No matter where you fall on the spectrum of the interpretations on God’s Sovereignty, one thing is certain, sin cost God more than it costs all the fallen angels and sinners in hell. Without going into great detail, I do believe that this side of heaven we will not be able to fully comprehend the mystery of how a Holy and Sovereign God can allow evil into His universe. I know many people question how God could create Adam and Eve very good and yet they still fell into sin. An answer to that question seems a little easier than the question of how did Satan fall into sin, since they at least had a fallen Angel to tempt them, Satan had only himself. But I digress from pursuing the deeper philosophical and theological implications and questions surrounding sin, the fall, and God’s Holiness, and will simply follow the Bible’s lead: God is sinless, Holy and Sovereign, man was created good and morally culpable and became a sinner deserving God’s wrath.
It is probably a certitude that every human who has thought about these things has intuited that the punishment for sin, Hell, really, really sucks; it’s a huge bummer man! If one ponders for just a minute the idea of everlasting punishment in Hell for sin, one quickly decides for themselves that surely this punishment is too great to fit any crime (let alone the smallest of sins), committed in the universe, but the Holy Creator doesn’t think so and before you think God just stands back and enjoys the slow burning of those who violate His Will and Commands, let me tell you something: the price God paid for sin is greater, by infinite measure, than all the sinners and fallen angels in Hell and the resultant human suffering on earth!
You think it is a huge bummer to spend eternity in Hell? What do you think, then, about a perfectly holy man being punished for sins he didn’t commit to the degree that his punishment fully paid the price for all those sins, considering that a sinner deserving of the punishment of their sins cannot pay for all their sins even with a “forever from now” of payment in hell? While you gather your scattered thoughts from this bombshell, let me just add to those explosive words these: that is exactly what Jesus did, and it cost God more than you can imagine!
I think we too lightly judge God a “monster” or at least “unfair” for sending anyone to hell, and at the same time we don’t even consider what this “judgement” cost Him. Just as God could have created a world where no one fell into Sin (which would have cost him nothing), He also could have created a world He sent all sinners to hell (which would have cost him nothing), but He chose to create a world where He sent some sinners to hell and saved others from it, and that cost Him, for lack of a better word: everything. We spend too much time thinking about Hell and the “poor” sinners going there, and not enough time thinking about Salvation and what that option cost God. Critics of Christianity want to spend their time dismissing it because of the Bible’s teaching on Hell, but really Hell shouldn’t be the “amazing” and “unbelievable” thing they focus on, but rather that God would even decide to save sinners and do it by offering His own sinless, perfectly Holy, Son (who went willingly might I add — no child abuse here) to die for the sins of sinners by taking their sin fully upon Himself and paying for those sins completely!
Sin cost us so much less than it cost God, so next time you are tempted to be in awe about Hell and the punishment for sin, stop and think to yourself: God paid a greater price to forgive sin than all the sinners and fallen Angels suffering justly for their own sins in Hell! In case you are one of those sinners who is on the path towards paying your own sin in Hell, consider the fact that God sent Jesus, His only Son, perfect and Holy, as a man to earth to live the life you couldn’t, to die the death for sin you really don’t want to die but are currently on the path to, and rose from the dead victorious over sin (you definitely couldn’t do that) and graciously offers you forgiveness for your sins, freedom from Hell, and to share in His eternal reward for His perfect obedience. If this sounds too good to be true, it isn’t, and if you stop trying to earn your way out of your sin and into heaven, and stop ignoring the truth of your condition as a sinner deserving of Hell, and place your trust and hope solely in Jesus, and plead for Him to forgive you, then He promised to do that, and you will be forgiven, washed, accepted, and adopted into the family of God, and will gain all the benefits therein. Don’t pay for your own sins for the rest of time in Hell, but avail yourself of the suffering of God, the immense payment He made for your sins, don’t let that go to waste, don’t let Jesus suffer for nothing, hope in Him and let it all ride on the red blood of the God, Man, Jesus!