Christ Leads The Way

“It is a clear evidence of God’s righteous judgment that you will be counted worthy of God’s kingdom, for which you also are suffering, since it is righteous for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you.” – 2 Thessalonians 1:5-6

Nobody likes to be told they are going to hell. It’s because everybody knows that hell is a bad place and it’s nowhere to want to be. While some people try to make life a living hell for others, they must realize that a much greater judgment is waiting for them, if they do not stop their sinful ways and repent.

The Lord will come “taking vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from His glorious strength” (2 Thess. 1:8-9).

That’s some serious stuff right there. Vengeance? From the Lord? “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31). Here’s what the Lord says about the vengeance that He’s going to take on those who afflict His children and cause suffering:

“Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; their foot shall slip in due time; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things to come hasten upon them” (Deut. 32:35).

He continues:

“If I whet My glittering sword,
And My hand takes hold on judgment,
I will render vengeance to My enemies,
And repay those who hate Me” (Deut. 32:41).

And then again:

“I will execute great vengeance on them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I lay My vengeance upon them” (Ezek. 25:17).

It’s clear that the Lord is coming back with a vengeance. So, it’s in our best interest to know who He’s taking vengeance out on so it won’t be us. Notice in Ezekiel 25 that the Lord says that people will know that He is the Lord when He lays His vengeance on them.

“This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent—Jesus Christ.” – John 17:3

Why wait until then to know the Lord? We’re all going to know Him one way or the other.

We ought not to let knowing Him come through His vengeance but be on the good side of knowing Christ and Him crucified. Knowing God is having eternal life, and not knowing God is eternal death and destruction.

Also, note that the Lord will take vengeance with a flaming fire on those who do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 1:8). So then, we all better make sure to obey the gospel.

How does one obey the gospel, and what is it? Paul sheds light on these questions. Consider 1 Cor. 15.1-4:

“Now brothers, I want to clarify for you the gospel I proclaimed to you; you received it and have taken your stand on it. You are also saved by it, if you hold to the message I proclaimed to you—unless you believed for no purpose. For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

The gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we obey that gospel by dying to sin, being buried in water baptism, and rising to newness of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:1-14).

If you haven’t obeyed the gospel and you don’t know God, then you don’t have eternal life. And, you’re going to hell.

Like those Peter describes, people who speak evil of God’s children and don’t understand what they are doing will “perish in their own corruption,” unrighteousness, and deceptions (2 Pet. 2:12-14).

“But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you.” – 2 Peter 2:12-13 

And you, like the devil who deceives you to mistreat, abuse, and violate His laws and His people, will be “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are […] tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 20:10).

Don’t die and go to hell. Repent! Stop doing wrong and sinning against the God of heaven. Confess that wonderful name of Jesus, obey the gospel, and show love toward God and fellowman.

If you don’t stop your evil and wicked ways and turn to the living God…

Hell is waiting for you.

“But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!” – Luke 12:5

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