In my own experience of witnessing/evangelizing, this is a question that almost always comes up. It’s a very touchy subject that deserves a lot of tact in addressing. Some are willing to listen, but most times, they aren’t, and this is because they already know the answer, since this question assumes that God would send His created people to hell against their will…
The truth is that God wants all of us to be saved, and He wills none to die this eternal death of pain and suffering (see 2 Peter 3:9). The truth is, those who are not saved, do not want to be saved. They want to be their own god, doing as they please according to their own standard of what they perceive is right and wrong (not according to the standard that God clearly sets before us as right and wrong). One of the most poignant images we have of God wanting to have all of His created people with Him forever is from Matthew 23:37, where He cries, “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those that I Myself sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together – even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but YOU were not willing…”. He’s 100% for us, but most of us want nothing to do with our own Creator. It seems insane, but this is the reality mankind has embraced – that God is not our creator, master and God, but it is we who throw Him off from His throne, and position ourselves as the master and god of our lives – WE determine the standard by which we will live our lives, and God be damned, the churches sacked, and any Christian that stands in the way destroyed, if keeping me from doing what I believe is right.
I like how C.S. Lewis (the author of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”, as well as many other stories and self-help guides for Christians) puts it: “The door of Hell is locked from the inside”. In other words, those in Hell, want to be there. Lewis follows this up with: “There are only two kinds of people in the end – those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says in the end, ‘THY will be done.’ All of those who are in Hell, have chosen it.”
More than this, for such people who have never had a need or a sincere, genuine and overwhelming love of their Creator, then Heaven would be an absolute Hell to them! Many of the churches today are empty because such people have no interest in praising and worshipping their Creator. If they can’t hack it one or two hours a week, why in the world would they want to put up with all of this FOREVER?
Bottom line is that God must punish sin (see Revelations 20:11-15). A lot of folks see God as an out-of-touch being, aloof from the realities of their lives and the events involving the earth. Nothing could be further from such a sentiment. Our transition from life to eternity will be no cake walk. It will be quite an eye-opening experience for many to fall in the hands of an angry God. Unless you have only His son, Jesus Christ, standing before you as your intermediary, then you are very much, and unfortunately, all on your own. Not a position I’d want to be in.
Yet, God is also love – He is the meaning of the word itself (see 1 John 4:16 and John 3:16) but this love of His cannot force any of His created people to love Him. He did not create automatons, but real men and women of flesh and blood and with a free will. If God were to force His creation to love Him, then this would be a contradiction of His nature to love Himself.
There is a purpose to this place called, Hell. God’s love demands that there be a Hell for satan. God’s love demands that there be a Hell for the fallen angels (demons) who forsook God and joined satan in their agenda to destroy mankind throughout our anguished history – past, present and future. This Hell is also needed to provide an eternal home to all of those who lived a life without God and who chose not to love Him. For this large segment of God’s created people, “THY will be done.”
Focus on the alternative to Hell. We have a God who loved us so much that He sent His One and only Son to take our place from God’s wrath. Christ took your sin, my sin, and counted it His own when He put it to death once and for all on that bloody cross. It would be like going to court for a murder that you committed, and before the judge sentences you to death, Christ stands up and pleads with the judge to permit your punishment to be placed upon Himself, in place of you, so that you could walk away a free man. Hopefully such a man would appreciate such a sacrifice and perhaps change his ways and remember the One who died in his place. Where you deserved to die, an innocent man took your place. This is what Christ, namely, God Himself did for us, as only God Himself is capable of redeeming us from eternal death. No other man, prophet or angel can do this for us – only Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Hell continues to be a very difficult topic for many, but for these many, it is indeed, their future home – and it’s forever. While we have the time now, we have the opportunity to reach our potential as real image bearers of Christ Jesus. We also have the time to evangelize. Personally, I struggle with this because I have such an overwhelming sensitivity to my own sin, but I am a man thoroughly saved by God’s grace, and so I can take heart, and with this assurance, reach out to the lost. Who else, other than us, by God’s grace – are willing to love the lost enough to evangelize? If you have a struggle evangelizing, don’t fret, because we can pray. God loves to hear our prayers, especially for the lost of whom He wishes none to perish forever.
Be Blessed,
Brother Brett