Bible Truths – “Hell”

“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” Psalm 9:17

There is a topic that is central to the Bible, central to the Gospel, central to the message that Jesus Christ brought to the earth, but is rarely mentioned by Christians.  I refer to the topic of Hell.  We don’t want to talk about it.  We think we don’t need to talk about it.  We may think it is offensive to some people to hear us say it, but it is necessary.  “Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners…” (I Tim 1:15).  Save sinners from what?  To save us from the consequence of our sin: an everlasting punishment in a place called Hell.

Jesus Christ talked about Hell more than anyone else in the Bible.  It was He who said, “…fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Mt 10:28).  It was He who said, “if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.” (Mt 18:9)  Jesus Christ is the one who told the Pharisees, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” (Mt 23:33)  Jesus Christ preached Hell as a real place waiting for those who die in their sins.  Should we ignore something that our Lord and Saviour preached so often?  When Jesus returns, all people on earth will be gathered before Him, and He will “separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.  Then shall the King say to them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Mt 25:32-34,41)

It is Biblical fact that there is a literal, burning hell prepared by God for all those who are not reconciled to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus said that hell is a “fire that never shall be quenched.” (Mk 9:43).  It is not temporary.  It is an “everlasting punishment.” (Mt 25:46)  In the future, we will witness the Antichrist and his False Prophet being “cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.” (Rev 19:20)  One thousand years later Satan himself will be “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Rev 20:10)  Notice that the torment never ends.  Notice that the beast and the false prophet are still there, one thousand years later, still being tormented.  Notice then, in verses 14 and 15, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.  This is the second death.  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”  (Rev 20:14,15)

If you believe the Bible, you believe in a literal, everlasting punishment that awaits for those not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  There is no second chance.  “It is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment.” (Heb 9:27)  There is only one escape that God has provided from Hell, His Son, Jesus, who is “The Way” (Jn 14:6)   The Bible says we all deserve Hell because of our sin, our rebellion against God.  But, the Good News is that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to live a sinless life, to die on the cross for our sins, to take the punishment for our sins, so that “whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”  Have you believed in Him for salvation from Hell?  Are you witnessing to others about Christ with the reality of the Hell that awaits anyone that does not put their trust in Christ?  Let us not push the reality of Hell out of our thoughts, but rather let us live with the reality of Hell in our minds, motivating us to preach the Gospel of God’s saving grace to a lost world.

Pastor Lee Smith