Questions Answered About HELL WHO, WHEN, WHERE, HOW, & WHY?

Introduction Hell is talked about all the time. Some spend a lot of effort to deny the existence of hell. Many people make light of hell and what it is. Either way, there are questions about hell that need to be answered.

WHO WILL BE IN HELL? 2nd Peter 2:4; Jude 6; Galatians 1:8 Angels occupy hell. Matthew 25:41 The devil will be an inmate of hell. Satan ought not to be regarded as lord of the underworld, wielding a pitchfork and prodding sinners into the flames. No, he will be punished there.

WHO WILL BE IN HELL? 2nd Peter 3:7; Jude 14-15; Revelation 21:8; 1st Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21 Sinful men will populate hell because they cannot enter heaven. Matthew 25:31-33, Not only those who do wrong, but also those who simply fail to do right, will be there. 2nd Thessalonians 1:8-9; Mark 16:16; John 3:18; Revelation 20:15; 1st Corinthians 16:22 Hell is not especially reserved for only the most egregiously immoral perverts of the world. Anyone who does “not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” will be there.

WHO WILL BE IN HELL? Hebrews 10:26-31 Even some who have obeyed the gospel will suffer in hellfire because they afterward rejected the truth. Matthew 23:33, 15; 7:21-23 Religious people, whose religion is false, will be condemned. Romans 1:18 “All ungodliness” will suffer the “wrath of God”.

WHEN WILL HELL BE EXPERIENCED? Hebrews 9:27 Judgment follows death. It is naïve to think of “hell on earth”. Those who think life is troubling now are in for a very rude awakening. Luke 16:22-24; Revelation 20:13-14 The wicked who die go immediately to their punishment in Hades, but the Hadean realm will itself will be destroyed after yielding up the dead for final judgment.

WHEN WILL HELL BE EXPERIENCED? John 5:28-29 In a single hour all the dead will rise to either life anew or “condemnation”. 2nd Thessalonians 1:8-10 “When He comes, in that Day” is when the “punishment” of “everlasting destruction” will befall “those who do not know God” and “those who do not obey the gospel”. Matthew 18:8 Once it is begun, the fire of hell will never stop. It is “everlasting”.

WHERE IS HELL? Luke 10:15; Philippians 2:10 Whereas heaven is regarded as upward, hades is regarded as downward, that is “below the earth”, which basically indicates burial in dirt. 2nd Peter 3:7 The material universe, “the heavens and the earth”, will be annihilated on “the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men”, so in the absence of time and space, the question of where hell is becomes a spiritual matter. Luke 16:23, 26 The “torments” side of “Hades” is “afar off” from where the righteous are, “fixed” across “a great gulf” from them. While the material universe still exists, the wicked dead are far away from the righteous dead and cannot pass from to the other side. It is not likely to improve after Hades is cast into the Lake of Fire.

HOW WILL HELL BE EXPERIENCED? 2nd Peter 2:17 “Darkness” characterizes eternal punishment. Matthew 25:30 In the place of darkness “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”, indicating sorrow and pain. Matthew 13:40-42, 49-50; Luke 16:24; 2nd Thessalonians 1:8 Where there is “wailing and gnashing of teeth” is in “the furnace of fire”. Mark 9:43-48 The place of unquenchable fire is where the “worm does not die”.

WHY WILL HELL BE EXPERIENCED? 2nd Peter 3:9; 1st Timothy 2:3-4; Ezekiel 33:11 The experience of hell will not be the result of God’s lack of love or concern. On the contrary, His longsuffering is immeasurable, He desires the salvation of all, and He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. 2nd Thessalonians 2:9-12 Those who “perish” are “condemned” because they had no “love of the truth”, and “did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness”. Hell is a consequence of sin! Isaiah 59:1-2; 2nd Thessalonians 1:9 Sinners choose to distance themselves from God in the present life. Hell is merely God giving them what they have always chosen: separation “from the presence of the Lord”.

CONCLUSION If you believe the Bible to be the word of God there should be no problem with the answers provided. Most who have a problem with hell are those who are going there. Have you learned enough to want to avoid hell?