Hell is real (Song of Sol 4-6; 2 Thess 1)

I don’t like talking about hell. I don’t imagine the apostle Paul liked talking about hell either, but like his master, our Lord Jesus, he had to speak about the reality of hell. Jesus Christ is the most compassionate man who ever walked this earth, and his compassion led him to warn about hell and to die for us so that we don’t have to go there.

That is the good news, we don’t have to go there! But who will go there and what will it be like? In our reading from 2 Thessalonians, Paul tells us “those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” will face “the punishment of eternal destruction” (v8-9). Often people think hell is only for the really bad people, but the Bible says it’s for those who do not obey the gospel of Jesus. What is the gospel of Jesus? It can be summed up with Jesus opening words in Mark’s gospel “repent and believe” (Mark 1:15).

To obey the gospel is to recognise that you are a rebel against a holy God, to turn from your rebellion and trust that Jesus died for you as your substitute and to then live with Him as your Lord. Sometimes people say, “I wish I had your faith”, but it’s not a matter of faith, but obedience. Jesus commands us to believe, and so to refuse to believe, is a matter of disobedience, not just lack of faith. I find that helpful, whenever doubts come my way, to remember that Jesus has commanded me to believe, and so to ask the Holy Spirit to help me to repent and believe.

But if we refuse to repent and believe, the Bible warns us of the reality of eternal punishment. Why must it be eternal? Because sin is offence against the eternal, infinitely holy God.

As we think of the reality of hell, it should drive us to our knees to pray for loved ones, neighbours, friends, who face this awful future, it should embolden us to speak to them of the rescue that is available in Jesus. And while both of these things are true, and certainly motivated the apostle Paul in his prayers and labour, this is not how he applies the reality of hell to the Thessalonians.

Paul applies this message in a way that we might not understand living in the largely comfortable West. Paul is writing to Christians who have faced severe afflictions for following Christ. Perhaps they have lost loved ones, homes, livelihoods, and Paul speaks to reassure these believers, that God is just and will repay. Perhaps Christians in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Afghanistan or North Korea may understand this more than we do. You don’t need to take revenge because God will see to it. But even as we consider this angle, we remember Jesus’ words to pray for our persecutors and His example as he hung on the cross crying out “Father forgive them.”

Jesus died so you do not have to face hell. If you haven’t yet obeyed His command to repent and believe, I urge you to do so today so that you won’t face the reality of hell but instead the joy of heaven.