Pride Standing in the Way...

What stands between Heaven and Hell? Selfish pride. Everyone is given ample opportunity to hear and see the truth of the Gospel, yet our own selfish pride stands in the way of embracing it. God sends people and circumstances to get our attention, to warn us of consequences of our rebellious behavior. When we don't listen, judgement happens. Judgement, sometimes, is God allowing the natural consequences of our behavior to play out. Ultimately, Hell is the result of living a lifetime without God. It continues forever. No rebellious person can rightfully complain about Hell, because if the above statement is true, God would never force anyone against their will to be with Him in Heaven, if they wanted nothing to do with Him here on earth.

4 Again and again I sent my servants the prophets, who said, ‘Do not do this detestable thing that I hate!’ 5 But they did not listen or pay attention; they did not turn from their wickedness or stop burning incense to other gods. Jeremiah 44:4-5

16 “We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord! 17 We will certainly do everything we said we would Jeremiah 44:16-17a

21 “Did not the Lord remember and call to mind the incense burned in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem by you and your ancestors, your kings and your officials and the people of the land? 22 When the Lord could no longer endure your wicked actions and the detestable things you did, your land became a curse and a desolate waste without inhabitants, as it is today. 23 Because you have burned incense and have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed him or followed his law or his decrees or his stipulations, this disaster has come upon you, as you now see.” Jeremiah 44:21-23

26 But hear the word of the Lord, all you Jews living in Egypt: ‘I swear by my great name,’ says the Lord, ‘that no one from Judah living anywhere in Egypt will ever again invoke my name or swear, “As surely as the Sovereign Lord lives.” 27 For I am watching over them for harm, not for good; the Jews in Egypt will perish by sword and famine until they are all destroyed. 28 Those who escape the sword and return to the land of Judah from Egypt will be very few. Then the whole remnant of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word will stand—mine or theirs. Jeremiah 44:26-28