The God of the Universe, the creator of all, is so powerful and grand yet will send His creation to hell for not believing in His son??? Through the ears of non-Christians that makes God seem rather petty. To be honest, I can’t say that I disagree. Yet, this very message is spouted from the pulpit, the pews, out on the streets, and in the mission fields and it couldn’t be more wrong!
Revelation 20: 12-15 (NIV)
“12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done.14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
John the apostle was very clear in the above passage that people are judged by their deeds and punished, or sent to hell, based on them. The Bible states that no one is righteous on their own. Every one has sinned (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:10). Because of this our deeds are evil. All men and women have broken God’s moral law and the punishment for such an infraction is eternal separation from God or hell in other words. Sin is the problem. Not believing is Jesus doesn’t send people to hell. Sin does.
Just as a judge has the prerogative to grant a pardon to whomever they wish, God has exercised His holy prerogative by sending His son, Jesus, to pay the punishment for human’s sin. Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection is God’s pardon offer. This offer is the only way to get into Heaven (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).
This is a very important distinction. If you don’t understand that and sign on to Christianity under any other pretenses (i.e. to get blessings) you will feel like you were sold a bill of goods. That is how Christianity gets a bad rap and it all starts with the message. As rough and sobering as it is, it must be told. We all are sinners, we can not do enough good on our own so we are damned, yet God is gracious and He offered us a pardon…that pardon is Jesus!
Either Jesus can pay for your sin or you can. It’s that simple.
