Matthew 5:30
“And if thy right hand offends thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell [Gk. geenna (gheh’-en-nah), Valley of Hinnom.”
The Valley of Hinnom was located south of Jerusalem and was once used to sacrifice children to foreign gods. One of the false gods was called Moloch. He is mentioned in Amos 5:26, and in Acts 7:43). On the outstretched arms Moloch, cruel parents would offer their children to be burned to death. Today, in a Transgender Society, many godless parents keep their children alive in order to mutilate them for life.
In ancient Israel, time passed and the idols of the nation were destroyed. The Valley of Hinnom became a garbage dump. A fire was kept burning day and night to consume the human waste produced by the citizens of Jerusalem. Jesus passed by the Valley of Hinnom and said to His disciples, “There is a place called Hell, not just in time, but in eternity.”
Hell is a real place. Jesus spoke about Hell as a real place, and not something to be made light of, though that is done. Mark Twain (1835 – 1910) once quipped that he would, “Go to Heaven for the climate and Hell for the company.” He was saying that those in Hell are more colorful, and more interesting than those who go to Heaven. The Bible warns against foolish jesting. There is nothing funny about Hell.
In a thoughtless society, the word Hell is used in profanity. In anger, people are told to, “Go to Hell!” Some in mock surprise will say, “I’ll be damned.” However, Hell is not something to be mocked, nor used as a profane word. Hell is a serious subject. For that reason, in His earthly ministry, Jesus pulled back the mysterious curtain of eternity to expose what Hell is like.
To understand the words of Jesus in a biblical context, there must be some knowledge of the Jewish conception of the sphere of the dead. In Hebrew, the sphere of the dead was called, Sheol, meaning, the grave. When the Apostle’s Creed affirms that Christ descended into Hell, it simply means Jesus descended into the sphere of the dead. Jesus died at Calvary. Jesus did not merely swoon, as Liberal Theology postulates, in order to dismiss the doctrine of the bodily resurrection of our Lord. Jesus went to Sheol. He went to the grave.
In Greek, the sphere of the dead was called, Hades.
In English, the same sphere of the dead is called, Hell.
This sphere of the dead was divided in three compartments. There was a place called Paradise, which was separated by a Great Gulf from Tartarus, and the lake of Fire. The righteous went to Paradise.Fallen angels were placed in Tartarus (2 Peter 2:4), The souls of the ungodly went to the Place of Torment, the Pit, the Lake of Fire, called Gehenna.
In 2021, the Pew Research Center surveyed 6,485 American adults—including 1,421 evangelicals—about the afterlife, specifically their views on heaven, hell, reincarnation, fate, prayer, and other metaphysical matters. About 73 percent of Americans believe in heaven, while 62 percent believe in hell. Billy Graham said, “I believe in Hell because the Bible teaches it.” Common sense suggests there must be a judgment somewhere, at some time, for the evil which people do. So how is Hell to be understood?
Hell is to be understood against the backdrop of God’s great love and mercy. Hell should never be spoken of, without tears in our eyes, and sorrow in our voice, for Hell is a terrible place.
I wish there was no Hell.
I would like very much for the Doctrine of Universal Salvation for all, including the Devil and demons, to one day be redeemed and reconciled to God.
I would not mind the Doctrine of Annihilation being true, whereby, in a moment, the wicked are forever extinguished, and their memory is no more. But the Bible does not teach Universalism, or Annihilationism. Jesus presented a far different picture of Hell, and so it should be spoken of with a broken heart.
One of the first facts Jesus revealed about Hell is that it was not part of the original creation. Hell had to be created for the Devil and his angels who rebelled against all that was good, decent, and holy. Later, when man united with the Devil in rebelling against God, the Divine punishment was that the soul that sinned would die, and share the same fate of the Devil and fallen angels. Unfortunately, the creation of Hell has distorted some people’s view of God.
Some say that God cannot be a God of love, if Hell really does exist, and the Lord sends souls there.
Some say that the punishment does not fit the crime.
There are many arguments against Hell, but none of them make the place less real. A denial of something does not make reality disappear. More than one person has said, “I hate the very thought of Hell.” A sensitive Christian will answer, “So do I. I also hate the thought of war. I hate the thought of poverty and starvation. I am very angry with those who hurt others needlessly, but strong emotion does not make these things less real.
A good person will warn others about the reality of Hell. That is the right thing to do. When we come to a RR crossing, there are warning lights indicating danger when a rushing train is passing by. That is the right thing for the RR to do. Cigarette companies warn people of the potential health hazards of smoking. That is the right thing to do. When a bridge is suddenly washed out, or a sink hole opens, people will stand in the road and wave their arms, and flash lights, to warn others of certain harm, if they continue to go forward. That is the right thing to do. So, we have many warnings in life. To warn others of the judgment to come is the right thing to do.
A wise person will ask,
“How can I avoid God’s judgment?”
“How can I avert the danger of eternal damnation?”
“How can I stay out of Hell?”
“What must I do to be saved?”
A foolish person will ask to be left alone.
One day Jesus healed a demon possessed man, a Gadarene, and the people came and asked the Lord to leave them alone. Jesus answered their request. He left them alone. A person might insist they will not listen to any discussion about Hell. At that point the Christian might have to leave the person alone to their own conscience, and to God.
However, while departing from the conversation, let the Christian say some final words, with sorrow in the heart, and tell the rejector of the gospel truth.
“You are a starving person, and I have the Bread of Life. I want to leave you with manna from heaven.”
“You are a drowning person, and I have a Life Preserver. I want to rescue you.”
“You are a dying person, full of the poison of sin, and I have the gospel antidote. I do not want to leave you to die.”
“You are alone and in spiritual darkness, and I have the Light of the Gospel. Let me show you The Way.”
“You are in bondage, and I will speak the truth that will bring you to liberty. Let me do that for you.”
“You are in sickness, and I would give you the medicine that would bring you to spiritual health.
Do not reject it.”
“You are on the broad road to destruction. I can tell you of the pathway that would get you to the narrow road that leads to eternal life.”
“You are on a wild stormy sea. I would speak the truth that brings you to the calm harbor of faith.”
As Christians, let us have compassion, making a difference.
The question comes to everyone.
“Are we wise?”
or,
“Are we foolish?”
“Do we want to go to Heaven?”
or,
“Do we want to go to Hell?”
Now know this.
No one is in Heaven who does not want to be there.
No one is in Hell who does not want to be there.
We do have a will that can choose life, or death.
“You call me the “Way” and walk me not.
You call me the “Life” and live me not.
You call me “Master” and obey me not.
If I condemn you, blame Me not.
You call me “Bread” and eat me not.
You call me “Truth” and believe me not.
You call me “Lord” and serve me not.
If I condemn you, blame Me not.”
~Geoffrey O’Hara
A second truth Jesus taught is that Hell is a place, “where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). Jesus said that one day, the Son of Man shall send forth His angels, “and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 13:41, 42).
In Matthew 25:41, Jesus prophesied the time would come when the Son of man will say to wicked,
“Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Jesus said, “And if thy hand offends 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” (Mark 9:43).
As there is a literal, geographical place of suffering, the Bible also teaches there are various kinds of mental, and emotional places of torment.
There is Hell in the heart.
That is where all the pain, and sorrow, and suffering begins. Much of the world thinks that the nature of man is basically good, but the Bible teaches the natural heart is evil, and evil brings torment to the soul. Jesus said, “Out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matt. 15:19).
By nature, individuals are selfish, wayward, and lost. “In sin did my mother conceive me,” said David (Psalm 51:5). We are all sinners, by birth, and then by choice. When we reach the point of God consciousness, which some call the Age of Accountability, initially, we delight to do wrong, if the truth is told. Then, we become sophisticated sinners by practice, and try to perfect the art of doing wrong without being caught, or held accountable.
This is not a flattering picture of human nature, but it is the truth. It is this natural corruption of the heart which is why every person needs redemption, even the religious.
“Nicodemus, you must be born again!”
“Saul of Tarsus, you must be born of God!”
“Matthew! Follow Me!”
The heart needs to be reformed. Our life needs to be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit into the image of Christ. Without regeneration, without the new birth, the Hell in the heart remains as a reminder of the judgment to come.
There is the Hell of guilt.
People who live secret lives of immorality live in a state of sorrow of their own making. They know better, but they find a way to justify that which is unjustifiable. This can only be done by hardening the heart, and abusing the grace of God. In a desperate attempt to stop living with a double mind, some individuals contemplate suicide. They want to find relief from a guilty conscience, even if it means the grave.
There is the Hell of unrest.
“The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt” (Isaiah 57:20). Every day, men and women and young people live in a frantic search to find purpose, meaning, and definition to life. Their life is a life of unrest, and the result is a sense of being lost. They are in Hell.
There is the Hell of Lust.
Care must be taken with this point for the strong emotions we have can reflect the character of God. It is not wrong to have strong desires to love, to create, to protect others, or to want to live. But sometimes our passions are out of control, and hurt self and others. There is an inappropriate sensual lust that consumes the soul, and drives individuals to engage in the most degrading acts.
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Two thousand years ago Paul wrote about “Men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet” (Rom. 1:27).
There is the Lust of Covetousness.
Paul said, “I had not known lust, except the Law had said, Thou shalt not covet” (Rom. 7:7). Prior to his conversion, Paul, as Saul of Tarsus was a covetous man. He had a passion for religious recognition, but it was not according to knowledge, and so he hurt people, and placed his soul in Hell.
There is the Lust of Money.
The desire to be rich by any means possible can put the soul in Hell. The Bible says, “But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition” (1 Tim. 6:9).
There is the Hell of Hatred.
Hatred leads to acts of violence, murder, and war. The Bible says, “Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer: and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15).
There is the Hell of the Future.
The Hell of the Future is eternal. It is everlasting. The Rich Man who went to Hell, of whom Jesus spoke about more than two thousand years ago, is still in Hell today, and shall remain there throughout eternity (Luke 16).
The Hell of the Future is a place of pain and suffering. The Rich Man said he was tormented in flames. Whether that language is figurative or literal, one truth is certain. Hell is a terrible place of pain. Those in Hell feel their guilt, and are still consumed with passion. They are in a constant state of unrest. “There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked” (Isaiah 48:22).
The Hell of the Future is a place of separation from God. We are separated from God by sin, and that continues throughout eternity in Hell.
The Hell of the Future is a place of death. God is life, but sin brings death, and thus separation. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23). Wages are what we earn. When we sin, we earn the wages of that sin, which is spiritual death.
The Hell of the Future is a place of darkness. Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 25:30.
“And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Those who die without Christ shall live forever in a place of utter darkness. There is light deprivation, forever.
The wise person will flee from Hell, and embrace the love of God, which is amazing and glorious.
Despite having followed the world, the flesh, and the Devil, God loves individuals so much He has provided a way for them to be saved from the wrath to come, and go to Heaven. Let the word go forth. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth.
Those who are in Hell also want to see people saved. The Rich Man in Hell become evangelistic.
“I pray thee,” he said, “therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: 28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment” (Luke 16:27, 28).
If God allowed us who are now living, to hear the voices of those in Hell, we would hear sounds of weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, but we would also hear people pleading, and saying to loved ones,
“Do not come here!”
“Turn away!”
“Repent of your sins and save yourself!”
“Be sure of your relationship with God!”
The Hell of the Future is a place of banishment. There is an eternal banishment from love, hope, and life. There is no joy, or happiness, in Hell. There are no enjoyable companions.
If we want to avoid Hell and go to Heaven, then we must prepare to meet our God (Amos 4:12).
We will either meet God in judgment, or you will meet God at the Cross of Calvary where there is redemption and forgiveness of sin. Let us prepare to meet God.
Some people prepare for everything in life but their meeting with God. They prepare for education, marriage, children, and old age. But they neglect to prepare to meet God. Let us not make that mistake. May we all come to Christ. May each person come to the One who loves sinners, and died to save individuals from all the horrors of Hell. Let us commit our lives to Christ in this very hour. Let us call upon the name of the Lord who will save us now. The Holy Spirit will give us the gift of God the Father, which is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
