What The Hell Am I Saved From? What I Believe About Hell & Why (Pt 2)

Let’s begin our talk of hell with the wrath of God. It is appropriate to think about this at the beginning because it is precisely what we are dealing with when we are talking about hell – for it is the wrath of God that comprises hell and therefore it is primarily the wrath of God that we are dealing with when we reflect on hell.

The wrath of God is one of the perfections of God, in other words it’s one of his attributes, one of his characteristics. We should study it because it gives us a fuller picture of who God is (if we didn’t it would be like getting to know your friends without letting them talk about themselves).

“The wrath of God is a perfection of the Divine Character on which we need to meditate frequently, “ for three reasons, “First, that our hearts may be impressed by God’s detestation of sin… Second, to beget a true fear in our souls for God (Heb 12:28-29)… Third, to draw our souls in frequent praise to Jesus Christ for having delivered us from, ‘the wrath to come,’ (I Thess 1:10)(A.W. Pink).”

It would seem that the wrath of God is a rather unfashionable thing to talk about; it’s not often that folks preach sermons about how amazing and terrible is the God we worship and use texts about the utter destruction and torment of the wicked in hell as their preaching passage. However we must talk about the terribleness of which hell is comprised. And quite frankly I think Jonathan Edwards expounding on I Thess. 2:16 are much better words than mine here (don’t be intimidated that it’s Edwards I modernized it),

“How dreadful the wrath of God is, when it is executed to the uttermost. To make you in some measure sensible of that. I desire you to consider whose wrath it is. The wrath of a king is a roaring lion; but this is the wrath of Jehovah, the LORD God Omnipotent. Let us consider what we can rationally think of it? How dreadful must the wrath of such a Being be when it comes upon a person to the uttermost, without any pity, or moderation, or merciful circumstances! What must be the uttermost of his wrath who made heaven and earth by the word of his power; who spoke and it was done, who commanded and it stood fast! What must his wrath be, who commanded the sun and it doesn’t rise, and seals up the stars! What must his wrath be who shakes the earth out of its place and causes the pillars of heaven to tremble! What must his wrath be who rebukes the sea and makes it dry? Who removes mountains out of their place and overturns them in his anger! What must his wrath be whose majesty is so awful that no man could live in the sight of it! What must the wrath of such a Being be when it comes to the uttermost, when he makes his majesty appear and shine bright in the misery of wicked men! And what is a worm of the dust before the fury and under the weight of this wrath, which the stoutest devils cannot bear but utterly sink and are crushed under it. Consider how dreadful the wrath of God is sometimes in this world only in a little view or taste of it. Sometimes when God only enlightens consciences to have some sense of his wrath it causes the stout-hearted to cry out; nature us ready to sink under it when indeed it is but a little glimpse of divine wrath that is seen…. But if a slight taste and comprehension of wrath be so dreadful and intolerable what must it be when it comes upon a person to the uttermost! When a few drops or a little sprinkling of his wrath is so dreadful and overbearing to the soul, how must it be when God opens the flood-gates and lets the mighty deluge of his wrath come pouring down upon men’s guilty heads and brings all his wrath to sink them! ‘When his wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in him. (Ps. 2:12)’”

(It’s a long quote I know) We must be aware that the wrath of God is terrible and a part of his divine perfections and as such we must not think to small of our God to imagine that his wrath will not be or is not utterly horrifying. While it may not be the cool thing to talk about it is indeed part and portion of the God we worship and therefore must be considered. But while considering it we cannot think that his wrath is mixed with the same limitations or imperfections that we have in our ‘wrath.’ Surely we are justly angry at times be we are also imperfect and ignoble in our anger – but God is not.

In studying God’s wrath we will see exactly what we are saved from through the propitiatory death of Jesus who stood, “Between us sinners and the thunderclouds of divine wrath… (J.I. Packer).”

Passages to look up on the wrath of God:

Ex. 22:18-24; 32:10-12

Deut. 29:23-28; 11:16-27

Ezra 8:22

Ps. 2:5-9

Nahum 1:2-3, 6-8, 14

Amos 5:18-20

Matt 16:24-26

Mark 9:47

Lk. 12:47-48; 21:22-24

Rom. 1:18; 2:5; 3:5-8, 24-25; 12:19; 13:4-5

Acts 17:30-31

Eph 2:3

I Thess. 1:10; 2:16; 5:9

II Thess 1:7-10

Heb. 10:28-31

I John 2:2

Rev. 6:16; 16:19

Dangerously Important

"Be assiduous in reading the Holy Scripture. This is the fountain whence all knowledge in divinity must be derived. Therefore let not this treasure lie by you neglected." Jonathan Edwards

Scripture that blessed gift of God to man wherein he reveals himself to us, he teaches us the gorgeous reality of the gospel and the shameful existence of our depravity. Giving flight to the life which was yet unknown under the safety of his wings.

This book which is too often misread and misused and disposed of. This book which ought never to, “be applied to us,” yet rather we ought to always be applied to it.

We are not the solid line or are we the consistency to which it must be judged. No, the plum-line is not we it is itself. Scripture, this we know yet forget to do, is the interpretation of Scripture.

It’s a book about God.

He is the main character, the main actor. Scripture is the story of God to man.

Far too often we see it as the story of men to men. No, it is the story of God redeeming his Church. Yet to read the Bible and think solely of man is to read Harry Potter and think only of the Weasley twins, or to read Lord of the Rings and think only of the Shire, or to read The Hunger Games and think only of Katniss’ mom or to read The Chronicles of Narnia and think only of what was happening in London.

Do you see the point - the point of missing the point? The reason for Scripture is not to give us helpful hints and models to attempt to be like, no, the reason for Scripture is to teach us all that God has revealed to us.

All we can know of God is within its pages. This does not mean we’ll know him completely, it means we’ll know him partially, but the part that we’ll know is exquisitely beautiful.

And yet the quote from last week’s post is still wonderfully true, ““We have scarcely begun to see all of God that the Scriptures give us to see, and what we have not seen yet is exceedingly glorious (John Piper).”

Old Phrase

“Infinite perfections.”

All those dead guys I love to read always use this phrase at some point or another to describe God.

Eventually Jonathan Edwards will drop it (…like it’s hot?) or Calvin will going on and on about how beautiful these “infinite perfections” are, still more Luther will cuss at you while telling you about your stupidity in not seeing the “infinite perfections" of God (Luther is my favorite).

But, I know our language, and I also know we probably aren’t quite sure what to make of a phrase like this.

When I first read it, it was just more words. But now, today, this morning even, they’ve taken on new meaning.

The infinite perfections of God.

He is from first to last utterly perfect. Not a part of his wrath is imperfect. Not a part of his justice is imperfect. Not a part of his grace, mercy, goodness, greatness, grandeur, glory, wonder, splendor, Kingship, wisdom, knowledge, gentleness, kindness, humility, zeal, passion, or love is imperfect.

Think about that. Every bit of every detail of every turn of who God is, is completely and totally perfect - infinite perfections.

Yet still more this quote is deeply true, “We have scarcely begun to see all of God that the Scriptures give us to see, and what we have not seen yet is exceedingly glorious (John Piper).”

Truly what we’ve seen is exceedingly glorious, but what we haven’t seen will add still more and more to the exceeding glory of the infinite perfections of who God is making all of life worthwhile because God is God and we are not.

A Story of Stories

I finished reading The Hunger Games on Monday night (yea, this post is late oops.). They were like 1984 for teens. I was really enthralled by them and frankly they kept showing up in my mind throughout any given day and I woke up a few times re-playing images in my mind of them. PTSD, is what they describe too well, a 17 year old girl’s attempt at dealing with killing and being the face of a revolution.

But what I liked the most is no one had told me anything about them. I was on the road for the first time, I’d never seen the view before and never even heard of its beauty.

Like the first time I heard U2’s Where the Streets Have No Name (but not as amazing), like the first time through Romans, Inception, Jonathan Edwards, or The Count of Monte Cristo (since the movie… sucked).

Stories are like that, no? They entrap our minds and force us to imagine (something we don’t do enough of as adults) all sorts of possibilities.

I really do think it’s an overly used cliché, “Your life is a story,” and sad too, cause the impact of the statement is completely lost on us. It’s true though. Just ‘cause it’s not full of Hollywood ‘beauties’ doesn’t make it any less of a tale.

We seem to trudge (like the guy from Knight’s Tale) along like life is not exciting enough. When people are dying all around us (literally and spiritually); when a war is raging within us; when love is root deep inside us. The commons of WSU is loaded with people, all of them with unique narratives.

As believers in Jesus we should understand this more than most, as those who’ve been brought from death to life, from being beggars to princes.

So, here’s the deal: stop looking to something else for fulfillment and look to the God of all to satisfy your cravings for an ‘interesting’ life. He can create the minds who created the stories, songs, and movies so he can create something better out of you… Plus to judge your life by a book is like comparing a mountain to the flint hills.