Running from hell …

Now that fits have been thrown about Rob Bell’s book regarding hell, maybe we can finally deal with a dose of truth: false teaching about God’s role regarding people going to hell are routinely taught by preachers and spread by Christians.

It has become an ordinary thing that many preachers are too cowardly to speak directly and honestly about God having a primary role in the eternal destination of His creation. That cowardly approach to a vital topic is then perpetuated by Christians who don’t hear the truth.

Let’s get to the heart of the matter: God created hell, just as He created heaven, and it is by His judgment that people will spend an eternity there. Let’s look at Revelation 20:11-15:

“11 And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. 12 I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. 14 Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. 15 And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

There’s the truth. A truth so many preachers run from.

So often, we hear preachers teach that anyone who goes to hell does so by their own choice. There’s truth to that statement: God made us with free will, He provided a means of salvation so that no one would have to experience hell, so those who do wind up spending eternity there can only blame themselves.

But that doesn’t change the overarching truth that God created hell, and He is the one who judges and determines who will actually go there. Notice that Revelation 20 doesn’t say that after His judgement God then says, “Okay, all of you who rejected the saving grace I offered through my Son, you all go do what you have to do …” Neither does it say that after God’s judgment the guilty say, “Well, we rejected Christ, so I guess it’s time I head off to hell …” No, it says “… anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Our fear of answering the complaints of non-believers that they could never believe in a God who would send someone to hell, coupled with a Gospel based only on a God of grace, results in a cowardly and false teaching of agreement: “Oh God doesn’t send anyone to hell, we send ourselves.”

That’s not completely true!

Anyone going to hell will be responsible for their eternal destination by the choices they’ve made, but God will send them there.

That truth is nothing to be afraid, apologetic, or ashamed of, especially when we tell the whole Gospel message. That’s a message that needs to include …

• … the fact that while God made us beings with free will, He did not create us as self-sovereign beings. We don’t create the reason for our existence or the standards for our being;
• … we were created for a purpose, which is to worship, glorify, and enjoy God. We were made for Him (Colossians 1:16). We do not have the position, right, or power to change our creative purpose;
• … God’s judgment isn’t evil, it’s justice in its purest form. God is a God of justice, mercy, and grace, not of grace alone;
• … condemnation will only be the result of an individual’s rejection of grace. God will not only honor a person’s choice to do that, but will enforce it;
• … there really are consequences for our choices in life.

Jesus didn’t have any fear of teaching about the reality of eternal consequences to our choices; nor did He see any conflict in a loving, gracious God meting out just judgment. We need to have the courage to stick to the truth and tell the whole story.

Scotty