jesus took on something that none of us have come even close to experiencing. There is no place on this earth where God’s presence and protection is not in effect. It causes people like Christopher Hitchens no end of frustration to realise that there is no place that he can go where God’s essence is not already there. “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:13.

Think of the worst most hate filled, most dangerous most evil place on earth and even there, God’s presence and protection is not absent. The worst prison, a brothel where children are enslaved for the pleasure of sex tourists, the ovens of Auschwitz, even in these places the presence and protection of God is there, putting limits on the degree of destruction that the human soul wishes to dispense. None of it goes unnoticed.

Justice will not be denied.

Paul describes those who reject God and disobey His commands as “storing up God’s wrath for themselves.” God is there, watching. Jesus said, "Whatever you do to others, you are doing it to Me."

Justice will NOT be denied.

On the cross, as the darkness of evil closed in on a small corner of Israel, Father God stood aside while His perfect and Holy Son endured the complete absence of good - for you. God stood aside while His Son endured the worst that we humans could do to Him. God removed His presence and protection so that the full horror of your sin and my sin could be laid upon Jesus.

To atheists it’s all a big joke. In their ignorance and arrogance, Jesus’ death is good for a laugh. "Yep, I think it's pretty funny."

“At most, Jesus had a bad weekend. Ha, ha, ha.”

That’s what atheists are like. It’s how they think.

“Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” For this people’s heart has become calloused. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.” Acts 28:26-27

This was quoted by Paul. It’s from Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah had said to God that he would go and tell people about Him. God said, “I will indeed send you to people so that you may tell them about Me, but they won’t listen. They’ll refuse to listen.” Isaiah is doing that right now as you read this. But “They’ll refuse to listen.”

Sound like anybody you know?