The title certainly seems a contradiction, doesn't it? Well, there has been, to my knowledge, only one airconditioned furnace in history.

This came about in Daniel 3, when the three brave friends of Daniel stood for the truth of almighty God. The old recording of Johnny Cash suggests that they would not bow, they would not bend, they would not bum. They would not bow to idols; they would not bend or compromise the laws of God; they would not burn in a furnace made exceedingly hot by the old idolatrous king. God had, as it were, airconditioned that furnace and saved the three Hebrew children from certain death.

You knew all that, so what is my point? Well, there is another very hot place, only this time, God has heated it. It is called hell. It is a place for the unbeliever (John 3:18, 36; Rom. 2:6-16; Matt. 25:41,46). It is a place for those who refuse to obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus (2 Thess. 1:8,9). God will not condition the air for those who reject His conditions of salvation. Remember the rich man of Luke 16:24 who said, "I am tormented in this flame"?

Wouldn't you like to miss hell? Sure you would! Then get your Bible and study it (2 Tim. 2:15). Let it lead you to that beautiful place called heaven where pain and sorrow will never invade. Be among that innumerable host. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city" (Rev. 22:14).

Guardian of Truth XXX: 18, p. 567
September 18, 1986