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The
Fact of Hell The
Psalmist writes, “The wicked will
return to Sheol, even all the nations who forget God.” (Psalm 9:17) “Let death come deceitfully upon them; let
them go down alive to Sheol, for evil is in their dwelling, in their midst.”
(Ps.55:15). The psalmist uses the common word for Hell, “Sheol.”
Since all die, the writer would not be referring merely to death or the
grave (no great punishment for the wicked), but to the eternal punishment of
Sheol/Hell. The
Prophet Isaiah writes, “Nevertheless,
you will be thrust down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit. Those who see you
will gaze at you, they will ponder over you saying, ‘Is this the man who made
the world tremble, who shook kingdoms…” (Isaiah 14:15,16).
The Prophet reveals that there is consciousness and recognizability in
punishment of Sheol/Hell. The
Prophet Daniel writes, “And many of
those that sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting
life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.”(Dan.
12:2) Daniel reveals that the final
judgment of Sheol/Hell follows death, is “everlasting” (“olam”,
as is heaven, or everlasting life), and is disgraceful
and contemptible (literally, an
abhorrence). The New
Covenant is consistent with the Older Covenant regarding these same truths about
Hell/Sheol. (Matthew 25: 41 “eternal fire”,
46 “eternal punishment”; Mark 9: 43-48 “into
Hell, into the unquenchable fire”; 2 Thessalonians 1: 9 “pay
the penalty of eternal destruction”; Heb. 9:27 “it is
appointed for man to die once and after this comes judgement”; Rev.
14: 11 “…the smoke
of their torment goes up forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night…”; etc.). It’s
not that the Bible means to frighten anyone into following God, not at all. But
it does reveal the facts of the hereafter. Actually, the amount of space the
Scriptures spend on Hell is comparatively very little. The Bible generally
reveals Great News about God, Messiah, love, heaven, forgiveness, etc. The
Fairness of Hell First
let’s understand: No one deserves
heaven. This is God’s special place and no one who sins deserves to be there
(see Psalm 15:1). God’s standards for heaven are high: to be with Him, you
must be like Him, “Be holy as the LORD your God is holy”
(Leviticus 19:2). Therefore who ever goes to heaven doesn’t earn it;
entrance to Heaven is not based on fairness. Whoever goes there gets there on
the basis of God’s sovereign, gracious love. On the other hand, since we’ve
all sinned (see Ps. 14:3; Isa. 53:6; etc.), we all deserve Hell. We earned it.
How to avoid Hell is brought up later in this article. The
Scripture teaches that each one gets the punishment in Hell they individually
deserve. There are differing degrees of punishment in Hell, determined
completely on what you deserve (similarly, there are differing degrees of reward
in heaven).
The degrees of punishment in Hell This portion teaches that if Joel and Bill were doomed to judgement, and Bill stole 10 cars and Joel only stole 1 car (or told 10 lies and 1 lie, etc.), Bill’s punishment would be 10 times greater than Joel’s punishment because his evil deeds were 10 times worse. That’s fair.
2. Judged according to their knowledge. This
portion teaches that if Joel and Bill were both doomed to hell, and both stole
10 cars, but Bill learned that’s it’s wrong to steal, but Joel did not learn
this truth (maybe he grew up on Pongo Pongo). Bill’s punishment would
therefore be greater than Joel’s, because Bill is held more accountable for
the knowledge he received. Joel still gets punished, for he still did deeds
worthy of punishment, but to a lesser degree. 3. Judged
according to their “status”. “Not many of should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more
strictly”
(James 3:1) This
portion teaches that if Joel and Bill were both doomed to hell, and both stole
10 cars, but Bill was the teacher (or leader, Rabbi, Imam, Pastor, President,
etc.), his punishment would be greater than Joel’s since he was more
responsible. Rank may or may not have its privileges, but it certainly has
greater accountability before God. That’s fair. The
Scriptures teach that Hell is very fair: unfortunately, you finally get what you
deserve. The
Fleeing from Hell Many times people might foolishly say “I want be with my buddies in Hell” or “I want to be with my brother and father in Hell.” But do you know what they want? They want to warn you to do whatever it takes to avoid Hell! God wants you to avoid Hell and come to Heaven. He’s not willing to overlook sin, but He does love you. That’s why He sent the Messiah Yeshua. Yeshua died as atonement for sins, just as the Jewish prophets predicted (see Isaiah 53). If you will trust in God’s provision for forgiveness, you will receive new life, and heaven, as a gift of God! For
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