When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” …Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”Matthew 25:31-34, 41
This section of Scripture was part of our reading plan this week. As Jesus teaches, he speaks many times on hell and the coming judgment. He does this not out of hate or cruelty, but out of a loving compassion for those who are living apart from God and are facing the real danger of God’s wrath.
This warning seems to many to be uncharacteristic of a loving God. They would say, “A loving God would never send anyone, even the wicked, into an eternal hell!” The Bible is clear that not everyone will be inherit the future kingdom of God, so many today suggest that those who do not enter the kingdom are judged and then cease to exist—they are annihilated. So those who’ve truly followed Jesus will enter the eternal kingdom, and those who do not cease to exist.
But, if we deny the eternality of hell, we must also deny the eternality of a heavenly kingdom. We can’t reject one and take the other. The very clear word of God puts them both side by side, parallel to each other, and does not give the option to throw out what we don’t like but keep what we do.
And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.Matthew 25:46
Eternal punishment or eternal life. A future judgment is real, the most loving thing to do would be to warn people and tell them how they might find life.