The Tragedy of Hell

Some people think hell is justice.

Some may think, when they hear about Putin and Savile and other people who have committed heinous crimes against disabled children (or any heinous crime, but obviously my focus is on children with special needs), that surely they are going to hell, and if they did not meet justice here on earth, then going to hell is surely a fitting punishment.

I understand that thought. I understand the human pull towards it. As much as I may draw some comfort from the idea of justice being done…

The truth is…

hell is a tragedy.

Yes, hell is just. Yes, God will do what is right. Yes, no one who perishes will be treated unfairly. Even those who perish are not treated unjustly, but according to perfect righteousness. Yet hell is still dreadful. It is not something to speak of lightly, or imagine with a careless spirit.

Scripture never presents God as unjust, nor as conflicted. He is perfectly holy, perfectly righteous, and everything He does is right.

And yet… when I think about hell rightly, it does not make me feel triumphant. It makes me feel sober. It makes me feel small.

Because if I am honest, I do not deserve mercy any more than anyone else.

The wonder is not that some are judged. The wonder is that any are saved.

God did not owe mercy to anyone. Mercy, by definition, is undeserved. Grace is not justice delayed, it is favour given where judgment was deserved.

Yet God, in His immeasurable mercy, sent His Son to save sinners. Christ did not come because we were worthy. He came because God is merciful. He came to bear the full weight of God’s wrath on the cross, to stand in the place of guilty sinners, and to rise again in victory.

I love my daughter with a fierce love. That love has taken a shy Mum into places of courage I never expected. I would give my life for her without hesitation.

But to give her life for people who have done great evil? I could not do it. I simply could not. My love does not stretch that far.

Yet God gave His Son.

That is a love I cannot fully comprehend. A holy God would have been perfectly righteous to leave us all in our sin. The wonder is that He saves at all.

Hell, then, is not a flaw in God’s justice. It is the expression of it. But it is still fearful. It is still dreadful. And it should cause us to tremble, not smirk.

Even our Lord did not speak of judgment lightly. When He looked upon those who would reject Him, He did not respond with cold detachment.

There is something deeply sobering in that. The One who will judge the world is also the One who wept over those who would not come to Him.

That does not make me careless. It makes me careful.

It makes me look at my own life.

Christianity is a broad term in the world’s eyes, but a Christian is one who belongs to Christ. One who has been made alive by Him and is being shaped into His likeness.

I want my life to reflect that. Not perfectly, because I fail daily, but truly. A life that bears fruit. A life that makes much of Christ, not of self.

I have seen things done in the name of Christianity that do not reflect Christ at all. That grieves me.

But I also know this: God saves. God opens blind eyes. God grants repentance and faith. No one is lost because I was not persuasive enough. And no one is saved because I was.

That frees me… but it does not excuse me.

It calls me to faithfulness.

To speak truth. To live consistently. To honour the Lord in my conduct. To care about how I represent Him.

We are not the final judge of anyone’s eternal destiny, that belongs to God alone. But we are called to exercise discernment, to recognise truth from error, and to proclaim the gospel faithfully, trusting God to save.

This life is but a vapour. What we do here matters for eternity.

I do not want to pass people I recognise in the queue for hell, on my way to heaven… do you?