Where In The Bible Will I Find:

That Hell Is Real?

Jesus and the apostles had just as much to say about hell as they did about heaven. John wrote, "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophets; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever" (Rev. 20:10). He then pictures the final judgment, and states, "This is the second death, even the lake of fire. And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire" (vs. 14, 15).

Jesus states what will be said to the unsaved, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels" (v.41). Of hell, He said, "...in hell fire, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:47, 48). Those who refuse to accept Christ will suffer in "flaming fire" (II Thess. 2:7, 8). This is hell, the lake of fire. Some will argue that "a loving God will not send anyone to eternal punishment in fire." But this kind of thinking ignores both the express statements of Scripture and the character of God.

The Bible speaks clearly of eternal punishment, in fire, for those who reject God's will. It is true that God created man in His own image (Gen. 1:26, 27), but He gave man the power of choice. Man can choose how he lives, he can choose to serve God and be saved, or he can reject God and be lost. Man thus CHOOSES his eternity!

God "wants all men to be saved" (I Tim. 2:4), but if any one chooses to reject salvation, God will not overrule the individual's choice. Hell was not prepared for man, but for "the devil and his angels." But when one chooses, by the life he lives, to go to that place, then it is not God that sends him there - it is THAT INDIVIDUAL'S OWN CHOICE.

As heaven is always spoken of as being "up" then hell is always spoken of as being "down." Heaven and hell is as far apart as East is from West. There is a great gulf fixed between them where no one can cross (Luke 16:26).