According to the Bible There is a Heaven and a Hell
Today we will explain why Hell exists.
And the true definition of hell is the absence of the presence of the Lord.
I promise you that we will end this message with good news, and that there is a simple solution to avoiding this place.
Hell really exists at the request of God’s creatures.
Hell, or what the Bible calls the Lake of Fire, is a real place where suffering is described.
It is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.
It is a place where the worm, or the conscience, never dies.
It is a place of fire and brimstone.
It is called a place of outer darkness.
These are all ways that Jesus Christ personally described to the Lake of Fire.
It is a real place that fallen angels are destined for, and it has been expanded for members of the human race that also reject Him.
In any Bible, Catholic or Protestant, Jesus talks about this place where creatures will suffer, not for their sins (Jesus died for all their sins), but for the unbelief.
They have chosen to reject God. They have told God they don’t want to be with Him for all eternity!
And God in His fairness and justice will honor their wishes.
God will not force anyone to believe in His Son.
He gives them every opportunity, for an entire lifetime, but if someone wants to say “NO”, God will honor their request to be without Him.
Human history began in a courtroom, the Garden of Eden, with two individuals Ish and Ishshah (Adam and the woman), being interrogated by Satan (called the serpent in Gen 3).
Human history ends in the last book of the Bible with mankind standing in another courtroom, the Supreme Court of Heaven, before the Great White Throne Judgment.
Here they are pleading their case before God.
Unbelievers only that will be at this Great White Throne Judgment.
They, in effect, have said that during their lifetime that they did not need God, and so God will honor their free will by letting them live forever without Him.
There is a passage in 2 Thess 1 that describes this exact result; the destiny of all people who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Thess 1:1-10
Paul and Silvanus and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater;
4 therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure.
5 This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.
6 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,
7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire,
8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
10 when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed — for our testimony to you was believed.
NASU
2 Thess 2:8-10
8 Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;
9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,
10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.
NASU
Do you realize that all you need to do to be saved is receive the love of the Truth?
All you have to do to be saved is trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? That’s obeying the gospel.
John 3:36
36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
NASU
So now, if the Lake of Fire is a place without God, and if all good things come from God (which they do), then the Lake of Fire will be absent of anything that is good.
The Lake of Fire will especially be absent of anything that is God Himself!
Here are 7 examples of the absence of God in Hell.
1. The Bible says that God is light. God IS light.
When you see the wonderful light from the sun, you are seeing God Himself.
And since God is light, and since He won’t in Hell, there will no light where the unbelievers will live forever.
2. The Bible also says that God IS love! It does not say that God HAS Love, it says God IS love.
So everything that is love in this world, friendship love, parent/child love, romantic love, sexual intimacy in marriage, they all would be non-existent without the presence of the Lord.
So since God is love, and He won’t be in Hell, there will be no love where unbelievers live forever.
That’s hell.
It will be a sad place, with no love at all, because love can only come from God.
3. Since God is holy, and He will not be in Hell, there will be no holiness there.
4. Since God is the source of grace and mercy, and God will not be in Hell, there will be no grace and mercy.
Unbelievers have rejected Him, chosen not to receive the grace gift of salvation while on earth, and so there will be no more mercy offered in hell.
5. Since God is perfect happiness according to the Bible, and God won’t be there, there can be no happiness in hell.
This is why Hell will be Hell. These people have chosen to reject Him and therefore reject His attributes and His goodness.
6. God also offers us peace, eternal peace, through being reconciled through His Son Jesus Christ.
And so there is no peace in hell, but it is a place that the conscience never dies. (unbelievers will be in hell constantly remembering this message, this warning, and many other times they refused to accept Jesus Christ in this life)
7. Jesus as the God-man said that He was the water of life, and if you drink from Him, you will have eternal life.
But when someone chooses not to drink from Him, or not to believe in HIM, the water of eternal life, then he is left in a place without water, and therefore we have a lake of fire, where there is not even a drop of water to wet the rich man’s tongue.
Again whatever qualities God is or has, which includes all things that are good, those qualities and benefits will not be in this place, because the unbeliever has chosen to be without God.
People will realize all good things on earth WERE from God, because hell will simply be absent of any good things.
Become a believer today.
Or you could die and be face to face with the Lord at the judgment seat, when it’s too late to believe in Him.
1 Peter 4:17-18
17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 AND IF IT IS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS IS SAVED,WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE GODLESS MAN AND THE SINNER?
John 12:47-49
47 “If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 ” He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.
Again in 2Thess 1:8-9
These (unbelievers) will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, only because they did not accept God’s grace offering of eternal life…
8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,
—————————
Satan’s appeal trial in the courtroom of heaven probably followed this line of argument: how can a loving God cast His creatures into hell?
Human history provides the answer.
When Satan appealed his sentence, God convened an appeal trial which is runs along with human history.
Consequently, man was created to resolve the angelic conflict and become part of that trial.
Before He created man, God anticipated man’s fall and in His matchless grace designed a plan to save all mankind through faith in Jesus Christ.
This is not something an unfair, unjust, unloving God would do and it is why salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone.
Furthermore, God created fabulous assets, privileges, and opportunities for every believer so that he might enjoy fellowship with God.
God’s grace is freely available to every human being but for anyone who refuses to believe in Jesus Christ, the only alternative is divine judgment.
God will honor their free will choice.
Human history displays God’s magnificent character and gracious policy to Satan, to all the angels, and to mankind, LUK 15:4-10.
Both fallen and elect angels are observing how human history is turning out.
History also demonstrates that no one goes to the eternal Lake of Fire or hell but by his own negative volition, JOH 3:18,36.
Obey the gospel! I beg you!
Wake up! We will all die one day and face our Creator! And you don’t want to wake up in Hell, so wake up NOW!
Forget about your past, forget about your negative beliefs, choose today to accept Jesus Christ as your God and Savior.
Only He has paid for your sins and made you acceptable to God , but you have to accept him to be saved; to accept the free gift of eternal life.
Do it now; in the privacy of your own soul you can simply tell God, your true Father, “I believe in your Son Jesus Christ.”
Believe in the Lord Jesus And you will be saved!