Hell Is A Real Place!

Over my many years of being a born-again Christian I have heard many people preaching and teaching about Heaven but not very many preaching and teaching on Hell. In fact, I can’t even remember when I last heard anybody preach on Hell! I wonder why that is?

I suspect it’s probably because most congregants only want to hear about nice things and Hell is certainly not a nice place to be! When Christians talk about God’s love its always about his loving kindness and the fact that Jesus died for our sins because of his great love for us. And this is all good and very true!

But there is another side to God’s love that is also not much talked and preached about, and that is God’s discipline. I believe that when we talk about God’s love it is imperative that we talk about every aspect of God’s love equally and discipline is a characteristic of His love that we all need to heed as well as embrace. We all like sheep have gone astray and even in my walk as a born-again Christian I still need to tow the line and walk in integrity and in the truth of his Word! Amen?

Hebrews 12:6 (NIV)

because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son."

Proverbs 3:12 (NIV)

because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.

So, in the two verses above we are told that God disciplines his children, those he loves. Now something many of us seem to forget is that only those of us who are born-again, those who have confessed their sins, have repented of them, and have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, can be called God’s children.

John 1:12 (NIV)

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

From this we see that once we are saved (born-again) we become God’s children and he disciplines us in his great love, grace and mercy. Those who are not saved he does not discipline as they are not called his children and they carry on sinning without any advocacy (anyone to defend them) through Jesus as we who are born-again do! Because of their rebellion against God, they dig their own grave, so to speak!

1 John 2:1 (NIV)

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

The Greek word for advocate in the above verse is ‘parakletos’ and this is how Strong’s concordance describes it: “3875 paráklētos (from 3844 /pará, "from close-beside" and 2564 /kaléō, "make a call") – properly, a legal advocate who makes the right judgment-call because they are close enough to the situation. Paráklētos ("advocate, advisor-helper") is the regular term in New Testament times of an attorney (lawyer) – i.e. someone that stands up in court to defend another. 

After reading the above explanation of the word ‘advocate’ you should have guessed by now that we are talking about the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Jesus! Jesus – the Righteous One.

Romans 8:9 (NIV)

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

Those who are yet unsaved do not belong to Christ and anyone who does not belong to Christ belongs to the Devil! The sins of the children of God, past, present and future sins, are covered by the blood of the lamb. So, although God so loves the World, only those that are fully repentant from the heart and accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour will enter the Kingdom of God. 

Everybody else consigns themselves to Hell as, even though their sin has been covered by the blood of Jesus and no matter how ‘good’ they perceive themselves to be, they have not accepted the gift of salvation by rejecting Jesus as their Lord and Saviour! No sin can enter heaven, heaven is a place reserved for the righteous in Christ Jesus!

God wants everyone to be saved but the freewill choice to accept salvation in Christ Jesus lies solely with man! We chose Heaven or Hell!

Having cleared that up, let’s get back to our topic of ‘Hell is a real place.’

Revelation 20:10 (NIV)

And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

What does Jesus tell us about Hell?

In the parable of the sheep and goats – Matthew 25:31-46 - Jesus tells us that we will all face judgement but those of us who have Jesus as our Lord and Saviour (the sheep – repentant sinners) will go to Heaven and those that do not know Jesus (the goats – unrepentant sinner) will go to Hell.

Matthew 25:41 (NIV – brackets are mine)

“Then he will say to those on his left (the goats), ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Matthew 25:46 (NIV – brackets are mine)

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment (the goats), but the righteous to eternal life (the sheep).”

Jesus speaks of Hell, so we had better believe that it is a real place just as Heaven is, as everything that was created was created through Jesus and for Jesus. Jesus is our everything!

Colossians 1:15-18 (NIV)

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Hell is a place of eternal suffering and separation from God (spiritual death) and was created by God through Jesus for the devil and all his followers both human and angelic. It is a place of weeping and sorrow!

Matthew 13:40-43 (AMP)

40 So just as the weeds are gathered up and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend [those things by which people are led into sin], and all who practice evil [leading others into sin], 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping [over sorrow and pain] and grinding of teeth [over distress and anger]. 43 Then the righteous [those who seek the will of God] will shine forth [radiating the new life] like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears [to hear], let him hear and heed My words.

Hell, or the lake of fire, will also be the destination for those who reject Christ – Satan and all who follow him.

2 Peter 2:4-10b (AMP)

4 For if God did not [even] spare angels that sinned, but threw them into hell and sent them to pits of gloom to be kept [there] for judgment; 5 and if He did not spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought [the judgment of] a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, who was tormented by the immoral conduct of unprincipled and ungodly men 8 (for that just man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by what he saw and heard of their lawless acts), 9 then [in light of the fact that all this is true, be sure that] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and how to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the corrupt passions of the sin nature, and despise authority.

Those who are disobedient to the teachings and commands in the Bible and reject Jesus will go to Hell! This is a fact, for if you are not for God then you are against him just as Satan is, there is no grey areas in Christianity. 

Many people today perceive themselves to be ‘good people’ and they probably are good people and do good things, but unless they are born-again, have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, they will not go to heaven. Their good works are like filthy rags in God’s eyes because they have rejected Jesus! It is only by accepting Jesus that we receive our righteousness - our right standing and reconciliation with God!

Matthew 12:30 (NIV)

"Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Isaiah 64:6 (NIV)

All of us have become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;

we all shrivel up like a leaf,

and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

All of us have sinned that is why we need a Saviour. God sent His son, Jesus Christ, to be our saviour He is the only one through whom we have salvation and can be thus reconciled with God! 

If we don’t accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, our sin remains upon us and we thus consign ourselves to Hell, everlasting separation from God our creator.

Romans 3:23-26

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

The Bible tells us that we will all stand before God and face judgement for the things we have done, good and bad. Judgement day is not a trial it is a day of sentencing!

2 Cor 5:10 (AMP)

For we [believers will be called to account and] must all appear before the] judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be repaid for what has been done in the body, whether good or bad [that is, each will be held responsible for his actions, purposes, goals, motives—the use or misuse of his time, opportunities and abilities].

Those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour from the heart and are not just paying lip service (the lukewarm), spend eternity in Heaven and those that reject Jesus will spend eternity in Hell.

Rev 20:11-15

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

God has shown His love for man by sending His Son to die for their sins -- to take our punishment -- so that we can go to heaven. The judgment of hell is for those who refuse to accept God's love and forgiveness through Christ Jesus.

God is a God of holiness and justice as well as a God of love. These moral attributes are complementary, not contradictory. When the laws of God are disobeyed there must be a judgement. God's laws demand that sin must be paid for. God can still love someone, but He cannot allow sin to go unpunished. This is the reason that Jesus Christ came to earth, to die for the sins of the world - without the shedding of blood their can be no forgiveness - Jesus shed His blood for us so that we can be forgiven for our sins!

Prayer: 

Dear Heavenly Father

I thank you that you sent your son to die for my sins and that his blood covers me with salvation - Jesus is my Saviour! Thank you Jesus that through your sacrifice for me on the Cross at Calvary, I receive eternal life and reconciliation with God. Thank you Lord that you have saved me from eternal damnation in Hell! Amen.

To Jesus belongs all glory, honour and praise!

Jesus – the Name above all names!

Remember: Reading this article is no excuse for not reading and studying the Bible for yourself! My words are flawed - the Word of God is not!

Last updated: 4 December 2023.