The Essence of Hell by Jonathan Edwards

REVELATION CHAPTER 16 VERSES 9-11

They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify Him. Men gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.

Paul speaks of hell as being punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord. This does not mean that God is absent. It means that unrepentant sinners are banished from all that is favorable and gracious in him while simultaneously being overwhelmed by the majesty of his holiness and justice.

The essence of hell is not the absence of God. Hell is the presence of God in His holy wrath without a drop of His mercy. Scripture never describes hell as a place where God is absent. In fact, the opposite is true. Hell exists because God is present there in the fullness of His holy justice.

The psalmist declares, If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there. No creature can ever flee from His presence, His sovereignty, or His wrath. What the lost are separated from is God's favor, God's grace, God's kindness, God's patience, and God's blessings. They are eternally cut off from His smile, but they are not cut off from His rule. They are separated from His mercy, but not from His majesty. They are separated from His pardon, but not from His power.

The book of Revelation says that the Lamb himself is involved in the outpouring of wrath. They call to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. The damned see his face, yet not one ray of mercy shines from it.

So the biblical truth is this. They are separated from God's mercy, but confronted with God's justice. They are cut off from God's favor, but crushed under God's wrath. They are excluded from God's gracious presence, but exposed to God's holy presence forever. This is what makes hell infinitely dreadful. God is there, but he is there only as the righteous judge.

Jonathan Edwards quotes, it is the presence of God that makes hell so dreadful. They shall have the presence of God, but only the presence of his justice and majesty. God will be present in the fullness of his wrath. God will be everywhere present in hell, and his presence will be the greatest part of their misery. They shall see and feel nothing of him, but his wrath.

The wrath of God pursues the wicked, and his power lays hold on them. They shall feel the presence of God in his indignation forever. In hell the sinner will find that God is present, not to comfort, but to torment by the glory of his offended majesty. The sight of God, which is the saints' everlasting blessing, will be the sinners' everlasting torment. God will be forever before their eyes. The infinite majesty of God will appear, and the weight of His displeasure will abide upon them. His immediate hand will inflict the punishment. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. For our God is a consuming fire,