For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.(Deuteronomy 32:22-24)
The doctrine of the Divine judgment of sinners is terrible to truly contemplate. So terrible that many evangelicals are retreating from it as though it is somehow beneath the concept of a loving and merciful God. But hell is of God, He ordained it as a place of punishment for unrepentant men and angels. The wrath of God is a Divine attribute, it is His glory as much as His mercy and truth are .
Earlier we made the point that Hell is a Divine revelation of the hatefulness of sin, and of the justice of God. We should be glad that we worship a God who truly, deeply hates evil in all of its malignant forms. I would hate to think of a universe where goodness goes unrewarded, whilst Evil goes unpunished. Hell teaches us that sin will always receive the punishment it deserves , forever.
We have a God who has placed us into a moral universe. Be assured, both good and evil are rewarded in kind. No matter how many people band together in unity and consensus to do evil, the infinite, personal, holy God will have the final word.
Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished…(Proverbs 11:21)
We also showed how Hell is an eternal demonstration of the Infinite worth of God. All sins are against the infinitely holy and good being, to whom we owe our very existence.
Who is this God that people routinely sin against? For a wrong done is aggravated according to whom it is the wrong is done against. Striking me would be bad enough, but striking the governor, or the president or the king would be much,much worse ! We are talking about the consequence of sins against the infinite, personal God , the King of the universe!
If people could see God, they would instantly know that there is a hell and that they deserve to go there, for hating Him. All beauty is derived from Him, He isn’t merely beautiful, God is beauty itself! God doesn’t have goodness, God is goodness itself. God doesn’t merely love, God is love! God is Truth! God is the very concept of Right-ness. What shall be done with those who hate and resist Beauty, truth, goodness and love forever?
Continuing on with this subject, here are more aspects of how Hell glorifies God;
* Hell and the Cross – There is much in common with the awful prospect of going to the lake of fire forever, and the obscene spectacle of the cross of Jesus, the Son of God hanging naked, tortured and helpless before his enemies, abandoned by all, including God himself.
To both the cross of Jesus, and the lake of fire, the unbeliever asks the question, Why? Why did it have to be so awful? How could a God of love allow this? How is it that this is what it took to save us? Why would a loving God send anyone there?
The cross is awful and of course the lake of fire is awful, but the rebellion of mankind against the thrice Holy ,good,God of truth and mercy, is infinitely awful. Evil is so toxic and terrible , and so deeply ingrained in humanity, that the cross of Jesus was the only righteous way to eradicate it!
Rebellion cannot stay in God’s universe forever, iniquity must and will be removed! Either by the cross of Jesus who bore the wrath of God for our sin, or by the lake of fire as an eternal holding place for those who refuse to part with it.
“Could there be anyone so high and exalted that to sin against him would merit eternal suffering ?”. The answer is yes. God is truly so Holy and beautiful that sinning against him is of eternal consequences.
* Hell is testified to by the faith of those who repented , believed in Jesus and suffered for the gospel –
And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;( 2 Thess 1:7-9)
There are millions of people who have heard God’s gospel call to repent and believe the gospel, and have done so, in spite of tremendous pressure, rejection, and pain. They have turned their backs on families, tribes, false religions, special privileges that they might be saved from the wrath to come. There have been millions of martyrs over the centuries. The fact that they have done so is a heavy witness to the reality of hell.
How? Do you really think that such sacrifices are not going to count for anything in the end? Is the universe run like the US department of Immigration, in which people around the world are required to pay a heavy price, jump through several hoops, wait for years in some cases, pay high fees and pass tests, in order to become citizens of the USA, only to see others criminally cross the border, and almost instantly receive the benefits of full citizenship at the whim of self-serving politicians?
We live in a moral universe, most people know that in the back of their minds. The fact that they know it deeply, is why the world is in bondage to the fear of death itself. They know this universe is moral, and that there will be an ultimate accounting for everything, even though they work hard to suppress that knowledge.
A God who winks at and tolerates evil is not worthy of worship, because he is no god at all. The infinite personal God of the Bible is the thrice holy Creator,Redeemer, and Judge. He is a God who hates sin and lawlessness and will punish with “everlasting destruction” those who ignore his Authority.
* Because Holy Love is the only Good, and those who reject it reject all good – Jesus told a rich young ruler one time, There is only one good, that is God. How few actually believe this! The only good this world has ever known is from God. Any good anywhere else is good only to the extent that it derives from God. Those who reject God, reject all good, Hell is the only place for them, in the end.
This is why I believe that for the sinner and the unrepentant, the only place worse for them than hell, would be heaven. They would hate heaven even more than they would hate hell, because God is there, and the people who believe and trust in God are there, it would be unbearable to them to have to go there.
Oh my reader, I pray that you will not have to go to hell ! There is still time to repent, make your peace with God, and believe that Jesus died for your sins! Read the gospel of John and allow Jesus to speak to you, He is in those gospels for they are living records! I beg you, flee the coming wrath!
Pastor Bill Randles Blog 
Thank you so much for addressing the subject of hell, particularly at this time. It truly saddens me to read how successful Robert Bell’s book has become and how many people will gravitate to it’s message. Thank you, once again for not only responding with the truth of the bible, but doing it in such a way that once more God’s wisdom and glory are revealed to a world in almost total denial of any aspect of sin.
God be with you and yours
Praying with you too, that many will realize their need for Jesus . . .soon. Thank you for your ministry.
Thanks for telling it the way it needs to be told.
We cannot play games with the Justice of God.
I’ve read about how the glory of God is revealed through the death of Christ on cross and through the punishment of sinners in hell. Now, deep inside my heart i long to see Christ. I was raised in pornographic environment, even after giving my life to christ i still have a problem with my flesh and its stressing me up, from 2004 when i gave my life to Christ i’ve thrice found myself in premarital sex, and i’ve mustarbated on many occasions. Despite of my efforts to read the bible, fast and going for deliverance, mustarbation goes for months and comes back, what could be the problem? Please pray for me to overcome the flesh and sin so that i dont die in sin and go to hell. Show me how i can successfuly win over my mind and feelings. Thank you and God bless you.gh the punishment of sinners in hell. Now, deep inside my heart i long to see Christ. I was raised in pornographic environment, even after giving my life to christ i still have a problem with my flesh and its stressing me up, from 2004 when i gave my life to Christ i’ve thrice found myself in premarital sex, and i’ve mustarbated on many occasions. Despite of my efforts to read the bible, fast and going for deliverance, mustarbation goes for months and comes back, what could be the problem? Please pray for me to overcome the flesh and sin so that i dont die in sin and go to hell. Show me how i can successfuly win over my mind and feelings. Thank you and God bless you.
Dear Benedict Angulu, it seem to me you are sexually addicted. This can be easily dealt with through the blood of the Lamb, confessing your sins to Jesus and the Word of God. If you ask Jesus on a regular basis for control over your body under the submission of Him, He will break the chains of bondage and free you from this. Your thoughts must come into subjection to Jesus, don’t allow an evil thought to enter your head unchecked. I personally had a problem with this, area of my life. I would remind myself, this person (woman) could be my Daughter, Mother, Sister. How would I like someone getting lustful over theses women of my life? God hates this stuff and that should be enough to throw it away and turn away from the lunacy. The World has this rubbish to offer us, and yet, we take it up as if we are missing something. We are missing nothing, we are missing acting less than animals. We need to keep every stray thought delivered up to Jesus, it is crazy not to. In God’s heaven there will be no need for sex, there will be no want for this. How about creating a reflex of when you get thoughts coming to you, you call on the name of Jesus Christ and pray with Him in your private place. Never let your guard down, and explain you troubles to Christ loving people so they can pray for you.
Christ died for our sins to redeem us from all lawlessness. The scripture says that sin shall not have dominion over us because we are not under law but\ under grace. Peter says we must abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. There is only one escape from the power of sin: All out submission to the Lord Jesus Christ. Only by the Holy Spirit and our walking with Him is it possible to see victory in this area, because as you walk with the LORD, you have the mind of Christ and not the mind of the flesh. We sin because we want to. We refuse to sin because we want to. Which ever “want to” is reigning in us, we will obey. The mind of Christ is a holy “want to’.
The mind of the flesh is an unholy “want to”. The flesh, the world and the devil are relentless and never tire in tempting us to sin against God. We must daily consume God’s holy word, and live separated lives as much as possible. I told Jesus that I yielded my whole life to Him but I did not trust myself to even do this, so as best as I could, I yield my whole life to You, but You please make it real. This means we read the Bible instead of other things that we have formerly chosen. We seek God daily. We judge ourselves and confess our sins daily. We feed the holy “want to”.
The whole bent of the heart changes. If we stumble, get back up and confess it. Feed on God’s word. We cry out, Lord deliver us from evil. As you walk with God you will see victories growing into victories. Now victory will never be in this life the absence of the desires of the flesh. We have trained our flesh to enjoy many things, and it still does no matter how much we walk with the Lord. This should humble us mightily as we walk with the Lord. God is faithful and never changes. It is only when you yield your life to Jesus that you find out what a warfare we are in. And God is so faithful as to not leave us helpless under sins power. He will plunge you into the dark night of the soul to perfect your faith, to perfect your submission, to make you ultimately like Jesus. Oh yes, it is unreasonable for God to forgive us our sins, from our perspective, but not God’s perspective. The atonement of Jesus Christ is so holy, so beyond value, there is no sin God won’t forgive. We are justified by the blood of the lamb. Read Ephesians 2:8,9, and 10. There you see salvation by grace, but afterward we are God’s workmanship, (not our’s) So yield to Him. Only by Him do we overcome what we cannot overcome in our own strength. Therefore I will not do anything that starts feeding the wrong “want to”, that lessens my commitment to Him. But it is He who keeps me up. It is He who gives me the victory. Walk with Jesus. Until we die we will always have to fight the flesh, the world, and the devil, but there is victory in Jesus when we walk with Him. And we will find that it is He who holds us by the hand. It is His footsteps in the sand, not ours.
I must say this also, that the Holy Spirit mostly works with us through His Word. Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. By our failures and falls, God works in us an absolute distrust in us of our own flesh. We walk and cling to the Lord for our survival. As we walk with God, our dependence on Him becomes stronger. The word of God is spirit and it is life. Nothing of this world is spirit and life. Man shall live by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Their is a washing and a pruning that comes from His Word. John 15; Eph 6.. Stay in God’s word.