If hell does have fury, how do we escape it? The torment is real and eternal. This daily devotional continues to look at the torment and how we can enter heaven instead.
Nuggets
- The torment in hell is going to be 24/7/365/infinity.
- Once you check out of this life and check in wherever you are going, there is nowhere else to go.
- God is patiently waiting for all to hear of His love and for all who are willing to repent to turn their lives over to Him.
To read devotions in the Hell Does Have Fury series, click the appropriate button below.
In the last devotion, we started expanding on the meme on four inescapable truths about hell. We only talked about it being a place of torment. While that theme permeates all of the truths, we will look at the three remaining truths. Let’s recap the nuggets from the previous devotion, then move on.
Let's Put It into Context
“and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side” (Lk. 16: 23 ESV)
We talked in the last devotion that everyone will pass from a physical life to an eternal life. Jesus told a parable about the Rich Guy and Lazarus who did just that.
The Rich Guy woke up “… in torment …” (Lk. 16: 23 ESV), knowing exactly who he was and what he had been. Death had not provided Rich Guy with a different moral character. We not only will have our memories in the afterlife, but also things we can’t remember now will be remembered then.
It Lasts Forever
“And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name” (Rev. 14: 11 ESV)
Some of the torment in hell is caused by the smoke. One element of the torment is the knowledge that this is it. Rich Guy knows it isn’t going to get better. Forever.
This is the new normal. All dying did was to put Rich Guy “physically” where his character belonged.
Forever. Yes, that concept is mind boggling, but it is going to happen that way.
Look what it says — there is no respite. This is going to be 24/7/365/infinity.
Who is going to be confined to this torment? Those “… worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name” (Rev. 14: 11 ESV).
We touched on the beast and his image in another devotion. My take (which could be right or wrong) on this is a ruler is going to outlaw worshiping God all together.
The ruler will “… set up a sacrilegious object that causes desecration …” (Dan. 9: 27 NLT).
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
What? You think a loving God would never subject His children to this torment?
You are right. God’s children won’t be subjected to this — only those who refuse to acknowledge Him as Sovereign God will. We talked about this in the other devotion in this series. We aren’t all God’s children.
We’ve also talked about God being loving but vengeful. While God is merciful and loving (Dan. 9: 9), He is also a vengeful God (Nah. 1: 2).
Glossary
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Saurin reminded us that “justice is not incompatible with eternal punishment.” Should an atrocious sin be punished? Isn’t denial of our Creator atrocious, especially when we are advocating our importance rather than His?
Resource
There Is No Escape from Hell
“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Mt. 25: 46 ESV)
We talked in the previous devotion that death hadn’t changed Rich Guy’s moral character. He had no remorse.
Well, it wouldn’t have made any difference. Once you check out here and check in wherever, there is no where else to go.
How do we know? “And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us” (Lk. 16: 26 ESV). There is no second chance once we die.
Do we really think God would let us change our minds when we are set to start serving the sentence? That wouldn’t be believing in faith. Faith is a gift from God that enhances the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives and distinguishes us from others.
Remember, the writer of Hebrews said, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11: 2 ESV). Being allowed to change our minds to have God become our Sovereign Lord right before we are to start serving the sentence is sight, not faith.
God isn’t going to do that.
You Don’t Have to Go
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (II Pet. 3: 9 ESV)
What promise was Peter talking about? “… that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation’” (II Pet. 3: 3-4 ESV).
We’ve talked in the past why God is slow fulfilling His promise to end this world and bring about its judgment.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
It is God’s hope that all men turn their lives over to Him (I Tim. 2: 4). However, He knows that will not be the case.
Still, God is patiently waiting for all to hear of His love. He is waiting until all who are going to turn their lives over to Him have done so.
Obviously, if we look at Lazarus in the parable, hell is not the only option. How do we gain heaven instead of hell? “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out” (Ac. 3: 19 ESV).
How do you do that? Let’s start with repent.
Repentance is acknowledging our separation from God and expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to change our sinful ways to ways of righteousness through obedience.
- Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Obedience means submitting ourselves to the will of God as it is presented to us and living our lives accordingly.
Glossary
God designed a Plan of Salvation so that we could be delivered from the consequences of sin. The consequences of sin are spiritual death and separation from God.
- Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
- The spiritually alive are those who have ABCDed, so they are no longer separated from God.
Glossary
This was accomplished through His grace. Grace is a free and unmerited gift from Heavenly Father given through His Son, Jesus Christ that enables salvation and spiritual healing to believers. Because of God’s infinite grace, Jesus our Redeemer in order to forgive us of our sins.
Redemption is where something is used in exchange for something else to gain or regain something. Jesus is our Redeemer because He was born of a virgin, making Him 100% God and 100% man; gave His life on the cross for us so that His blood could pay the price for our sins; and because of God’s great might and power, rose from the grave, conquering death and paying the price for our sins.
We access this grace through faith. Faith is the belief that the doctrines stated in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them.
Glossary
Because we have faith and believe, we gain the forgiveness of our sins. Forgiveness is, when we ask, the act of God pardoning us because we have shown repentance for breaking His laws and commandments, which allows us to become holy as He is.
We accept the pardon by letting go of the guilt and remorse that we feel because we have done something wrong. It is a conscious decision to accept His forgiveness. We also commit to changing ourselves so that we no longer do the wrong things.
By doing this we gain eternal life in heaven. Heaven is the opposite of hell. It is a perfect existence.
Making the Connections
Okay. I am confused. Peter said, “The Lord is … not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (II Pet. 3: 9 ESV).
How do we reconcile that with “But the wicked will perish; the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish — like smoke they vanish away.” (Ps. 37: 20 ESV)?
We said in a previous devotion that those who have not asked Jesus to be their Lord and Savior are spiritually dead even though they are alive. This means they are still in a sinful state.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
At some point, God is going to shut down the opportunity for us believe and repent. Our physical bodies will perish, but our spiritual bodies will live forever. Those who haven’t made a profession of faith will still be spiritually dead.
Even though those still spiritually dead will exist forever in the the horror of hell, they have perished because they have chosen not to be in the presence of the Giver of life.
How Do We Apply This?
Think again if you think what you do in this life doesn’t matter. It does. In fact, it has eternal consequences. “For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body” (II Cor. 5: 10 NLT).
Where are you going to be at in the final judgment? What will be your sentence when “… the books [are] opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead [are] judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books” (Rev. 20: 12 NLT)?
Isn’t it time to ABC today? What if Jesus comes within the next hour?
Sovereign God. We admit our sins, believe on Jesus as Redeemer, confess God as Sovereign Lord, and will demonstrate that commitment by following Your laws and commandments. Amen.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
What do you think?
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