HOW CAN A GOD OF LOVE ALLOW HIS CREATURES TO BE FOREVER
MISERABLE?
INTRODUCTION:
1 We have seen:
1 God is love.
1 John 3:16. [1]
2 Rom. 5:8. [2]
2 Christianity is the only religion in which love is a
necessary component.
2 Today we look at whether there is a conflict between God
as love and the Biblical doctrine of hell.
3 The question simply put:
1 How can a God of love inflict an infinite penalty on
finite creatures?
2 How can a good, benevolent, loving God allow his
creatures to be forever miserable?
BODY:
1 Basic principles related to the discussion.
1 Principles related to God and His nature.
1 It is just as impossible for God to do a little wrong as
a great one.
1 If he has permitted sin and misery to exist in this
world, how is it inconsistent to allow them to continue in
the next?
2 The permission of sin in the universe by a sovereign,
holy God who hates sin to an infinite degree, the damage
that it does to uncounted multitudes of beings whom He
loves with a Creator’s love, and the fact that sin must
demand of God the greatest sacrifice that He could make,
all this only tends to enlarge the mystery involved. [3]
2 God expresses his own reluctance to allow men to enter
hell.
1 2 Pet. 3:9 – The Lord is not slack concerning his
promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to
you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance.
2 1 Tim. 2:3-5 – 3This is good and acceptable in the sight
of God our Saviour; 4who would have all men to be saved,
and come to the knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one
God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man,
Christ Jesus,
3 There is no greater expression of that reluctance than in
the death of Christ. 2 Cor. 5:21. Him who knew no sin he
made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the
righteousness of God in him.
2 Principles related to man and his ignorance.
1 Man is an incompetent judge of the penalty that sin
deserves.
2 If it is inconsistent with the justice of God that men
should perish for their sins, then redemption is not a
matter of grace or undeserved mercy. Deliverance from an
unjust penalty is a matter of justice.
3 While man is finite, his soul is eternal and the God
against whom the sin is committed is infinite and eternal.
2 Beginning place is to seek the Biblical teaching on the
nature of sin and of hell.
1 Biblical doctrine of sin.
1 Sin is a very serious matter, taken seriously by God,
even though man often makes light of it.
1 It is not only a transgression of the law of God (Rom.
4:15 [4] ; 1 John 3:4 [5] ), but an attack on the great
Lawgiver himself, a revolt against God.
2 It is an infringement on the inviolable righteousness of
God, which is the very foundation of his throne. Ps. 97:2.
[6]
3 It is an affront to the spotless holiness of God, which
requires that we be holy in all manner of living. 1 Pet.
1:16. [7]
2 In view of this, it is but natural that God should visit
sin with punishment, with both natural and positive
penalties.
1 Natural – cannot escape because they are the natural and
necessary consequences of sin.
1 Not saved from them by repentance and forgiveness.
2 May be mitigated and checked by means that are at our
disposal, but they often remain and serve as a constant
reminder of past transgressions.
3 The slothful man suffers poverty; drunkard brings ruin on
himself and his family; fornicator may suffer disease; the
criminal is imprisoned.
2 Positive – punishments in the more ordinary and legal
sense of the term.
1 They presuppose not merely the natural laws of life, but
a positive law of the great Lawgiver with added sanctions.
2 The penalties are not the natural result of the
transgression, but are penalties attached to the
transgressions by divine enactment.
3 They are superimposed by divine law, which is of absolute
authority.
2 The Biblical doctrine of Hell.
1 Hell is:
1 A place.
1 Hades – Mt. 11:23 [8] ; 16:18 [9] ; Lk. 10:15 [10] ;
16:23 [11] ; Rev. 1:18 [12] ; 20:13-14 [13] .
2 Gahenna – Mt. 5:22 [14] , 29-30 [15] ; 10:28 [16] ; Jas.
3:6. [17]
2 A place of torment. Luke 16:28 [18] ; Mt. 8:12 [19] ;
Rev.14:11. [20]
3 A place of everlasting fire. Mt. 25:41 [21] ; Mk. 9:44
[22] ; Rev. 21:8 [23] ; Lk. 3:17 [24] ; Mt. 13:42. [25]
1 Aion and aionios are urged as not denoting eternal,
infinite, forever.
2 The first is used of Christ. 1 Tim. 1:17 [26] ; Rev.
1:18. [27]
3 The second is used of the persons of the Godhead. Heb.
9:14. [28]
4 The second describes both the punishment of the wicked
and the reward of the blessed. Mat. 25:46. [29]
1 If one is restricted, so must the other be.
2 Attested by the words of Christ:
1 fire is not quenched.
2 Wrath of God abideth upon them. John 3:36. [30]
3 The smoke of the torment of those who worship the beast
ascendeth up forever and ever. Rev. 14:11. [31]
4 A place of darkness. Rev. 9:2 (bottomless pit) [32] ;
Jude 1:13 (blackness of darkness). [33]
2 Figurative language is not a reason to deny the reality.
Rather it is to be recognized that a figure of speech is a
feeble attempt to declare in language that which it is
beyond the power of words to describe.
3 Scripture does teach that there will be degrees of
punishment. Mt. 11:22,24 [34] ; Lk. 12:47-48 [35] . (But,
see Mt. 18:8 [36] ; IIThess. 1:8-9 [37] ; Rev. 14:11 [38] ;
20:10 [39] ).
3 Man’s reaction to the Biblical doctrine of Hell.
1 Uninstructed minds revolt at the doctrine of eternal
perdition, and the more sympathetic they are by nature the
more they revolt; however, the doctrine does not originate
with human reason nor is it influenced by human sympathy.
1 The root difficulty of all human speculation is that man
knows the meaning of neither holiness nor sin, and that is
about all that is involved in this discussion. So long as
the distinction remains between the finite and the
infinite, Deut. 29:29 [40] and Isa. 55:8-9 [41] still
apply.
2 In no way does man reveal both his ego and his ignorance
more effectively that when he exhibits his surprise over
the fact that there are realities in the universe that he
does not understand.
2 The second reaction of the sincere human mind – after
acknowledging the indisputable truth that retribution is an
actual place of suffering, is to entertain the hope that
this distress of the lost is not eternal or everlasting.
1 Theories relating to a future state.
1 Cessation of existence – animalism, atheism.
2 Transmigration (reincarnation) of the soul.
3 Conditional immortality.
1 Drawn somewhat from the Bible, in that immortality is
recognized, this theory, which embraces the atheistic
notion of the cessation of existence at death for the
unregenerate, originates in mere human reason.
2 Some modify the view to permit resurrection of the
unregenerate, but contend that they are then annihilated,
and that such is the meaning of the second death. (cf. Rev.
20:14-15 [42] ; 21:8. [43] )
2 Terminology.
1 Annihilationism – broadly designates a large body of
theories that unite in contending that human beings pass,
or are put, out of existence altogether. These theories
fall into three classes according as they hold 1) that all
souls, being mortal, actually cease to exist at death; or
that, 2) souls, being naturally mortal, only those persist
in life to which immortality is given by God; or that 3)
souls are naturally immortal and persist in existence
unless destroyed by a force working on them from without by
which wicked souls are actually destroyed.
1 Pure mortalism – human life is bound up with the
organism, and that, therefore, the entire man passes out of
being with the dissolution of the organism.
2 Conditional immortality – agrees with pure mortalism in
teaching the mortality of man in his entirety, but separate
in maintaining that this mortal may, and in many cases
does, put on immortality as a gift from God. Generally
contends that the material man, including the soul, dies
with the body, and identifies life beyond death with the
resurrection, conceived of as essentially a re-creation of
the entire man. This resurrection is in dispute as to
whether all are raised and the wicked destroyed by the
second death, or whether the wicked simply perish at death
and for whom there is no resurrection.
3 Annihilationism proper – (Adventists and Millenial
Dawnism) – The soul may be immortal, but it becomes extinct
as the result of punishment or as the gradual dying out of
the personality under the enfeebling effects of sin. In
either event we are no longer looking at the soul as
naturally mortal and requiring a new gift of grace to keep
it in existence, but as naturally immortal and suffering
destruction at the hands of an opposing force.
4 Universalism – All men are lost by sin, but that the
death of Christ avails for all men, as a result of which
all are saved regardless of faith and obedience. (The
fundamental tenet of Universalism is the one divine
attribute of love.)
5 Restitutionism or Reconciliationism – implies that all
men are lost through sin, but that sometime, somewhere, all
men will be reconciled to God, even the fallen angels and
Satan. Phil. 2:10-11 [44] ; Col. 1:20 [45] ; see 1Cor.
15:25-28. [46]
6 Purgatory – Christ’s death atones for sin before baptism,
but should the baptized commit venial (as opposed to
mortal) sin, they must make atonement in purgatory before
they can be admitted into the presence of God.
1 If the prisoner gains his discharge by serving out his
sentence, where is grace?
2 If the sinner’s suffering can expiate his sin, the most
that can be said for the death of Christ is that it opened
a short and easy way to the same goal that could be reached
by a tedious and painful journey.
3 Unless he is made righteous before he enters purgatory
(and then why not enter heaven at once), he will continue
to sin. Since every fresh sin involves a new penalty, his
punishment can never end.
7 Nirvana – Brahman and Buddhist belief that the immaterial
part of man is absorbed into the divine and that this may
begin in this life by the renouncement of all personal
desires.
3 The most misleading error is that which falls back in
blind dependence upon one attribute of God, his love, and
ignores the attributes of holiness, righteousness, and
justice.
1 Such do not understand the gospel.
1 It is supposed that God is generous and that He forgives
sin as an act of clemency or leniency, that He, being a
Sovereign, can forgive whom He will when He will.
2 It is assumed that since God is love, His affection for
his creatures will prompt him to rescue them from
suffering.
2 If the Bible declares that He will not rescue the
unbelieving, unrepentant, and disobedient, and that their
estate is eternal, then the Bible is rejected and God
Himself is classified as the One who cannot be defended.
1 Many are the attempts made by those who understand
nothing of the real character of God to save Him from the
undesirable reputation He must acquire if He does not in
compassion rescue all men from hell.
2 Such is the doctrinal confusion that arises when one
truth is stressed without regard for other truths that
qualify it.
1 God is holiness and righteousness as well as love.
2 It is the holiness of His Person and the righteousness of
His government that preclude Him from any mere generosity
that would make light of sin.
3 If God could have forgiven one sin of one person as an
act of mere kindness:
1 He would have compromised His own holiness that demands
judgment for sin.
2 He could have so forgiven them all and the death of
Christ was not a sacrifice, but a slaughter.
3 Having then compromised Himself with sin, He Himself
would need to be saved because of the unrighteousness that
He had done.
4 It is the fact of unyielding divine holiness that demands
either the retribution of the sinner or the death of Christ
in his stead.
3 God is love, and that love is demonstrated by the gift of
the Son that men might be saved.
1 But love and mercy did not circumvent the demands of
holiness to save the sinner.
2 Rather, they paid its every demand.
1 2 Cor. 5:21.
2 Matt. 11:28-30.
3 The riddle was solved – God found a way to be just and
the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus. Rom. 3:26.
[47]
CONCLUSION:
1 God, because of His holiness, cannot save the lost unless
his holy demands are met for the sinner, as they are met in
Jesus Christ.
2 To be unsaved, or outside the grace of God as it is in
Christ, is to be destined to eternal punishment or
retribution.
1 God can do no more than provide a perfect salvation
purchased at infinite cost.
2 When love will pay such a price that a sinner may be
saved and holiness remain untarnished, it ill becomes
finite men to tamper with these immutable realities.
3 Those who resent the doctrine of eternal retribution are
in fact resenting divine holiness.
[1] For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not
perish, but have eternal life.
[2] But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
[3] for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this
present season: that he might himself be just, and the
justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.
[4] for the law worketh wrath; but where there is no law,
neither is there transgression.
[5] Every one that doeth sin doeth also lawlessness; and
sin is lawlessness.
[6] Clouds and darkness are round about him: Righteousness
and justice are the foundation of his throne.
[7] because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy.
[8] And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven?
thou shalt go down unto Hades: for if the mighty works had
been done in Sodom which were done in thee, it would have
remained until this day.
[9] And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades
shall not prevail against it.
[10] And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto
heaven? thou shalt be brought down unto Hades.
[11] And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments,
and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
[12] and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am
alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of
Hades.
[13] And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and
death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and
they were judged every man according to their works. 14And
death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is
the second death, even the lake of fire.
[14] but I say unto you, that every one who is angry with
his brother shall be in danger of the judgment; and
whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in
danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool,
shall be in danger of the hell of fire.
[15] And if thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it
out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee
that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole
body be cast into hell. 30And if thy right hand causeth
thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it
is profitable for thee that one of thy members should
perish, and not thy whole body go into hell.
[16] And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are
not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able
to destroy both soul and body in hell.
[17] And the tongue is a fire: the world of iniquity among
our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole body,
and setteth on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire
by hell.
[18] for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto
them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
[19] but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth into
the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the
gnashing of teeth.
[20] and the smoke of their torment goeth up for ever and
ever; and they have no rest day and night, they that
worship the beast and his image, and whoso receiveth the
mark of his name.
[21] Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand,
Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is
prepared for the devil and his angels:
[22] where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched.
[23] But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable,
and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and
idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake
that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second
death.
[24] whose fan is in his hand, thoroughly to cleanse his
threshing-floor, and to gather the wheat into his garner;
but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.
[25] and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there
shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
[26] Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the
only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
[27] and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am
alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of
Hades.
[28] how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto
God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God?
[29] And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but
the righteous into eternal life.
[30] He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he
that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath
of God abideth on him.
[31] and the smoke of their torment goeth up for ever and
ever; and they have no rest day and night, they that
worship the beast and his image, and whoso receiveth the
mark of his name.
[32] And he opened the pit of the abyss; and there went up
a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace;
and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the
smoke of the pit.
[33] Wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame;
wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness hath
been reserved forever.
[34] But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for
Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. 23And
thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? thou
shalt go down unto Hades: for if the mighty works had been
done in Sodom which were done in thee, it would have
remained until this day. 24But I say unto you that it shall
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of
judgment, than for thee.
[35] And that servant, who knew his lord’s will, and made
not ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten
with many stripes; 48but he that knew not, and did things
worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And to
whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required:
and to whom they commit much, of him will they ask the
more.
[36] And if thy hand or thy foot causeth thee to stumble,
cut it off, and cast it from thee: it is good for thee to
enter into life maimed or halt, rather than having two
hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire.
[37] rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to
them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus: 9who shall
suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face
of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
[38] and the smoke of their torment goeth up for ever and
ever; and they have no rest day and night, they that
worship the beast and his image, and whoso receiveth the
mark of his name
[39] And the devil that deceived them was cast into the
lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and
the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and
night for ever and ever.
[40] The secret things belong unto Jehovah our God; but the
things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children
for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
[41] For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are
your ways my ways, saith Jehovah. 9For as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
[42] And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death, even the lake of fire. 15And if
any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast
into the lake of fire.
[43] But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable,
and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and
idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake
that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second
death.
[44] that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of
things in heaven and things on earth and things under the
earth, 11and that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
[45] and through him to reconcile all things unto himself,
having made peace through the blood of his cross; through
him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the
heavens.
[46] For he must reign, till he hath put all his enemies
under his feet. 26The last enemy that shall be abolished is
death. 27For, He put all things in subjection under his
feet. But when he saith, All things are put in subjection,
it is evident that he is excepted who did subject all
things unto him. 28And when all things have been subjected
unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subjected to
him that did subject all things unto him, that God may be
all in all.
[47] for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this
present season: that he might himself be just, and the
justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.