Hell – where in the world has hell gone? We sure don’t hear much about it anymore, except when someone, in a burst of anger, tells someone else to go there! (By the way, you would have to hate someone terribly to ever tell them to go to hell!) We hear the word used in this sort of way quite often, but the sad reality is that we very seldom hear the word in the church.

So, what has become of hell? Let’s begin by reviewing some basic, Biblical facts about the subject. We will focus our attention on our Lord, Jesus Christ. What exactly did He have to say about this subject?

But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. Matthew 5:22

The Son of Man will send out His angels. and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13:41-42

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 eternal life. Matthew 25:46

This very limited sampling of some of Jesus’ statements concerning hell should show us how seriously He viewed the subject. He warned people over and over about the judgment of God against all who rejected His gracious offer of salvation secured through the death, burial and resurrection of His Son. He warned of the eternal consequences of that decision. He called people to repentance (another of those seldom used words we will consider in a future blog), with the dire warning that refusal to repent would result in eternal separation from God.

It may very well be that the main reason for the conspicuous silence on the subject of hell is because it is, to some, such an offensive subject. How could a loving, compassionate God ever even consider sending anyone to such a place as that described in the words of Jesus quoted above?

We certainly don’t have time to delve into that topic in a single blog, but let it suffice to say that God, from eternity past, made certain decrees, and set certain parameters, on His human creation. God created man to live forever: to enjoy His bounty and blessings in a perfect environment, and to enjoy the intimacy of His presence in that environment. However, He demanded obedience from His human family. So, when Eve decided to eat of the forbidden fruit, and then to persuade Adam to partake of the same, they were banned from that perfect environment, and separated from the fellowship they had enjoyed with God. Death was the sentence pronounced on them, and through them on the entire human family.

But, thanks be to God, He did not leave us with no means of escaping the eternal consequences of our sin. He decreed that His Son, Jesus Christ, would be the propitiatory sacrifice for sin. And He made the declaration that anyone who would accept His gracious gift of salvation would be saved from the eternal consequences of separation from God in hell.

Hell is real, just as much so as heaven is real. These two eternal destinations are the only two available to the human family. Every person will spend eternity in one or the other. God offers a choice: a very real choice. It matters not how one views this choice, the fact of the matter is that it is a choice each individual must make. God has put before us blessing, or cursing; life, or death; eternity lived in His presence in the glory of heaven, or banned from His presence in the horror of hell.

What choice have you made? Heaven, or hell? Please, make the choice for life before it is eternally too late.

Until next time:

Blessings!