Hell Is Your Choice!

The Apostle Paul quickly learned that the questions about Christ's return would not go away in Thessalonica despite what he wrote and what I quoted in my previous blog. This busy metropolitan city with its intersecting roads to the rest of the Roman world had many intersecting ideas and thoughts rushing back and forth. And among those were some troubling thoughts about the return of Christ. Besides all that the church there was being persecuted. So Paul begins his response to all this troubling news like this:

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering-- since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. 

To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. - 2Th 1:1-12 ESV

As you can see, Paul did indeed have the return of Christ and the terrible Day of the Lord in mind. Destruction in the form of flaming fire is on the way. God will visit His vengeance on those who do not know Him nor obey—in the sense of pay attention to—the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be dealt with. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction! That's a strange phrase, because we usually think of destruction as something that happens and the person is gone, dead, destroyed.
But Paul says they will suffer and keep on suffering God's δίκη (dē'-kā), God's justice. The sentence will be carried out. That sentence, he writes, will be destruction, but not extinction. Everything that Christ's enemies trust in, everything they dream about, all peace and security, all their riches and power—everything will be wiped out and they themselves will be separated forever from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. They will eternally know nothing but despair, guilt, fear, anxiety and loneliness. As Paul wrote in his first letter,

. . . sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. - 1Th 5:3 ESV

But forever? Why? How can it be? That is a most difficult concept to take hold of. Men usually couch it in terms of the Lord Jesus being too vindictive. Won't his anger ever be satisfied? Will he forever demand punishment, justice—destruction!? But that's the exact opposite of what the Scriptures reveal. How dare you or I make such a mockery of our Lord's mercy and love? How dare we forget that Jesus became our High Priest and made Himself the one final sacrifice for the sins of all men (Hebrews 7:27; 9:11-14, 27-28)? How dare we not hear His loud cry for all humanity upon the cross, 

"Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" - Mat 27:46 ESV

He stands before the world of men of all ages with his scarred hands held out. He longs to give forgiveness, but so many are like Jerusalem. He looks down upon them with tears in His eyes.

 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! - Luk 13:34 ESV

But like ancient Pharaoh and Jerusalem's Sanhedrin their hearts are hard, their eyes are darkened and they are not willing! Hell is their choice. The Lord cannot and will not deprive them of the freedom to choose their own destruction.

So it stands for each one of us. Make your choice! If you want hell, then that is what you will receive.

Infants Slaughtered—Again

The entire nation is struggling with the news of the murder of 20 little children and several adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. This was the 18th mass murder event in 2012.  See Joel C. Rosenberg's blog for more disturbing statistics.

In eleven days from this posting the Christian church will celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents, December 28. This bitter-sweet feast remembers King Herod's order to slaughter all the male children in Bethlehem two years old and under (Matt. 2:16-18). Matthew tells us that this was a fulfillment of a prophecy by Jeremiah (Jer. 31:15).

"A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more." - Mat 2:18 ESV

In typical fashion Herod attempted to eliminate yet another threat to his rule as king of the Jews. When the wise men from the East fled the country without telling him where to find the baby born two years earlier according to the prophecy about the coming of the Messiah, he decided to make sure the child did not grow up to challenge him. So he ordered the murder of all male children two years old and under. This is not surprising since Herod put to death several of his own children and some of his wives. Emperor Augustus reportedly said it was better to be Herod's sow than his son, for his sow had a better chance of surviving in a Jewish community that did not eat pork (The Bible Knowledge Commentary, 1985).

The Massacre of the Innocents - by Daniele da VOLTERRA - from Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

How many did Herod murder? There were maybe 600 people in this little village five miles or so down the road from Jerusalem. So how many male children two and under would there be in such a town? 15, 20, 30 at most. Regardless of the number, these were little boys who did nothing to deserve death and yet they were killed—by order of the governing authorities. Why? How could God permit such violence? On top of those questions is the note from Matthew that this was prophesied hundreds of years earlier.

How do we Christians make sense of all this violence, evil and blood? There are a couple important points to make at the outset.

• The murder of innocent babies is a common event in the United States. As a nation we have chosen to ignore it and call it by other names. I speak about the legal murder of over 1.2 million innocents through abortion, babies murdered by their own mothers. This is murder approved by the decision of the highest court in our land. 

• Further, the FBI reports more than 15,000 murder or non-negligent manslaughter cases annually in the U.S.A. Aggravated assault cases often reach above 800,000. We live in a violent society. 

• All this suggests that we ought not be surprised at what happened in Connecticut, though we quite naturally are. 

We pray for those grieving families in Connecticut, together with their relatives and friends throughout the United States. We pray that they be helped to work through their grief and loss and ultimately move beyond it. There is much to be done to help them through counseling and spiritual guidance. We must also pray for those who provide such that they have wisdom, understanding and patience. One or the other of us who read these words may be directly involved. 

Beyond this, the church, the body of Christ in this world, recognizes that Christmas is so much more than the mere singing of happy songs, sharing gifts and the spouting of empty greetings. In this happy season the slaughter of innocents reminds us of why the Christ Child came. He came to carry in His own body our sin and the rebellion, violence, grief and pain that flows from it. He came to become one with us and carry the ultimate eternal punishment for our sin in His own violent death on the cross of Calvary. If it seems as if God the Father does not hear our cries of pain and loss, then we do well to remember Jesus' cries for us upon that cross, "My God why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). 

In the midst of the evil, suffering, sorrow and loss we have a God who has not forsaken us. He will not. Instead He has come to be one with us. In Christ we look above and beyond to His return in glory to make all things new. In that Day all will be made whole and peace will finally come to all mankind. The prophet Jeremiah spoke of that day. He invites us to join him in faith.  

"Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.' For the LORD has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. - Jer 31:10-12 ESV