“Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.” (Job 26:6)
As Job so clearly states in our text, the reality of hell is in full view in God’s omniscience. And had he so chosen, he could have laid it open and exposed to our view as well. But aside from his sovereign pleasure in this matter, it is easily understood why he does not allow us to see either heaven or hell while we live on this earth. He desires that we walk by faith, not by sight.
Therefore, by faith being warned of God of things not seen as yet, let us be so moved with fear and trembling to seek assurance that we are found in him, for “there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit,” (Rom. 8:1). The gospel of our blessed Lord gives us the essential advantage for reclaiming our life from the snares of sin and ruin and final judgment.
For on that day, the wrath of God will be revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness without restraint. We are warned that God will judge the world in righteousness when the fullness of time has come. Further, he will accomplish this through the one whom he has appointed, even the Lord Jesus Christ, who for that purpose shall descend from heaven, in his own glory and the glory of the Father, and all the holy angels with him. On that day, both small and great shall stand before God. Everything will be laid bare and open before him, just as hell and wrath and judgment are open before him now.
This is a day to consider with all seriousness of heart and mind. Even the sun will be darkened. The moon will not shine. The stars will fall from heaven. The elements in the universe will melt with a white-hot heat. And the earth itself will be burned up. Could anything be more awful and frightening than all this chaos, this horror, this level of destruction, conflagration, and confusion of nature?
Yes, indeed. There is one reality yet more frightening, and it is that which the gospel expressly pronounces – that the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment and the righteous into life eternal. Joseph Sewell said, “Eternity, eternity, is the declaration of the gospel. Nature might lead us to suspect it, the law might give some intimation of it, but the gospel alone asserts it; and not only asserts it but describes it too.”
God’s own Word tells us how we must see eternity through the eyes of faith – that regardless of whether a man is rich or poor, young or old, male or female, saved or lost, God will bring us all to judgment. And all will be laid bare before him, even as hell is now, without any covering.
Contemplations:
- Lord, even the most subtle of the infernal spirits which are much more cunning to hide their wickedness than man, cannot with their best secret and hidden contrivances hide their hearts and doings from the eyes of the great God.
- Lord I know that all things are open and bare before the eyes of him with whom we have to do. You will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart (Heb. 4:13; 1 Cor. 4).
- He that planted the ear, shall not he hear? He that formed the eye, shall not he see? Can anyone hide themselves in a place that you will see, Lord? Even hell is opened to you. “Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?” (Jer. 23:24).
- You show us, Lord, that you will remember all our sins if we die outside of Christ. You tell us that you know and see them all, and therefore must necessarily remember them; for as is your sight and knowledge, so is your remembrance of everything.
Further References for Job 26:6:
Gen. 16:13; 1 Chron 28:9; Psalm 139:8; Heb. 4:13
