Hell, The Eternal Consequence

A number of surveys throughout the years have indicated that most people believe there is a heaven, yet a much smaller percentage believes there is a hell. What do the scriptures say?

The Old Testament speaks of hell as a real place. David wrote, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God (Psalm 9:17). Daniel spoke of hell as a place where the wicked to shame and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2). A person cannot believe in the inspiration of the Old Testament without believing in the reality of hell.

Second, Christ taught that hell is a real place. The Greek word translated hell, Gehenna, occurs twelve times in the New Testament. Of these twelve times, eleven are quotations of Jesus. Jesus spoke of hell as a furnace of fire (Matthew 13:41-42), a prepared place (Matthew 25:41), a place of outer darkness (Matthew 25:30), an everlasting fire (Matthew 25:41), and a place of everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46). It is not possible to believe Jesus’ teaching without believing in the reality of hell.

Those inspired men who wrote the New Testament taught that hell is a real place. The apostle Paul taught that when Christ comes again those persons who know not God will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord (II Thessalonians 1:7-9). The apostle Peter taught that hell is a real place. Peter spoke of those angels who sinned and were cast into hell (II Peter 2:4-9).The inspired writer Jude spoke of the eternal fire of hell (Jude 6-7). John spoke of those persons who were cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8). It is not possible to believe the writings of the New Testament without believing in the reality of hell.