Is Hell A Real Place?
Is Hell a real place, or is it just a symbolic representation of
a place where bad people should go? Does it really exist, or is
the Bible trying to give us some insight into the torment that
non-believers have in their final days of existence on earth? Or
is it just fantasy put in the Bible to persuade people to
believe in God? I once heard a preacher say, "You can believe
whatever you want to about whether hell is real or not, but it
does not change the fact that it is a real place of torment for
non-believers." Let's take a look at what the Bible has to say
about hell.
By examining the scriptures, we can learn a great deal about the
place we call hell. We see that there is going to be everlasting
destruction. "...in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who
do not know God, and those who do not obey the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of
His power,..." (II Thessalonians 1:8,9) We see in this passage a
glimpse of hell. It is for those "who do not know God, and those
who do not obey the gospel." In other word for those people who
fit two categories: (1) those who do not know or believe in God,
who voluntarily choose not to, and (2) those who profess to
believe but by their actions and the way they live their lives,
do not follow or obey the gospel.
There are millions of people who have heard the gospel message,
some I am sure dozens of times, and reject God and His Son. They
do not give their lives to Christ, choosing rather to go their
own way or perhaps the way of the world. According to this
passage, these people will spend eternity in hell.
I am convinced there is also a large number of people who claim
to be Christian and simply go through the motions, never really
obeying the gospel or following the teachings of the New
Testament. Their lives and hearts were not changed. These too
shall spend eternity away from God.
So what is hell? The above passage again gives us a glimpse into
this. "These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from
the presence of the Lord..." The fate of those we are speaking
of is to be banned eternally from being near God, or to be out
of His presence. What is being "destroyed" in the passage is the
ability or opportunity to be in the presence of or near God.
Death, by spiritual definition, is separation. The first death
is when our spirit is separated from our bodies. The second
death will be when a person's spirit is eternally separated from
God.
I think we can see from the above passage that hell is a real
place. We can also see that it is for certain that it will
exist. In the book of Mark we see another glimpse of hell as a
terrible place. "And if your hand makes you sin, cut it off. It
is better for you to enter into life maimed, than having two
hands, to go into hell, into the fire that shall never be
quenched -- where 'their worm does not die and the fire is not
quenched.'" (Mark 9:43,44) The last part of this passage, "their
worm does not die and the fire is not quenched,"is quoted from
Isaiah 66:24. It simply tells us that though the physical body
is dead, the spirit is still in existence. The spirit of those
going to hell will be an existence as of a worm, or as Isaiah
put it, "They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh." (Isaiah
66:24) If we "in the flesh" could actually see exactly what hell
is like we would truly be horrified. It is a terrible place of
eternal existence for those who do not know God and those who
will not obey the whole gospel.
Not only is hell a terrible place, but it is also a place of
eternal existence. "Then He will also say to those on the left
hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire
prepared for the devil and his angels,...'" (Matthew 25:41) "And
these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the
righteous into everlasting life." (Matthew 25:46) The judgement,
once pronounced, will be final, irreversible, and unending. For
those of us that are obeying the gospel of Jesus Christ the
thought of eternal life with God and Jesus is joyous. However,
just the thought of eternal existence in hell makes me shutter.
I cannot imagine -- and I don't want to -- what it would be like
to spend eternity in a place where I could not praise and
worship my Heavenly Father. That alone, for me, would be
terrible.
It is difficult for us to conceptualize what eternity will be
like. Everything which we experience here on earth is limited by
time. We tend to think of a lifetime as a very long period. In
reality, in the frame-work of eternity, a lifetime is but a
twinkle of an eye. It is but a fraction of a second in
comparison. I like the way the song Amazing Grace phrases it,
"When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the
sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first
begun." How glorious that will be for us, and how terrible it
will be for those in hell.
Specifically, who will be in hell? The Bible tells us exactly
who will be in this place of eternal torment. "Then I saw a
great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the
earth and heaven fled away. And there was found no place for
them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God,
and the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is
the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their
works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea
gave up the dead which were in it, and Death and Hades delivered
up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one
according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the
lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found
written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."
(Revelation 20:11-15) This is a long passage, but it shows
clearly that everyone will go through the judgement. Those whose
name is found written in the Book of Life will be entering into
eternal life with God. Those whose name is not found in the Book
of Life will be cast into the lake of fire, or hell. In other
words, to put it in simple terms, all who are not saved by the
grace of God through the blood of Jesus Christ shall spend
eternity in hell.
The Scriptures also show us that hell will be a place where
those who are there will be in a state of consciousness. They
will be aware of their torment. Jesus in the Parable of the Lost
Son illustrates this fact, "And being in torments in Hades, he
lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his
bosom. Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on
me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in
water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame,...'"
(Luke 16:23,24) They will be aware of their existence,
condition, and the reason for their torment. I think that this
will be especially severe for those who knew Christ, and have
fallen away.
I suppose when the average person hears of hell being referred
to as the lake of fire, they also picture it as a bright place.
After all fire puts off quite a bit of light. But the scriptures
also describe hell as a place of darkness. "But the sons of the
kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 8:12) The outer
darkness may be a way to contrast the beautiful picture painted
for us in Revelation of what heaven will be like. The outer
darkness may be an indication that it will be the opposite of
the beauty of heaven. It is no doubt a very ugly place. The
"outer darkness" could also be literally that; complete and
utter darkness. We know that the parable of the lost son
indicates that those in hell can see to the other side, but that
does not mean that they can see and understand what is going on
right next to them. The torment spoken of in the Bible would
surely be multiplied if it happened in complete darkness.
Those in hell will be fully aware of what they have missed. It
is hard for us to conceptualize the beauty of heaven and the
ugliness of hell. But for those who get sent to hell, they will
know of both. It will also be a place where those who are there
are separated from their Christian loved ones. "There will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and
yourselves thrust out." (Luke 13:28) What a horrible experience
for someone to be able to see their loved ones; mother, father,
brothers, sisters, and friends enjoying themselves in heaven and
know that they themselves are cast into hell for eternity.
We know that in heaven there will be no pain, no sadness, and no
crying. In order for this to be true, we will not be aware of
all the sad memories we have today. But that will not be true in
hell. There will be memories. The ones which are sad for those
hell-bound today will be even more pronounced. And the joyous
memories of today will turn to sadness as they realize what
could have been.
Have you ever made a poor choice in life and have it "come back
to haunt you?" Anyone of any age at all that has not experienced
this is truly a unique person. We all make poor choices, and
they will usually come back to haunt us in the future. As those
in hell are remembering their life on earth, they probably will
be also remembering all the opportunities that they had to give
their lives to Christ, and didn't. They will probably remember
each excuse that they used. They will remember those things that
they did not want to give up to become a Christian, and how
little those things eventually meant to them. The memories of
all those things will be horrible memories indeed.
And finally we see that hell will be a place of no release. "And
these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the
righteous into eternal life." (Matthew 25:46) A few years ago I
was lamenting to a friend of mine about some aspect of my life
that I was having trouble dealing with. We all go through that,
dealing with unpleasant matters. My friend said, "Remember, this
too shall pass." Whereas this is true with everything on earth,
the opposite is true in hell. Hell is for eternity, and for
those banished there, it will not pass away.
Is hell a real place? Yes, it certainly is. It is a terrible
place, and it is a place of eternal punishment. It is for all
the unsaved who reject the gospel and turn away from God. It is
a place of consciousness, torment, darkness, separation from
Christian loved ones, separation from God, a place without any
hope of release, and a place of horrible memories.
The unsaved need to know about hell. I hope that this article
will help you to be a witness to the lost in your community as
well as your friends and loved ones who are without Christ. My
prayer is that you will use this information to share with them.
All scriptures quoted are from the New King James Version unless
otherwise noted.