Hell In All It's Fury (Oven Temperatures For Obstinate Transgressors)

When ferocious bushfires raged through the State of Victoria in February 2009, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that, "Hell in all its fury has visited the good people of Victoria in the last 24 hours."

We understand the sadness, frustration, and terror that lies behind such a statement.

And while, (following our Saviour's example in Luke 13:1-8), we do not view this terrible conflagration as an expression of the judgment of God against the poor people of Victoria, it is difficult not to see in it an illustration of what eternal damnation will be like.

Fire is one of the symbols Jesus used during the course of His earthly ministry to convey the terrible intensity of hell.

Malachi 4:1, with its references to:

• a burning oven,
• a consuming fire,
• neither root nor branch surviving,

is a fair summary of the terror that has swept through villages and towns in Victoria ... and stands as a fearful picture of the judgment of God that shall fall upon unrepentant sinners at the ending of time.

In this final, awful day, it will be a case of 'Hell In All Its Fury – Oven Temperatures For Obstinate Sinners.'