Daily Devotions
Hell
Title: Hell
Reading for October 2: Malachi 1-4
Weekly reading for September 30-October 6: 2 Thessalonians 1-3; 2-3 John
They will suffer punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and for the glory of his might...
2 Thessalonians 1:9
What is hell? It is described in various ways in scripture. It's a place of unquenchable fire (Mk 9:44), darkness (Mt 22:13), eternal torment (2 Thess 1:9), weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt 25:30), and continual decay (Mk 9:44). But as horrifying as that list is, there is nothing more dreadful than the statement here in this verse that says that we will forever be taken away from the presence of the Lord!
Can you imagine a world where there is no God? You can go to the most depraved place on earth, the darkest society, the most perverted culture, the most wicked corner of the globe, and you can still see evidence of the presence of God. There is still some evidence of love, kindness, forgiveness, and generosity. Though the light of God's presence may be dim, it's still there because God is everywhere... except, of course, in hell.
God is not in hell. He never will be in hell. Hell is a place where all that is righteous and holy is completely removed. Hell is reserved for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars (Rev 21:8). There is no truth, no goodness, and certainly no love there. All you'll find in hell is enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, and other manifestations of unrestrained pride and selfishness (Gal 5:20-21).
The simple reason for all of this is that God is not in hell. Hell, by definition, is the absence of God. Take God completely out of a place, and that's hell.
Father, we tremble at the thought of a place where you are not. Help us to draw closer and closer to you in this life, so that in the next life we will live eternally in your presence.
