You don’t have any choice, none of us do, we are all going to serve God in one place or another, either you will honor His Son in pain or in pleasure.
The Almighty is the epitome of “my way or the highway,” and it does not matter if you like that or not. He does all that He can within the constraints that He places upon Himself to let us see the love He has for us, He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, (Ez. 33:11) but that is not going to stop Him from putting them in hell for about a thousand years or so, some more than that, for hell has been around a while, and then, after the millennial period, to remove them, judge them, and then cast them into the Lake of Fire for all eternity.
Those who have put their faith in His Son will spend the same amount of time, forever, in eternal bliss with pleasures forever more, (Psalm 16:11) but make no mistake, all will serve Him.
The lost do not comprehend this, and many who are saved do not like to think of it in these terms, they like to think they have a choice, and worse yet, some of them believe that they can make the choice of where they will spend eternity by performing certain deeds, certain works. The world today has forgotten the Majesty on High, but they will be reminded soon again, but just as the Israelites did, and just as soon they forget, it will all occur again. Satan will be released, he will deceive the nations, they will rebel against God, again, and then begins the new heaven and earth. Will it happen again and again, ad Infinium? I don’t know, no one does, the verse in Revelation 22:15 seems to point to it, “For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”
Throughout all eternity we will worship God, everything and everyone will, because He is the only One worthy of worship, of praise, honor, and glory. “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36) And He can accept all that worship without one hint of pride.
To attempt to get most people to understand this truth of God being Sovereign is almost an impossibility, not withstanding Romans 1:20, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” He doesn’t show up much anymore, not like He did in the Old Testament, but I would have you notice something here, if memory serves, which is a rare thing for me, there are over three hundred times in the Scriptures where the words “Fear not,” or something akin to them are spoken. Why? Because when God shows up, or He sends an angel into the midst of men, what happens? They fear.
It is going to take some time to get used to seeing angels on a regular basis, and it may never be something that we get used to when we stand in the presence of the Most High. That is why people do not like to comprehend God as He is, He is too big, too fearful for us, and like the children of Jacob did, we do not want Him to speak to us, for we might die. (Exo. 20:19)
When you die, if you have been crucified with Christ, you will go to heaven, if you have not been born-again, you will go to hell and until you are cast into the Lake of Fire, you will not leave there. How do those in eternal pain and suffering serve God? “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) By being vessels of wrath, continuously. Both those in hell and those in heaven will eternally praise His name, and all to His glory.
This is what the lost refuse to accept, not just His Sovereignty, not the fact that He is not “all love all the time,” but the knowledge that they are not in control of their destiny. Here is the question I will leave you with to ponder, it is from Matthew 22:14, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” Who is doing the choosing, you or God?
