Jesus’ Demands — Fear Him Who Can Destroy Both Soul And Body in Hell (#11)

Note: these are devotional posts based on John Piper’s new book What Jesus Demands from the World.

This post is number 11, because I started the series a while ago. If you like this post, check out the other posts in the series. But most importantly get the book (it’s also available to read online)!

Now, on the heels of demand #10 Rejoice and Leap for Joy, comes a more startling and sobering demand…

Demand #11 — Fear Him Who Can Destroy Both Soul And Body in Hell

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)

But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. (Luke 19:27)

Then he will say to those on his left, “depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” . . . And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (Matthew 25:41, 46)

The Awful Place Called Hell

It’s fashionable these days to downplay Hell. Many “evangelical” leaders are denying its existence, suggesting it is not eternal, or claiming there is no actual fire in Hell. Some claim it is a state of mind, or that hell is on earth.

In fact, this very Sunday, on Good Morning America, I heard an interview of an influential (former?) evangelical pastor who has changed his mind about hell, claiming it is here on earth, and a mere creation of superstitious man. ABC is going to be dedicating a 20/20 special this Friday to the topic of Hell. I can already guess their conclusions!

Sadly, these same evangelical leaders claim to be following the example of Jesus. But don’t they realize that Jesus didn’t share their view of Hell? Jesus spoke of hell more than anyone else in Scripture.

He refers to it as a terrible place to be feared. A place of “outer darkness” with “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 8:12). He describes it as a “fiery furnace”, with “unquenchable fire” (Matt. 13:41, Mark 9:44). It is the “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41).

And worst of all, Hell is eternal. Jesus describes it as a place of “eternal punishment”. On this point let me quote John Piper,

This last description–“eternal punishment”–is especially heartrending and fearful because it is contrasted with “eternal life.” “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” In this contrast we hear the tragedy of loss as well as suffering and endlessness. Just as “eternal life” will be a never-ending experience of pleasure in God’s presence, so “eternal punishment” will be a never-ending experience of misery under God’s wrath (John 3:36; 5:24).

A Passive Hell ?

At this point, many a sincere believer tries to lessen the full effect of this teaching by claiming that Hell is “a mere natural consequence of bad choices”. People do consciously reject God’s free offer of salvation made in the gospel, and this choice does lead to hell. But Piper is quick to point out that such is not the whole story.

People make choices that lead to hell. But it is not the whole truth. Jesus says these choices are really deserving of hell. “Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to [that is, guilty of, or deserving of] the hell of fire” (Matt. 5:22). That is why he calls hell “punishment” (Matt. 25:46). It is not a mere self-imposed natural consequence (like cigarette smoking leading to lung cancer); it is the penalty of God’s wrath (like a judge sentencing a criminal to hard labor).

The Biblical picture of hell, is of a just God pouring out righteous anger and wrath over sin. God sends people to hell, and Jesus is pictured in Revelation and Isaiah as the One Whose garments get stained with the blood of his enemies as He “tread(s) the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty” (Rev. 19:15b with Is. 63:3 and Rev. 14:20).

Fear, But Don’t Fear

We are to fear God as a holy Judge indeed. So is Jesus calling us to a “life of anxiety that God is angry with us and is ready to punish us at the slightest misstep”? No! Piper highlights the very next few sentences which follow on the heels of Jesus’ admonition to fear God.

. . . Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:29-31, emphasis added — compare also Luke 12:4-7).

Piper says,

In the same breath Jesus says, “Fear God who casts into hell” and “Do not fear because God is your Father who values you more than the sparrows and knows your smallest need.”. . . How does Jesus mean for us to experience these two truths about God–he is to be feared, and he is to be trusted? It won’t do to simply say that “fear of God” means “reverence for God” rather than “being afraid of him.” That does not fit with the words, “Fear him, who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (Luke 12:5) . . . The key is that God himself is the one who removes his wrath from us. Our peace does not come from our removing the God of wrath from our thinking, but from his removing his wrath from us. . . .

The Seriousness of Sin

There is a beautiful encouragement to trust God as a loving Father in this text, but there is also a serious warning about the seriousness of sin. Piper says that this demand of Jesus “teaches us to see sin as more serious than we ever dreamed”. That unforgiven sin leads to hell, makes sin serious indeed.

But I am so prone to excuse my sin, and I suspect you are too. Yet both of us enjoy casting stones at others. The key in appreciating the justness of Hell according to Piper is seeing God as He really is. Let me quote him now.

Therefore, the seriousness of sin arises from what it says about God. God is infinitely worthy and honorable. But sin says the opposite. Sin says that other things are more desirable and more worthy. How serious is this? The seriousness of a crime is determined, in part, by the dignity of the person and the office being dishonored. If the person is infinitely worthy and infinitely honorable and infinitely desirable and holds an office of infinite dignity and authority, then rebuffing him is an infinitely outrageous crime. Therefore it deserves an infinite punishment.

The Place of Fear

For us Christians, especially those of us who are conservative doctrinally, this article has so far been easy. We have applauded it from the peanut gallery. Hell is real, sinners need to fear God and accept the provisions made for them according to the Gospel. Amen.

But if you notice, Jesus is directing his remarks to his disciples. This is plain from both Matthew and Luke’s accounts. So what does this message have to speak to us?

While we don’t need to be continually fearing God as unbelievers, we do need to fear unbelief. Sin is in essence, unbelief. When we disbelieve God’s promises, we give in to the appeal of sin. The demand to fear God, is a call for us to realize how serious sin really is. Let me quote Piper at length on this point.

What then is left to fear? The answer is unbelief. For those who follow Jesus, fearing God means fearing the terrible prospect of not trusting the one who paid such a price for our peace. In other words, one of the means that God uses to keep us peacefully trusting in Jesus is the fear of what God would do to us if we did not believe. The reason we do not live in the discomfort of constant fear is because we believe. That is, we rest in the all sufficient work of Jesus and in our Father’s sovereign care. But at those moments when unbelief tempts us, a holy fear rises and warns us what a foolish thing it would be to distrust the one who loved us and gave his Son to die for our anxiety-free joy.

This message is not popular today. People would rather believe that once they commit to Christ, they are eternally secure and can coast through life. This is not necessarily true, as the abundant Scriptural warnings to persevere and “endure to the end” contest.

What trips up many on this point is that they conclude that if you believe it is potentially possible that you are not sincerely a believer, that you could possibly fall away from the faith (and thereby evidence that you never were a true believer), then the Christian life must just be all about our works. If we really have to fear God in this way, we must be continually depending on our efforts to keep believing.

It is true that some pervert the Biblical doctrine of perseverance into just such an introspective self-effort. But this is a perversion of the true doctrine. Piper says concerning fear: “This is the best effect of fear: It wakens us to our need for help and points us to the all-sufficient Redeemer, Jesus.” A true understanding of the perseverance of the saints will lead one to depend all the more on Jesus as our only sure hope of eternal life. Those who believe themselves beyond the possibility of falling (contrary to 1 Cor. 10:12), can tend to trust on their own work of believing in Christ and are tempted to not cling all the more earnestly to Christ day in and day out. For more on the idea of perseverance, check out these posts I have done on the topic.

So to conclude, we are to fear God because He can destroy us in Hell. Yet at the same time because of Jesus’ blessed sacrifice on our behalf, we don’t have to fear God as a distant and holy Judge, but we can lovingly trust him as a loving and caring Father. All praise to the Lamb for bringing us to God, and giving us such a wonderful relationship with our Heavenly Father.

—See all posts on, the Demands of Jesus