“Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees {religious leaders and followers}, hypocrites {play actors}! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” “For you are like white-washed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” “Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” Matthew 23:13,27-28,33 (NKJV)
Men often quote the punishment that follows sin as indicating some harsh or vindictive sentiment on the part of a divine being. They do not understand that, whereas human sentences are often arbitrary, the God of the Bible’s judgments are natural – they are the inevitable result of wrong-doing {from an evil heart}. The penalty is part of the established principles of the universe. The final judgment of the great White Throne will only announce the penalty which man’s sin has produced.
F B Meyer
Biblical Truth for the Last Days 