Romans 6:23
In the 19th century, those suffering from leprosy in Hawaii were sent to Molokai, a remote island designated for quarantine. It wasn’t an act of cruelty—it was an act of containment and protection. Leprosy was incurable at the time, highly contagious, and absolutely devastating. The colony existed to keep the disease from spreading to the rest of the population. It was heartbreaking but necessary.
Now, imagine if the government had done nothing. What if they had allowed leprosy to spread unchecked? That wouldn’t have been love – it would have been neglect. The only loving option was to separate the disease from the healthy so that others could continue to live.
This is a picture of why hell exists. Sin is a disease. It corrupts, wounds, and ultimately destroys. God is creating a new, restored world – one where love, peace, and righteousness reign. But he cannot allow sin to infect that world. For God to make all things new, he must deal with the sin that corrupts, destroys, and unleashes death into his world.
The truth is that a loving God must judge evil; otherwise, he isn’t truly loving at all. If God allowed sin to go unchecked, his new creation would be no different than the old, broken one. Some people, especially during our day, really struggle with that truth. They imagine that love and judgment are opposites. But love demands justice. If God didn’t care about death and destruction, he wouldn’t be loving. The Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel once said, “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.” A God who doesn’t judge isn’t kind – he’s unloving. And that’s not the God of Scripture.
That is why hell exists. It’s not a place for those God wants to send away – it’s for those who refuse his healing. Like those suffering from leprosy who were unwilling or unable to leave Molokai, hell is the quarantine for sin and rebellion against God. It’s torment and punishment, but it is the sad reality of those who refuse God’s healing offered through Jesus.
However, there is good news: God has provided a cure. Through Jesus, we can be healed of our sins, forgiven, and restored. We don’t have to remain spiritually dead and diseased. Jesus took the penalty of sin upon himself so that we could step into life. So the question is: Will you receive his healing, or will you choose to hold onto the disease that separates you from him? The choice is ours. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Praise be to God.
Pastor Ryan Paulson