“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” (1st Cor. 10:31)
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” (Eccl. 12:13)
Sad but true, the majority of people by far have and will continue to die in their sins, no matter how much personal effort we put forth to glorify the Almighty by presenting the truths of the Scriptures to them, no matter how much we pray, no matter how much we submit to the will of God in seeking the lost, most everyone ever born is going to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire.
“What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:” (Romans 9:22)
There is, in a way we cannot comprehend, a truth in the fact that those who will suffer eternally are glorifying the Almighty. Not in themselves, but in Himself.
It begs a question I have no answer for, before mankind was created, what was the object of the wrath of God? Before He created the angels, cherubim and seraphim, how did He receive praise, glory and honor?
“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” (Rev. 4:11)
How does it make you feel to know that hell was created for the pleasure of the Almighty, that the One without whom love would not exist also created a place for His wrath to be exhibited, and that without end?
We serve the Almighty because of the faith that He has blessed us with, if He had not called us and chosen us, we would have never sought Him out.
“There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” (Romans 3:11)
It is only after the truths, His truths are revealed to us that we are able to begin to comprehend those truths, for 1st Corinthians 2:14 is a truth in itself.
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
But there are few I believe that care to go this far, they are indeed born-again, they love to serve Him, they love to contemplate heaven and an eternity of pleasures forevermore, but the subject of hell, of the Lake of Fire, of eternal suffering in anguish incomparable is not something they care to contemplate. And so, my friends, they do not do all for the glory of God, for they will not speak of that place of pain beyond compare to those who will not listen to the place of eternal love that is offered to them.
“And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” (Jude 1:23)
If they cannot be coerced by love, they will not frighten them with pain, with wrath, with an eternity of separation from the love of the Lord in hopelessness forever.
Granted, we must take into consideration here Matthew 22:14, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” but how many have you given the call to only within the framework of love, of the love that went to the cross for every sin ever committed by everyone?
I do not know why so many people will not speak on a subject that our Savior spoke about almost more than anything else. Perhaps they see it as rude, perhaps they are embarrassed to say they serve the God of love and forgiveness who also will express His eternal wrath upon those that deny His Son’s sacrifice, the God of love and the God of wrath, the God who created heaven and hell, and who will keep that Lake of Fire burning for all time so that those who stood against Him will never forget who is Sovereign, who is Lord of all creation.
This is who we serve, and this is the message we are to give, the good news and the bad. But I fear the days of the fire and brimstone preacher are long gone, today love is the message, and those who will not heed the call are for all intents and purposes, left to fend for themselves.
Maybe when those to whom this short letter is written to see hell from heaven for the first time, they will understand, but by then it will be too late.
