Perhaps you have heard of the famous sermon by the American Puritan Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." He took the text for his message from Deuteronomy 32:35, "Their foot shall slide in due time" (KJV). But he drew the imagery of his sermon from verse 22, "For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell." To properly demonstrate the mercy of God in Christ. Edwards impressed upon his listeners the threat of hell. Our message today should do likewise.

Look at this quote from US News & World Report (March 25, 1991):

Among evangelicals, hell remains a central doctrine. Most hold that … to repudiate hell is to renounce, in large measure, the need for personal salvation.

The article attempts to show that American evangelicalism still believes in and teaches the deep truths of Scripture, including the threat of everlasting torment for those who do not repent of their sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

However, the doctrine of eternal hell is on the way out in some portions of evangelicalism. A not-so-new wind of teaching is gaining ground, called annihilationism. Edwards himself battled against it and now annihilationists can claim the support of John Stott, the late Philip Hughes (tentatively), Clark Pinnock, and others.

Annihilationists hold the view that on the Day of Judgment the wicked will be annihilated – obliterated from existence. (They agree that believers will receive everlasting life.) They say that unbelievers do not face everlasting condemnation, eternal punishment, or endless torment, as traditionally taught.

Over and over, Edwards emphasized to his congregation that nothing could keep them from everlasting hell except the merciful hand of God. Many of his hearers came to realize the urgency of their need to be saved from the terrible, but just, consequences of their sin. The horrifying imagery used by the great preacher included the sword of wrath slaying its victims, the heel of a foot smashing sinners, and the slender thread suspending the wicked over the lake of fire. All of this helped people to realize that they were facing an emergency. And these descriptions of hell did not come from the imaginations of man, but rather from the Bible.

Jesus teaches us that the wicked "will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life" (Matthew 24:46). Similarly, the apostle Paul says,

He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord.2 Thessalonians 1:8, 9

While many people speak of hell merely as a spiritual condition, Scripture describes it as an actual place of suffering. It is a furnace or lake of fire (Matthew 13:42; Revelation 20:14, 15) – a place where people are tormented (Matthew 8:12, 13: Luke 16:23, 28). And while the Bible teaches that there will be degrees of punishment (Matthew 11:22, 24; Luke 12:47, 48), that punishment will be endless (Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:26).

But annihilationists point out that Adam and Eve were threatened with death, not endless torment (Genesis 2:16, 17). And Ezekiel says. "The soul who sins is the one who will die" (Ezekiel 18:4). Jesus' own death was temporal, not eternal. Therefore, they say, hell is eternal in its severity, not in its duration. But any way you put it, the annihilationist's perspective is unbiblical. It finds no real support on the pages of Scripture, where hell is portrayed as a place of endless suffering. There the fire and the worm are never satisfied and continue to consume. In hell there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. As someone rightly said, "That would hardly be true for those who do not exist."

What, then, is the danger of annihilationism? For one thing, people will never feel the urgency and the necessity of the gospel if they do not have a proper understanding of hell. And to suggest that hell is temporary or that the wicked will simply cease to exist is to change how Scripture describes it. The inspired writers of the Bible, no less than Jonathan Edwards, never soft-pedaled the reality of the endless torment of hell. Annihilationists really don't believe in hell, since they have altered its meaning. When they say that hell is not everlasting, they practically deny that it exists, because they have taken away its essential character. Like theological liberals, the annihilationists obscure Biblical truth, and therefore deny it.

As a result, a critical part of the great message of salvation is lost. People will be less inclined to see their need for everlasting mercy if there is no threat of everlasting judgment. Although Edwards preached against it in his own day. annihilationism is a trend of the present age. And we need to fight against it today.

One of the reasons for the annihilationists' belief is that they do not want to believe in eternal torment. As they see it, a God who would subject sinners to such cruelty and vindictiveness would be more like Satan than God. You see, the temptation is to deny doctrine, not because it is unbiblical, but because it offends our sensibilities.

The assumption is that denying the everlasting duration of hell makes the Christian message more palatable. The world's people don't want to hear "offensive" teaching about sin and punishment. They prefer the church to say what their itching ears want to hear. As a result, churches continue to conform to the world. I once met an evangelical pastor who had not preached on the subject of hell in his entire twenty-year ministry, even though he professed to believe in the historical, orthodox doctrine of hell.

Contrary to popular opinion, Jonathan Edwards took no pleasure in the fact that many people face the horrible consequences of their sin. But he preached it because it was true – not because it agreed with his sensibilities. So completely did he understand the terrible nature of God's anger toward sinners that he pleaded with them in the strongest of terms. He also believed that, quite apart from the biblical argument, the everlasting punishment of the wicked was rational. If God is great and eternal, then his relationship to his creatures will have great and eternal consequences.

But Edwards knew that people would not respond properly to his preaching unless he was faithful to the gospel. It is good news that "once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy" (1 Peter 2:10). Instead of giving sinners the impression that they don't have to consider the eternal consequences of their sins, they need to be told that God punishes sin in two ways:

• By the eternal punishment of hell, where the unbelieving and disobedient will suffer for their sin (2 Thessalonians 1:9), and

• By the cross of Jesus Christ, where the Son of God took upon himself the sins of his people (1 Peter 2:24).

God honored the preaching of "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by giving the hearers repenting and believing hearts. By God's grace, they understood and feared the lasting consequences of their sin. But if the biblical teaching about hell had not been preached, they might never have felt the weight of their wickedness.

When we proclaim the gospel, it is entirely reasonable to warn people about the threat of everlasting wrath. Edwards preached,

It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end.

Some of us are afraid to tell the bad news that makes the good news so good. But the Psalmist says to God: "Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you" (Psalms 90:11). How will we see genuine repentance and faith if we do not press people to "flee from the coming wrath (Matthew 3:1) When conversions do take place, we will gain a new understanding of Psalm 76:10:

Surely your wrath against men brings you praise.