God is
just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give
relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the
Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will
punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will
be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the
Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be
glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have
believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you. 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10
People
are punished in hell because they refused to believe in God on earth. They did not believe because of a lack of
evidence (creation is the best evidence of God’s existence), but a selfish
arrogance to believe more in oneself and one’s sinful life, then to surrender
oneself, confess one’s sins and accept forgiveness.
Punishment
in hell is justice. Those who persecuted
the weak and defenseless may not ever get arrested on earth, but one day will
live out their punishment forever.
Punishment
in hell is a payment for a lack of obedience.
Someone who knows the rules and breaks them should be punished. That’s justice.
One may
wonder if everlasting punishment is worthy for such sins. Should someone be doomed to eternal hell for
their mistakes on earth? If one accepts
Jesus as their Savior, they receive eternal life. It seems only just and balanced that a person
receives the exact opposite if they don’t accept Jesus.
Say Yes to
God and receive eternal life in heaven.
Say No to
God and receive eternal life in hell.
Aren’t
those equal responses to God? It wouldn’t
be fair if someone receive eternal life in heaven for saying YES to God, but
only a slap on the wrist for saying NO to God.
Again,
people know the consequences and yet it’s still not enough to convince them to
accept Jesus.
What
happens on earth has eternal consequences.
We can’t only accept the eternal advantages that come with the acceptance
of Jesus and refuse the eternal disadvantages that come with the rejection of
Him.