Mondo Gonzales, Pastor of CrossRoads Community Church in New Lenox
“God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). The teaching that the God of the Bible loves rebellious mankind is one of the most precious teachings in the entire Bible. It is a doctrine that provides comfort, hope, and strength during the joyful and challenging times of life. We worship a God “who demonstrates His love toward us in that while we were sinners, the Messiah died for us” (Romans 5:8). This is in contrast to the teachings of the Quran where it is written that Allah specifically doesn’t love those who are sinners, but only those who do good (Sura 3:31-32; 7:55). The God of the Bible sent His Son Jesus to die for us because of His great love for those who are specifically not good (John 3:16; Romans 3:10).
As much as God demonstrates His love, I think there has been an imbalance in teaching about the nature and character of our God. It seems that the average person believes, not just that God is love, but that God is ONLY love. This is not accurate in presenting the fullness of God’s attributes. God is known as many things in the Scripture: loving, merciful, all knowing, gracious, good, omni-present, etc. Yet there is one attribute about our God that is continually and boldly proclaimed throughout the entire Bible: our God is Holy. When the ancient prophets wanted to highlight something they would repeat it twice, but if they really wanted to state it emphatically they would say it three times. “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of Hosts” (Isaiah 6:3). To be holy is to be separate from sin and pure. God cannot have sin in His presence and cannot even look at it because He is so pure (Habakkuk 1:13). So… would a loving God really send people to a place of eternal judgment? A god who is “only love” might not, but a Holy and Loving God would and does (Revelation 21:8; Matthew 10:28; 25:41, 46).
Before we get too gloomy let me give an example of why this must be so. We know that God is loving and holy, but He is also a just or righteous judge (Genesis 18:25). A judge is expected to uphold justice and to make sure that those who commit crimes are punished accordingly. Imagine that one of your close relatives whom you love was brutally murdered and the criminal was caught in the act. As the unremorseful, convicted criminal stood before the judge and was about to be sentenced, the loving judge said he couldn’t bear to see this man punished and released him to be free without any sort of penalty. How would you feel? How would most people feel? There would be outrage that Justice was not served.
We all have a sense of right and wrong and we know injustice when we see it. God is no different. All of us have sinned against others and against God. God is a holy and just judge who does not allow the guilty to go free (Exodus 23:7; 34:7). The Bible declares that the whole world is guilty before God because of our crimes against Him (Romans 3:19). We deserve the penalty of death and eternal judgment (Rom 6:23). Yet God has arranged for us to be freed from our guilt and punishment. This is the beauty of the gospel message. Jesus died in our place! I will sum it up this way. Your sins and mine need to be paid for. Would you rather pay for your sins yourself in eternal judgment or allow Jesus to pay for those sins on your behalf? When Jesus died for our sins, justice was served. He suffered and paid the penalty as our substitute. All those who reject God’s offer have chosen to pay for it themselves. For God to be just and to make things right, He has to send people to hell to vindicate His own holiness. Gloomy? Maybe, but let’s not forget that God’s love is being offered to you right now. Will you repent of those sins and embrace the only way of salvation through His Son (John 14:6)? My prayer is that you do. Have a blessed week! (www.ccc-nl.org)
Gonzales, Mondo. "Would a Loving God Really Send People to Hell" New Lenox Patriot, 20 September 2007, Sec. A-7.