Does God Love the People Who Are in Hell?

NATHAN W. BINGHAM: We're here at Ligonier's 2021 National Conference, and I'm joined by one of Ligonier's teaching fellows, Dr. Steven Lawson. Dr. Lawson, does God love the people who are in hell?

DR. STEVEN LAWSON: The answer to that would be no. If He did, that would be some strange kind of love, wouldn't it? No. In Romans 9:13, we read, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." Some take that to be "to love less." I actually take it at face value for what it says. That God actually hated Esau. He had every reason to hate Esau because Esau was a sinner who had violated the holiness of God, and God is a holy God and reacts against all that is unholy. When you read Psalm 5, Psalm 7, Psalm 9, and Psalm 11, it is crystal clear that God is angry with the wicked every day, and that continues into the very bowels of hell below.

The mystery is not, Well, how could God hate Esau? The real question is, How could God love Jacob? I totally understand how God"who is holy and righteous and filled with righteous indignation against all that is contrary to His holy nature"I totally understand how God would hate not just the sin but the sinner as well. As he would descend down into the pits of hell, it actually will be God Himself in hell, inflicting the wrath upon the sinner. It will not be a self-inflicted wrath in hell that the unbeliever will inflict upon himself; neither will Satan be the prince of hell and inflicting all those who are in there. No, it says in Revelation 14:9-10, that Christ Himself will be in their face and will be the One pouring out His wrath, throughout all of the ages to come, upon those who are unbelievers and who are sinners through and through.

So, no, there is not a drop of love of God in the pit of hell. It is filled up with the wrath and the vengeance of the almighty God.