A couple of weeks ago, I was asked at the UpClose Saturday evening service about the omnipresence of God and hell. "How can God be in hell? Isn't hell the absence of God?"
In corresponding with someone who had questions and concerns about my answer, I was introduced to R.C. Sproul's thoughts on this topic. This emphasizes what I wrote about this topic a few days ago.
"It is common to say that hell is the absence of God. Such statements are motivated in large part by the dread of even contemplating what hell is like. We try often to soften that blow and find a euphimism to skirt around it.
"We need to realize that those who are in hell desire nothing more than the absence of God. They didn’t want to be in God’s presence during their earthly lives, and they certainly don’t want Him near when they’re in hell. The worst thing about hell is the presence of God there.
"When we use the imagery of the Old Testament in an attempt to understand the forsakenness of the lost, we are not speaking of the idea of the departure of God or the absence of God in the sense that He ceases to be omnipresent. Rather, it’s a way of describing the withdrawal of God in terms of His redemptive blessing.
"It is the absence of the light of His countenance. It is the presence of the frown of His countenance. It is the absence of the blessedness of His unveiled glory that is a delight to the souls of those who love Him, but it is the presence of the darkness of judgment. Hell reflects the presence of God in His mode of judgment, in His exercise of wrath, and that’s what everyone would like to escape.
"I think that’s why we get confused. There is withdrawal in terms of the blessing of the radical nearness of God. His benefits can be removed far from us, and that’s what this language is calling attention to."
R. C. Sproul, The Truth of the Cross (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2007), pp. 157-158.
Again, let's let this terrifying truth about hell motivate us to share the gospel more boldly. May we all say, like my old friend, NFL star Reggie White, from my FCA days used to say, "I'm just a nobody telling everybody about Somebody who can save anybody..." from hell.
3 comments:
I was just reading the 3rd chapter of Randy Alcorn's book "Heaven," and he references 2 Thessalonians 1:9 about Hell: "They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord..." Is this verse just referring to being shut out from the blessings of God's presence? In the book, Randy Alcorn applies this verse to mean the absence of God and the absence of good. I want to make sure that I understand this.
OK. Let's remember that God is omnipresent. It means He’s everywhere. There’s no place in the universe that doesn’t have the presence of our Lord.
Ask believers, "Do you believe in the omnipresence of God?" and most would say "Yes." But how do some believers describe hell? We "It's the absence of God."
But consider: If God’s presence is not there in hell, is He then truly omnipresent?
If His presence is not there in hell, He is not omnipresent.
So, then how do we answer this question from I Thessalonians 1:9? It's says, "They will suffer the punishment of p eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might."
Is there a presence of our Omnipresent God in hell?
R.C. Sproul puts it in simple terms: "To be separated from God for eternity is no great threat to the impenitent person. The ungodly want nothing more than to be separated from God. Their problem in hell will not be separation from God, it will be the presence of God that will torment them. In hell, God will be present in the fullness of His divine wrath. He will be there to exercise His just punishment of the damned. They will know Him as an all-consuming fire."
I think that to say that the lost will be "away from the presence of the Lord" is a way of describing the withdrawal of God's presence in terms of His redemptive blessing. It is the absence of the light of His countenance. It is the presence of the frown of His countenance. It is the absence glory of His might to bless and redeem.
As I understand it, in hell unbelievers will experience the presence of God as a judge as He exercises His wrath.
One blogger referenced Genesis 4. Genesis 4:16 describes Cain going away from the presence of the Lord. "Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden."
Question. Was Cain really so far away from the Lord that he went to a place where God’s presence could not go?
Obviously not! There’s no place that he can go and hide from the presence of the Lord (See Psalm 139). So what does Genesis 4:16 mean?
It means that he lost the presence of the Lord to bless. He instead experienced the presence of the Lord to judge.
Again, another blogger wrote: "Simply put, God is everywhere in His totality expressing/exercising respective attributes of His. His benefits can be removed far from us and that’s what this language [in II Thessalonians 1:9] is directing our attention to.
Thanks so much for taking the time to help me with this-- The reference in Genesis helped a lot. I looked up the Greek word for presence and the Hebrew word for presence (from the Genesis reference), and both definitions talk about God's "face." This, to me, goes along with what you are saying - that by God "turning his face away" in divine judgment, unbelievers are shut out from his blessings in Hell, yet God remains omnipresent.
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