A lady went into a Bible and Tract Depot, and wished to purchase an illuminated copy of the text, “God is light.” The shop assistant examined carefully her stock of illuminated texts of Scripture. At last she said, “I’m sorry, Madam, I have not got a copy of the text you wish to purchase. I have a large supply of the text “God is love” in different designs. We have no demand for the text, “God is light.”
Herein lies a sad story. One would have thought it impossible to over-emphasize these wonderful words, “God is love.” This is certainly true, if this grand truth is held in due proportion to other Scripture truths. But when emphasis on the truth “God is love” (1 John 4:8) is made to such an extent, as to obscure the truth that “God is light” (1 John 1:5), there is something very fundamentally wrong.
There is a pseudo-gospel largely proclaimed today, that God is too loving to consign any of His creatures to an eternal hell. It is taught that somehow or other everyone will be found by the Good Shepherd and brought safely to the fold of heaven at last. This is an absolutely false gospel, emanating from the bottomless pit and suiting Satan well, for it obscures the truth that the Lord is ordained of God to be “the JUDGE of quick [living] and dead” (Acts 10:42). It lulls sinners to sleep in the belief that however evil on earth their lives may have been, there is no fear of a hell awaiting the impenitent, and that all will come right in the end.
This pseudo-gospel attributes to God, conduct that would disgrace and cover with shame any earthly tribunal, professing to administer justice, if it acted in such a fashion. What would you think of British justice, if the judge addressed himself to the prisoner in the dock, saying, “You have been convicted of a savage and cruel crime, but the Queen of this realm is so loving, that we are unable to condemn you or sentence you to punishment. All we can do is to discharge you, and set you free.”
And if such a course were carried out, whatever the offence might be, we ask you, What would the condition of society be? Criminals could give free play to their evil propensities, knowing that no punishment would be meted out to them. You reply indignantly, “Such a procedure would be pure and unabashed lunacy, too horrible for words! No man’s life or possessions would be safe for a single hour.”
We remember hearing of a rich manufacturer, a man of completely worldly life, expressing his approval of a certain religious movement, that taught there was no such place as hell. He declared he would subscribe generously to the funds of this movement, for such an assurance made life comfortable. Infinitely better would it have been for him, if the words of Scripture, the recorded words of the Lord Himself, “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned (Mark 16:16), had made him uncomfortable.
The Scriptures tell us of a great white throne, of the wicked dead resurrected, standing before God, and being judged every man “according to their works” (Rev. 20:12). We read the solemn sentence of that last great assize: “The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake of fire which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Rev. 21:8).
The greatest proof, that God is love and that God is light, is seen in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. There is the blending of light and love in a marvellous way. Christmas Evans, the one-eyed preacher of Anglesey in the Welsh principality in the seventeenth century, used a striking allegory to emphasize this great truth. He likened this world of sinners to a great prison-house with lofty walls and heavily barred gates.
Mercy desired to deliver them but Justice forbade till his flaming sword pierced the bosom of the Son of God, when triumphant words fell from His dying lips, “It is finished,” the work of redemption accomplished, justice fully satisfied.
Mercy thereupon flung open the prison gates, and proclaimed liberty to the captives, while Justice approved.
This was his allegory. It well illustrates the gospel truth very clearly
“Jehovah bade His sword awake,
O Christ, it woke ’gainst Thee;
Thy blood the flaming blade must slake,
Thy heart its sheath must be.
All for my sake, my peace to make:
Now sleeps that sword for me.”
The prophet Isaiah put this great truth very forcibly, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). The Apostle Peter put it, “Christ also has once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). The Apostle Paul put it, “He [God] has made Him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
This pseudo-gospel which ignores, if it does not contradict, the fact that “God is light,” robs the cross of Christ of its true atoning character. It contradicts the whole tenor of Scripture. It deceives multitudes. It is a veritable opiate of hell.
Let us stand for the real Gospel and proclaim it widely by tongue and by pen. May there be an awakening desire to learn what the gospel plan is from the Bible itself. Never does the love of God shine in greater splendour, never does the light and righteousness of God shine more clearly, than when God’s only begotten Son hung upon the cross of Calvary. He endured the judgment of God to the full in respect of sin, so that God now offers salvation to whosoever will, guaranteed by light as well as by love.