“Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will remove from His Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!” (Matthew 13:40-43 NLT)
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the eternal “fire” of hell, isn’t literal and will not destroy the souls of the condemned. Quite to the contrary, they will have an eternity to ponder their negligence and stupidity for what they ignored in this life. But the seeming logical question remains: “How can a loving, kind, compassionate God level such a harsh sentence for the disobedience of His creation?” I will offer some highlights, but for a more complete explanation click on this link to the Bible Hub.
As I consider the answers to that question I first turn to the nature of God. He is not only loving, He’s also just. To ignore sin in us as human beings is to ignore that which separates us from Him. It’s like saying to our new bride: “Sure, I understand your need to continue to see other men but just come home some of the time so that I can remember how much you love me.” It’s idiotic. No man in their right man would desire a marriage like that. But even as I write that, I realize there ARE men like that, which simply deepens our understanding of how far we’ve strayed from our Creator.
Satan sears our conscience and deadens our spiritual senses to enable us to ignore God and pretend He doesn’t exist, as illustrated by the quote in the picture above. It doesn’t stand to reason that the same God who rewards those who love and obey Him for all eternity wouldn’t punish those who break His laws, ignore His commands, and deliberately separate themselves in this life, in the same way. There is a very real sense in which those who have rejected the Lord in this life are finally getting what they’ve always wanted, to be separated from the Lord, but in eternity they will finally understand what that means.
Revelation 21:4 outlines some of the ways the Lord rewards His own when John writes: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” What is clearly implied by each of these benefits? His eternal presence! The Lord Himself is the Treasure, the reward, not the benefits He offers. They’re the proverbial “icing on the cake.” He’s the “cake”, the prize, the reward and to be with Him in this life and the next is the greatest benefit of our devotion to Him.
So, are we to assume if Jesus is the issue, then when people reject Him, it’s not worthy of eternal punishment? That’s laughable. It’s ironic to me that those who would reject God on the basis of the severity of the punishment leveled against those who reject Him are blinded to the reality that that same God is giving them a means of escape of that punishment. Yet, they knowingly choose that punishment rather than open their heart and life to Him now so that can begin to enjoy heaven here on earth.
The word used most frequently in the Old Testament that is translated death is “thanatos”. According to Strong’s Concordance the term means: “the death of the body: 1a) that separation (whether natural or violent) of the soul and the body by which life on earth is ended. 1b) with the implied idea of future misery in hell. Death is often used as a metaphor, the loss of that life which alone is worthy of the name, 2a) the misery of the soul arising from sin, which begins on earth but lasts and increases after the death of the body in hell.”
It continues, but that should suffice to illustrate that the Bible’s use of the term “death” means separation from God, either by sin in this life, or for all eternity in hell in the next. This is obviously not a subject to be taken lightly, and my heart is grieved even as I type.
My life’s goal as a believer in Jesus is to pray and work in every conceivable way to reach everyone I can by any means I can for as long as I can to the glory of the One with whom I will spend eternity. It’s not even that my highest priority is that people miss hell, it’s that I don’t want anyone to miss Jesus. It’s a choice we must make with eternal consequences, but one that must be made before death. To ignore that fact is on us, not God. He’s opened a way to Him, but it’s up to us to take it.
If you’d like to come to your senses and yield your life and allegiance to Jesus while you still can, please tap this link anewstory.com.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 