Basic Christian Doctrines 49
1.
Hell is a Real Place.
The Bible repeatedly speaks about Hell. It is real. It is not the figment of our imaginations, the invention of capitalistsenslave their workers, ora make-believe place to scare little children. It was created by God Himself. It is no myth. We are not told exactly where it is located (inside the Earth, inside the Sun, a Black Hole, somewhere outside the universe, etc). It is called by several names in Scripture: Gehenna, Outer Darkness, the Lake of Fire, the Pit. It is a place of literal fire where people go in literal physical bodies to be punished. It has fire and brimstone (sulphur) in large supply, so it is a fire that will never go out. Hell is no joke.
2.
Satan and Demons Will Be Thrown into Hell.
Some fallen angels have been kept in chains in a part of Hades called Tartarus (2 Pet.2:4). One day, they will be transferred to the final Hell. Other demons have been roaming around Earth, in dread of the day when they too will be consigned to eternal Hell. And Satan himself will be bound and gagged and thrown into the Lake of Fire (Rev-19). Hell was originally created for these evil angelic beings(Matt.25:41).
3.
All Unrepentant Sinners Will Go to Hell.
At the Last Judgement, God will take lost sinners out of Hades, where they have been waiting in torments, and re-unite them with their bodies. They will then be judged, condemned and sent straight into Hell. There will be no exceptions. No unbeliever will somehow sneak into Heaven. Nor will any true Christian be sent to Hell. Of course, no one will want to go there when they see it for what it is. People joke about it now, but not then. They will be filled with total terror as they view it in all its horrors. They will be dragged kicking and screaming by angels to be thrown alive into this firey furnace. It is worse than being thrown alive into a raging volcano. But all their resistance will be futile, and they will melt like butterbefore the fury of God's holy wrath.
4.
Sinners Will Be Punished in Hell.
Hell is the place where God punishes sin and unrepentant sinners. Everyone is a sinner and deserves to go there. Those who go there will have no excuses or appeals. They will know that they are getting exactly what they deserve. Hell is not a penitentiary or reformatory. It is not meant to do them good. It is made to punish them by inflicting intense and eternal pain. It is not Purgatory. It is a place of absolute justice. They will be legally punished for their crimes.
5.
Sinners Suffer in Hell.
Those in Hell are wide awake and conscious. They wish they could die or sleep, but there is no rest there. There is only pain and torment. They will suffer all the physical pains imaginable. Every nerve-ending in their bodies will be used as conduits of pain. They will thirst, but there is no water, only molten lava. They will suffer spiritually, mentally and emotionally. There is not even the comfort from other people in Hell, for all become enemies of everyone else. They will not be punished by Satan or demons or other people. They will be punished by God Almighty Himself. They will be tormented there (Rev.14:11). This is not sadistic torture or cruelty. It is just and right punishment.The least pains in Hell will far exceed the worst pains back on Earth.
6.
Sinners Do Not Cease to Exist in Hell.
There
is an erroneous theory that says that Hell is temporary. As soon as someone is
thrown in there, he ceases to exist. Eventually Hell itself will cease to
exist. That's what they think and hope.But
that is not what the Bible says. They are not annihilated into oblivion. They
keep on living and suffering. They will wish they could cease to exist, but
divine justice will not allow them to escape their punishment. The Antichrist
survived 1000 years in Hell and did not cease to exist (Rev.20:7). Hell is not
a kind of Purgatory, in which people suffer only so long and then be
annihilated (if they are cleansed or if their sins have been paid for, why not
let them out?). They will live forever there.
7.
There Are Degrees of Punishment in Hell.
Just as there are degrees of rewards in Heaven, so there are degrees of punishments in Hell. Those who never heard the Gospel will be punished for their sins against Natural Revelation. Those who heard but disbelieved will be punished worse. Those who only pretended to believe will be punished still worse, then the false prophets and preachers, then Judas, and then Satan worst of all. Those with more sins will receive more punishment, and some sins deserve more punishment than others. But even the lightest punishment is extremely intense. As Jonathan Edwards said, those in Hell would give the whole world (if they could) if they could only reduce the number of their sins by only one. But they can't.
8.
There is No Mercy in Hell.
On Earth, God shows some mercy and some wrath. His wrath is held in check by His common grace. But this is not so in Hell. There is no mercy whatsoever in Hell. There is nothing to hold back the full fury of the wrath of God in Hell. It is where God lets loose His infinite holy anger against sinners who have offended Him by their willful rebellion. His wrath is poured out "unmixed", pure wrath, without even a drop of mercy (Rev. 14:10). Earth is the closest that these sinners will ever get to Heaven and mercy.
9.
Hell is Eternal.
Hell is as eternal and everlasting as Heaven (Matt. 25:46). It never ends. Its fire is unquenchable. God's wrath is infinite and therefore will never be shut off or satisfied. God will not change His mind. Each sin deserves eternal punishment, because it is committed against an infinitely holy God. People are punished infinitely in Hell - not in intensity (there are degrees of intensity) but in duration. The smoke of Hell goes up forever and ever (Rev. 14:11). Moreover, sinners continue to sin in Hell, not in sin's expression but in its evil state (totally depraved unregenerate sinners can only but sin permanently). Therefore, they will add still more fuel to the fires. There will be no escape, no respite, no "time out", no end. It goes on forever.
10.
God is Glorified in Hell.
God is glorified in the display of His attributes in Hell. He shows His truth (His warnings were true), His holiness (His will was disobeyed), even indirectly in His spurned common grace. His overwhelming power will be displayed. But it is especially His wrath that is shown there. Sinners will be separated from God's presence of love, but will be tormented in the presence of His holy wrath (Rev. 14:10). God will not receive pleasure from this, but He will receive glory. He will reveal the glory of His wrath, which will be echoed back to Him in the groans of those who are being rightly punished. Those who deny Hell's existence thus defy God and are going there. But no one in Hell has any doubts about Hell - or the wrath of God.