I’m often asked why God would send people to a place of torment. Since God is loving, why would he send people to hell? Why should we think that God has a lesser of justice than mankind? God is loving. Yes. But that’s not all. He is also a good judge. Should a loving human judge allow criminals to go free? Of course not. If we, with our finite justice system, think it’s necessary to punish criminals in civil court, how much more should an infinite God judge our crimes, our sins against him?
The Bible tells us that God alone is holy, he is the standard of all that is right, virtuous and good, his nature is pure. If I were to light a match and I were to place that flame next to a dried-out leaf, what would happen? The fire would consume the leaf because they’re different, their natures are opposed one to the other. In the same way, God and man’s natures are opposite. On the day of judgment, sinful men will not be able to stand in the presence of a holy God because of their opposing natures.
The issue is not God’s love, the issue is His Holiness. He is described as a consuming fire who dwells in unapproachable light. In our sinful state, there is no way that we can approach him. Our only hope is to somehow take on the same nature as God, we must be born again. When we turn from our sins and we place our faith in the resurrected Christ, God imputes his righteousness to us. It’s imperative that we are given this new nature since each of us are headed towards our own personal Judgment Day. The Bible says in Psalm 96:3 that he is coming to judge the world and he will judge the world in righteousness. The problem isn’t with God; the problem is our sin.