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Response
Many individuals feel uneasy, at the very least, about the concept of an everlasting hell. This unease, however, often stems from an inadequate comprehension of three key elements: the character of God, the nature of humanity, and the essence of sin. As flawed and sinful human beings, understanding the character of God can be challenging for us. We tend to perceive God as a compassionate, merciful Being whose love for us surpasses all His other qualities. While God is indeed loving, kind, and merciful, He is primarily a holy and righteous God. His holiness is so profound that He cannot tolerate sin. He is a God whose wrath is kindled against the wicked and disobedient (Isaiah 5:25;Hosea 8:5;Zechariah 10:3). He is not just a loving God—He embodies love itself! However, the Bible also teaches us that He detests all forms of sin (Proverbs 6:16-19). While He is merciful, His mercy does have limits. “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7).
Humanity is tainted by sin, and every sin is ultimately against God. When David sinned by committing adultery with Bathsheba and orchestrating Uriah’s death, he expressed a profound realization in his prayer: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight…” «Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: ThaThat thou might be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.” (Psalm 51:4). Since David had sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah, how could he claim to have only sinned against God? David understood that all sin is ultimately against God. God is an eternal and infinite Being “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” (Psalm 90:2). As a result, all sin requires an eternal punishment. God’s holy, perfect, and infinite character has been offended by our sin. Although to our finite minds our sin is limited in time, to God—who is outside of time—the sin He hates goes on and on. Our sin is eternally before Him and must be eternally punished to satisfy His holy justice.
No one understands this better than someone in hell. A perfect example is the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Both died, and the rich man went to hell while Lazarus went to paradise (Luke 16). Of course, the rich man was aware that his sins were only committed during his lifetime. But, interestingly, he never says, “How did I end up here?” That question is never asked in hell. He does not say, “Did I really deserve this? Don’t you think this is a little extreme? A little over the top?” He only asks that someone go to his brothers who are still alive and warn them against his fate.
Like the rich man, every sinner in hell has a full realization that he deserves to be there. Each sinner has a fully informed, acutely aware, and sensitive conscience which, in hell, becomes his own tormentor. This is the experience of torture in hell—a person fully aware of his or her sin with a relentlessly accusing conscience, without relief for even one moment. The guilt of sin will produce shame and everlasting self-hatred. The rich man knew that eternal
Eternal punishment for a lifetime of sins is justified and deserved. That is why he never protested or questioned being in hell.
The realities of eternal damnation, eternal hell, and eternal punishment are frightening and disturbing. But it is good that we might, indeed, be terrified. While this may sound grim, there is good news. God loves us “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”, (John 3:16) and wants us to be saved from hell “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”, (2 Peter 3:9). But because God is also just and righteous, He cannot allow our sin to go unpunished. Someone has to pay for it. In His great mercy and love, God provided His own payment for our sin. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for our sins by dying on the cross for us. Jesus’ death was an infinite death because He is the infinite God/man, paying our infinite sin debt, so that we would not have to pay it in hell for eternity “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”, (2 Corinthians 5:21). If we confess our sin and place our faith in Christ, asking for God’s forgiveness based on Christ’s sacrifice, we are saved, forgiven, cleansed, and promised an eternal home in heaven. God loved us so much that He provided the means for our salvation, but if we reject His gift of eternal life, we will face the eternal consequences of that decision.
