Given Scripture’s vivid depictions of hell, how do we show unbelievers that God is loving?

One of the most profound truths revealed in Scripture is that God did not create the universe out of loneliness, need, or boredom. Rather, He created all things to glorify Himself. His purposes stretch far beyond the boundaries of time and space, beyond human reasoning, and are rooted in His infinite wisdom and will, all for His glory, as Isaiah 43 declares:

"Everyone who is called by My name,
And whom I have created for My glory,
Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”

This foundational truth reminds us that creation is not ultimately about us; it’s about God. We were made to reflect His glory and are graciously invited to participate in His plan.

When we study Scripture, we see that God frequently communicates deep spiritual truths through contrast - light and darkness, good and evil, heaven and hell. These are not mere literary devices but purposeful and powerful revelations. Through them, God helps finite minds grasp the weight of sin and the wonder of His grace. He doesn’t use contrast because He must, but because He loves His creation and desires to clearly reveal both the seriousness of our condition and the hope He offers through redemption.

Nowhere is this contrast more vivid than in the doctrine of hell and judgment. Jesus Himself speaks more about hell than anyone else in the Bible. The imagery of fire, torment, and separation is graphic and sobering, yet it is not gratuitous. It serves to magnify the greatness of the Gospel. Without a clear understanding of what we are being saved from, we cannot truly grasp the weight of what Christ accomplished on the cross. As Paul writes in Romans 5:10:

“While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.”

This is the Gospel; love demonstrated through wrath satisfied. God’s justice demanded payment for sin, and His love provided the substitute. Christ bore the wrath of God so that those who believe might be spared eternal judgment.

Still, this raises a difficult and commonly asked question: If many are on the road to destruction, as Matthew 7 and many other Scriptures proclaim, then how do we tell a lost world that God is love?

To answer this, we must begin by understanding that salvation is not distributed randomly, nor is it something we earn. It flows from the sovereign will of God. In Romans 9, Paul addresses this difficult truth head-on:

ROM. 9:14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!
ROM. 9:15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
ROM. 9:16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
ROM. 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.”
ROM. 9:18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

Paul affirms that God is perfectly just in saving some and not others. Mercy is not owed, it is a gift. If everyone were entitled to it, it would no longer be mercy at all. He even uses Pharaoh as an example, a man God raised up not for redemption but to display His power through judgment:

EX. 4:21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

This is sobering. God has the sovereign right to show mercy to some and to harden others. And yet, what is amazing is not that some are judged, but that any are saved at all. Every person is born deserving judgment. The miracle is that God saves.

We must also remember that God’s justice and love are not at odds. The same Bible that teaches election and judgment also teaches love and compassion. In Matthew 5, Jesus tells us:

MATT. 5:44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
MATT. 5:45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Even toward those who reject Him, God demonstrates patience, kindness, and generosity. Paul echoes this in Romans 9:

ROM. 9:22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
ROM. 9:23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,

God’s delay in judgment is not a sign of indifference but of merciful patience, extending opportunity even to those who will ultimately reject Him.

This leads us to Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:13-14, where He draws a sharp contrast between the broad way that leads to destruction and the narrow way that leads to life:

MATT. 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
MATT. 7:14 For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

When we keep Matthew 7 in context, the takeaway is this: truth is not determined by majority. The broad way is appealing because it is filled with comfort, tradition, and popularity, but it leads to death. The narrow path is harder and lonelier, but it is grounded in truth and leads to eternal life. God calls us to that path not because He owes it to us, but because of His love and sovereign grace.

In sharing the Gospel with the unbelieving world, we must not shy away from the realities of judgment. But we must also present the full picture of God's character. Some focus exclusively on God's wrath and justice, painting Him as harsh and unloving. Others preach only love, grace, and acceptance, avoiding the reality of sin and judgment. Both views are imbalanced.

God is both holy and merciful, just and loving. As Romans 11:22 puts it:

ROM. 11:22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.

We must hold both truths together. The severity of God shows us what sin deserves; the kindness of God shows us what Christ endured in our place.

Biblical divine contrasts are not contradictions. They are revelations of the fullness of God’s character, designed to draw us into a deeper understanding of who He is. If we focus too much on one side, we distort the truth. But if we present the whole counsel of God—His wrath and His mercy, His holiness and His love, we reflect the Gospel as it was meant to be shared.

Furthermore, these hard doctrines glorify God by revealing that He alone saves. He alone is sovereign over Hell and Heaven - not because of who we are, but because of who He is. His mercy is glorious because His justice is real. His love is breathtaking because His wrath is terrifying. And His grace is amazing because we were His enemies, and yet He saved us.

You may also find our Romans teaching and Sovereignty of God series helpful in your studies of God’s Word.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org