If we listen to many gospel presentations or read most gospel tracts, we will be told (or read) that our sins separate us from God. Unbelievers need their sins forgiven in order to address that separation. The lake of fire is a place of eternal separation from God. If the unbeliever does not have his sins forgiven, when he dies, he will be eternally separated from God because of his sins.
GES has many articles, blogs, and podcasts explaining that unbelievers will not go to hell because their sins have not been forgiven. Rather, they will be cast into the lake of fire because they do not have eternal life. This blog will not rehash that teaching. Instead, I would like to look at just one passage frequently used to teach that sins separate the unbeliever from God and will cause them to be cast into the lake of fire if they do not believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins.
In Isa 59:2, Isaiah the prophet writes: “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear you.”
We can all hear an evangelist using these words to tell an unbeliever that his sins, or iniquities, are what cause him to be separated from God. Because of the unbeliever’s sins, God cannot look at him. God cannot hear him. If he doesn’t believe in Jesus, that condition of separation will continue forever in the lake of fire. Usually, the evangelist will also add the false teaching that Isaiah is telling unbelievers that in order to enter the kingdom, they need to turn from their sins.
But, in context, that is not what Isaiah is discussing. He is not talking to unbelievers. He is addressing the nation of Israel. Notice that he says their sins have separated them from your God. This refers to God’s chosen people; God is their God. In the nation, there would have been both believers and unbelievers. Some believers were separated from God. That cannot mean that they were headed to the lake of fire if their sins were not dealt with. Believers cannot be cast into the lake of fire.
Israel’s sin had separated the people from the Lord’s protection. God would allow a Gentile nation to invade and conquer the nation (Isa 1:20; 39:6-7). The believers in the nation would not be immune from the discipline coming upon them. Israel, as a nation, was led into captivity and separated from God’s blessings and intimacy.
To many in Evangelicalism, it sounds strange to say that a believer, who always has eternal life, can experience separation from intimacy with Christ. That will be our experience if we do not obey Him and walk by the power of the Spirit (Heb 10:26-31; Jas 4:3; 1 John 2:9). The Lord taught these principles in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The prodigal was always a son, but when he was in the far country he was separated from the blessings, protections, and intimacy he could have had if he had stayed in his father’s house (Luke 15:11-24).
Isaiah was not preaching the gospel of eternal life in Isaiah 59. He was preaching to the chosen people of God, many of whom were believers. But these believers were in active rebellion against their God. Their sins had separated them from God’s blessings. The Lord would hide His face and refuse to hear their prayers as long as they lived that way. What blessings they would miss! But believers who lived that way would never find themselves in the lake of fire.
Believers today should be wise enough to follow Isaiah’s message to the Israelites of his day.
