Truly, this is a most painful thought to us

(Maria Sandberg, "Glimpses of Heaven!" 1880)

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"You are just, O Holy One, the One who is and who was and who is to be, because You have sent these judgments. For they have shed the blood of Your saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink as they deserve." And I heard the altar respond: "Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments!" Revelation 16:5-7

There are, in this book of Revelation, not only glimpses of Heaven, and of the happiness of the redeemed—but dreadful views of the punishments of Hell:

"And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory . . . and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. They blasphemed the God of Heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds!" Revelation 16:9-11.

"But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone!" Revelation 21:8

It must be a painful thought to the people of God, that so many of their fellow-creatures are everlastingly banished from the presence of the Lord, and that so many others are following on in the broad road that leads to eternal destruction! Perhaps among both the former and the latter, are some dear to us by the ties of kindred or friendship. Truly, this is a most painful thought to us in this present world, but it will not be so in Heaven. For we shall have such a sense of the justice of God in the punishment of the wicked, that we shall acquiesce in their sentence of condemnation, and say, "Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments! They are worthy of everlasting damnation!"

Oh, my soul, what can I render to my Savior who has delivered my soul from the nethermost Hell? Surely, but for His blood shed for me, I could never have had an entrance into His everlasting kingdom! Let me, then, first learn a lesson of deep humility, of ceasing from vain-glory, and thoughts of my own worthiness. Let me say, "O to grace how great a debtor!"

Then let me learn a lesson of submission to the righteous will of God in His dealings with mankind. What I do not know now, I shall know hereafter; and then shall I be constrained to say, "Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments!"