"Shall all be well? Will the Goodness which is God’s own nature from which He created all things, and with which all things derive their aboriginal goodness be restored? Or shall there be some space in the vaults of eternity where evil and darkness and privation still persist? To answer this, I will lean heavily on the arguments of David Bentley Hart in his 2015 essay, “God, Creation, and Evil: The Moral Meaning of Creatio ex Nihilo ”. Hart threw down an iron gauntlet upon nearly the whole Christian theological tradition when he argued, “the God in whom the majority of Christians throughout history have professed belief would appear to be evil (at least, judging by the dreadful things we habitually say about him).” No amount of hand waving and easy dismissals can escape the gravity of Hart’s moral claim in this statement. To assert that God consigns any of his creatures to the unending torments of hell, whether by predestining them to this estate or allowing them to choose it freely, is a moral claim on the highest order – and such claims must be justified if they are to hold any moral value whatsoever. If Christians wish to assert that God is not merely good, but Goodness in himself, and that all he creates is good, while also claiming some portion of his handiwork is doomed to eternal ruin, surely we must supply some kind of countervailing evidence that would allow us to name God as Good in any morally meaningful sense while something so manifestly horrible as the everlasting destruction of his creatures continues to be a feature of his creation."
Psalms 9:4 For you have upheld my right and my cause,
sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.
5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
6 Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies,
you have uprooted their cities;
even the memory of them has perished.
7 The Lord reigns forever;
6 The Lord is known by his acts of justice;
the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.
17
The wicked go down to the realm of the dead,
all the nations that forget God.
The End of the Wicked: Psalm 9 By Timothy Tennent - January 28, 2018
Psalm 9:1 (NIV)
"I will sing the praises"
1 I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.
3 My enemies turn back;
they stumble and perish before you.
4 For you have upheld my right and my cause,
sitting enthroned as the righteous judge.
5 You have rebuked the nations
and destroyed the wicked;
you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
6 Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies,
you have uprooted their cities;
even the memory of them has perished.
7 The Lord reigns forever;
he has established his throne for judgment.
8 He rules the world in righteousness
and judges the peoples with equity.
9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken
those who seek you.
15 The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug;
their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
16 The Lord is known by his acts of justice;
the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands.
17
The wicked go down to the realm of the dead,
all the nations that forget God.
18 But God will never forget the needy;
the hope of the afflicted will never perish.
19 Arise, Lord, do not let mortals triumph;
let the nations be judged in your presence.
20 Strike them with terror, Lord;
let the nations know they are only mortal.
Psalms 9:1
1I’ll praise You, Lord, give thanks with all my heart;
Tell of Your wonders, and exult in Thee.
2I will be glad, praise to Your name impart;
O, Lord Most High, I sing and worship Thee.
3My foes turn back, they stumble before Thee;
4For You do see and maintain my just cause.
You sit on high, and judging righteously,
5You rebuke nations who do spurn Your laws.
You have destroyed the wicked enemy;
You blotted out their name forevermore,
6Uprooted all their cities thoroughly.
Ruin has come—their mem’ry is no more.
7But the Lord reigns enthroned in justice pure;
8He judges all the world in righteousness.
His upright judgment is established sure;
He judges people with true uprightness.
9The Lord’s a refuge for oppressed ones, too;
He is their stronghold in their time of need.
10Let those who know Your name put trust in You;
You don’t forsake those who seek You indeed.
11Sing to the Lord, enthroned in Zion’s place;
Declare among the nations all His deeds.
12He who avenges blood still sees their face;
Cries of afflicted ones the Lord God heeds.
13Lord, see my enemies, and don’t forget;
See my affliction from the ones who hate.
Have mercy—lift me from the gates of death,
14That I may tell Your praise in Zion’s gate.
I’ll find joy in Your saving work alone;
15The nations sink into the pit they’ve made.
The Lord has made Himself be clearly known;
Their foot is caught
within the net they laid.
16The Lord is known by justice that stands firm;
In their own work the wicked are ensnared.Selah
17All who forget God to She-ol return;
18But poor and needy will not perish there.
19Arise, O Lord, don’t let mere man prevail.
Let nations come, be judged before Your throne.
20Strike them with fear, Lord—let the nations know
they are but men, and You are God alone.
Psa 21:9 Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and
the fire shall devour them.
10 Their fruit
shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men.
Zec 2:5 For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.
Jer 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem:
lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Eze 38:18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
Nah 1:5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.
6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?
his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.
Zep 3:8 Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation,
even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.
Mal 4:1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and
all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh
shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that
it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for
they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.
2Th 2:8 And then shall the lawless be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth,
and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
Mat 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit
is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the repository; but
he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
2Th 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
9 Who shall pay a penalty of
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
see Fudge, Final End of the wicked p. 334
