by Garrett Glende

Upon a thorough study of the Bible, encountering various subjects and doctrines that are hard to accept is inevitable. Since a systematic theology aims to cover the Bible’s teaching on all major issues, we have already seen this play out in our walk through Wayne Grudem’s work. We’ve had to deal with such issues as the sovereignty of God in salvation and the utter depravity of man. The nature of our study is such that these issues cannot be ignored, regardless of whether or not they will make people happy inside. In order to stay faithful to Scripture we must teach all of it, for it all holds the same truthfulness and authority. I write this because we’ve come across another one of those tough issues this week. Many Christians in America today like to think of Heaven, but rarely do they ponder the reality and severity of Hell. Yet it is not something that we can ignore. John MacArthur writes that Jesus “talked more about Hell than he did about love. He said more about Hell than all the other preachers in the Bible combined. If we were to model our preaching after His, then Hell would be a major theme for all of us.” And so Hell and judgment are topics that we must discuss, and they should weigh heavily on our souls. I pray that the Holy Spirit would guide us all to a deeper understanding of these truths and that He would empower us to live changed lives in light of them.

The most logical place to start would be right where we left off last week, at the end of the millennial reign of Christ. After Satan goes to battle unsuccessfully against Christ in Revelation 20:7-10, he is thrown into the lake of fire to be punished eternally. Then, at the end of the chapter (verses 11-15), we get a glimpse of one of the most sorrowful and sobering passages in the Bible:

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

The setting is indeed magnificently daunting. We read John’s vision of the glorified Son of God, sitting on His rightful throne, ready to judge the world. He mentions specifically that this throne is great and white – great to show its authority, and white to illustrate its purity, holiness, and justice. There will be no mistrial in this courtroom. There are no defense attorneys and the defendants will offer no excuse. They will be shown their deeds that have been written in the books, where God has recorded every thought, action, and intention of the heart. None will meet the holy standard of God (Rom. 3:23). Those who have failed to be holy, who have not trusted in Christ’s righteousness, and who have not been written down in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire for eternal punishment.

This is not an easy thing to say: that those who have not believed await eternal and conscious punishment. In fact, there are many today who would wish to do away with any doctrine concerning Hell. They write it off as unloving, unfair, and judgmental. However, we cannot succumb to our culture’s view of the Bible, as some have done. We must defend its truths, however harsh they may be. The Bible is unmistakably clear that those who do not bow the knee to Christ will be punished. Even the Old Testament prophet Daniel wrote that “those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2). Paul also testifies to these truths in 2 Thessalonians 1:9 when he writes, “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” Additionally of those in Hell, Revelation 14:11 says that “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night.” The strength of these verses and others is enough to dispel any sort of teaching that would advocate anything less than eternal punishment.

But still, there will be those who insist that it is unjust for a finite life of sins to incur a penalty that is eternal. In response to this, I offer Jonathon Edwards’ comments from his essay, The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners. He says it much more eloquently than I ever could.

The crime of one being despising and casting contempt on another, is proportionably more or less heinous, as he was under greater or less obligations to honour him. The fault of disobeying another is greater or less, as any one is under greater or less obligations to obey him. And therefore if there be any being that we are under infinite obligations to love, and honour, and obey, the contrary towards him must be infinitely faulty.

Our obligation to love, honour, and obey any being, is in proportion to his loveliness, honourableness, and authority…But God is a being infinitely lovely, because he hath infinite excellency and beauty…His authority over us is infinite; and the ground of his right to our obedience is infinitely strong; for he is infinitely worthy to be obeyed himself, and we have an absolute, universal, and infinite dependence upon him.

So that sin against God, being a violation of infinite obligations, must be a crime infinitely heinous, and so deserving of infinite punishment…The eternity of the punishment of ungodly men renders it infinite: and it renders it no more than infinite; and therefore renders no more than proportionable to the heinousness of what they are guilty of.

I’m tempted to rest my case here, but I’ll summarize a bit of what Edwards is getting at. He argues that the severity of our sin is relative to the degree to which we are obligated to obey – and that is an infinite obligation. Since we have failed to meet this obligation to a God who is infinitely lovely, honorable, and beautiful, or just punishment is an infinite one.

I struggle as I write these things because I know that these truths should drive me to my knees. The reality is that we all know people who are Hell bound, but has this really affected our hearts? We know that death can come at any moment and that Christ’s return is imminent. In light of this, our prayer for the lost and evangelism to unbelievers should become all the more urgent. Our hearts should echo Paul’s in Romans 9 when he says that he has “great sorrow and unceasing anguish” for the souls of his Jewish brothers. But it’s more than wanting our friends and family not to experience Hell. We should want them to experience God! We can’t just scare people away from Hell and into Heaven, but the realities of Hell should beckon Christians to take action in preaching the gospel. It should remind us of the grave penalty that we deserved to pay and the seriousness of our sin. In light of Hell, we should rejoice in the cross, for it is through the cross that we have been saved from Hell. In light of Hell, we should be motivated to live holy lives, for Hell is a reminder of how much God hates sin. This doctrine may seem far off and irrelevant, but it is very near to us and very relevant. I’ll leave us with Edwards again, and this is my prayer for all of us:

Resolved, to endeavor to my utmost to act as I can think I should do, if I had already seen the happiness of Heaven, and Hell’s torments.