Psalm 88:6

Psalm 88:6

The lowest pit

The lowest place can only mean Sheol (Gk Hades), the realm of the dead. As we have seen, the Old Testament Scriptures have many descriptions of this place, it is called the pit, a place of silence, “let the wicked be put to shame and be silent in the realm of the dead”. (Psalm 31:17). and of darkness, “before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and utter darkness, to the land of deepest night, of utter darkness and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.” (Job 10:21-22.) Some Biblical writers see Sheol as a state where decay and destruction are rife and others relate it to natural features like dust and mire, slime and mud. Put all of these together and it is not a place to be anticipated but greatly feared. Thinking about it, we have to conclude that when God withdraws from a place and abandons those who enter it, there is no light. There is no sound. There is no speech. There are no relationships. There is no purpose. There is nowhere to go to or to come from. In other words, all that we enjoy and that gives us meaning in this life is from God, in Sheol it is taken away and there is – nothing.

The writer of this Psalm gives us no reason for his being in this state but yet he somehow believes that God is part of his experience and has allowed it. In this dreadful trial he captures a glimpse of God’s wrath and is able therefore to warn us all of what lies ahead if we disown and ignore the Being who made us. 

Once again, we are confronted with the thought that the Lord Jesus faced all of this, He knew the intensity of the darkness that lay before Him, and He knew the agony of the souls that left this world, only to find themselves forsaken and incarcerated in a place from which there was no escape. Jesus would go there because Hades was the destination of the wicked and He carried with Him the wickedness of all men. He would experience that silence and be incarcerated by that impenetrable darkness, He must experience the agony of rejection and know what it feels like to be forgotten, even by His Father. Jesus endured hell so that we might be free to enjoy heaven!

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