A L M A C I A S

WE SHOULD FEAR ETERNAL DAMNATION

Today we are living in a world that seems to have almost no fear of God or of eternity. We live in a time referred to as the "information age." We have computers that are able to do much more than ever in the history of time. People have at their disposal knowledge of so many things that it almost blows our minds. And yet, with all the knowledge that man has, it is very likely that he is more ignorant of the Word of God today than in years gone by. Because of all this ignorance, man has almost no fear of what will come to pass for him and all humanity in that time known as eternity.

In Hebrews 4:1,2, we read: "Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." What are some of the things the writer to the Hebrews wanted his readers to understand? What did the Hebrews writer want those living today to understand also? He wanted us to fear, as we have never feared anything else, the thought that we might not be able to enter into the rest of God. Our greatest fear should be the loss of our soul to eternal damnation.

The apostle Paul understood this fear when he wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians, "I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." (I Cor. 9:26,27) When we read the account of how so many of the Israelites died in the wilderness and were not able to enter the promised land, we think of how sad it was for these people to have been delivered from Egyptian bondage, only to die without receiving the promised land. Even sadder than this should be the thought that many have been delivered from Satan's bondage, only to die in their sins for not having obeyed the commandments of God as they are found in the Holy Scriptures. We also have been promised a place, except this place is eternal and is in Heaven where God and all of His holy angels dwell. But to get there, we must do more than just hear the Word of God, we must obey it.