The date was July 8th,
1741, when the last of the great Puritan forefathers of this nation, Jonathan
Edwards, in the midst of the first Great Awakening, was called to preach to an
indifferent congregation in Enfield. It was on that day that he preached the
famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Edwards, one of the most
constrained of preachers, was forced to stop half way through the sermon, due
to the outcry of the people, ‘what must we do to be saved!’
What
shook that hamlet with such fear? It was a sermon orated in calm and concise
language that spoke of the eternal torments of hell. In that sermon Edwards declared,
“So that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit
of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; andGod
is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are
actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and
they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger, neither is
God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment; the devil is
waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them,
and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire pent up in their
own hearts is struggling to break out: and they have no interest in any Mediator,
there are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they
have no refuge, nothing to take hold of, all that preserves them every moment
is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed
God.”
Hell
has little place in the thoughts, lives, and theology of most people in our land
today. The very structure of a society where sin has been redefined as sickness,
where responsibility has been replaced by excuses and transferred blame, does
not retain a place for the doctrine of hell. Most would probably consider it
an archaic and outmoded teaching of the evangelical church, that several decades
ago was revived and then coercively used to frighten many into temporary lifestyle
changes, immediate responses and professions of faith, only to bolster and exaggerate
membership roles. Such manipulative tactics no longer have a place among the
seekers of our day, and most are quick to both discount and mock any attempt at
asserting the doctrines of sin and of eternal punishment in a place termed hell.
Yet, there remains a nagging discomfort in the minds of many, which have cast
off any thought of sin’s punishment and hell’s eternal torment. Thus the questions
remain ‘what of hell?’ Is there such a place? Is it a place that only Christians
shall escape? Can it truly be as awful a place as once believed? Could the God
America has constructed in its religion, as loving and compassionate, truly condemn
a vast multitude to such a place, without hope of escape? To most, a place called
hell has no place in our lives.
Still,
no matter what we think, an eternal hell remains a reality for the Christian that
holds the Holy Bible as his rule of faith and practice. For the Bible teaches,
confirms, and defends the existence of a place of eternal torment called hell.
It was Jesus himself who spoke most of hell; using phrases like ‘where the flame
is not quenched and the worm dieth not,’ or, ‘outer darkness, where there is weeping
and gnashing of teeth.’ It was Jesus that told the parable of the rich man in
a place of torment, of great heat and suffering, where there was no hope of reprieve.
The Bible confirms the existence of such a place. If there is such a place, the
next question brought to the minds of most people is “why hell?” In following,
three reasons are given for the question. God’s Nature Demands Hell
The
Justice of God is a doctrine no longer taught or understood. Justice in our day
has taken on the nature of the American sense of fairness and justice. Thus,
most Christians today have an ‘American Justice’ theology. Our judicial system
champions the excuses of the condemned. Everywhere you look, a criminal is being
exonerated because of his parents, his poverty, his social status, or any other
reason that can be imagined.
Consequently,
most professed Christians in our day understand God’s justice in the way they
understand American justice. They believe God is a God of exceptions. They believe
God will judge on the basis of their understanding of fairness, and they believe
God is bound by such beliefs. Religion in our day no longer speaks of God of
absolute justice, where a crime receives a just and proper reward.
Once
again, what we conceive and believe in and of ourselves is irrelevant. For we
do not create God in our judicial system or in our minds. God is God and declares
Himself to be a God of justice. If we then want to understand why hell is necessary,
we simply need to understand God. God can only be God if he is just. If God
is not absolutely and completely just, then he is not God. For God is perfect,
unchangeable, righteous, fully knowledgeable, and just in every affair in his
creation.
God
is just. God declares that he is just. God declares that no deed shall go unpunished.
God declares that he will not overlook sin. In Hebrews 6: 10 we read, “God is
not unjust.” Justice demands recompense. Justice demands its penalty be paid.
God is declared to be just. If he is to be God then, and be fully without fault,
no penalty or injustice can go unnoticed.
To
illustrate this principle, consider the musical Les Miserables. In that
musical, a man is pursued all his life by a lawman who he could not escape. Each
time he thought himself free, the magistrate was in pursuit of him. God’s justice
is true, because God is true. It is and shall seek out every injustice and make
restitution. Why is hell necessary? Hell is necessary, because, in hell, justice
shall meet with full restitution. Without hell, God is unjust.
