That is not a very pleasant question is it? Perhaps you would rather not think about it. Do remember, though, it is better to face an unpleasant reality than to live in a fools paradise. This is especially true where your eternal destiny is concerned.

Many people today deny that hell is a real place. They say: If there is a God, then he loves and accepts us as we are; he doesn’t mean us to take that stuff about hell literally. Now, that is cosy, isn’t it! If they are right we could sin without worrying about the consequences. We could breath a sigh of relief, tell our conscience to shut up, and get on with ignoring God and breaking His law. She’ll be right, there is nothing to fear.

Well, bad news, I am afraid. God says otherwise.

Hell is a real place. It is as real as the world in which we now live. God tells us it is the place where the souls of the wicked are cast immediately at their death, there to experience God’s wrath, as they await the resurrection of their body and the final judgment, (Luke 16:23, 24Acts 1:25Jude 6,7). It is the place where, after the judgment, the wicked will be plunged, body and soul, forever – time without end, (Matthew 25:41,462 Thes.1:8-9).

What is it like? It is revealed as a place of unspeakable torments of body and soul, and the complete absence of the comforting presence of God. The Lord Jesus Christ describes it this way: “the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched,” (Mark 9:44). From this horrible pit there is no possibility of escape, and from its torments there is no hope of relief.

God tells us about this before hand for two reasons; so that we might be warned, and wake up to our need of the Saviour He has sent, and so that any who refuse to obey the gospel of Jesus Christ will have no excuse. God will have the last word.

Be reconciled to God, while there is still hope.

Rev C J Connors