Hell is Real
Friends, there is a doctrine that the modern world hates above almost all others. It hates it more than it hates the cross. More than it hates the resurrection. More than it hates the virgin birth. And that doctrine, dear friends, is Hell. Everlasting. Conscious. Punishment. The world will tolerate a pleasant Jesus who dispenses affirmation and warm feelings. But the Jesus of Scripture the Lord who warned of the fire that never shall be quenched that Jesus they cannot abide.
But here is the question that matters: not what the world thinks, and not what makes us comfortable. The only question that matters is what does the infallible, God-breathed Word of God actually say?
Matthew 25:46
"And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."
King James Version (KJV)
There it is. From the very lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. Two destinies. Two eternities. Notice, friends, that the same word everlasting is applied to both. The life of the righteous is everlasting. The punishment of the wicked is everlasting. You cannot strip the eternity from the punishment without stripping it from the life. They stand or fall together. If you wish to argue that Hell is temporary, consistency demands you argue that Heaven is temporary too. And that is a door no honest man wants to open.
What the Lord Himself Said
Do not let anyone tell you that Hell is an invention of fearful medieval priests. The most prolific teacher of Hell in the entire Bible is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He spoke of it plainly, repeatedly, and with great urgency. This is why:
Mark 9:43
"And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched."
King James Version (KJV)
The fire that never shall be quenched. This is not poetic exaggeration. This is the Son of God, who cannot lie, issuing a solemn and terrible warning to mortal men. He says it is better to suffer amputation better to go through this life broken and incomplete than to arrive at eternity whole in body and consigned to that unquenchable fire. That is the weight the Lord places upon this. That is how seriously He regards it.
The Testimony of Prophecy and Apostle
This is not merely the teaching of the New Testament. Daniel, writing centuries before the incarnation, already saw what was coming for those who reject God:
Daniel 12:2
"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."
King James Version (KJV)
Everlasting contempt. Mark that phrase. And then the Apostle John, exiled on Patmos, given the Revelation of Jesus Christ Himself, confirms what Daniel saw across the centuries:
Revelation 14:11
"And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."
King James Version (KJV)
No rest day nor night. For ever and ever. This is not annihilation. This is not a temporary purgatorial refinement. This is conscious, unending, torment. And note who else testifies to it Jude, the half-brother of the Lord Himself, points to Sodom and Gomorrah as an example, "suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (Jude 1:7). These cities are gone. Burnt to ash. Yet Jude holds them up as a picture of the eternal punishment to come. The fire that consumed them in time is a shadow of the fire that is unquenched in eternity.
Why Preachers Don't Preach It
Friends, the reason Hell is not preached is not because the Bible is unclear. The Bible could not be clearer. The reason it is not preached is because it is unpopular. And a preacher who avoids unpopular truth is not a shepherd he is a hireling (John 10:12). Hell must be preached because it is true. And because, if it is true, then the Gospel the good news that Jesus Christ died to save sinners from it is the most urgent, the most glorious, and the most necessary message in all of human history. You cannot rightly preach the cross without Hell. The cross only makes sense when you understand what it saves us from.
Dear friends, do not harden your hearts. The same Word that declares Hell to be real declares that whosoever believeth in Jesus Christ shall not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). The door is open. The warning is plain. And the Saviour is mighty to save.
Jude 1:7
"Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."
King James Version (KJV)
