Many in the world who are non-believers including Christians find it quite appalling that a place such as hell exists. Consequently some altogether deny the existence of such place. And for those who are open to the idea of the existence of hell, many cannot reconcile the truth that a God such as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Israel who only is God by nature and who is the author of love can send people to such a torturous place.
However, seeing the existence of hell from another perspective might help us gain more understanding of the place.
1. The Existence of Hell Found in The Parables of Jesus Christ and in The Old Testament
Not only hell was referenced in the Old Testament but Jesus Christ during his ministry talked about hell quite a lot. Many of his parables continuously referred to the hell. Jesus’s parables used contextually relevant cultural events to describe the kingdom of heaven, its culture, and traditions which are God’s laws. And as you read many of the parables mostly in the first 4 Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, when you pay careful attention you will notice that hell was referenced on several instances though not directly labeled as such:
- The parable of the wheat and weeds
………. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned but gather the wheat into my barn.” (Matthew 13:24-30, ESV)
- The parable of the net
……So, it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:47-50, ESV)
- The parable of the banquet
……And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:1-14, ESV).
There are many more parables of Jesus and other references of hell in the new testament. To go through the list of all of Jesus’s parables, you can read this nice article here that will give you a nice summary of all of them:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/parables-of-jesus/
I have heard some argue that hell was not mentioned in the old testament. This however is nothing further from the truth:
It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? (Job 11:8, KJV)
The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. (Psalm 9:17, NKJV)
The existence of hell was sure hence not foreign to the old testament. And as you comb through the Old Testament, you will find many more references of hell.
Hell in the New Testament as well as the old referred to a place of eternal torment with a fire that can never be quenched and where souls are forever eaten by worms. It is the place where God is not present, a place of separation between him and us. We often forget that the goodness of earth and its fullness are present because The God of Israel is here on earth with us. In Genesis 1:2 it is written:
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:2, KJV)
The Holy Ghost was on earth before creation started. After Genesis 1:2, God said in verse 3 “Let there be light” and creation officially started. See the beautiful earth we now see, the light we have, the miracles of the seasons God made, the oxygen we breath, life, hope, and life as we know it overall here on earth all exist because of God’s presence on earth with us. Those good things we have are here because God is here on earth with us through the presence of his Holy Spirit because it is impossible for good things to exist outside of the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Israel. That is why King David called Yahweh the best thing that ever happened to him:
I said to the LORD, “You are my Master! Every good thing I have comes from you.” (Psalm 16:2, NLT)
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. (James 1:17, NLT)
Why? Because only the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Israel is good by nature. There are many things that happen that we do not understand on earth but by nature God is good. Just look at the things he created. That is why in his presence we have this good “temporary” experience called life on earth. If all good things come from above, now imagine a place where God’s presence is missing. You simply need to start imaging the opposite of what earth is: a place where light never shines, where there is no oxygen to breath but that no one cannot die either, where there is death in all things instead of life, there is pain instead of joy, torment instead of peace, hatred instead of love, and all types of evil you one cannot even imagine. See how you see your dog ad cat and love them; they cannot exist in hell because life is from God. See how we see beautiful trees and flowers? In hell there is only death as a result they cannot exist down there.
In addition, the worst part is that no one can die in hell. Once one is sent to that place of continuous torment there will be no escape. God put a time limit on our life expectancy on earth once we sinned. On earth our spirit and souls are housed in our bodies. And once the body expires, we are kicked out of earth via what we call “death”.. However, the soulish spiritual part of us never dies and lives on in the eternity realm where time never ceases. As a result once one is in hell, one can neither die nor escape it forever. Hell is so bad that Jesus gave the “analogy” that we are better off losing everything on this earth if that means that we will see heaven instead. That is how atrocious the place is!
And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. (Mark 9:47 – 48, ESV)
As you may have heard before hell was created by God for the enemy which is comprised of the fallen angels and their children the demons:
“Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Leave Me, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels (demons) (Matthew 25:41, AMP)
Anyone who does not do the will of God or obey his commandments end up in hell because they are partnering with and doing as the fallen angels and demons. Disobedience to God is what satan and the fallen angels engaged in against God. Sin is the only thing that has the power to separate anyone from God because God by nature is good, righteous, just, and holy:
but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. (Isaiah 59:2, ESV)
As a result of their disobedience, satan and 1/3 of the angels he was able to convince to join him in his rebellion were immediately thrown out of heaven. This is the process of separation. Hell is hence a space in eternity from which God is separated. As a result, because he is not there, all kind of evil that I believe we cannot even image abound in that space forever.
2. We Need to Understand Who God Is by Nature to Understand Hell & Heaven
God is holy and pure by nature, as a result sin cannot co-exist with him. This is what many of us fail to understand: the very nature of God. God is pure light as a result darkness cannot co-exist with him:
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5, ESV)
Darkness would be anything that is contrary to his nature and that is impure, unjust, unrighteous, and unholy. This dynamic of division between light and darkness illustrated is the verse above perfectly describes the relationship between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness overall:
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14, KJV)
Have you also noticed that throughout the Bible especially in the New Testament that every time the gospel of the Kingdom is preached there is division? We noticed this in the book of Acts on several occasions. The following occurred after Paul preached in the city of Iconium in Asia:
But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. (Acts 14:4, ESV)
Throughout Jesus Christ’s ministry, we notice this division as well. There was a division among the people because they could not agree on who sent him. And that division comes back to who believes in his message and who did not:
Thus, the people were divided because of Jesus. (John 7:43, NIV)
In addition, Jesus himself did warn us that he was not here to unite people but to divide:
Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. (Matthew 10:34 – 35, ESV)
What is bringing the division is not Jesus himself rejoicing in separating people. We know that the sword Jesus Christ was talking about in the verse above was the Gospel of the kingdom, the word of God, the truth. The division automatically occurs whenever the truth is preached, and one group of people believes the gospel and receives Christ while the other does not. In reality there is something else that does take place in the spiritual realm that is manifesting in the physical realm as division among the people. And that is the change in kingdom citizenship that occurs in the spiritual realm whenever we receive Jesus. Once one believes in Christ, their citizenship in the spiritual realm changes from that of the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of light which the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Those who do not believe in or reject the gospel retain their citizenship in the kingdom of darkness. And those two kingdoms can never fellowship together as one and are forever opposite:
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14, ESV)
As the verse above confirmed both the kingdom of light and darkness can never be joined (yoked) together neither partner together! They are opposite. God wanted us to understand this so much that we can prove this even in our daily life. Conduct this 5-minutes experience, shall you?
Wait until nighttime and go to one of the bedrooms in your apartment or house. Turn on the light and see the illustration of this division that occurs in the spirit. As soon as you turn on the light, darkness is subdued. The light overcomes the darkness and now you can see clearly in that bedroom. The light does stop halfway throughout the room and darkness the other half because those 2 can never co-exist. And light always overcomes darkness!
This is the same principle. Now how does this all tie back to hell. Faith is Jesus Christ is what grants us citizenship to the Kingdom of light. By default because Adam sinned at the beginning of creation, we are all citizens of the kingdom of darkness by birth. However once we receive Jesus Christ who shed his blood at calvary and purchased us from the kingdom of darkness, we become citizens of the kingdom of light like God desires. However, once we get in the kingdom of light, there must be a process of being born again that Jesus Christ talked about whereby through him by the power of his Holy Spirit we become new creatures through baptism with a transformed mind. Because when we were in the kingdom of darkness, the things we did or had in our hearts and thoughts were based on the culture and traditions of the kingdom of darkness. Those cultures and traditions include everything that the kingdom of Jesus Christ, Heaven, or the kingdom of light does NOT stands for. Examples of those are found in the verses below:
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; (Romans 1:28 – 31, NKJV)
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5: 19 – 21, NKJV)
3. Do You Now Understand that YOU Decide Whether You Will be Going to Heaven or Not? God is Not the One Sending You There
HELL
HEAVEN
In case you do not want to go the hell, then you need to switch your citizenship from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. And the first step is to believe in Jesus Christ who is the only way to God and who has already paid the price for our sins to be wiped away. Once you receive Jesus Christ as you lord, he will give you his Holy Ghost to help you with the process of fully becoming that new creature that is now born again through baptism. That is the process of transformation that requires the renewal of your mind so that the old corrupt tradition and culture of the kingdom of darkness no longer rules over our actions but that by his grace we get to bear new fruits that are acceptable to him.
Again, God by nature is pure, holy, just, righteous. He is does not stand for any of the lifestyles listed in Galatians 5: 19 – 21 or Romans 1:28 – 31. As a result one cannot go to Heaven, the kingdom of light for eternity while lying, envying, murdering, stealing from people, being unmerciful, gossiping etc. Because you cannot partner or fellowship with God whose throne is Heaven who hates all those things. Those actions belong to another culture and tradition, and that is that of the kingdom of darkness. Let us say that God decided to let in a Christian who still did not go through the transformation process of the mind and fully embraced the new creature he/she became through Christ. What will happen is that the individual once in heaven will be lying, stealing, murdering, gossiping, heating other etc. And that individual will eventually be kicked out of the heaven like satan because you are not a good fit.
Being admitted in Heaven or Hell is hence merely our choice. And it stars with choosing Jesus Christ.
Any of us Christians who have received Jesus Christ but continually acts as those from the Kingdom of darkness are renouncing the citizenship of Heaven that Jesus Christ bought for us by his blood. There is a reason why we must become ne creatures and be transformed by the renewing of our minds by the word of God through the power of his spirit. As a result, the end therefore for such Christians who did not embrace that state of being a new creature in Christ and who bear good fruits will not be heaven, but hell just as non-believers. Paul who taught the most about grace warned us about this:
For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight. (Romans 2:13, NLT)
Now the real question is as followed:
Which one will you choose? Hell, or Heaven? The ball is in your court.
We don’t get to have our cake and eat it too. We boast in the fact that we are free to do whatever we want, that is true because of God created us in his own image and consequently gave is free will. However, our actions have consequences. You are free to decide not to show up to work tomorrow, the consequence is that you will likely lose your job. You may choose to go rob a bank even today, the consequence is that you might likely lose your freedom on earth. A friend might choose to gossip about or steal from you, well that might surely be the end of that friendship.
If among us humans there are consequences to our actions based on how we behave towards one another, how much more the God who created us? Many have argued 2,000 years ago with the apostles advancing the same arguments that many advance today:
- What kind of God created a place like hell and will send humans there?
- A god who has standards and who will hold us accountable for our actions.
Here is how apostle Paul phrased his answer back then:
But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world? (Romans 3:5-6, ESV)
The reason why we will be judged is because we have the free will to choose how we want to live and which kingdom we want to belong to. He loved us enough not to force us to do it by default, but for us to choose him:
“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! (Deuteronomy 30:19, NLT)
Again, let me ask you this question:
Which one do you want to choose? Hell or Heaven? Satan or Jesus Christ?
As long as you are alive, you can always choose. Once you are dead, the time is up it is time to give account! Do not delay because tomorrow is not guaranteed. And remember:
Let us choose wisely and may he give us the grace.
In case you do not know Jesus Christ and want to join his kingdom of life, light, the kingdom of Heaven, receive him today as your Lord and give your life to him. Click here to find simple steps to get you started on this journey!
Glory be to the Great I AM the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.
Our Lord God is One!
Thank you, Jesus Christ my Lord & Savior!