2nd Thessalonians 1:7-10, "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day."
This passage of Scripture teaches that the punishment for not obeying the Gospel is "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord." In our human thinking, we associate a particular crime with a certain predetermined punishment, decided by legislators. Likewise, God has already predetermined that the punishment for rejecting God's free gift of eternal life by faith alone in Christ, is eternal damnation. That is the penalty!
I used to wonder why even after one trillion years of burning in Hell, shouldn't Hitler and other evil madmen of history be given some relief and cessation of punishment? But that is according to our human understanding of justice. The Lord's ways and thoughts are above man's ways and thoughts. God has decided that the just penalty for rejecting His only begotten Son as Savior, is to be punished in the Lake of Fire forever, absent from the Lord's presence. I feel that is unfair. I think the punishment is too great.
I humbly protest against such a cruel God! Yet, I am told in Isaiah 55:8-9 that God thinks higher than I do. God is more righteous and holier than any human being could ever comprehend. So despite my respectful protest, I choose to trust my God's judgment and wisdom, knowing that God is faithful. 1st Corinthians 1:9, "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." What saith the Scripture? 2nd Timothy 2:13, "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself." If we refuse to receive God's free gift of eternal life, by faith alone in His only begotten Son, then we have no one to blame except our self for going to Hell.
The magnitude of eternal damnation as punishment, is only fitting for the magnitude of such an injurious insult to God, as to wilfully reject His sacrificed only begotten Son on the cross for one's crimes against God and humanity.
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