I know a great many well meaning Christians who wrestle with this all the time. They think: God is merciful and kind and loving. Surely he will find another way to deal with sinners. Many churches struggle fundamentally with this idea of judgment. Diversity is a badge of honor among these folks, who feel strongly that God must echo their viewpoint.
There is only one place to go for reliable information about how God thinks and judges. That is, of course, the Bible. And we must come to it literally, for if we come to it any other way the Bible will begin to change to reflect our image rather than the image of the living and true God. How we mourn the churches that “go off” mission, getting themselves involved deeply in the mire, and forgetting the very purpose of the church: to proclaim the living Christ to a lost world. In their involvement in the quagmire, they forget the love they are supposed to always have for their God, and the love that requires a setting in truth which they are commanded to show to their neighbor.
The problem for churches is not easy. In their efforts to love others, they compromise their Christian values, even while trying so desperately to reach out. They tend to reach so hard that it becomes easy for them to forget who they are. In their choices they are just becoming tolerant, they think, not realizing that they have compromised the very beings God has made them to be. They have neglected their basic calling.
But this piece is written about the idea that God, being merciful, will not cause sinners to be in everlasting torment. It is a pervasive notion among Christians and even many conservative Christians find themselves wondering if God really does give eternal punishment to sinners. So let us look at what the Bible says, literally.
Why look at the Bible? I am amazed at the fact that I feel it necessary to defend the Bible to Christians of all people, but there it is. There are a great many believers today who are not being built up with the correct teaching. They may know God, but they do not seem to know his person at all. In other words, they may recognize Christ as the son of God, dying on the cross for their sins, but they seem to know little else about the God they purport to serve.
It is to the Bible that we must go if we are to understand the God who has revealed himself to mankind. All scripture is given by the inspiration of God, says Paul, and it is with the confines of scripture that we find God defining himself. Literally, God defines himself in the scripture. It might do us well to pay attention.
Psalm 11 gives us clues about what God does with sorting out mankind (NIV):
The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord is on his heavenly throne.
He observes everyone on earth;
his eyes examine them.
5 The Lord examines the righteous,
but the wicked, those who love violence,
he hates with a passion.
6 On the wicked he will rain
fiery coals and burning sulfur;
a scorching wind will be their lot.
7 For the Lord is righteous,
he loves justice;
the upright will see his face.
Let’s look at the passage literally. In context, the Psalmest is complaining about the strength of the wicked, that they even seem to be able to destroy the very foundations of society. The quoted passage of the Psalm deals with the evident success of the wicked. All people are subject to judgment, and all are observed by the Lord, who sees the righteous as well as the wicked. The Psalm tells us that the Lord will judge with burning coals and sulfur, but the upright will see his face.
In this very short Psalm, we are given the promise that God sees and God judges. But we are left with many questions. Who, then, are the wicked? Is there no end to their judgment? Will they forever be out of the presence of God? (Implied in verse 7, I think).
Indeed, as the years unwind and the New Testament came to be, we see the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, who did not mince words about the judgment of the wicked. Isaiah famously repeats the refrain of the judgment of the wicked, “their worm does not die, nor is their fire quenched.” Mark famously quotes Jesus, who uses this passage from Isaian three times: their worm does not die, not is the fire quenched.
Just a couple more quotes. We are, after all, looking at the literal passages. Psalm 53 has a most interesting passage:
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.2 God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.3 Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
There are several passages that Paul the apostle might be referring to and this is one of them. He says in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Literal interpretation says that scripture should be first taken as its evident meaning, changed only as we see symbolic language, or language meant to be taken less than literally, such as obvious metaphors. What is Paul saying? All means all. All have sinned. All have come short of the glory of God. All people need the grace of God.
Fortunately, that grace was given for all. All have sinned. Therefore all are caught in wickedness. All have need for a solution. Fortunately, Christ has given the solution, exactly as needed, for all. Romans five tells us that: 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Adam led in disobedience, a fault man was never able to correct. But Christ came that many shall be made righteous.
Even nature itself declares God, says Paul, in Romans 1, verse 20: For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. This, a truth from God, is a verse declaring that the world itself manifests the glory of God, so that all people are responsible for seeing the real and true God. There is no excuse.
But what can account for man sinning? If we have fallen, where have we fallen from? God created man in his image, better and higher than all the rest of creation. Man had been created to occupy a noble height and, in his fall, fell periously far into unmeasured depths. This became the divine dilemma. How could God restore man to have fellowship with him again? The answer, of course, lies in the cross. God made provisions so that every man might be restored fully to the level of Adam, before his sin.
Thus, sin becomes a signal, not just of rebellion, but of a relationship broken with the Creator God. To heal that relationship, to restore man, God had to come himself in the form of man and suffer the consequences of our rebellion against him. God because of his love toward men, sent his Son to do that which we could not; he restored man by punishing his own son in man’s place. This act is perfectly stated in John 3:16: For God so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
What more can the God of the universe do? He gave himself freely to men, to be despised and rejected, hung on a cross, and put to death with our sins. The sacrifice is complete and covers everyone who will simply believe. What more can the God of the universe do?
There remains nothing left to be done, except that which Jesus has left to the church. We are to act as heralds, announcing the good news, in the hopes that some might hear and turn from their error toward the living and true God. For in creating man, God gave them an autonomy to choose to receive his sacrifice, or to reject it. If man was to retain his created autonomy, God could not choose for man; he had to choose for himself.
Even the benign and seemingly almost innocent people of society are rejecting God when they hear the good news, or even when they see his wonderful creation. His imprint is all over his creation, so that man is without excuse. But not just without excuse—in the deepest rebellion against God himself. For in hearing the good news and rejecting it, they spurn the very grace that would redeem them. There is no other sacrifice for sins.
It seems as if Lewis is right. We, as Christians either say thy will be done, or in the end God says to us, thy will be done. God says if you are determined to spurn and hate me, thy will be done. I will allow you to hate me. The consequences are simply awful, the chief one being a separation from the very God who loves you and would have you believe.
So yes, God is perfectly justified in punishing those who refuse his sacrifice. The alternative we see in the world about us. An unmitigated evil, growing like a runaway cancer, obliviating the world around us, and seeking to erase every vestige of goodness left. Such a people in heaven? Could God possibly allow such men in his heaven? Having given himself for mankind there remains nothing left to give, for he took all of his power, and redeemed us in love. But it is our refusal to believe that locks the door on our fate.
Yes, God will allow sinners who refuse him to suffer an everlasting fate. There is nothing else to be done. Literally true.
Background scriptures:
John 3:16
16 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.
Romans 8:5
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 8:15
15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Matthew 23:15
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
Matthew 12:36
36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
John 16:8
When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:
Matthew 18:9
9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
Mark 9:42-48
42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:46 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
Isaiah 66:24
And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
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