We are continuing our meditation on eternal things and explicitly thinking of the topic of Hell. Some believe that Hell is where a person who rejects God's free pardon for sin is annihilated. Annihilation means "to reduce to utter ruin or nonexistence; to destroy utterly." Three times in the passage we looked at yesterday, Jesus used the Greek word which means “eternal, perpetual,” to describe the eternal separation of people from God in Hell (Matthew 25:41-46). That does not sound like annihilation. It is the clear teaching of Jesus that someone who rejects the Gospel and continues in their sin will suffer eternal punishment at the end of his life.
Svetlana Stalin, the daughter of Joseph Stalin, leader of Russia from 1922 to 1953, accompanied her father at death's door and said she would never sit alongside an unbeliever who was dying again. She said that he went into Hell kicking and screaming. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). Voltaire, the philosopher and critic of Christianity, was said to have died crying out in torment, as did King Charles the Ninth of France, David Hume, and Thomas Paine. Speaking for those who do know God, C.M. Ward said, “No Christian has ever been known to recant on his deathbed.”
The question we must ask and answer is, why would a loving God send anyone to Hell? How bad does a person have to be to be sent to Hell? Is there a line that a person crosses? Jesus answered this question with the following:
16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son (John 3:16-18, Emphasis added).
The question isn’t why a loving God would send people to Hell. The question is, why would anyone choose Hell over a loving God? The creator God has established the way to salvation. The situation is that the entire human race is in the same boat. We have all fallen short of God's ideal for living. None of us can say we have never sinned. If you have only sinned once, it is enough to make you a sinner. We all suffer from the same disease. Sin is what eternally separates us from God. James puts it this way, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it" (James 2:10). If there could have been another way for God to get you to heaven, apart from sending His Son to die a cruel and torturous death, don't you think He would have taken it? God has given Man the gift of free will, but His justice demands that rebellion be penalized. A holy God cannot allow sin to be in His presence: “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing” (Habakkuk 1:13). So, He honors the choice that a rebel who refuses to repent has made.
Due to His love for the human race, God initiated a rescue plan for the Son of God to take on human form and be a Substitute to take the place of guilty man, taking the punishment upon Himself. In that way, His justice would be satisfied, and He could reach out in love to save all who would turn their lives over to Him and walk in obedience to Him. When we repent (change our minds and the direction of our lives) and receive Christ, the Spirit of God gives us the power to live for Christ. We also hold the answer for others, and the Holy Spirit gives us the strength and boldness to speak to others about God's rescue plan for the human race. We damage Satan's kingdom when we talk about the truth of God's Word and release precious people from enemy control. God has told us what happens in the end, and guess what? Those who belong to Christ win! Keith Thomas
Taken from the series Insights into Eternity. Click on study 4 or this link: The Truth About Hell.
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