It wasn’t too easy to reach the cave. It meant a hike through the woods and then a scramble, helped along with ropes, to the mouth of the cave. But the little group of campers followed their guide manfully and at last they were inside.
Tom, one of the campers, surveyed the bats hanging upside down near the entrance rather apprehensively, but the group was moving further in and he went on with them. As they went further in, the daylight faded, and at last there was only artificial light.
The guide warned the campers that he was about to turn out the light. Suddenly, it was dark! Completely, totally dark! Tom tried to see his hand held in front of his eyes but failed. Though the rest of the group was near him and the guide was speaking just in front of him, Tom began to feel a loneliness creeping over his soul. It was strange it was eerie.
What was this the guide was saying? He was telling them of another dark place, a place of utter, outer darkness. A place called hell. He told them that one day there will be a departing from all light, all love and friendship, all hope, for those who are going into that place that is as black as the blackest night-that place of loneliness, loneliness forever.
What an object lesson! Tom will never forget it, and he has made sure that he will never go to that place of darkness. In fact, the Lord Jesus shed His blood on the cross so that “whosoever will” can escape that awful place. God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (1 Peter 3:99Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. (1 Peter 3:9)).
While it is true that “he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,” it is equally true that “he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)). And that will mean the blackness of darkness forever. Oh, turn from darkness to light NOW, before it is too late.