A Response of Love

Love is one of the most precious words that we have in any language. There are many nuances to this precious word. There are many times that I wish that rather than English, we spoke Ancient Greek. There were multiple words to distinguish between these nuances. That way when a person stated that they ‘loved’ someone, it was clear what type of love that might be.

Just as there are nuances in the meanings, there are nuances in the applications of this word. People express love — or feel that it should be expressed — in different ways. What one person determines to be a clear expression of love might be completely different to someone else. (See Dr. Chapman’s Five Love Languages for more on that topic.)

As I was reading my Bible today, I found myself reading in the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah. I had encountered an interesting place along about chapter 40. In Isaiah 39, you read about how King Hezekiah gave in to his pride and exposed the entire kingdom to Babylon. Isaiah 40 seems to be written from within the exile that the Israelites found themselves to the Babylonians.

As these prophecies from within exile began from Isaiah, an interesting tone and message come out first. The Israelites were in exile in the first place due to their own rebellion and willful disobedience of God’s ways. This exile was a punishment for this disobedience.

At the beginning of what Isaiah shares from within the exile, there is an interesting message. Isaiah 40 is seen as these beginning words. Isaiah 40 also starts with the words “Comfort, comfort my people” (CSB). This prophecy also goes on to talk about the coming Messiah and the deliverance that He will bring.

This goes to show that God did not get some giddy kick out of punishing His followers. It broke His heart to do so. But this feeling did not keep God from doing what was necessary. That is the true mark of love. Love does not give everything one wants, but it will give what one needs. What God’s people needed was a wakeup call that they were not God. They did not have their best interest at heart. As they listened to their own hearts, it simply took them further away from the One that loved them most.

Love does not give everything one wants, but it will give what one needs. Tweet This

I don’t get why so many believe that if you love someone that you will completely go along and agree with them. That reasoning just does not work in real life. Imagine that you have a small child. Now imagine that this child wants to play in the middle of a busy highway. It doesn’t take much to realize that though the child wants to do this act, the most loving thing is to say “No!” to this request and/or do whatever possible to keep the child from harm’s way. We don’t block off the highway because one child wants to play in that spot. We show the child that what they desire is not best and try to move them to what is best.

This is the same thing that God does with ‘punishment’ at times. It is not that He is looking to make us suffer for His amusement. He is trying to love us and point us away from impending danger. That attempt to turn us away from our sinful and destructive desires cost the LORD a great deal – even His own life.

Whatever circumstance we find ourselves in, I hope that we can see the response of God’s loving reach towards us to draw closer to Him where there is the peace that our hearts so desperately desire.

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Follow Up on "Is God There?"

I had really expected to get to this a lot sooner than now, but you know how schedules go...  The time that I have had to investigate the question that I posed in an earlier post has been hit and miss.  The question was "if God is omnipresent, is He in hell?"  I had asked for response to this and got no takers other than one or two people contacting me through facebook saying that they were going to look at this some more.

Here's the conclusion that I have come up with...Yes, I truly believe that God is in hell.

Having grown up in the church, I was taught that hell was "eternal separation from God."  People would use Isaiah 59:2 and Matthew 25:31-46 as support for this teaching.  I admit that I have used the verse from Isaiah in talking to people about salvation and the need to confess Christ frequently in the past.  I had never had anyone ask me to try and reconcile the ideas of God's omnipresence (He's everywhere) and hell.  At first glance, it appeared that there was something not right... something like a contradiction.  But as I studied more, it became more clear.

Before I get too far down that road, let me share Scripture as to why I say that God is present in hell.  Psalm 139:7-10 talks about the omnipresence of God.  It basically says that there is no place in all of creation that you can go to get away from the presence of God.  David even speaks of the place called "Sheol" as a place where God was present.  This "Sheol" was the concept of hell in the Old Testament.  This same concept is found in Amos 9:1-4.  Amos talks about God's hand reaching into "Sheol".  One of the clearest pictures of God's presence in hell is found in Revelation 14:9-11.  In verse 10, John records that those who are in hell "will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb."  We know that the Lamb is referring to Jesus Christ (God).

Back to the road I was on.  How do you reconcile God's omnipresence and the thought of hell (eternal separation from God)?  Many times when God's presence is referred to in the Bible, it is speaking of His blessings (Genesis 4:14; Jeremiah 7:15, 15:1, 23:39, 52:3-4; 2 Kings 17:18-23).  What I've come to understand is that there is a difference between spatial presence (the physical part of where someone is) and relational presence (how you relate to someone).  This is the answer that shows that God is everywhere, even in hell.  Why it's easy to see God's presence (both spatial and relational) in heaven, His spatial presence is very much in hell.  Sadly, it is the wrath of God to the fullest extent is what is present in hell.  God's relational presence (blessings) have been removed from the place called hell so that His wrath is fully shown.

I know that this is not a warm and fuzzy topic, but I truly think that it is a topic worth addressing.  Peter reminds us to be ready to give an answer for the hope we have (1 Peter 3:15).  Paul reminds us to be able to properly handle the truth of God (2 Timothy 2:15).  If we are going to be true disciples of Jesus Christ, then we must tackle the tough questions and let God's word and the Holy Spirit show us the truth.

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