There's been much hullabaloo, celebration, and fanfare about the death of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. The Drudge Report had this headline:
Here is a tough teaching for Christians. While many rejoice over Hugo Chavez being in Hell, Jesus wept over His loss. How do I know this is true, that it is aletheia truth? Scripture tells us:
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)
Here is another tough teaching. To desire someone to go to Hell means you do not understand the reality of Hell and/or do not have a full understanding of the Cross of Christ.
Am I glad Chavez is no longer alive to terrorize his own people and be a threat to the security of the Western Hemisphere? Absolutely!
Do I rejoice that he is in Hell? My Lord does not allow me.
"Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles." (Proverbs 24:17)
It is natural to rejoice when evil loses, but understand evil has already been defeated. It lost when Jesus uttered His last words from the cross, "It is finished." The Apostle Paul asked,
"O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:55)
My family has suffered great loss in the last month, however we rejoice in knowing that my brother and niece are in Heaven because of their trusting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
My prayer is that their deaths and Chavez' demise make each of us consider our future in eternity.