Brian Onstead

When you receive bad news, what is your reaction? Perhaps, it lines up with one of the stages of grief. You might deny it. I once heard of a lady whose good friend died and she denied that it happened, expecting to hear from her friend any day now. Depending on what the news is, you might respond with anger. There was once a police officer who had to deliver the news of a loved one’s death to a person. When the officer told this man the news, he decked the officer. Other responses may include bargaining, depression or eventually acceptance.

This range of responses also applies to hearing the worst news you could ever hear. That news is about the wrath of God. The wrath of God is his punishment against sinners, the fullest expression of which is eternity in hell. Hell is the worst suffering that anyone could ever face. It is suffering beyond maximum capacity at every level: emotional, physical and spiritual. It not only involves physical torment from burning, it also includes the emotional torment of shame where all your dark secrets and sins are exposed and you are viewed as a wretched and defiled thing by God and his holy angels. It is to be forever excluded as an outcast. Here is the bad news: Every single one of us deserves this. This is the just punishment for sin, which is any violation of God’s holy law in thought, word or deed. And the Bible says that all have sinned (Romans 3:23).

So, what is your response to this very, very bad news — indeed, the worst news of your life? Sadly, for many it is denial. They think they are not really that bad to deserve that punishment, or that punishment is too extreme to be true, or it is only reserved for the most hardened criminal. Another typical response is anger. This person takes great offense at the mere insinuation that he or she is worthy of hell. Yet another common response is bargaining. This person thinks that he can bargain with God by his own good deeds and penances for sin. He goes to church, he does good deeds, he helps the needy, he fights for good causes, he pays off his sins with religious works and confession. Or, a response may be depression. When this person realizes that hell is real and that he has not measured up, he sees no hope and begins to despair.

However, the proper response to this bad news is acceptance. It is to accept this news because of the one who has spoken it, which is God the judge of all. But how on earth can anyone possibly accept this terrible news? Well, it is because there is good news of great joy! 

That good news is that God’s only begotten son became a man (without ceasing to be God) in order to take the wrath of God on behalf of sinners! When Jesus was on the cross, dying that horrible, tortuous and shameful death, he was not doing it because he deserved it or for any sin he had committed; he never sinned! Rather, it was a substitute for sinners. He was taking the place of sinners to pay for their sins in full! On the cross, Jesus was bearing the full-fledged wrath of God. And his payment has completely satisfied the wrath of God, as evidenced by him being raised from the dead! All who simply believe this news — both the bad news about their sin and the hell it deserves, and the good news that Jesus has taken hell for them on the cross so that they would not go to hell but forever live in heaven in the presence of God — are fully and freely forgiven and never have to fear facing hell! We can accept the worst news in our life because of the best news that we could ever hear in our life: the good news about Jesus coming into the world to save sinners!

(Brian Onstead is the Pastor at Trinity Bible Church.)