Job CCXXXII

 If suffering is to be had, whether great or small, whether momentary or protracted, we know with absolute certainty that it will cease once we shuffle off this mortal coil. It is a temporary thing, and in light of eternity, akin to a drop of water in an endless ocean.

For the saints of God, for the sons and daughters of the Almighty, there is no suffering beyond the veil, there is no weeping or gnashing of teeth, there is no heartbreak, no sorrow, no pain, and God Himself will wipe away every tear.

Though the wicked prosper for the moment, their eternal suffering begins when our eternal glory does. Our suffering is defined and limited to the time we have on this earth. The suffering of those who do not desire to know His ways and perish lost in their sin without having known the salvific power of Jesus has no end or terminus. It’s not a timeout, it’s an eternal punishment.

The Word of God is clear on the reality of hell just as it is clear on the reality of heaven. We cannot preach that there is a heaven without acknowledging that there is a hell, an outer darkness, a lake of fire, into which all who rejected the Son of God will be cast. Try as the godless might to redefine it, reimagine it, or reinterpret it, hell is not the place where the cool kids hang out and make music; it is not an eternal mosh pit, it’s not the place to be once your soul is free, but a place where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. The reality of hell wouldn’t make for a good poster on its best day, but some part of those who speak of it as just another week at Burning Man must know the reality of it and use the flippancy with which they speak of it as a coping mechanism.  

Hell is a horror beyond imagining, and an eternal one to boot. If you’ve ever wondered how difficult it was for the Father to see the Son expire on the cross, you need only consider the punishment that will be served upon those who reject Him.

Hebrews 10:28-31, “Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

God sending His Son was not a trivial matter. God watching His Son hang on a cross was not a trivial matter. God hearing the heart cry of His Only Begotten asking why He’d forsaken Him was not a trivial matter!

I’m a dad of two beautiful daughters. It breaks me just thinking about the possibility of watching them suffer in any way, them crying out to me for help, and my not rampaging through entire armies to get to them and help them. God’s love for His Son was no less all-encompassing; He did not love Him less than I do my daughters, yet He witnessed His pain, His tears, His torn body nailed to a tree and restrained Himself from intervening because He knew how important it was for this sacrifice to be carried out in full.

Jeremiah says that it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, not because He enjoyed seeing Him in pain or the throes of death, but because He knew that it was the only way by which you and I could be reconciled to Him.

This is what men reject when they trample the Son of God underfoot. This is what men reject when they insult the Spirit of grace. We speak of God’s love, grace, and forgiveness flippantly, as though it cost Him nothing to facilitate the sanctification of man, when in reality it cost Him His Beloved Son. We repeat certain words so often as to risk diluting, watering down, or losing their meaning altogether. The covenant by which we are sanctified is not a common thing; it was sealed in the blood of the Lamb, it came at a price, and that price was the pouring out of the life of the only perfect Man ever to walk the earth.

But God knew He would rise on the third day! Do you think that made the pain any less real, whether God’s or Christ’s? Do you think knowing He would rise from the dead made Jesus feel any less alone when He no longer sensed the Father's presence and cried out, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani”?

This wasn’t a performative utterance. It wasn’t something Jesus thought would be cool to say. It was the reality of what He was experiencing at the moment of His death, hanging between two thieves, bleeding and broken.

Never forget that you and I were bought with a price, and that price was the life of the Son of God. This realization alone should take us beyond mere humility. This realization alone should compel us to press in, serve Him, praise Him, worship Him, follow Him, love Him, and not simply pay Him lip service whenever it’s convenient. He saved my soul from everlasting darkness. He took my wretchedness and the filthy rags with which I was clothed, bought me, cleansed me, sanctified me, made me His own, and gave me white garments that I might be welcomed into His kingdom and given a seat at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

He took my death and gave me life. He took my blindness and gave me sight. He took my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh. He took my will and replaced it with the indwelling of His Spirit, and He did all those things for you as well. When we keep the reality of what Jesus did and what God sacrificed on our behalf at the forefront of our minds, we will evermore walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time.    

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.