The concept of hell is very offensive to many people these days and has resulted in some "Bible Believing" organizations and churches removing the doctrine of hell entirely from their teachings. Their argument is that a "God of Love" would never send someone to hell to be tortured for an eternity. Unfortunately the Bible teaches that this is in fact the case, and the true question is since God does send people to hell does He actually have a purpose in doing so?

To put it simply, the Bible teaches that everything in the universe has a purpose. God has not created anything without a purpose and does not let anything go to waste. That purpose is quite simply to bring glory to Himself, as the Bible says that even the heavens (referring to the stars) declare the glory of God. It therefore follows that we as human beings also share this purpose. The question is "In what way will we glorify God?"

What people do not realize is that God is glorified not only in the salvation of his elect people, but also the just condemnation of sinners to an eternity in hell. Is is true that God is a god of love, and for this reason he chooses to save his people from their sin and give them undeserving grace. But God is also just, and he will not let the wicked go unpunished. Why doesn't God save everyone? Quite simply because God desires to make his wrath known, and he does so by sending people to hell to suffer punishment for their sins.

Romans chapter 9 verse 22 states: "What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction?" This passage, when taken in its entire context, teaches plainly the idea that God wants to make his wrath known and has created (prepared) certain people (objects) for destruction. The destruction being referred to is of course none other than hell and eternal torment.

This is truly a terrifying truth, but it is a truth that is found in the Bible and therefore needs to be proclaimed. We must understand that God desires all of His attributes to be shown, and without both the salvation of His People and the condemnation of sinners He would not be able to fully display his attributes of love, justice, wrath, and holiness. As we read in the very next verse of Romans 9:23 "What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory." In other words, without the existence of hell, those who are saved would never fully understand what they have been saved from, and therefore never fully understand the magnitude of the love of God that has been poured out on them.