Does God Really SEND People to HELL? Part 1

We’ve all heard the question: “How could a loving God send people to hell?  Perhaps you have asked or wrestled with this question as well.  Recently, the Lord dropped some thoughts into my spirit that brought some much-needed clarity to this often emotionally charged and greatly misunderstood subject.  But I can tell you upfront, after walking with the Lord and experiencing His love personally for over forty years and knowing and ministering to countless believers and unbelievers alike, I strongly believe that God does not send people to hell.  If He did, I surely would have been high on His list and would be in hell today.  But I am so thankful He is the God of love first, then the God of justice.  But there are NO FREE PASSES!

John wrote: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (Jn.3:16-17).” 

But love isn’t love without this thing called free will.  Just as love restrains God from sending people to hell, love also restrains Him from sending people to heaven.  God’s Plan of Salvation isn’t a “Get Out of Hell Free Card” nor a “Ticket to Heaven,” it’s an invitation for us as prodigals to return home to our loving Father and family and forever live (Jn.15:11-31).  But love requires a choice, not coercion.  Here, love requires faith—believing and embracing Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of the world.  Remember always: love requires a choice! 

John continued: “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (Jn.3:18).”  Did you catch that?  God doesn’t condemn unbelievers and send them to hell—their unbelief condemns them!  And for those who think God should do something to save them, He already has—He crucified His son on that cross, and He didn’t stop there!  Scripture is filled with prophetic pictures of God constantly pursuing the lost. 

One example is The Parable of the Lost Sheep: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it (Lk.15:4-7).”

God’s love compels Him to be relentless in pursuing us, sometimes all the way to death’s door, but never to the point of forcing us or violating our free will.

Understanding Spiritual Death vs. Physical Death

Because of Adam’s disobedience, the ground was cursed (Gen.3:17).  Now we are all born into a fallen sinful world.  David would express it this way: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me (Ps.51:5).”  Later, Paul would explain: “Through one man (Adam) sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus, death spread to all men, because all sinned— (Rom.5:12).”

“Death spread to all men,” is a profound, yet often misunderstood statement!  God gave Adam only one commandment: “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (Gen.2:17).”  We know Adam disobeyed God and ate from that tree (Gen.3:6) but based on what God said (Gen.2:17), if like me, you expected Adam to succumb from his sin and stop breathing that day, he didn’t!  In fact, Adam lived on for a total of 930 years, before he died (Gen.5:5).  So, what are we to make of this?  First, I know of three places in the Bible which clearly state that God cannot lie (Num.23:19, Titus 1:2, and Heb.6:18).  Second, if you haven’t yet made that faith decision to always believe the Word of God, even if you don’t understand it, then you can do yourself a huge favor and make that decision NOW, so we can go deeper together!  Remember: true faith says: “If God said it, I believe it, and that settles it!”

So, back to what God told Adam: “The day that you eat of it you shall surely die!”  But what God didn’t tell us then, because there were no ears to hear it, He would later speak through Paul in a letter to the Roman Church.  He said, “Through one man (Adam) sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—(Rom.5:12).”

Since all men do not die physically at birth, then the death Paul was referring to must not be physical, but spiritual death, also known as separation from God, in which “hell” is the ultimate and final separation. 

GOD KNEW US previously!

Speaking to Jeremiah, the Lord gave us some amazing insight into a time before and after our conception.  He said, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you (Jer.1:5).”  Clearly this was a time in which we were not spiritually separated from God but were together with Him.  That’s interesting, because we know that as descendants of Adam, not only do we carry his “natural DNA,” we also carry his fallen “spiritual DNA” in the form of his sin nature.  But notice, the Lord told Jeremiah, not only did He know him, He also sanctified him before he was born.  The Hebrew word for “sanctified” is qadash, which means to consecrate, set apart, and make holy (make pure—without sin).  I believe the Lord is so holy that anything or anyone He touches is instantly made holy.  So, as the children of Adam (even though we carry Adam’s fallen sinful nature), when a Holy God touches and forms us, we are sanctified and made holy so that we can be born both physically and spiritually alive (not separated from God).  Remember, David said he was born into sin (a sinful world), not born a sinner (Ps.51:5).  Yet, because of Adam, sin has entered the world and death through sin (Rom.5:12).  So, because of sin, I believe all men (all people, including Paul) do die spiritually sometime after their natural birth and become separated from God. 

In his letter to the Romans, Paul recalled an earlier time when he was alive (spiritually): “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived (sprang to life), and I died.   And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death (Rom.7:9–10).” 

So, like Paul, there must have been a time surrounding our own physical birth when we also were free and alive spiritually, being subject to no laws and therefore innocent of any and all sin.  With no law that we could understand or be held accountable to, we had no sin to separate us from God (Rom.5:13).  But eventually the commandment came, we understood it, sin revived (Adam’s sin nature lying dormant in us, sprang to life), we disobeyed, and we died (spiritually), then separation set in.  But what commandment was it?  As infants or young children, it wasn’t the Law of Moses or the Ten Commandments.  It was more likely a loving “NO” or perhaps a “DON’T” repeated so many times by parents or care givers that we finally understood it, then that mixture of free will and sin nature sprang to life, and we disobeyed.  Remember, God said, “The day that you eat of it (disobey) you shall surely die (spiritually)!”

WE KNEW GOD Previously!

What we are teaching today is not new or obscure doctrine.  Paul opened his letter to the Romans referring to a previous time when God not only knew us, but we also knew Him!

Romans 1:20-21  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead (Divine nature), so that they are without excuse, because, although they KNEW (ginosko) God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Paul identifies two time frames and two spiritual states for every person living on planet earth: a time past when they KNEW God (spiritually alive) and a time following when they no longer KNEW God (spiritually dead) indicating separation from Him, with no personal intimate relationship (ginosko) with Him.

When God finished creating man, it was at that moment that human physical and spiritual consciousness emerged and mankind was able to do something no other created being could do: they KNEW God,  But notice, Paul did not say “he” knew God (meaning Adam only), but “they” knew God (including all of us, the children of Adam).  But, if everyone is now “without excuse,” there must have been a previous time when we weren’t separated from God and knew Him.  We will continue all this in Part 2 of this message.  Blessings!