Saved from Wrath (the reality of Hell) – Romans 5:6-11

Romans 5:6-11
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Welcome once again to Delving into the Scriptures! After a short 2 week break we are back, still focussed on this section of scripture from Romans.

Last time we focussed on vs 9, and how we have been ‘justified’ – and that our record of sin is clean – not punishment completed, but as if we have never sinned! I am still amazed when I think about that fact – that it is as though our sin never occurred. It is almost beyond comprehension!

But moving on to the rest of the verse, ‘we shall be saved from wrath through Him‘. Firstly, just remember it is through Jesus Christ we are saved from wrath. But what is God’s wrath that we are saved from?

Simply? It is that place we call hell. Hell is not some fictional place that funny little pointy eared devils with tails run around with pitchforks prodding people. It is nothing comparable to anything on this planet, anything that we experience (though I sure that there are some things that come close). In fact, if you were to compare references of heaven to hell in the New Testament, you would see that hell is mentioned more times than heaven - if you believe in a literal heaven, then you have no choice but to believe in a literal hell.

So, what is this place called hell?

It is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12)

It is a place where people scream for mercy, have memories, are tormented, feel alone, cannot escape (Luke 16:23-31).

It is a place of darkness (Revelation 9:2)

It is a lake of fire (Revelation 20:15)

It is a place of everlasting destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

This is just a small selection of scriptures to summarize. So hell does exist, and it is eternal – and this is God’s wrath. Based on the description above, I am pretty keen to not end up there! I am sure we could do a pretty long study of hell and God’s wrath, but I think that’s enough to get the general idea and make sure we don’t end up there (see Philippians 2:12)

So hell is a real place – real, eternal and not somewhere you want to be – but we are saved from that through Jesus Christ. And that again is something we can be thankful for!

Lord Jesus, I pray that you will teach us your Word, teach us the reality of heaven, and the reality of hell, that we might be reminded not only of what would have awaited us, but of what we were saved from. Teach us to be thankful!In Jesus Name, Amen.