Hell , Love and the Justice of God Part II

As a human being it is easy to get caught up with emotion about certain things- when a decision has to be made we often let our heart go before us. We live our lives  based on what feels right at the time. In His Word though, God is clear. He wants us to be led by His Spirit and not our hearts.

“The heart is deceptive above all things.” It is deceptive because it  is the seat of our emotions: a place that has been tainted by the Fall. The devil who is the master deceiver, uses whatever tricks he can in order to keep us bound by the fall. For the unsaved, he will try to prevent them from being saved and for the saved, he tries to prevent us from waling in the fullness that God wants us to live in so he messes with us in whatever way he can and we end up confused, depressed, unstable or defeated- either way of no use to a world that is dying unaware because of the desperate need they have for God.

I do not know Rob Bell, the prominent preacher who came forth with this doctrine about the nonexistence of hell , so personally I cannot judge him but I think that he is leading the masses astray. This is a dangerous doctrine- it is without Scriptural basis and uses emotion and human reason to talk about what has been plainly put in black and white in the Bible. By denying  hell, this man is making light of the whole message of the gospel and making God look like a liar and a fool. I think it is a doctrine from the devil and from the pit of hell.

The Bible is a redemptive  story about God and His people that He loved so much even though they constantly turned their backs on Him and disobeyed. It is the ultimate epic about His great plan(that cost Him so much) to save them  from the ultimate separation- an eternity in hell. It is how He was willing to sacrifice His Son, who was indeed inseparable from Himself. He brought Him down to endure life as a human being and eventually death on a cross because He knew what awaited man if He didn’t do it.

By saying  that there is no hell, this man is saying that Jesus Christ wasted His endeavor  at winning us and that He didn’t have to come down and die on the cross and shed His Blood for us. God would in any case not go through with His punishment, It makes God out to be a liar and He is the God of all Truth. His Word is established  forever. Several Scriptures address the issue of Hell.

Hell is not a made up fictional concept that flowed from the mind of man, it is a real place that the Bible speaks about. It has been prepared for those who deny Gods solution(Jesus.) His argument/message hinges on the fact that a loving God wouldn’t send people to hell. However, when you read the Bible it portrays God as this Great God who is multifaceted. This God of Love and  God of Justice. This God of all Truth.

In His book ”Screwtape Letters” C.S Lewis speaks about the devil/ demons and says: “what the devil wants is for us to either deny  their existence or to place extreme importance on them”. What this man has done is play into the devils hands. If Christians do not believe in Hell or acknowledge it, they cannot reach out to the unbelieving masses because it would in essence be like selling a product they don’t believe in , that is the Word of God/the Gospel  and ultimately its redemptive power.

“The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy.  But I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly.”

The Bible is the greatest love story ever told, the epic of epics, the book of eternal truth. I could never claim to understand it fully but I know in its core is the heart and mind of God for His people. People that He made in His image and wants to spend eternity with. He wants to call them back to that He created them for because He knows there is another option and it leads to destruction. I trust His heart for me as poured out on the pages of His book and anything that belittles that or makes light of it, I would prefer to steer away from  because it is assisting the thief in stealing, killing and destroying the best God has for His people.

"Guard your heart above all else for out of it flow the issues of life."

God wants us to guard our hearts because He has made it as a treasure that HE wants to hold but the devil also wants his share and thus it can be deceptive. The devil is on the prowl now more than ever before and its time we started being careful about what we accept. His Word is established forever. Some of the Scriptures that address the issue of Hell John5:28, 29; Matthew5:29:Mark9:43; Matt 25:41; Mark9:48; Matthew3:12; Mat8:12; 13:42, 49, 50: matt22:13; 24:51 25;30; Romans 2:5-8; Hebrews10:27-31; revelations14:10-11;

By Tumelo Sikhosana

Hell , Love and the Justice of God Part I: Should we do away with Hell?

Once in a while  we hear someone  of note  questioning or denying the teaching on  hell, one recent example of that is Rob bell , pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church  and author  of the book called "Love Wins: A book about Heaven and Hell and  fate of every person who  ever lived." The publishers statement about the book goes like this :"Bell addresses one of the most controversial issues of faith—the afterlife—arguing that a loving God would never sentence human souls to eternal suffering. With searing insight, Bell puts hell on trial, and his message is decidedly optimistic—eternal life doesn’t start when we die; it starts right now. And ultimately, Love Wins. "  In the preface of the book Rob Bell says "A staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better…. This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus’ message of love, peace, forgiveness, and joy that our world desperately needs to hear."  This is tragic and out right  heretical because it  is a denial of the clear  Biblical teaching on  hell. Hell is  depicted in the Bible  as  place of  conscious eternal suffering where there is no possibility of repentance, away from the presence of God . In 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10 Paul says "6 since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you,  7 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  8 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.  9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from2 the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,  10 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.

In his book Hell under fire Albert Mohler says "  the biblical doctrine of hell is but a distant memory. For so many persons in this postmodern world, the biblical doctrine of hell has become simply unthinkable.................. All the same, there are particular doctrines that are especially odious and repulsive to the modern and postmodern mind. The traditional doctrine of hell as a place of everlasting punishment bears that scandal in a particular way. The doctrine is offensive to modern sensibilities and an embarrassment to many who consider themselves to be Christians" 

Our problem  is that we have so much  been conditioned  to wickedness  and now  we have altogether tolerated  and almost regarded some evil as normal and okay. This has made us to think that the wrath of God is  an overreaction and that it is uncalled for.  The God that we are dealing with here has not changed, He is the same yesterday , today and forever, it  doesn't matter whether we have been conditioned or accepted some manifestations of wickedness in us , His word remains the same.  In his Essay  The Eternal Torments of Hell Jonathan Edwards says " God infinitely hates sin  and therefore sin is infinitely evil and deserves eternal punishment"  Sin is not merely a personal thing committed against self & others  but it is an insurrection committed against an infinite being called God. Sin is a clear  mistreatment and disregard of God.  Unless we see the true nature of sin  as infinite evil against God , we will see hell as an overreaction  and will try in every way  to extinguish it from our mind and hearts. We can try as much as we can to deny it , but it is not going to make hell disappear  as a manifestation  of Gods wrath.

Folks, this is very serious , the wrath of God is not just something we can play around  and rethink or reconstruct whenever we like so that it can fit with our feelings and inclinations. God went into great heights  to save us from this wrath, He allowed His Son to stand in our place  to experience the penalty of our sin. Do we think that God is okay  with what we do on earth ?  Do we think he is okay with our wickedness? The truth is that God is angry against our wickedness and there is nothing that keeps the wicked man any moment out of hell  but its rather the restraining hand of God over hell.

Hell begins in our hearts and souls  when we have  rejected God.  We  then become  slaves to wickedness of  all types.  The heart therefore becomes  a  ground where the hell fires are kindled by evil.  Hell is then consummated when the body and soul are sent there to literally be tormented forever and ever. In Romans 1: 18-32  Bible gives  a clear  synopsis why the wrath of God has been revealed against all ungodliness:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 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. 21 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. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 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. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

In all this God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. God wants to rescue the human race from evil and hell. In His love He has given us what we never deserved(GRACE) and withheld from us what we deserved(MERCY) but when we reject Him we get what we deserve(JUSTICE).  God has done the utmost highest for undeserving traitors like me and you but instead of receiving his grace with joy we spit at His face and say '' God we don't need you we can manage just fine by ourselves". Imagine, we express that in the face of God who is infinitely powerful, infinitely loving and lovely.  Do we think then hell is an overreaction?   What we have done is infinitely evil and deserves an infinite punishment but the good news is  God is  still gracious with us  , He loves us so much!!! His love towards us is greater than we can ever imagine , we have done so much against God  but God still loves us and wants to save us.  He gave His Son  Jesus Christ  to die on the cross  , a cross you and I deserved , God poured out His wrath on his Son instead of me.  Even to this  day God is calling us , it is not because of a need on Gods part but it is because He loves us with an everlasting love. Therefore lets listen to Him  as He is calling us in Isaiah 55: 1-3; 6-7“Come, everyone who thirsts,come to the waters;and he who has no money,come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.3 Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; 6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way,and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

In the presence of the Lord

Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.(ESV)

The greatest desire of our hearts  should  be to dwell in the presence of the Lord.  The presence of God is our very  life and  therefore a pursuit for  presence of the Lord is a fight for life and a fight for our joy. We should therefore  advance in fighting  against the elements of self , the world and the enemy so that we can dwell continuously  in the presence  of God.  Folks, Jesus Christ has  opened a way  for us !!!, when He was crucified the curtain between the Holy place and the Holy of Holies was  thorn from top to bottom  and we instantly had access to the Presence of God through the Great High priest. 1 Peter 3:18 "For Christ also suffered once for sins , the righteous  for the unrighteous that He  might bring us to God,...."It  must be very clear to us that  it is only by Jesus Christ that we can enter and dwell in the presence of the Lord  , He embodies the presence of the Lord and He is ever in the presence of God.

The presence of God is real and it should be our reality today, it should not only be our future hope but also our daily experience. The Lords prayer  says" Thy will be done  on earth as it is in Heaven" , this is present tense and is talking about today. God wants us to move in a Heavenly reality  and this is how Jesus Christ  lived  on earth. The presence of God should not be confined to certain  times , like  our morning and evening devotions but  we should practice it in all our daily activities. God wants us to be ever present in His presence and He wants to be intimately present in our presence.

The devil likes to keep us  in falsehood, he wants us to believe that everything is alright  and that we are at the right place with  God  while on the contrary  we are faraway from His presence. He numbs our senses to tolerate things we should not be tolerating. We are  also so  quickly satisfied  and we never want to advance in our pursuit for God, The enemy wants to keep us  harmless. He  comes to steal,  kill and destroy. Kirk Bennet said" The least amount of the presence of God you are satisfied with , is what you will have. But God wants to give us more and He wants to give us His fullness"  The devil does everything in his power to keep us uninterested in the presence of God. This is a  fight for faith  and we need to awake from our indifference  and fight!!!. James 4:7-8  "Submit yourselves therefore to God . Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you"  Hebrews 4: 14-16  "Since then we have a Great High Priest  who has passed through the heavens , Jesus , the Son of God , let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses , but one who was in every respect has been tempted as we are , yet without sin . Let us then with confidence  draw  near to the Throne  of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace  to help in time of need."

The presence of God is closely linked to our spiritual disciplines , if our prayer life is non-existent the presenceof God is going to be very scarce in our lives. The presence of the Lord is brought in  by the power of His Word ,  therefore we need to meditate on it day and night  so that we might be impassioned and ignited for His presence. We therefore need to invest our lives in prayer and meditating in His word. This should be daily , intentional , purposeful and private.   God wants us to  daily stand before Him in prayer  , he wants us to spend extended time praying and meditating on His word. This is the time!! let us not be mediocre , let us arise  and be inspired by men like Daniel and David. In Psalm 27: 4 David said" One thing I have desired of the Lord , that I will seek after : that  I might dwell in the house of the Lord  all the days of my life , to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple"

The presence of God is an undeserved privilege  that we often forfeit , we really underestimate what  has been given to us by God to enjoy. In Ephesians 3: 14-20 Paul was praying and he said"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,  from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,  that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,  may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,  and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

By Camagu