ble of contents:
What Does the Bible Say About Hell? Big Jail 4 Epic Evil
And do not fear those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. – Jesus in Matthew 10:28
Jesus* was sending out His twelve disciples to preach the Gospel to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” They were proclaiming the kingdom of heaven and peace to those who would receive it, but for those who did not, there would be terrible judgment.
* indicates there is a short bio of this person in my book SPIRITUAL LIVES.
Hell in the Old Testament
What did the disciples and the children of Israel know about Hell? They knew it was a place of fire. We first see it when the earth opens, and 250 Israelites go down alive into “the pit:”
They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.– Numbers 16:33
Moses* mentions Hell only once more, and it is again referred to as being under the earth:
For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. – Deuteronomy 32:22
Job* knew about Hell and its depth, contrasted with the height of heaven (Job 11:8), but it is in the Psalms that we see it as an instrument of God to punish evildoers:
The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. – Psalm 9:17
The prophets also talk about Hell (13 times) always presenting it as a punishment from God, usually against the wicked kings and nations troubling His people.
Hell in the Gospel of Matthew
In the New Testament, Jesus warns about Hell and its dangers 9 times in Matthew, first warning that foolish use of our tongues puts us “in danger of Hell fire,” (5:22) and then more seriously and specifically,
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, 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. –Matthew 5:27-29
This was not a popular teaching, then or today. That is why famous Christian C. S. Lewis wrote “there is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this if it lay in my power.”
Atheist philosopher Bertrand Russell, said that Jesus’s teaching on hell is “the one profound defect in Christ’s character.”
The scribes and Pharisees hated it too, as they hated Jesus. They taught a religion without Hell, one where obeying the Mosaic law was the standard for righteousness.
This too, like Russell’s positivist philosophy, denied the power of God to intervene in the lives of His people.
Where does this lead? Jesus said,
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Matthew 23:15
What Jesus is getting at here is that when the Pharisees converted a heathen to Judaism (i.e., made him a proselyte), they thought that had saved him from Hell. Jesus says no. Not only did you not save the proselyte from Hell, but you put him in a religion that ends up in Hell too! So now he is a “twofold” child of Hell!
Hell in the Gospel of Mark
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus gives some details of what Hell is like and who goes there:
And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.
And if thy hand offend 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:
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. – Mark 9:42-44
What a fearful warning for those who are in the business of offending the little ones who belong to Jesus by teaching them there is no Hell or that Jesus did not create them!
Even some Christian leaders have suggested Hell is only temporary or that it ends in “annihilation.”
Both those views are impossible to maintain in view of Jesus’ observations “where their worm dieth not,” and “the fire is not quenched.” They are speaking philosophically, speculatively,
but Jesus has seen Hell and knows its realities.
The “worm” reference is drawn from Isaiah 66:24 and means their conscience:
by their worm is meant, their conscience; for as a worm that is continually gnawing upon the entrails of a man, gives him exquisite pain;
so the consciences of sinners, will be continually flying in their faces, bringing their sins to remembrance, accusing them of them, upbraiding them with them, aggravating them,
tormenting them for them, filling them with dreadful anguish and misery, with twinging remorses, and severe reflections, and which will never have an end. — John Gill
How terrible is this unending internal torment reflective of the outer, but infinitely worse.
Hell in the Gospel of Luke
In Luke, Jesus gives us a dramatic and frightening word picture of what Hell is really like in the story of the Rich man and Lazarus.
Lazarus was a beggar, covered with sores, eking out a meager living from the crumbs that fell from the Rich man’s table. They were at the polar ends of the social structure.
One night, both men died:
And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. – Luke 16:22-24
Notice their world turned upside down! But the rich man does not get it. He asks Abraham to send Lazarus to him with water to cool his burning tongue.
He still thinks he is on top, in a position to treat Lazarus as a beggar.
But he has been transformed. Hallelujah!
But the damned man will forever be “tormented in this flame,” separated by an unbridgeable gap between Hell and Abraham’s bosom.
Hell vs. Hope
And this is the last word on Hell from Jesus in the Gospels. How utterly hopeless and endlessly evil it is. But if we look back in Matthew, we find a glimmer of hope:
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. – Matthew 16:18
It seemed a faint hope when Jesus spoke it to this volatile disciple, who would fail Him 3 times but repent and be faithful unto death. Those gates of Hell still seem strong, even after 2,000 years. But wait! Jesus has a final word:
Fear not; I am the first and the last:
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. – Revelation 1:17-18
Hell at Jesus' Second Coming
Praise God, we have all escaped Hell. Those who have believed in Jesus already have everlasting life. But what about our friends and loved ones who have not? How will they fare on Judgment Day? Those will hear these terrifying words:
Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Matthew 25:41
None of us must hear those words. Hell was not made for people but for the devil and his angels. Those are the epic evildoers the big jail of Hell was made for.
Praise God you are saved; if not, believe on the Son of God today and have everlasting life. Not sure? Be assured by this wonderful promise form Jesus:
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. - John 6:36
The Lord is not slow to do what he has promised, as some think. Instead, he is patient with you, because he does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants all to turn away from their sins. – 2 Peter 2:9
The Great Judgment Morning
view and listen HERE soloist begins at 3:22
I dreamed that the great judgment morning
Had dawned, and the trumpet had blown;
I dreamed that the nations had gathered
To judgment before the white throne;
From the throne came a bright, shining angel,
And he stood on the land and the sea,
And he swore with his hand raised to Heaven,
That time was no longer to be.
Refrain:
And, oh, what a weeping and wailing,
As the lost were told of their fate;
They cried for the rocks and the mountains,
They prayed, but their prayer was too late.
The rich man was there, but his money
Had melted and vanished away;
A pauper he stood in the judgment,
His debts were too heavy to pay;
The great man was there, but his greatness,
When death came, was left far behind!
The angel that opened the records,
Not a trace of his greatness could find.
The widow was there with the orphans,
God heard and remembered their cries;
No sorrow in heaven forever,
God wiped all the tears from their eyes;
The gambler was there and the drunkard,
And the man that had sold them the drink,
With the people who gave him the license,
Together in hell they did sink.
The moral man came to the judgment,
But self-righteous rags would not do;
The men who had crucified Jesus
Had passed off as moral men, too;
The soul that had put off salvation,
“Not tonight; I’ll get saved by and by,
No time now to think of religion!”
At last they had found time to die…
Bertram H. Shadduck, 1894
Whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. Rev 20:15
Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. – Jesus in Matthew 13:43
JESUS said unto her, I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And WHOSOEVER liveth and believeth in me shall never die John 11:25-26
God made Hell for the devil and his angels, but people who choose evil can land there too. Jesus came to save us from Hell and live with Him forever.