Some of you reading this blog have probably traveled into remote parts of this country. You are riding down a road in, perhaps, desert or grassland country and you may see a sign that says, “Last Service for 50 Miles”, or something to that effect. As you drive on, a sense of isolation sets in. How about the parts of the world where there is much sparsely inhabited desert or rainforest? On nighttime satellite photos you can see densely populated areas lit up brilliantly, whereas the places that are more isolated, like the aforementioned deserts and jungles, show little or no light at all. It would not be hard to imagine that a person in such areas would feel all alone. However, there is a region even more remote than all of these: The southern ocean.
There are fewer substantial landmasses south of the equator than north of it. Set a Google Earth satellite timelapse in motion and you’ll see an endless procession of storm systems wheeling around the southern globe across vast expanses of cold ocean. Even when magnifying a map of that part of the world you see only tiny specks of land, little islands or island clusters surrounded by thousands of miles of ocean. Many of these islands are uninhabited. A lot of those which are inhabited contain mainly scientific outposts and weather stations. There are not a lot of regular human settlements down that way. As someone who has not been in such places, I can only imagine how it must be to live in areas so remote. There are few places to go, and modern amenities are no doubt in limited supply. For all this, where do you suppose the loneliest place in all creation is located? How about in hell?
Many are used to thinking of hell as being a blazing pit in the heart of the earth, full of persons who never repented of their sins. We use our sanctified imaginations to feel the brutal heat and to hear the cacophony of screams of the damned. Hell sounds like it is full. Indeed, it is getting fuller every minute as multitudes exit this life having rejected Jesus Christ. A lot of people tend to equate isolation with loneliness, and indeed there is truth to this scenario. The isolation in hell may not be so pronounced in a physical sense due to so many being there, but it is brutally lonely nonetheless. No one in hell is happy. All its prisoners realize they will never know happiness or contentment again forever. And when the final judgment comes, the great white throne judgment (Revelation 20:11-15), all the lost will be permanently imprisoned in the lake of fire. You know various things about hell, such as its darkness, great heat, and intense suffering. To make it worse, those there might forever be in chains, but even if they are free to move about, who can those therein have interactions with except other lost souls? It is likely that there will be chambers in the lake of fire where each lost soul has to live out eternity—alone. This horrific place with all its suffering will, tragically, be a reality for many. It can be avoided. Jesus Christ suffered and died on the cross so we would not have to go to this terrible place. When He was on the cross, Jesus felt the full weight of loneliness and separation from God:
Matthew 27:46: And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
In that frame of time, for the first time in all of eternity, Jesus—God the Son—felt a separation between Himself and God the Father. At that time, all the sins of the world were on Him as He was on that brutal cross, shedding His blood for us. In a brief period the Lord tasted death for everyone (Hebrews 2:9). He experienced the pain of isolation from God so that we would never have to be alone, and indeed, in Christ Jesus you are never alone.
When we are born again we receive the Spirit of adoption, the Holy Spirit, and by this are also marked as God’s own (Romans 8:15; Ephesians 1:3-14). Whether we receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit or not, God Himself always dwells in us. There is nowhere we can go where He is not present inside us—no house, no city, no country, no job, no jail, no hospital, nor any other place. You can rest assured of that. One of the favorite tactics of the enemy is that he likes to trick believers into thinking they are alone. It goes right in line with the way he acts:
1 Peter 5:8: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
A lion will do whatever it takes to isolate a prey animal from the pack, then go after it to take it down. Likewise the devil assigns his demons to cut off believers either in reality or in the mind. A believer who falls for this trick becomes isolated from his or her fellow believers and especially from God and His Word. Backsliding usually follows. Christians may also become discouraged when going through a lengthy period of testing or spiritual warfare, such as when a loved one suffers a long illness or when a minister has a rival in ministry who constantly attacks and slanders him. Many other things happen to each of us as believers. If we are not careful we start feeling alone, too. But always remember: You are never alone. The Spirit of God lives in you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
A personal attestation: I am in my middle fifties and still single. Regularly I pray to God for a godly woman whom I can marry to come into my life. I thus have a desire for romance, but in the meantime, although I am not without loneliness, I am not lonely all the time. How is this possible? I know that God in the Person of the Holy Spirit is always with me, for He lives in me. Also, I cannot always be with my Christian friends, but I do not always feel lonely in those circumstances, either. I want to be among my brethren, but the Spirit of God is with me all the time. I implore my fellowsaints who are not cognizant of God’s constant presence to become aware of it and live by it. Such dreadful consequences as backsliding and apostasy can be avoided as a result. Rest assured, Christian: You are never alone!
Psalm 139:7-12: Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me”, even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You.
Matthew 28:20b: “…and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
John 14:15-18: “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
Hebrews 13:5-6: Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
