Last week we examined God’s many acts of judgment recorded in the scriptures and questioned how a loving God could act with such brutality? We saw God’s wrath in light of His longsuffering and justice. We came to terms with God’s slaughter of the innocent by placing it on the backdrop of eternity.
Now, as we bring our series to a close, we must address God’s greatest act of judgment—How could a loving God condemn anyone to an eternal hell? Many who struggle with this question feel there are only two solutions: reject God or reject the doctrine of hell. Yet the Bible teaches us about both, and we would have to flagrantly twist the scriptures to remove one from the other. And so, with the guidance of scripture, we must come to terms with this question.
First of all, we must recognize that God is not only perfectly loving, but perfectly just. If God were to simply turn a blind eye to sin, He would be violating His righteous nature. Sin rightly deserves the severest of punishments.
Those who dispute God’s love in sending an unrepentant sinner to hell do not properly understand the seriousness of sin. If we were able to see sin from God’s perspective, we would not question for a second that His verdict is just. Sin is a rebellion against God, a betrayal of His love, and a utter failure in the purpose for which we were created.
If you want to truly understand the seriousness of sin, look at Jesus upon the cross. If God could have paid for our sins in any other way do you not think He would have? Yet, His love and His righteousness could not converge in any other way. The wages of sin is death and that is the price that had to be paid (Rom 6:23)
Yet, not only is God perfectly just, He is perfectly holy. His character cannot be tainted by the filth of sin. So, if His love is to embrace us, His holiness must also cleanse us. Thus, by it’s very nature, sin separates us from God. And if we are to die in that state, we will remain severed from Him for all eternity.
This is what the punishment of hell is all about. It is the “penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thess 1:9). Just as gold and precious jewels figuratively describe the joys of being in God’s presence, fire and brimstone describe the agony of being separated from Him for all eternity.
We must recognize that God did not design hell with ill intent. He did not sit down one day and try to think up the most horrendous punishment He could give to unrepentant sinners. Hell is simply the natural consequence of being separated from God for all eternity. When you are completely severed from the source of all that is good (James 1:17), only sorrow, suffering, and corruption remain.
And let us consider what heaven would be like if God were to make exceptions and allow sin within its gates? Even the smallest amount would taint it’s glory and compromise the purity of it’s joy. Sin always comes with consequences. What kind of hope would heaven offer if it could only be said: “He will wipe away most tears from their eyes; there will only be a little death, a little mourning, a little crying, and a little pain” (cf. Rev 21:4).
Above all, in coming to terms with the condemnation of hell, we must learn to appreciate God’s perfect mercy. God does not want anyone to go to hell. He finds no pleasure in casting man out of His presence for eternity. He desperately wants to restore us to fellowship with Him.
God desires so deeply for men to be saved that He sent His own Son to die in our place (John 3:16). There is no greater measure to which God could have gone to turn our hearts back to Him. He will not violate our free-will, reduce us to robots, and make the decision for us. But when Jesus came down to die upon the cross, He was telling man, “If you go to hell, it will be over my dead body!”
We truly serve a God of unparalleled love and mercy! Let us never forget it.