Hell is often pictured as a place of fire and torment. It is pictured as a place where God shoves the unrepentant into the furnace, closes the door and leaves. That is not true! We can choose to deny God’s Presence, even when it is very obvious. We can choose not to fellowship with Him. We can even try to make Him go away.
But none of those things will change God’s Presence or His Love for us. Both David of the Old Testament and Paul of the New Testament confirm God’s Words, Jesus’ Words and The Continuing Mission of the Holy Spirit. Let’s briefly look at what each of them said.
(God)
God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5-6
(Jesus)
And surely I am with you always …
Matthew 28:20
(Jesus, speaking of The Holy Spirit)
And I will ask the Father,
and He will give you another Advocate
to help you
and be with you forever.
John 14:16
(David)
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Where can I flee from Your Presence?
If I go up to the heavens, You are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, You are there.
Psalm 139:7-8
(Paul)
For I am convinced that
neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39
Always and Forever mean just that. We often act as if Always and Forever only apply to our life in the physical body here on earth. But while we change, God Himself has said,
I, The Lord, do not change!
Malachi 3:6
Satan has spent much time trying to convince us that there are times when God is separate from us. He would like us to believe that God would walk off and leave us with him (satan). However, clearly, this was in satan’s dreams only.
As we have seen in recent chapters, satan has forgotten that God has revealed Himself many times as The Fire. Just as there will come a time on earth when Jesus will be revealed to all people and they will not be able to deny His Presence, there will be a time in heaven and hell when God’s Presence is fully recognized and felt in all its Power. Those in Heaven will rejoice. Those in Hell will mourn.
Chapter Four gives a graphic picture of what Hell in The Presence of The Living God might be like. To listen to the author’s reading of Chapter Four, Section Seven of the book, If You Only Knew … Who I AM!, click the audio link below.
For information on how to order the book, visit the book web site at
http://www.christianreading.com/cjones
