Hell is a complicated subject, but it is not a false one. When the notion of conscious, fiery, torment meets our minds we can’t help but want to look away. Even some of the Church’s best defenders have admitted as much. But just because the concept of hell stirs our emotions in such an extraordinary way, does not mean that we need not take it seriously. In fact, it is one of the most serious concepts imaginable.
The idea of hell has always had its fair share of scrutiny, and today it seems like even many “Evangelical” teachers are starting to embrace the idea that, perhaps, we have gotten the Bible wrong all these years; Clark Pinnock and Rob Bell among them. Historians also believe that during the nineteenth century when Western culture began opting out of orthodox Christian beliefs, the doctrine of hell may have played a significant factor. So how can we reconcile, an eternal place of torment with a God who loves the people He created more than we even love ourselves? In what follows we will look at some context behind the doctrine of hell, and explore how understanding God’s nature helps us to make sense out of such an alarming reality.
- HELL WAS NOT CREATED FOR PEOPLE
“If God is good, why did He even create hell in the first place?” That question is not uncommon, but comes from a place of misunderstanding. The truth is that God did not create hell for people at all. Jesus taught that hell was originally made for satan and fallen angels:
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matt. 25:41
It was only after sin crept into the human world that the door to eternal punishment swung open for us. In the heavenly domains, before humanity existed, satan and his angels corrupted their nature and rebelled against God. When we rebelled against God our hearts and souls became infused with sin, and we joined the camp of beings who deserve God’s eternal justice. But unlike satan and his angels, God wants to redeem people from the curse of sin and bring us back into His Presence for eternity. Harmony will be established once again and those who receive Christ’s forgiveness will be remade and reborn into God’s harmonious order.
- DISPROPORTIONATE PUNISHMENT?
People often say that hell is not a fair punishment. Why not reincarnate sinners into cockroaches, or put them in purgatory for a hundred years? How can momentary sins justify eternity in pain? First, it’s important to remember that the judge of our universe isn’t a human. He doesn’t act in ways that are easily measured or conceived. As the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah, As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:9). So while we may think of hell as being disproportionate that judgment is only according to human proportions. The Lord deals in eternity while we even find it hard to fathom the concept of a light year and the distance it measures. Hell might appear extreme, but in God’s measurements, that’s how sin is appropriately dealt with. Of course this is concerning, but if it means any consolation, the idea of heaven is also seemingly disproportionate. All we have to do is receive the work that God has prepared on our behalf, through Christ, and we get to spend eternity in a place of pure joy with no sadness or pain? Heaven is completely unfathomable by our standards. Our hearts race at the thought of opening Christmas presents or going on a vacation for a week somewhere in the sun. But heaven is an infinite and ecstatic existence where no suffering of any kind will live on. That is equally disproportionate and unfathomable.
Furthermore, the idea of hell must be weighed against the Being whose justice is at stake. Jonathan Edwards, America’s pioneering theologian philosopher out of Yale, says the following:
“The heinousness of any crime must be gauged according to the worth or dignity of the person it is committed against”
Edwards believed in the intrinsic equality and value of all people, but pointed to the fact that crimes against those in higher offices are treated more seriously on account of the implications they have. Sin against God, is a crime against the highest office in the universe and therefore demands a form of justice that has no equal on earth.
- GOD DOES NOT DESIRE ANYONE TO SUFFER
The Bible is a long historical narrative that stretches over thousands of years. Despite its enormity, one theme remains the same, God wants to save people and bring them back into communion with His love. We often hear how the Old Testament God was full of fire and wrath who judged people at random. And while there are times where particular, almost instant, punishments did take place, the grander picture is of a God who is constantly trying to save His people. In the book of Ezekiel, we see Him speaking through the prophet, literally begging the Israelites to repent:
““Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’” Eze. 33:11.
This theme is carried on in the New Testament where Jesus demonstrates that God wants to save people from sin so much that He’s willing to die in their place. Again, the message isn’t one of rejoicing in wrath, but rescue:
““For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son,” John 3:16-18.
While hell is the consequence of sinning against the holiness of God, He would want nothing more than for people to turn away from that destiny. Just like a human judge that has to punish the guilty, but still feels compassion for the accused. God is not just a Holy Judge, He’s also our defender in the courtroom, pleading with people to accept His offer of forgiveness!
Hell will never be a comfortable place to think about, it was never meant to be one. But in spite of its gravity, we must always keep the words of Abraham at Sodom and Gomorrah in mind, “… will not the judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen. 18:25). Hell may appear to be a great injustice, but the Judge of our planet, who breathed matter into existence, is by His very nature, the source and embodiment of all justice. Even the very notion of fairness and equality stem from His Character that we perceive in our hearts. So while appearances may seem contradictory, it’s important not to sacrifice the knowledge we already have of God’s goodness. And it is equally important to look at the doctrine of hell through a lens that includes the wider context of scripture.