What Does The Bible Say About Hell 3 | Is It Legit?

And the Lord said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come up to Me." ... But Abraham came near and said, "Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city... Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked... Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" — Genesis 18:20–25

If God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, is it really just for Him to send anyone to hell?

An Illegitimate President?

It was considered by some the most unfair decision of a generation, and a legitimate segment of the nation was divided over its legitimacy. George W. Bush lost the popular vote by more than half a million votes, yet narrowly won the electoral college when Florida's twenty-five votes went to him by only 537 ballots out of six million cast. That triggered recount after recount—remember pregnant chads and hanging chads?—until the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in on December 9, 2000, and ruled in his favor in Bush v. Gore.

According to the law, the decision was completely legitimate. But to many of a certain political persuasion, it just seemed unfair, and they called him the illegitimate president. That is the same kind of question we face with hell: according to God's law it is legitimate, but to many it seems unfair.

A Topic Most Churches Avoid

Over the last few weeks we have studied a topic many churches stay as far from as possible. It is like the third rail in teaching the Scriptures—the electrically charged one you want to avoid. Nearly everyone has an opinion about hell, but we have not been considering opinions. We have gone to the source: Jesus, the definitive expert on any topic He chooses to address. And He spoke quite a bit about hell.

According to Jesus, hell is a very real and devastating place of punishment for those who die in unrighteousness. It is a place of conscious torment, where the unrighteous remember their former life but cannot return to it, are aware of those in a better place but cannot cross over, and desire comfort but receive none. Last week we saw things that may lessen its sharpness—possible levels of punishment, or the possibility that it ends in annihilation rather than perpetual conscious torment. But however you read it, hell is a terrible place you want to avoid at all costs. Jesus speaks of weeping and gnashing of teeth, of the worm that does not die, of fire and darkness and separation from God for eternity.

Most People Go to Hell

Last week, from Matthew 7 at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, we saw that good works matter more than appearance. In Jesus' day there were very religious people who looked like the holiest people you ever met, yet Jesus called them hypocrites whose goodness was only skin deep. He told of a Pharisee who prayed, "God, I thank You that I'm not like that wicked sinner," while the sinner cried, "God, forgive me." Jesus said it was the sinner who went home justified—not the one everyone assumed was a shoo-in for paradise. So Jesus taught that many religious people will go to hell.

The most striking part hits like a ton of bricks: most people go to hell. Since I said that last week I received emails and calls—not because anyone disagreed, but because it hurts to think it.

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. — Matthew 7:13

No one likes that truth, and we should have a hard time with it. But our liking or disliking does not diminish its reality.

God Takes No Pleasure in This

I would suggest that God Himself does not like it. He does not rejoice that people created in His image end up revealing the glory of His justice and wrath instead of glorifying Him in righteousness. How do we know? The prophet Ezekiel gives us insight: "Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?... For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies" (Ezekiel 18). Again in Ezekiel 33:11, "As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked." Three times He reminds us. The pop-culture picture of a God who gets twisted glee from casting people into hell is simply false.

Someone will say, then why doesn't God do something about it? He did. Today is Palm Sunday, when the church rejoices, "Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." We celebrate Jesus entering Jerusalem for the last time to be examined, judged, and crucified on Good Friday. "God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons" (Galatians 4:4–5). "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. Right after Ezekiel says He has no pleasure in the death of the one who dies, He adds, "Therefore turn and live." And 2 Peter 3:9 says the Lord is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."

Point One: It Is God's Desire That No One Would Go to Hell

There is much debate among Christians on this point, though I don't fully know why, because at face value that is exactly what 2 Peter 3:9 says: God is not willing that anyone should perish. So if God desires that no one go to hell, why doesn't everyone go to heaven?

The answer, briefly, is that the nature of God and the nature of man require judgment. God is just—holy and righteous—and man is sinful. We were conceived in sin; every one of us is born a sinner, what the church calls original sin. God desired to deal with that, and He did through Jesus. Yet wide is the gate and broad is the way, and many go in by it. Many, perhaps most, go to hell. The question then is whether it is fair, just, and legitimate.

What About the Unreached?

When people consider hell, they immediately press: what about the unreached peoples? Right now there are 231,000 of the Zeidan people in Algeria, 0.00% evangelized—that's a lot of zeros, and no one is reaching them. What about the unreached throughout the last five thousand years? What about the mentally handicapped who cannot understand? What about children who die young, babies who die in infancy, those who are miscarried, stillborn, or aborted—millions every year? How will God deal with all of them? Should He not be just?

That was the question of Abraham, the father of our faith. In Genesis 18, Abraham's nephew Lot had settled next to Sodom and Gomorrah, whose wickedness was great. As Abraham hears of God's coming judgment, he is compelled to intercede: "Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city—would You destroy the place?... Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

Point Two: He Is More Just Than My Sense of Justice

God answers Abraham step by step. Fifty? I will spare it for fifty. Forty-five? Forty? Thirty? Twenty? Suppose just ten? "I will not destroy it for the sake of ten." At every step, God reveals that He is more just than my sense of justice.

Every one of us has a standard of justice. Just remember the last time someone cut you off on the freeway—your first thought was, "Where's the cop?" When you hear someone is going to court for molesting a child, your first thought is, "Judge them." Where did that come from? Did we manufacture it over millions of years of evolution? C.S. Lewis deals with this very point in The Abolition of Man. No—you were created in the image and likeness of God, and that standard of justice came from Him.

He created us with a desire for justice, He requires justice of us ("He has shown you, O man, what is good... to do justly," Micah 6:8), and He reveals Himself as just: "He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice" (Deuteronomy 32:4). For us, a couple of our ways are justice; for Him, all His ways are.

A Better Courtroom

Courtroom dramas are among the most popular shows on television, because people love justice. Remember the white Ford Bronco chase in 1994? That televised case launched Court TV, profitable ever since. Now look at Isaiah 11, which speaks of the Messiah:

He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. — Isaiah 11:3–4

If you've ever been called for jury duty, the judge tells you to decide guilt or innocence based on what you see of the evidence and hear of the testimony. Our justice system is arguably the best in the world, yet sometimes it is unjust, because what we see and think we hear can deceive us. But God says, "I do not judge by the seeing of the eyes or the hearing of the ears." He judges the thoughts and intents of the heart. "The heart is deceitful... who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart" (Jeremiah 17:9–10). He knows what no one else knows—things you don't even know about yourself.

Why, then, do we assume He is unjust? Because there is such injustice in this fallen world. But this world under the curse of sin is not a reflection of His glory or His justice. He hates injustice and loves it: "I, the Lord, love justice" (Isaiah 61:8). We question His justice because of our own propensity to fail, projecting our failings onto Him. But God is not a man; He cannot sin. Though we project our injustice on Him, He is completely just.

Point Three: God Is Just and Will Maintain Justice in Judgment

So how should we respond about the unreached, the child who dies, the stillborn, the mentally handicapped? If these truths are real, we need not worry whether God will do right. He knows their heart—and you never will. That is why some religious, good-looking people will go to hell: what you and I saw with our eyes and heard with our ears—lifted hands, a prayer—is not the whole story.

I can trust the justice of God and say He will deal with every person in a righteous, holy, perfect way. I may not understand every detail of how He handles those who die without knowledge of Christ, or the infant, or the miscarried—but I know He will deal with it perfectly.

A Diversion From the Real Question

We need to recognize that most of these challenges against God's justice function as distractions. When you share Christ with someone, they often say, "But what about the pygmies in Africa? What about people in Northwest China?" Understand that this is a diversion—the enemy trying to get their eyes off the truth and off themselves in light of Jesus.

We are all prone to it. God asked Adam, "Did you eat from the tree?" "It was the woman." Eve: "It was the serpent." When Jesus told Peter he would die by crucifixion, Peter pointed at John: "What about him?" I taught junior high ministry for four years; every time I caught a kid doing wrong and asked, "What did you do?" the answer was, "Wasn't me—what about him?" It's part of our sin nature, and it diverts us from the real question: what have you done with Christ?

Think of the airplane safety briefing. In the unlikely event of losing cabin pressure, a mask falls from the ceiling—and you are told to secure your own mask before helping anyone else. Why? Because if you don't deal with yourself first, you have no ability to help that poor pygmy in Africa.

Point Four: Unless You Repent, You Will All Likewise Perish

In Luke 13, people came to Jesus with the current events of their day—the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. "What are You going to do about this injustice, Jesus?"

Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. — Luke 13:2–3

Then He pointed to the eighteen on whom the tower of Siloam fell. Were they worse sinners than everyone in Jerusalem? "I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." That is point four: unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

But what about those who never heard? Get saved, and share the gospel with them. Trust that God is just, that He knows what He is doing, and that He will be far more righteous than you can imagine—because He is always more just than our sense of justice. In the end, the question is, what will you do?

A Renewed Passion for Grace

My prayer through this series has been that God would give us a renewed passion for His grace. The fact that you and I are saved is, in one sense, unfair. God's justice should fall on us, yet He put it on His Son in our place.

A few years ago I listened to the well-known atheist Christopher Hitchens, whose death from throat cancer grieved me. His number one issue with the Christian faith was the substitutionary death of Jesus—because, he said, it isn't fair. With the strong sense of justice he received from God, Hitchens reasoned that if God is going to judge sinners, then all sinners should be judged, and it isn't right to put that judgment on His Son. But He did.

So through this knowledge of God's judgment and justice, my prayer is that we would have a renewed passion for the grace of God, because none of us deserve what we have received and all of us deserve judgment. And that we would have a renewed passion for the lost people of this world who need that grace.

Closing Prayer

Lord God, thank You for Your Word. It is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. I thank You that You are perfectly just, and that as it relates to eternal things—judgment, punishment, hell, destruction, all these heavy things—You will be totally righteous in the way You deal with it. Help us to know it and hold on to it, that You will be perfectly right in Your dealings. Help us to trust in You and to proclaim the goodness of Your glorious grace to all we come in contact with. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.