THE REALITY OF HELL
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This article contains some strong statements which
some may find offensive. But strong statements
are born of strong feelings, and God loves you
strongly enough to tell you the truth. So do I.
Therefore, I risk offending you a little, that you
may be warned. I love you, and I don't want to see
you make the mistake with eternal consequences.
"For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth..." (Hebrews 12:6).
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The answer to this question rests in the authority
of the Scripture, because the Bible certainly
teaches us of a very real and
very terrible place of punishment for those who keep
Christ out of their lives.
It's very sad to me that we so often hear people
speak of Hell lightly. To many it is something to
be joked about, or a curse word used casually.
The fact of the reality of Hell is taught throughout
the Bible in innumerable passages. The Lord Jesus Christ
Himself probably
had more to say about it than anyone else.
He was a teacher with the most
impressive credentials--a sinless life, a miraculous
ministry, and an empty tomb
that could not hold Him.
Christ is often spoken of as "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,"
but that label hardly fits with the language we
find in Mark chapter nine
as He affirms the fact and reality of Hell.
We read these strong statements:
"And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed,
than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life,
than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never
shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into
the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."
-Mark 9:43-48
In another passage Christ calls the Scribes and
Pharisees a “generation of vipers,” and warns them,
"How will you escape the damnation
of Hell?" (Matt. 23:33) Those are pretty strong words
from the Lord Jesus. He laid it
on the line. He told it like it is.
When someone questions the fact and reality of Hell,
he's actually questioning the authority of the Bible,
and the authority of the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. The Christian faith is all tied
up together, and when
it is attacked at one point, it becomes vulnerable
at all. It holds together beautifully.
If Christ is the Son of God, and if He came into
time from eternity, and came into the world from
Heaven and died and rose again
from the dead, then anything He ever said on any
subject is worth hearing and
ought to be heeded. And is really to be received
without question. So people who have
problems with the fact and reality of Hell sometimes
do not realize that their
real problem is with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ
and who He is and why
He came to the world.
There have arisen some among evangelical
Christians who argue that these traditional
views are founded on early Greek
philosophy and that the biblical texts are capable
of an alternative interpretation.
There are two texts of Scripture that suggest to me
that Hell involves everlasting punishment. Matthew 25:46
sums up the judgment
on the “sheep and goats” with the words. "And these will go away
into eternal punishment,
but the righteous into eternal life." The same word aionion
(eternal) is used to describe
the punishment of the wicked and the blessing of
the righteous. Whatever we say
about the duration of “eternal” life for believers
must be said about “eternal” punishment
for unbelievers. Since “life” for believers is everlasting
(John 10:28), so must
be the punishment for unbelievers.
In a second text, Revelation 20:10, John describes
those in the “lake of fire” being "tormented day and night forever and ever."
The expression
day and night is used in Revelation to express the
concept of “forever.” The
lake of fire is described in Revelation 19:20 as
a place that "burns with brimstone."
In the saddest verse in the Bible, John declares
that anyone whose name is
not written in the book of life is "thrown into the lake of fire"
(Revelation 20:15).
The doctrine of eternal punishment for those who
have rejected Christ appears to be thoroughly biblical.
This is not an easy teaching or
one that brings us joy. But the unpleasantness of a
doctrine should not cause us
to deny biblical truth.
Who goes to hell?
150,000 People Will Die Today
Is hell real? Is hell eternal?
FIVE MINUTES AFTER I DIE
Loved ones will weep o'er my silent face,
Dear ones will clasp me in sad embrace,
Shadows and darkness will fill the place,
Five minutes after I die.
Faces that sorrow I will not see,
Voices that murmur will not reach me,
But where, oh, where will my spirit be,
Five minutes after I die.
Quickly the years of my life have flown,
Gathering treasures I thought my own,
There I must reap from the see I have sown
Five minutes after I die.
Naught to repair the good I lack,
Fixed to the goal of my chosen track,
No room to repent, no turning back,
Five minutes after I die.
Now I can stifle convictions stirred,
Now I can silence the Voice oft heard,
Then the fulfilment of God's sure Word,
Five minutes after I die.
Mated for aye with my chosen throng,
Long is eternity, O, so long,
Then woe is me if my soul be wrong,
Five minutes after I die.
O, what a fool- hard the word, but true,
Passing the Saviour with death in view,
Doing a deed I can ne'er undo
Five minutes after I die.
If I am flinging a fortune away,
If I am wasting salvation's day
"Just is my sentence", my soul shall say
Five minutes after I die.
God help you to choose! Your eternal state
Depends on your choice, you dare not wait;
You must choose now; it will be too late
Five minutes after you die.
-Author unknown
HELL! the prison house of despair,
Here are some things that won't be there:
No flowers will bloom on the banks of Hell,
No beauties of nature we love so well;
No comforts of home, music and song,
No friendship of joy will be found in that throng;
No children to brighten the long, weary night,
No love nor peace, nor one ray of light;
No blood washed soul with face beaming bright,
No loving smile in that region of night;
No mercy, no pity, pardon nor grace,
No water; O God, what a terrible place!
The pangs of the lost no human can tell,
Not one moment's peace - there is no rest in HELL.
HELL! the prison house of despair,
Here are some things that will be there:
Fire and brimstone are there, we know,
For God in His Word hath told us so;
Memory, remorse, suffering and pain,
Weeping and wailing, but all in vain;
Blasphemers, swearers, haters of God,
Christ-rejectors while here on earth trod;
Murderers, gamblers, drunkards and liars,
Will have their part in the lake of fire;
The filthy, the vile, the cruel and mean,
What a horrible mob in Hell will be seen!
Yes, more than humans on earth can tell,
Are torments and woes of eternal HELL!
-Catherine Dangell
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