Secret Church 13: Heaven, Hell, and the End of the World

Two questions leading to two destinations. Revelation 21:6-8 says,

And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

On the Day of Judgment, some will be given over to a destination of everlasting joy. John pictures it this way in Revelation 19:6-9:

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

Then, in a completely different scene, others will be given over to a destination of eternal torment. We’ll talk more about the terms and pictures that John uses here, but just envision the scene in Revelation 14:9-11:

And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

And on this Day of Judgment, God will be glorified for His justice. Now, we read passages like we just read in Revelation 14, and we’re about to see more like them in the next section on the horror of hell. Even the contexts of the passages I have listed here from Revelation 15 and 16 and 19 include horrifying pictures of judgment upon those who turn from Christ. But what’s interesting is that in the middle of these passages depicting God’s judgment upon sinners, God is being worshiped. Look at Revelation 15:2-4 here. In the middle of God’s judgment being poured out, we hear a song of worship. It says,

And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

Then, in Revelation 16:1-7, look at the picture of worship here following right on the heels of wrath:

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.” So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea. The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, “Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!” And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!”

Then, Revelation 19:1-2, right after the judgment of God is poured out upon Babylon, a symbol of the ways of this world and those who have rebelled against God, a multitude of voices cry out in heaven. It says, “After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, ‘Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.’”

Two Pictures of God

So, what we’ve got here in the Bible is God being worshiped for His judgment upon sinners, in His holy wrath. When really contemplate that, when you let the reality of these pictures soak in, this is challenging to comprehend. Number one, it’s challenging to comprehend the wrath of God in the first place. We think of God as full of love and mercy and kindness and compassion, and He is full of all these things, but as a result, we have a very hard time thinking of God as also being full of justice and wrath.

So, we have a hard time even thinking about God in terms of wrath, but then, on a whole other level, what about worshiping God for His wrath? As God pours out justice and wrath upon sin and sinners, as imagery of unbelievers being tormented marks this day of judgment, how are we supposed to worship? This is challenging to think about, isn’t it?

What does the Bible Say About Hell?

And this is where I want to pause for a moment and simply think about this Day of Judgment, and what will be different on that day from our understanding even on this day. Think about it with me. On that day, we will finally have a high view of God. We will finally see God from heaven’s perspective, and we will have a much greater understanding of who He is. Exodus 15:11, “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?”

We will realize with much greater clarity on that day that He is indeed sovereign over all. In the words of Psalm 24:1:2, “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.” We will realize, Nehemiah 9:6, that, “You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.”

We will understand more fully Psalm 104:24-30:  

O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it. These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.

We will realize in a much greater way that He is sovereign over all, and He is glorified above all. He is exalted among the nations, in all the earth. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Glorified to the ends of the earth by the ends of the earth. Psalm 86:9-10: “All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.” Isaiah 45:22, “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”

We will realize in a much greater way that God is holy in all His attributes, that, “There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.” (1 Samuel 2:2) We will sing with trembling in our voices what the angels sang in Isaiah 6:3, “And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’” What they sing will also be what we sing in Revelation 4:8, “And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’”

And follow this: On that day, we will realize that God is righteous in all His ways. We have a tendency, in our limited understanding, and even our sinful misconceptions, to question the rightness of God, the righteousness, the justice of God. The men and women from the Bible understood this. Genesis 18:25 says, “Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” But on that day, we will say with Deuteronomy 32:4, “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.”

Job 34:10-12 says, “Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong. For according to the work of a man he will repay him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him. Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice.” In Job 37:22-24, Elihu says, “Out of the north comes golden splendor; God is clothed with awesome majesty. The Almighty—we cannot find him; he is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate. Therefore men fear him; he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.”

Romans 3:5-6, “But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world?” 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 says,

This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

We will realize that God is righteous in all His ways, and that He is loving toward all His creation. Exodus 34:6-7 is a great description of the character of God. It says,

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Psalm 103:8 reiterates this: “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” We will see and know God in far greater fullness. 1 John 4:16, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

And we will have one clear conclusion. This God, our God, is infinitely worthy of eternal worship. That’s why we’ll sing in Revelation 4:11, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” Also, in Revelation 5:13-14, “And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’ And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshiped.

On the Day of Judgment, we will finally have a high view of God, and, at the same time, we will finally have a humble view of man. We will realize in a much greater way the humbling horror of our sin against God. James 4:10, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” We have denounced His sovereignty. How we have looked in the face of the God who beckons storm clouds and they come, the God who speaks to the rain and the wind and says, “You fall here,” and, “You blow there,” and it does; the God to whom all creation obeys His bidding, and you and I have looked Him in the face and said, “No. You don’t know what is right. I know better than You.”

Genesis 3:6-7 gives us the account of the Fall. It says, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.” Leviticus 16:21, “And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.” We have denounced His sovereignty.

We will realize that we have indeed defamed the glory of God. We will see our foolishness described in Romans 1:18-25, having turned aside from the glory of our Creator to worship the creation.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Further down in Romans 2:24, the passage says,

“For, as it is written, ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’”

We will realize that we have dishonored the holiness of God. We have profaned His name, His holy name. Ezekiel 36:22-23, the Lord says,

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.”

We will realize how we have despised the righteousness of God. All of us turning aside from His righteousness in our rebellion. Romans 3:10-12 says, “…as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’” We will realize how we have denied the love of God, how we have presumed upon the riches of His kindness and patience. Romans 2:4, “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”

God is Worthy of Eternal Worship

And one other clear conclusion will be clear at this point. God is infinitely worthy of our eternal worship, and we are infinitely worthy of God’s eternal wrath. Follow this: If God is infinitely and eternally glorious, infinitely and eternally holy, infinitely and eternally just, and infinitely and eternally loving, then our sin is infinitely and eternally offensive to Him. One sin against God is an infinite offense against God, and infinite punishment is deserved.

Do you realize why we have a hard time comprehending the worship of God in His wrath and judgment? It’s because we have these things totally backward. Instead of a high view of God, we have a low view of God, and instead of a humble view of man, we have a high view of ourselves. We think of man, ourselves, as basically good, nice and kind and deserving of second and third and fourth chances.

Man is lovable with a right to independence from God, worthy of forgiveness from God and warranting happiness from God in heaven. How can God be good and send man anywhere else? Hell? Torment? Judgment? Wrath? This is hard to understand, but not when you realize that the only thing man deserves before a holy God is everlasting, eternal wrath. Ephesians 2:1-4 gives us an accurate description of who man is:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

This is abundantly clear in the message of the Bible, and it will be abundantly clear on the Day of Judgment. Our questions about God’s justice will be no more. D.A. Carson said, “Do you really want nothing but totally effective, instantaneous justice? Then go to hell.”

We will realize this is true. Our questions about God’s justice will be no more. Our awe at God’s mercy will be forevermore. For on that Day, we will finally understand the depth of hope in the gospel. We will realize the wonder of the grace we have been shown by God! Romans 3:21-26 gives us an amazing picture of the gospel, when it says,

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

We will realize on that Day, in a much greater way, the wonder of the cross, the significance of the cross, for, at the cross, God expressed His wrath toward sin. God poured out His righteous judgment on sin. At the same time, at the cross, God endured His wrath against sin. Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath in our place and in this, at the cross, God enabled salvation for sinners. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Glory to God, there is no news in the world greater than this. We stand before a holy God in our sin, deserving of holy, eternal wrath, yet, God has sent His Son in our place, as our substitute.

Practical Takeaways…

So what shall we do with this news? First and foremost, those who are not followers of Christ, repent and receive the mercy of God before it is too late. Hear the words of Acts 3:19-21: “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.” Repent and turn back to God through Christ! Hear the words of Revelation 16:15. Jesus says, “Behold, I am coming like a thief!” If you know a thief is coming, you act; you get ready! Unbelievers who are not followers of Christ, repent and receive the mercy of God before it is too late.

Hearing What the Bible Says About Hell Leads Us to Trust God Completely

And for those who are followers of Christ, there are so many practical takeaways of the coming Day of Judgment. Think about how that day affects this day. First, I exhort you: Trust God completely. I put Exodus 3:15-22 here because it pictures a time in Israelite history when they were slaves in Egypt, and they were wondering if God was just and would ever come to their defense, and God assures them, “I have seen your affliction, and I have heard your cries, and I am coming for you.” The passage says,

God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

So, Christian, amidst the challenges that this world brings, amidst the days when it seems like challenges and affliction are on all sides, even in the days when it seems like the wicked are prospering while the righteous are perishing, remember this: Be careful [never] to evaluate God’s justice in the short-term. Instead, be confident that God will assert His justice ultimately and completely in His perfect time.

This is the cry of the saints in Revelation 6:9-11, “God, show your justice.” The passage says,

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Ultimately, in Revelation 18:21-24, we see the answer to their cries.

Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more; and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more, and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.”

God will Assert His Justice Completely

Know this: God will assert His justice ultimately and completely in His perfect time, which then enables you to forgive others freely. Trust God completely and forgive others freely. Hear Jesus’ command to forgive in Matthew 6:14-15: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Then, listen to the words of Romans 12:19-21: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Do you see this? Christian, you and I need not ever hold grudges against anyone, be resentful, or unforgiving of anyone. Instead, we forgive Christians whose sin has been paid for by the cross of Christ. Will we not forgive them when Christ has forgiven them? Who do we think we are? The price for their sin has been paid. Why do we insist on making them pay a price that He has paid? I’m not saying there’s not natural, temporal consequences to sin in this world; there are. Even the Lord disciplines us in our sin, yet He forgives us, and we forgive one another.

Learning What the Bible Says About Hell Leads Us to Forgive

But not just Christians, brother or sister. Forgive non-Christians, whose sin will be paid for at the judgment seat of Christ. Think about it. Even when hurt severely by someone else, even an enemy, Romans 12 says we need not exact vengeance because we know that sin against us will be judged in hell. Or maybe, more hopefully, they will turn and trust in Christ, and that sin will be paid for by the precious blood of Christ.

Ultimately, though, see the picture: When we forgive, we confess our confidence that judgment is coming, and we trust the Judge on the throne. Trust God completely, forgive others freely, and discipline consistently and compassionately. These are practical implications that flow from the final judgment.

Here’s the deal: Hebrews 12:5-11 makes clear that God our Father disciplines us, right? And this is a good thing, right? The passage says,

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

So God, our Judge and Father, disciplines us in love, so we are wise to discipline in ways that reflect His justice and His love in the church. This is why Jesus tells us to confront one another in sin. Matthew 18:15-20 tells us of this, when Jesus says,

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Why do we have these instructions? Why do we not just sit back and say, “Well, someone else’s sin is someone else’s problem; it’s not my problem.”? That’s the least loving thing we could say to someone else. There’s a day of Judgment coming for all of us, and we will be judged according to what we have done. If you see me wandering into sin, living in disobedience to the good God who knows what is best for me, then please, for God’s sake and my sake, don’t just sit back and say, “Well, that’s his problem.” Pull me back, because you love me. Casual approaches to sin in each other’s lives undercuts the doctrine of eternal judgment.

Discipline Your Children

This is true in the church, and it’s true in the home. Parents, teach, discipline your children to obey. Ephesians 6:1-4: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), ‘that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.’ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

Why? Think about it in light of the doctrine of divine judgment. I want my four children to know that there is right and wrong, and there are consequences to doing wrong, and I’m not going to be soft and ambiguous with them on that. I love them too much. I want them to hate what is wrong and love what is right. Because I want them to know that one day, they are going to stand before God as their Judge, and He will not be soft and ambiguous; He will be crystal clear.

Now, I don’t want to discipline in rage or harshness or with inconsistency, because God does not discipline that way. I want to discipline with the love of a father who cares for His children. Discipline in the home must reflect before our children the rightness of a Judge and the love of a Father.

Discipline consistently and compassionately in the church and in the home and walk in purity. Listen to this passage from 1 Peter 1:13-21:

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Did you hear that? Peter says, “Live in fear as you await the Day of Judgment.”

Now, notice what kind of fear this is not. Based on all that we’ve seen in the New Testament, Christian, this is not a fear of God’s judgment upon us. We have been justified by faith in Christ, and we are resting in His sacrifice for us, 1 Peter says. But there is a healthy fear that comes in living in the light of God’s holiness.

So, Christian, follow this: We walk in purity, not because we fear God’s wrath toward sinners, but because we feel God’s wrath toward sin. Based on all that we’ve seen about the Day of Judgment, we walk in purity, not because we’re worried about eternal condemnation, but because we want eternal reward. Philippians 3:12-21 says,

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

2 Timothy 4:6-8 also says, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” Fight the good fight, finish the race, because you’re looking forward to your reward.

Walk in purity in light of the coming Day of Judgment. Witness with urgency in light of the coming Day of Judgment. Jesus is coming; judgment is coming, so proclaim the gospel! Romans 10:14-17:

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Knowing What the Bible Says About Hell Leads Us to Proclaim the Gospel

Preach it, then! You know that judgment is coming, so don’t stay silent. Proclaim the gospel with urgency to everyone you know and to the ends of the earth. And as you do, in view of God’s judgment, worship with sincerity. So, we come back to this question: How do we worship God in His wrath? And the Bible says we worship Him for His judgment, even in His wrath, with all sincerity and joy in His character. It is right and good and fitting to praise God for His wrath, just as we see in Revelation 19:1-5:

After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”

For we realize that God’s wrath is evidence not only of His greatness, but also His goodness. Think about it. God’s love without wrath would be indifferent. If you love your wife, you will hate all that threatens her harm. If you love your kids, you will hate all that seeks to hurt them. If you love Jewish people, you will hate the Holocaust. Can you be indifferent in matters of love? Love requires wrath, in this sense. It is good for God to hate that which destroys you and me.

God’s justice without wrath would be ineffective. If justice cannot be carried out, executed, if it has no authority, then you have powerless justice, which we’ve already talked about. The beauty of the Godhead is that all of these attributes come together. God’s love, justice, and wrath together are inscrutable.

Now, I have to be honest: I used this word here because it’s down in Romans 11 below, but I didn’t even know what it means; I had to look it up when I was going back over my notes! But I looked it up, and it’s got a pretty great definition. It means, “Mysteriously unfathomable.” That’s it. God’s love, justice, and wrath together are mysteriously unfathomable. In the words of Becky Pippert, “God’s wrath is not a cranky explosion, but his settled opposition to the cancer of sin which is eating out the insides of the human race he loves with his whole being.” So, we say with Paul in Romans 11:33-36, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

The Horror of Hell

This is described in Revelation 20:15, which says, “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” You know, it’s interesting that polls consistently reveal that most people believe in heaven, and most people believe they are going there. But most people don’t believe in hell. And almost no one actually believes he or she is going there.

Introductory Cautions…

So, clearly, as if we weren’t there already, we have entered into a realm where we have left behind the popular for the biblical, which leads to a few introductory cautions. First, we must approach this doctrine biblically. I can’t say it any better than Francis Chan does in his book called Erasing Hell:

Let’s be eager to leave what is familiar for what is true. Nothing outside of God and His truth should be sacred to us. And so it is with hell. If hell is some primitive myth left over from conservative tradition, then let’s set it on that dusty shelf next to other traditional beliefs that have no basis in Scripture. But if it is true, if the Bible does teach that there is a literal hell awaiting those who don’t believe in Jesus, then this reality must change us. It should certainly purge our souls of all complacency.

The Bible Speaks Clearly about Hell

Now, we need to realize that the Bible speaks clearly about hell. Now, some might say, “Well, the Bible does, but that’s just the God of the Old Testament or obscure passages in the New Testament, but Jesus would never talk about hell.” Yet, on the contrary, Jesus is the One who talks about hell the most, which, when people realize this, immediately exposes the warped perception people have of Jesus and helps us all to realize the major significance of the doctrine of hell.

Tim Keller said, “If Jesus, the Lord of Love and Author of Grace spoke about hell more often, and in a more vivid, blood-curdling manner than anyone else, it must be a crucial truth.” Likewise, Packer said, “All the language that strikes terror into our hearts—weeping and gnashing of teeth, outer darkness, the worm, the fire, gehenna, the great gulf fixed—is all directly taken from our Lord’s teaching. It is from Jesus Christ that we learn the doctrine of eternal punishment.”

The Bible speaks clearly about hell, and the Bible speaks comprehensively about hell. There is no doubt at the end of the Bible that hell is real. Scottish professor, James Denney, said, “If there is any truth in Scripture at all, this is true—that those who stubbornly refuse to submit to the Gospel, and to love and obey Jesus Christ incur at the Last Advent an infinite and irreparable loss. They pass into a night on which no morning dawns.”

Now, even as the Bible speaks clearly and comprehensively about hell, we must realize that the aim of Scripture is not primarily to inform people about the details of hell. That’s not the purpose of the Bible when it speaks about hell. Instead, the aim of Scripture is primarily to warn people about the danger of hell. That’s what we have in the Bible.

So, we may not get answers to all of our questions about what hell looks like and what people in hell are doing, but we get a clear and comprehensive picture of the danger of hell in Scripture so that we might repent of sin, and so that we might live in righteousness. Richard Brooks said, “Hell is not in the Bible for us to debate it or to reject it. It is there so that we might escape from it!”

So, we must approach this doctrine biblically, and we must approach this doctrine humbly. Romans 9:14-24 envisions a hypothetical person, much like we talked about a moment ago, questioning God’s justice. Paul writes:

What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

Oh, this is a thick passage of Scripture, and we don’t have time to dive into it in-depth, but suffice to point out these things. One, we do not deserve God’s mercy. Paul’s quoting here from Exodus 33, when after God’s people rebelled against Him and constructed a golden calf in Exodus 32, He brought down His judgment on them. They all deserved to be destroyed before Him in their sin, but only a certain of them died. Exodus 32:25-28 says,

And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the LORD’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’” And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell.

And God said in Exodus 33:18-19, “Moses said, ‘Please show me your glory.’ And he said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name “The LORD.” And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.’” And the picture in this story represents a truth across Scripture. Just as we’ve seen, God would be just to condemn all people. If God was only acting on the basis of justice, we would all go to hell forever. That is the only thing God ought to do. It is the sheer mercy of God that He is gracious to save some people. If God’s judgment falls upon us, there is no injustice in God. And if God’s mercy falls upon us, there is no injustice in God.

We do not deserve God’s mercy, and ladies and gentlemen, we dare not defy God’s authority. That’s the point here in Romans 9. He is Creator; we are creature. We are like clay, the Bible says, and the potter has freedom and authority to do what He knows is best. He is infinitely wise and infinitely good, and He has all authority. He is Owner; we are owned. He is God; we are not.

Oh, we are so quick to forget this distinction. We are so quick to put ourselves on the plane of God, to put ourselves in a position to judge God. We’re like Job, who questioned God in the midst of His struggles, and God responded, “Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?” Job 40:6-8 says, “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: ‘Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?’” Job, then, responds to God’s answer in Job 42:1-6:

Then Job answered the LORD and said: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

Oh, ladies and gentlemen, we do not have the right to judge God’s ways. A.W. Pink said,

Who are we to pass judgment on the justice of the decision of the All-Wise? Who are we to say what is consistent or inconsistent with God’s righteousness? Sin has so enfeebled our power of righteous judgment, so darkened our understanding, so dulled our conscience, so perverted our wills, so corrupted our hearts, that we are quite incompetent to decide. We are ourselves so infected and affected by sin that we are altogether incapable of estimating its due merits. Imagine a company of criminals passing judgment on the equity and goodness of the law which had condemned them!

We do not have the right to indict God and say to Him, “How can you act this way?”, when the reality of Scripture is that God has the right to do what He wants. Psalm 115:1-3 says, “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.” Oh, be careful as you read Romans 9. Be careful that you do not play God and tell Him how He should act. Be careful that you do not say to God, “Your ways are different than my ways, O God, and my ways are better.”

Our hearts are nowhere near good enough to judge the goodness of God. Our minds are nowhere near knowledgeable enough to question the wisdom of God. There are millions of things that we do not know or understand in the universe, and He knows them all. And it is the essence of sin to say, “My ways are better than Your ways, O God.” So, don’t go there.

We Must Be Humble

We must approach this doctrine humbly before God, and we must approach this doctrine personally, meaning, not from a distance. We are not considering a stale theological doctrine. When we talk about the horror of hell, we are contemplating a real eternal destiny for people. For people we know, and people we love, and people we live around, and people we work with and masses, multitudes, millions upon millions of people in the world, this is not mere theological discussion. This is peoples’ destiny.

So, then we must approach this doctrine personally, and we must approach this doctrine passionately. Not merely with the intellect, but with the affections. This doctrine should be emotionally difficult, emotionally draining to consider. If our hearts are not moved with deep sorrow when we contemplate the horror of hell, we have missed the point altogether. Francis Chan writes:

I’m scared [to write a book on hell] because so much is at stake. Think about it. If I say there is no hell, and it turns out that there is a hell, I may lead people into the very place I convinced them did not exist! If I say there is a hell, and I’m wrong, I may persuade people to spend their lives frantically warning loved ones about a terrifying place that isn’t real! When it comes to hell, we can’t afford to be wrong. This is not one of those doctrines where you can toss in your two cents, shrug your shoulders, and move on. Too much is at stake. Too many people are at stake. And the Bible has too much to say.

Ten Biblical Descriptions of Hell…

So, what does the Bible say? Here are ten biblical realities for the reality of hell. Number one, hell is a place of ultimate justice. Hell is the biblical, logical, unavoidable end of all that we have seen to this point, of all that we have seen in the gospel. God is just. He is a right and good Judge. And as a good Judge, God condemns the guilty. This is what good judges do. If there was a judge in a courtroom today who knowingly said to guilty criminals, “You are innocent,” then we would have that judge off the bench in a heartbeat. Why? Because he’s not just. He’s not right.

So, God, as the infinitely holy and infinitely just God of the universe, by His very character as a good judge, condemns the guilty. We are guilty. Guilty of sin, just as we’ve seen, and consequently, God’s justice warrants our condemnation. And when we die in the guilt of our sin, hell is the inevitable result. It is a place of ultimate justice.

So, when you read through the book of Revelation, and you see hell described, you always see it described in the context of God’s justice. Revelation 6:9-11:

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Revelation 16:1-7:

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.” So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea. The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, “Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!” And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!”

Revelation 19:1-4:

After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” Once more they cried out, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”

Revelation 20:11-12:

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.

So, Paul Helm rightfully concludes, “If God is supremely just, and just in a sense which is recognizable as just by his human creatures, and if hell exists because it is ordained by God, then hell must be just.” Hell is a place of ultimate justice.

Hell is a Fiery Agony

Second, hell is a place of fiery agony. This is how Jesus describes hell: Mark 9:43-48 says,

“And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’”

And you look at all these other texts in Matthew 13. Matthew 13:40-42 says, “Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace.” It goes on a few verses later in Matthew 13:49-50, and says, “So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace.” This is Jesus talking here!

Matthew 18:8-9: “And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.” Matthew 25:41, “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’” Then, beyond Jesus, we have Jude 6-7:

And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

And as we’ve already seen, Revelation 20:15 says, “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Biblically, hell is a place of fiery agony.

Hell is a Place of Conscious Torment

Third, biblically, hell is a place of conscious torment. We’ve already referenced this in the rich man in hell in Luke 16:22-28, which says,

“The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’”

Revelation 14:9-10 envisions hell and says, “And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.’” Revelation 20:9-10 envisions hell as well and says, “And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Hell is a Place of Darkness

Biblically, hell is a place of outer darkness. This is the language Jesus uses in Matthew 8, Matthew 22, and Matthew 25. Matthew 8:11-12a says, “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness.” Then, Matthew 22:13 says, “Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness.’” Also, Matthew 25:30 says, “‘And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness.’”

And we see the same picture in 2 Peter 2 and Jude 12-13. 2 Peter 2:17 tells us, “These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.” Then, Jude 12-13 goes on: “These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.”

The Bible teaches that hell is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Hear Jesus saying this over and over and over again. Matthew 8:12b, “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 13:42, “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 13:50, “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 22:13, “‘In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” Also, Matthew 25:30b, “‘In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” He keeps saying this; He keeps emphasizing this.

Hell is a Place of Rebellion Against God

Biblically, hell is a place of continual rebellion against God. We mustn’t have this idea of hell as God casting people into eternity, and as their souls fall through space, they’re crying out for mercy, but God is saying, “Too late! You had your chance! Now you will suffer.” That kind of picture in your mind misses the entire point of hell. The biblical picture is one of men and women who live in rebellion against God, and when they die, God gives them over to their rebellion. Philippians 2:9-11 says, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” So, yes, in the sense of Philippians 2:9-11, they know He is Lord, but they are not repentant and gladly submitting to Him as Lord. Russell Moore wrote,

The sinner in hell does not become morally neutral upon his sentence to hell. We must not imagine the damned sinner displaying gospel repentance and longing for the presence of Christ. The damned indeed are longing for an escape from punishment, but they are not ‘new creations.’ They do not, in hell, love the Lord their God with heart, mind, soul, and strength. Instead, they are now handed over to the full display of their natures apart from grace, natures that are satanic (John 8:44). Thus, the condemnation continues forever and ever and ever, with no end in view either for the sin or the punishment thereof.

People in hell are still rebelling against the lordship of God. It’s much like the words of Romans 1:24; God gives people over to what they desire.

I didn’t put his quote in here, but this is why C.S. Lewis called hell “the greatest monument to human freedom.” He described how

…the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside. I do not mean that the ghosts may not wish to come out of hell, in the vague fashion wherein an envious man ‘wishes’ to be happy: but they certainly do not will even the first preliminary stages of that self-abandonment through which alone the soul can reach any good. They enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded, and are therefore self-enslaved.

He went on to say: “There are only two kinds of people—those who say ‘Thy will be done’ to God or those to whom God in the end says, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice it wouldn’t be Hell.” Hell is a place of continual rebellion; man given over to his freely chosen identity apart from God.

Hell is a place of vile association. It is a place shared by and prepared for the devil and his angels. Matthew 25:41 says, “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’” Revelation 21:8 tells us who hell is filled with. It says, “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Hell is a Place of Divine Destruction

Biblically, hell is a place of divine destruction. 2 Peter 3:7 says, “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” 2 Thessalonians 1:9 says of those who turn from Christ, that they “will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might…”, which leads to this next biblical reality: Hell is a place of complete separation. In our sin, we are separated from God, and so in hell, we are given over completely to such separation.

Think about what this means. In this world, even amidst the sin and suffering that we are surrounded by and experience, there is much grace from God all around us, even in the worst of people. Jesus teaches in Matthew 5 that the sun rises on the evil and the good. Matthew 5:45 says, “…so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” John 1:9, “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. Acts 14:17, “Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” Acts 17:27-28, “…that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’”

But then you get to Matthew 7:21-23, and you get this picture of being cast out of the presence of God.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

2 Thessalonians 1:9, which we just read, says again, “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might…” And you realize that hell is separation from all the good things that God still gives to even the worst of sinners in this world.

All that is love is summed up in God; all that is good is summed up in God. So, what do you have when you are totally separated from the One who is love and the One who is good? Tim Keller puts together this picture of divine destruction and total separation well when he writes:

So what is a ‘totaled’ human soul? It does not cease to exist, but rather becomes completely incapable of all the things a human soul is for—reasoning, feeling, choosing, giving or receiving love or joy. Why? Because the human soul was built for worshipping and enjoying the true God, and all truly human life flows from that. In this world, all of humanity, even those who have turned away from God, still are supported by “kindly providences” or “common grace” (Acts 14:16-17; Psalm 104:10-30; James 1:17) keeping us still capable of wisdom, love, joy, and goodness. But when we lose God’s supportive presence altogether, the result is hell.

Arthur Pink echoes, “None but one who really knows God can begin to estimate what it will mean to be eternally banished from the Lord. Forever separated from the Fount of all goodness! Never to enjoy the light of God’s countenance! Never to bask in the sunshine of His presence. This, this is the most awful of all.” 

Hell is a Place of Eternal Duration

This leads to this last reality about hell. Hell is a place of eternal duration. I have put Scripture after Scripture here, Old Testament and New Testament alike, to show that the Bible clearly teaches the eternality of hell. The Old Testament is talking about everlasting burning. Daniel 12:2, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Isaiah 33:14, “The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: ‘Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?’” Isaiah 66:24, “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

Jesus speaking about eternal fire and eternal punishment. Mark 9:43-48,

“And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’”

Matthew 18:8, “And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire.” Matthew 25:41 says, “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’” Matthew 25:46, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Jude 6-7, which we looked at earlier, says,

And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

 Revelation 14, 19, and 20, all emphasize the words “forever and ever”. Just in case we’re not getting it with the word “forever,” the Bible adds, “and ever.” Revelation 14:9-11 says,

And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

Revelation 19:3, “Once more they cried out, ‘Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.’” Revelation 20:9-10, “And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

Thomas Watson writes, “Thus it is in Hell; they would die, but they cannot. The wicked shall be always dying but never dead; the smoke of the furnace ascends for ever and ever. Oh! Who can endure thus to be ever upon the rack? This word ‘ever’ breaks the heart.” Maybe no preacher in history has more vividly, pictorially envisioned hell as clearly and as powerfully as Jonathan Edwards. He said,

To help your conception, imagine yourself to be cast into a fiery oven, all of a glowing heat, or into the midst of a blowing brick-kiln, or of a great furnace, where your pain would be as much greater than that occasioned by accidentally touching a coal of fire, as the heat is greater. Imagine also that your body were to lie there for a quarter of an hour, full of fire, as full within and without as a bright coal of fire, all the while full of quick sense; what horror would you feel at the entrance of such a furnace! And how long would that quarter of an hour seem to you! If it were to be measured by a glass, how long would the glass seem to be running! And after you had endured it for one minute, how overbearing would it be to you to think that you had yet to endure the other fourteen. But what would be the effect on your soul, if you knew you must lie there enduring that torment to the full for twenty-four hours! And how much greater would be the effect, if you knew you must endure it for a whole year, and how vastly greater still, if you knew you must endure it for a thousand years! O then, how would your heart sink, if you thought, if you knew, that you must bear it forever and ever! That there would be no end! That after millions of millions of ages, your torment would be no nearer to an end, than ever it was; and that you never, never should be delivered! But your torment in Hell will be immeasurably greater than this illustration represents. How then will the heart of a poor creature sink under it! How utterly inexpressible and inconceivable must the sinking of the soul be in such a case.

On another occasion, he said:

When you look forward, you shall see a long forever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all; you will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions and millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then you will have so done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all is but a point to what remains.

Biblically, hell is a place of ultimate justice, fiery agony, conscious torment, outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth, continual rebellion, vile association, divine destruction, complete separation, and eternal duration. This is what the Word of God says.

Five Controversial Questions about Hell…

Now, let’s look at five controversial questions that are often asked. One, is the Bible’s description of hell literal or metaphorical? It talks about a lake of fire, a fiery furnace, outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth. Is this literally what is going on in hell? Are people burning in hell? I don’t know. The Bible’s descriptions of hell are possibly literal. There certainly seems to be a reason behind why we see such physical descriptions of hell in terms of darkness and fire and torment. Arthur Pink is definitely persuaded that these descriptions of hell are literal. He said,

Is Hell Metaphorical?

Many say this is merely a figurative expression. We ask, How do they know that? Where has God told them so in His Word? Personally, we believe that when God says ‘fire’ He means ‘fire.’ We refuse to blunt the sharp edge of His Word. Was the Deluge figurative? Was it figurative ‘fire and brimstone’ which descended from heaven and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah? Were the plagues upon Egypt figurative ones? Is it figurative fire which shall yet burn this earth, and cause the very elements to “melt with fervent heat?” No; in each of these cases we are obliged to take the words of Scripture in their literal signification. Let those who dare affirm that Hell-fire is non-literal answer to God.

I think that’s pretty persuasive.

At the same time, the Bible’s descriptions of hell are possibly metaphorical, which is where people that I’ve quoted like Jonathan Edwards and Tim Keller would come down. But here’s the key: Even if these biblical descriptions of hell are metaphorical, this is not very comforting. If fire and darkness and burning and torment are symbols, then what are they symbols for? Snow? A wintry vacation? A day at the beach or happy hunting grounds? No, if these are symbols, we must realize the purpose of symbols, which is to represent reality that is not expressible in words. In the words of Edwards, “When metaphors are used in Scripture about spiritual things…they fall short of the literal truth.” Likewise, Keller:

To say that the Scriptural image of hell-fire is not wholly literal is of no comfort whatsoever. The reality will be far worse than the image. What, then, are the “fire” and “darkness” symbols for? They are vivid ways to describe what happens when we lose the presence of God. Darkness refers to the isolation, and fire to the disintegration of being separated from God. Away from the favor and face of God, we literally, horrifically, and endlessly fall apart.

If the Bible’s descriptions of hell are metaphorical, this is not very comforting; this is extremely frightening. So, don’t get caught up on this one.

Isn’t “Gehenna” Just Another Word for a Garbage Dump?

Second controversial question: Isn’t “Gehenna” just another word for a garbage dump? This is a question most recently made popular in Rob Bell’s book on hell, which would be an appropriate place for that book to go. And just a note here: Just to be clear, I’m including a quote from Rob Bell much like I’ve included quotes from the Seventh-Day Adventists about soul sleep and Maccabees about purgatory, not as quotes that highlight what the Bible says, but as quotes that contradict the Bible and need the Bible to correct them.

So, Rob Bell and others claim that “gehenna”, the ancient word often used to denote hell in the Bible, merely means a garbage dump. The Greek word “gehenna” is a transliteration of the Hebrew term “ge hinnom”, which is the “Valley of Hinnom” on the south side of Jerusalem. So, Bell writes:

People tossed their garbage and waste into this valley. There was a fire there, burning constantly to consume the trash. Wild animals fought over the scraps of food along the edges of the heap. When they fought, their teeth would make a gnashing sound. Gehenna was the place with the gnashing of teeth, where the fire never went out. Gehenna was an actual place that Jesus’s listeners would have been familiar with. So the next time someone asks if you believe in an actual hell, you can always say, “Yes, I do believe that my garbage goes somewhere…”

So, Rob Bell takes this word that Jesus uses for hell and says, “It’s merely a garbage dump.” But this idea of “gehenna” as a simple garbage dump is deceptively misleading. Even if this term was inspired by the image of an actual burning garbage dump, that still doesn’t mean that Jesus is referring to the actual dump when He uses this word. You insert garbage dump into these verses I put here, and it makes no sense. Matthew 5:22, which says, “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” If we insert “garbage dump” there, it says, “Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ is in danger of the garbage dump.” It doesn’t make any sense.

Or Matthew 5:29, which says, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.” Insert “garbage dump” there: “It is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into the garbage dump.” It sounds silly.

The idea that Jesus means “gehenna” as a simple garbage dump misunderstands the very purpose of imagery in the first place. People sometimes called a gridlocked interstate a parking lot. “It’s a parking lot out there on Interstate 65.” Well, that statement is inspired by a literal parking lot, but nobody is saying that people drive up to the freeway, stop, lock their cars, and then go about their business. No, that totally misunderstands the way imagery works. So, the idea of “gehenna” as a simple garbage dump is first of all deceptively misleading.

Second, the idea of “gehenna” as a simple garbage dump is biblically inaccurate. You go back into Old Testament history, and you say that this valley, the Valley of Hinnom, was the center of idolatrous worship. In 2 Chronicles 28:1-3, you see offerings to the Baals made in the Valley of Hinnom, and even child sacrifices happening there. The passage says,

Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done, but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made metal images for the Baals, and he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.

2 Chronicles 33:6 says, “And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.” And when you get to Jeremiah 7:30-34, the Lord brings down His judgment on the people’s idolatry, and listen to what He says:

“For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the LORD. They have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere. And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth, and none will frighten them away. And I will silence in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall become a waste.”

It’s the same thing in Jeremiah 19:6-9, which says,

“‘…therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.’”

And Jeremiah 32:35 pictures this valley as a place of abomination and judgment. It says, “They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.” So, biblically, the idea of “gehenna” as a simple garbage dump is just plain wrong; it’s biblically inaccurate. This is a place of judgment and torment and slaughter.

And, finally, the idea of “gehenna” as a simple garbage dump is historically unlikely. There is little to no evidence from the time of the New Testament that the Valley of Hinnom was even the town dump in the first place. The first reference to “gehenna” as the town dump is from a rabbi named David Kimhi in 1200 AD. He wrote, “Gehenna is a repugnant place, into which filth and cadavers are thrown, and in which fires perpetually burn in order to consume the filth and bones; on which account, by analogy, the judgment of the wicked is called ‘Gehenna.’” And Kimhi, even with this unsubstantiated, new historical observation, recognized what we talked about earlier, that this would be analogy of a real, eternal place of judgment.

But still, what are the chances that Jesus is thinking of this town dump when He uses the word “gehenna” when there is no evidence that there ever was such a dump until over a thousand years after Jesus had died and risen from the grave? You put all this together, and you realize that the idea of “gehenna” as a simple garbage dump is, well, garbage. Instead, according to all of Scripture, the image of “gehenna” as a violent picture of divine punishment is abundantly clear.

What about Annihilationism?

Second controversial question: What about annihilationism? Annihilationism is the idea that after unbelievers have suffered the penalty of God’s wrath for a time, God will annihilate them so that they no longer exist. So, basically, hell is not forever, but that there is an ending point. Some people would say that ending point is when they die; that the penalty of sin is simply that people go out of existence, and yet more others believe that after a time of torment in hell, eventually God will annihilate people so that they no longer exist.

The supposed biblical basis for this is language that we’ve already looked at that talks about the destruction of sinners is found in a few places. Philippians 3:19 says, “Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.” 2 Thessalonians 1:9, “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” 2 Peter 3:7 says, “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”

So, the argument goes that, once someone is destroyed, they obviously no longer exist. And the thought behind the argument is that eternal, never-ending, everlasting conscious punishment is incommensurate with the love of God. People will say, “Surely God would not subject people to this. And after all, doesn’t sin committed in time demand punishment in time, as opposed to punishment that exists for all time?” And certainly at this point, without question, we feel the emotional heaviness behind this argument. The thought of eternity, forever, in torment and punishment is in many ways unimaginable and inconceivable. forever, without end seems harsh.

So, how are we to square this with the love of God and is eternal punishment a just punishment for sin? These questions lead us back to the gospel, where we have seen that yes, biblically, one sin against an infinite God warrants infinite judgment. We talked about this, and this is so huge to understand. The gravity of sin is not determined by the gauge of the one who sins. Instead, the gravity of sin is determined by the greatness of the One who is sinned against. Think about it: If you sin against a log, you are not very guilty. If you sin against a man or a woman, then you are absolutely guilty. And, ultimately, if you sin against an infinitely holy God, you are infinitely guilty.

Azeem is an Arab follower of Jesus and former member of this church, now back in the Middle East, and he was sharing the gospel recently with a taxi driver in his Muslim country. The driver believed that he would pay for his sin for a little while in hell, but then he would surely go to heaven after that. After all, he hadn’t done too many bad things. So, Azeem said to him, “If I slapped you in the face, what would you do to me?” The driver replied, “I would throw you out of my taxi.” Azeem continued, “If I went up to a random guy on the street and slapped him in the face, what would he do to me?” The driver said, “He would probably call his friends and beat you up.” Azeem asked, “What if I went up to a policeman and slapped him in the face? What would he do to me?” The driver replied, “You would be beat up for sure, and then thrown into jail.”

Finally, Azeem posed this question: “What if I went to the king of this country, and I slapped him in the face? What would happen to me then?” The driver looked at Azeem and awkwardly laughed. He told Azeem, “You would die.” To this Azeem said, “So you see that the severity of sin’s punishment is always a reflection of the position of the person who is sinned against.” And the driver realized that he had been severely underestimating the seriousness of his sin against God. The biblical reality is clear: One sin against an infinite God warrants infinite punishment. In the words of David Kingdom, “Sin against the Creator is heinous to a degree utterly beyond our sin-warped imaginations’ ability to conceive of… . Who would have the temerity to suggest to God what the punishment should be?”

So, biblically, annihilation is unsupportable. Even when the Bible does talk about destruction, it’s clearly not a reference to cessation of existence, particularly in light of everything else the Bible says about hell. The Bible talks about eternal and everlasting punishment in a way that is parallel to eternal and everlasting life.

Matthew 25:46 says, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Then, you get to Matthew 26:24, as Jesus talks about Judas, he says, “The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” Clearly his fate as condemned for sin is worse than if he had not been born, i.e., hell is worse than mere non-existence; non-existence would be better, but non-existence is not the reality for the condemned. Annihilationism, in the end, contradicts the clear teaching of the Bible.

Does Temporary Punishment Pay the Sinner’s Price?

So, that’s biblically, but then take it a step further: Practically. Does temporary punishment pay the sinner’s price? The idea behind annihilationism is that a certain period of time, a shorter or limited period of time, is sufficient to satisfy the price of sin. Well, if that’s the case, if the full price and punishment for sin has been paid, then at that point, wouldn’t the sinner go to heaven? After all, the price for sin has been paid, and the sinner should go to heaven. Certainly, if the price for sin has been paid, then they would not need to be annihilated then. And even more, if the price for sin is paid in some way by a certain duration of punishment, then why is the cross of Christ necessary in the first place? Why was it necessary for Christ to be crucified if disciplinary suffering in hell for a period of time is sufficient for the price of sin?

So, we then move to the converse: If temporary punishment does not actually pay for all the unbeliever’s sin and satisfy the justice of God, then the price for sin is still unpaid, and the sinner remains in hell. When you put this together, you realize that not only is annihilation biblically unsupportable, but also, practically, annihilation is unsustainable.

What About Universalism?

Well, then, what about universalism? This is the third question about hell. What about universalism, the idea that all people will eventually be saved and experience eternity with God? Now, universalism comes in many forms and is cloaked in many ways. Non-Christian universalists believe that Jesus is only one way to God and heaven among many, and all religions eventually lead to the same place. Or, supposedly, Christian universalists who may believe that Jesus is the only way to God and heaven, but eventually all people will be saved through Jesus. Some believe that the Bible teaches that all will be saved in the end; others believe that people will have another chance, or maybe many chances, after death to believe in Jesus and be saved.

So again, hear Rob Bell: “At the heart of this perspective is the belief that, given enough time, everybody will turn to God and find themselves in the joy and peace of God’s presence. The love of God will melt every hard heart, and even the most ‘depraved sinners’ will eventually give up their resistance and turn to God.” So, what are we to think about this? Does the Bible teach this?

Well, consider Philippians 2:9-11, which says, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” When Paul says that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, this is not a reference to universal salvation; this is universal submission.

Now, I want to be careful even with the way I’m using that word “submission”. I’m not talking glad, willing, submission; I’m talking ultimate, yet unwilling submission. Think about the devil here. One day, he will submit ultimately to Jesus as Lord, but that does not mean the devil will be saved. The same reality is reflected in Isaiah 45:22-25. It says,

“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’ Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him. In the LORD all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory.”

This is what Paul is alluding to in Philippians 2. And the key is here. Keep reading on through the book of Philippians, and you will see that Paul does not nullify the distinction between the saved and the condemned as if they will end up in the same state or place in the end. No, instead, Paul highlights the destiny of both the saved and the condemned as different.

In Philippians 1:28, he talks about the destruction of unbelievers, and the salvation of believers. He says, “…and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.” Then, hear the contrast in Philippians 3:19-21: “Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” Clearly, Paul says, their citizenship is not in heaven.

Then, consider 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:22, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” There it is: “In Christ, all shall be made alive.”, which sounds convincing, until you keep reading to the next verses. 1 Corinthians 15:23-26 says, “But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

Don’t stop until you get to the last verses, where Paul flat-out says in 1 Corinthians 16:22-24, “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.” That doesn’t sound universalistic at all.

Or, consider 1 Timothy 2, another passage that universalists might point to, where Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2:3-4, “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” This is huge. Many people, like Nels Ferre, a universalist,  would say, “The logic of the situation is simple. Either God could not or would not save all. If he could not, he is not sovereign, then not all things are possible with God. If he would not, again the New Testament is wrong, for it openly claims that God would have all to be saved.”

So, the logic goes, God desires all to be saved. Does God have power to carry out what He desires? If not, then He’s not omnipotent. If He does, then He will carry it out. If God is truly all loving and all-powerful according to 1 Timothy 2, then all people will be saved. But clearly, the context around this text does not mean that all people will be saved. You study this passage, and you read the verses right before it, and you see that Paul is telling us that we pray for all types of people including kings and all who are in high positions. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 says, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

We pray for all types of people because God saves all types of people, and He saves all types of people, ultimately, people from all nations and tribes and language, through Christ. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 says, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” But clearly this does not mean that all people will be saved.

And, likewise, this does not mean that God’s will has been thwarted. The Bible is clear. Take it from Job. Job 42:1-2 says, “Then Job answered the LORD and said: ‘I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.’” Isaiah 14:24, “The LORD of hosts has sworn: ‘As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand…’”

This is where we need to remember that the Bible talks about God’s will and God’s purpose in different ways at different times. We’ve talked about this at other Secret Churches, but I realize not everyone has heard this or remembers this, so remember the revealed will of God: What He declares. There are times when God declares His will, what He desires. In the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:13-16, God says, “You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” So, is it the will of God that we not murder? Absolutely. Is it the will of God that we not steal or commit adultery or lie? Absolutely, that’s the will of God. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 says, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality…” So, this is the will of God.

But is there murder in the world? Is there stealing and lying in the world, even some of these things in our lives? So, does that mean that God is not omnipotent? He doesn’t want murder, and there’s murder, so God is not omnipotent, He is not in control, and He doesn’t accomplish His will. Well, no, not when you remember the secret will of God: What He decrees. In other words, God is sovereign over everything, and He is ultimately in control of everything that happens in the world.

Now, how this comes together is a mystery, which we’ll talk about in a moment. But look at these verses below. Genesis 50:20, the story of Joseph being sold into slavery, was that the will of God? Well, no, in the sense of God’s declared will; He didn’t declare that Joseph’s brothers should lie and deceive like they did. But was He in control? Was He sovereign? Absolutely. Listen to Joseph’s conclusion in Genesis 50:20: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” Isaiah 53:10 is another example. It says, “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.” Another example is in Acts 2:23 as Peter recounts the crucifixion of Christ. He says, “…this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

Think about the crucifixion of Christ. Was the murder of Christ the will of God? Was God’s will thwarted? Well, certainly, yes, in the sense that God didn’t declare that anyone should murder. But, absolutely not in the sense that this was no accident. God decreed the crucifixion of His Son and praise God that He did for the sake of our salvation.

So, then, connect this with our question about universalism. If not all people are saved, does this mean that God’s will has been thwarted? No. Does God desire and declare for all people to be saved? Yes. But in the end, is everyone saved? No.

Men and women rebel against God, and, follow this: This does not mean that God’s love is in question. Ezekiel 33:11, “Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” 1 John 4:8, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” 1 John 2:2, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” God “is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

Now, in all of this, we do need to remember the mystery. God is sovereign over all things. Nothing catches God by surprise. God is sovereign over everything, and ultimately, He decrees everything, but at the same time, we are responsible. We are responsible for the choices we make. God’s sovereignty does not negate our responsibility.

We are responsible for whether or not we choose to trust in Christ or not. Ultimately, we are responsible if we turn from God to ourselves forever. J.I. Packer, who wrote one of the classics on evangelism and the sovereignty of God, makes clear: “Scripture sees hell as self-chosen…Hell appears as God’s gesture of respect for human choice. All receive what they actually chose, either to be with God forever, worshipping him, or without God forever, worshipping themselves.”

All this to come back to the very idea of universalism. If you’re still not convinced, consider the silence in Scripture. In the words of A.W. Pink, “That death seals the doom of the lost, we may prove negatively by the fact—and this is conclusive of itself—that we have not a single instance described in either the Old Testament or the New of a sinner being saved after death. Nor is there a single passage which holds out any promise of this in the future.” Scripture actually teaches the exact opposite, that many people will be in that place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, and there will be no second chance. Luke 13:22-30 says,

He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

Do people who never have a chance to hear the gospel go to hell?

Last question that people often ask about hell: Do people who never have a chance to hear the gospel go to hell? There are 1.5 billion people today who are considered unreached, who have never heard the gospel, who presently don’t have access to the knowledge of the gospel. So, what happens when they die? Will people who have never heard the gospel go to hell when they die?

Well, unfortunately, there’s no place in Scripture where Jesus says, “Some of you may wonder what happens to people who never hear about me. Here’s the answer,” but that doesn’t mean Scripture is silent in response to this question. Consider what Scripture does say very clearly, particularly in the book of Romans, a book written to persuade the church at Rome to help Paul get to Spain with the gospel, because people in Spain had never heard it. The book of Romans makes clear that all people have knowledge of God the Father. Romans 1:18-20 says,

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Every person, in all the world, wherever they are, has knowledge of God the Father. At the same time, as we’ve seen, all people reject true knowledge of God. Romans 1:21-25:

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Everyone in all the world has rejected true knowledge of God, which as a result, leads to this third truth: There are no innocent people in the world. Romans 3:9-18 says,

What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

People say, “What about the innocent person in Africa who’s never heard the gospel? Surely they don’t go to hell.” Well, you’re right. If they were innocent, they wouldn’t go to hell, because the innocent go to heaven. The problem is no one in Africa is innocent of sin against God. No one anywhere is. There are not 1.5 billion people around the world who are innocent, just waiting to hear the gospel; there’s 1.5 billion guilty people in the gospel, and that’s why they need to hear the gospel!

There are no innocent people in the world, and as a result, truth number four: All people are condemned for rejecting God. Romans 3:19-20 says, “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” And I include this because some people say, “Well, surely because they haven’t heard of the gospel, they won’t be held accountable for rejecting the gospel.” And that makes sense.

Think about it: Do you think it would be just for God to condemn someone to hell for rejecting Christ when they never had the opportunity to even hear about Christ? I don’t think that would be just, but that doesn’t mean that people who haven’t heard are off the hook, so to speak, because the truth of Scripture fundamentally is not that people are condemned for rejecting Christ, although that’s obviously true, if they have heard of Christ, but even if they haven’t heard of Christ, people are condemned for rejecting God. That’s why they need to hear of Christ in the first place.

And besides, think about what it would mean if people were going to heaven simply by nature of the fact that they hadn’t heard of Christ. So, if not having heard of Christ was a pass, of sorts, that would get them into heaven, then what would be the worst thing for us to do to them? Tell them about Christ! “Thanks a lot. Before you got here, we were going to heaven, but now that you’ve told us about Jesus, we might go to hell.” No, that misses the whole point of commands to evangelize the nations across the New Testament.

All people are condemned for rejecting God, which leads to the next truth, and this is the good news of the gospel: God has made a way of salvation for the lost. Just imagine Paul after writing Romans 1:18-3:20. But then, Paul picks up the pen and writes Romans 3:21-26:

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Praise be to God, He has made a way for the salvation of the lost. And the way for us to be saved, Romans 3 continues, is by faith in Christ, which leads to this next to last truth: People cannot come to God apart from faith in Christ. Paul makes clear in Romans 3 that we can never be saved by what we do, but only by faith in what God has done for us in Christ. Romans 3:27-31 says,

Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

He goes on in Romans 5:1-11 to say,

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Put Your Faith in Jesus

This is the way we can be saved: By putting our faith in Christ. And this is great news as long as you hear it. Carl Henry once said, “The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time.” But there’s 1.5 billion people who still haven’t heard it.

And that leads to the final truth here: Christ commands the church to preach the gospel to all peoples. After this entire picture of the gospel in the first half of the book of Romans, Paul writes in Romans 10:9-15:

…because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, do we realize this? There are literally 1.5 billion people in the world right now at this moment who are on a road that leads to an eternal hell, and no one has ever even told them that they can be saved from hell through Jesus. We must tell them! We must lay down our lives, our families, and our churches and revolutionize our budgets and our priorities, and our ambitions to take the gospel to those who’ve never heard.

A Prayer for Open Eyes

Oh, I have prayed for this moment. For this particular moment right here, that God, in His grace, might wake up somebody, some student, couple, some young couple, some young family, some middle-aged man and/or woman, some couple about to enter retirement, some couple in retirement, some single man or woman. O Lord, I pray for this moment, that you would open the eyes of somebody to see the reality that people are going to hell and they haven’t even heard the gospel, and that somebody right now will stop and decide that you’re not going to leave it up to somebody else to do this, but by the grace of God, you’re going to do this.

You’re going to go! You’re going to pack your bags, move your life, your family, whatever; you’re not going to sit on this gospel and coast it out any longer. You’re going to spend your life for the sake of the unreached around the world, because the thought of entire peoples who are going to everlasting hell without ever hearing the gospel is too much for you to take, and you decide to give your life so that one of these people groups knows the gospel and the glory of Christ.

God, may it be so. Do we believe this book? We’ve got to live differently! We’ve got to do church differently!