"And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur... The smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night..." Revelation 14:10-11
No one ever wants to talk about Hell, but its existence is very real. It is interesting to me that most Christians have no problem accepting that God has prepared a very beautiful home in Heaven, but when it comes to Hell being an actual place, opinions differ. Although people debate, the Bible however gives no doubt. Hell is very real. It is an actual place where the unbelieving, wicked and unrepentant will go if they have not turned to the Lord.
Alistair Begg expressed, "If Jesus Christ is Lord, then I have to believe exactly what He taught. If we start from that premise, then we can't simply excise the hard parts out of it. We've got to take Him at His word. The most loving person who has ever lived spoke so straightforwardly about the awfulness of Hell." *
The website Got Questions shared the following references: "The punishment of the wicked dead in Hell is described in Scripture as 'eternal fire' (Matthew 25:41), 'unquenchable fire' (Matthew 3:12), 'shame and everlasting contempt' (Daniel 12:2), a place where 'the fire is not quenched' (Mark 9:48), a place of 'torment' and 'fire' (Luke 16:23-24), 'everlasting destruction' (2 Thessalonians 1:9), a place of 'burning sulfur' where 'the smoke of...torment rises forever and ever' (Revelation 14:10-11), and a 'lake of burning sulfur' where the wicked are 'tormented day and night forever and ever' (Revelation 20:10)." God's message is clear.
The writers continues: "The punishment of the wicked in Hell is as never-ending as the bliss of the righteous in Heaven. Jesus Himself indicates that punishment in Hell is just as everlasting as life in Heaven (Matthew 25:46). The wicked are forever subject to the fury and the wrath of God. Those in Hell will acknowledge the perfect justice of God and the lordship of Jesus Christ, the Saviour they rejected (Psalm 76:10; Philippians 2:10-11)." **
I have often heard the argument that a loving God could ever make a place as horrific as Hell. Loving is not tolerance. Loving is not closing eyes to evil. Loving is just. God's very nature is love. Those who question God's love in sending people to Hell, assume that action is unloving on God's part. What about the one who has chosen all their life to live apart from God? If we say we would lovingly excuse their wickedness, we are in essence saying that we are more loving than God. Let me ask you: Have you sacrificed your life to the point of death for anyone recently?
The one "being sent" to Hell is not an innocent bystander. They are not a "passive victim of circumstance". God has given us all free will, and anyone who chooses not to respond to the gift of salvation is choosing their own eternal destination.
Hell is the response of God's wrath to the wickedness in the world. In Romans 1, Paul writes very clearly that no one has any excuse, because God has made the truth very plain. Those who continue to intentionally reject the truth, by their own choice, would rather turn away from God and go to Hell, than turn to Him.
Yes, Hell is real. It is a place of torment and punishment that lasts forever and ever, with no end. Praise God that, through Jesus, we can escape this eternal fate (John 3:16, 18, 36).
*Alistair Begg quote: https://youtu.be/ycrg9Q8x8dc, accessed 11/7/24.
** Got Questions: https://www.gotquestions.org/hell-real-eternal.html; https://www.gotquestions.org/loving-God-send-someone-hell.html
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