“The next Sabbath nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming. Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:44-46).
Sometimes unbelievers are quick to criticize the God they claim doesn’t exist. He is castigated as harsh, unloving, and judgmental. They say things like: “How could a loving God send anyone to hell?” Well, guess what? We agree on something. I don’t believe in that kind of God either. These kinds of statements reveal a basic misunderstanding of the character of God and what He is doing in the world. As Paul discloses in the text above, when one rejects the offer of salvation through Christ, that person judges himself or herself unworthy of eternal life. Did you catch that? Who is doing the judging? It is the unrepentant sinner, not God!
This quote describes it well: “God doesn’t send anyone to Hell. It was never His design to send people to Hell. It breaks the heart of God to see people, made in His image, make the deliberate choice to go to Hell. Hell was not made for people; it was made for the angelic being, Satan, who rebelled against God. In Matthew 25:41, Jesus says the everlasting fire was prepared for the devil and his angels. Scripture also teaches, “[God] is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). That is why God sent Jesus to die on the cross in our place—to bridge the gap between sinful people and a Holy God. The gates of Hell are locked from the inside. If you end up in Hell, you will practically have to climb over Jesus to get there” (harvest.org).
God loves you!
Mike
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