Did God create hell?
The question behind the question is usually this: if hell exists, does that make God its architect — and what does that say about Him? Scripture's own answer is careful. It never says God made a place for people; it says a fire was prepared, and names who it was prepared for.
Prepared, but not for man
The wording of the sentence at the judgment is deliberately different from the blessing that precedes it. One group is welcomed into a kingdom prepared for them; the other is sent into a fire prepared for someone else.
William KellyNotice, He does not say, Cursed of My Father, matching "Blessed of My Father." God hates putting away… In the other case the kingdom was said to be "prepared for you" — not so when He speaks of the curse. Hell was not prepared for poor guilty man. He deserves it; but it was prepared for the devil and his angels… There was no hope of deliverance for these fallen angels — no redemption for them. They deliberately, and with no tempter, left God. Man was tempted by an enemy; and God feels for guilty man, drawn away by a rebel mightier, if not more guilty, than himself.
No creature made for it
So did God create hell? One writer, answering that exact objection, distinguishes between creating beings destined for ruin and preparing a place to contain a rebellion that had already broken out.
H. B. CoderGod has created no class of beings for the lake of fire. God is love, and everything He creates has perfect love for its destiny. When Satan rebelled against God, and other angels followed him, God prepared a place in which to shut them up, so they could not disturb His dominions forever. Either the God of love must remain sovereign, or His revolted creatures become that and drag everything down into misery.
Who fits whom
If God prepared heaven for people, and people end up elsewhere, the question becomes how they got there. Commentators press the contrast between what God prepares and what human beings do to themselves.
C. H. MackintoshThere is absolutely no such thing as reprobation in the word of God, meaning that God consigns any number of His creatures to everlasting damnation. Everlasting fire is prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25). Men rush into it. "Vessels of wrath" are fitted, not by God, but by themselves, "for destruction" (Rom. 9). Everyone who gets to heaven will have to thank God for it. Everyone who finds himself in hell will have to thank himself for it.
Another writer traces the path that leads there, and names the original prepared home for humanity.
J. T. MawsonLet me quickly say that hell was not prepared for man; the paradise of God in Eden was his prepared dwelling place… Then why should men be condemned to such a doom? Because they will follow the devil in his revolt against God… The devil was the first to take that self-willed, rebellious road, and Adam was the first man to follow the devil's lead, and, like sheep, we have all gone the same way; and the end of that road is hell.
Why such a place exists at all
A God who is only love would have no hell — but He would also have no standard. One writer sets the two revelations of God's nature side by side, and shows what each one requires.
J. Wilson SmithBut there is another side. "God is light." Now light makes things visible, and when the truth of God shines on the heart, how it exposes the evil there! Darkness flees before light, and God will not tolerate sin. That is why the word "judgment" is used, and why God is called the "Judge of all." If God were only Love, there would be no hell — if He were only Light, there would be no heaven, except for those who never fell.
The same logic answers the popular idea that a kind God would simply overlook sin.
C. H. MackintoshWhatever there may be in the idea that God is too kind to send sinners to hell, it is certain that He is too holy to let sin into heaven. He is "of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong" (Hab. 1:13). God and evil cannot live together.
God's own oath about it
Whatever hell is, God has sworn that it gives Him no satisfaction. He puts His own life behind the statement.
W. TrotterFirst, it is not because judgment is His delight… "Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?"… No; it is not that God has any pleasure in the destruction of any; but that men despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and patience.
Summary
- Prepared — the fire was prepared, and Scripture names its intended occupants: the devil and his angels, not human beings.
- Not created for creatures — no class of beings was made for the lake of fire; the place was prepared to confine a rebellion that had already begun.
- Not God's pleasure — He swears He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, and calls people to turn and live.
- Not without cause — God is light as well as love; if He were only love there would be no hell, and He is too holy to let sin into heaven.
- Not without choice — the kingdom is prepared for those who receive it, while vessels of wrath fit themselves; heaven is thanks to God, hell is thanks to oneself.