Bible Questions Answered:
Is hell a real place?
Debby L. / Smithfield, Utah
Bible Answer:
The Lord Jesus taught that hell, was a real place, with real people, in it's eternal agony, e.g. ...
Luke 16:19-31 NIV
19"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.
20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores
21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side (Paradise). The rich man also died and was buried.
23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.
24 So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'
25"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.
26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'
27"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house,
28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'
29"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'
30" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
31"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "
Abraham was a real person, (Patriarchal leader of Israel), Lazarus is a proper name of the beggar, the rich man's name is not given.
Jesus stated that in the next life, their roles were reversed.
Lazarus was in plenty (Paradise), and the selfish rich man in agony in hell.
He was in torment, “I am in agony in this fire,” physical pain.
He thirsted, but had no water (water cannot exist in a roaring furnace.)
He longed to be waited upon as he had been in his life of luxury, but Abraham told him that could not be.
And he was in mental agony over his five brothers.
If you thought this man got “Religion,” in hell,.....please dear friend, think again!
There is no “Regeneration,” in hell!!
There is no “Second-Chance,” in hell!!
Hebrews 9:27 KJV
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
But wasn't this lost man, showing real remorse over his brothers coming to hell?
NEVER!
He knew that one by one his brothers would come and make his misery in hell even worse, if that could be, by their coming and joining him in eternal torment, and all because they had followed their older brothers example!
Hell is a real place of unimaginal pain (physical, spiritual, mental).
Our Saviour warned:
Matthew 3:12 KJV “Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Matthew 8:11,12 KJV
[11] And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
[12] But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 10:28 KJV “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 13:41,42 KJV
[41] The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
[42] And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 18:8,9 KJV
[8] Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.
[9] And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
Matthew 25:41,46 KJV
(41) Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
[46] And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Mark 9:44 (46,48) KJV “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”
Daniel 12:2 KJV "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."
II Thessalonians 1:7-9 KJV “
[7] ...the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,
[8] In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
[9] Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power;
II Peter 2:14-17 KJV
[14] Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
[15] Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
[17] These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
Jude 6 NLB " ...the angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place where they belonged. God has kept them securely chained in prisons of darkness, waiting for the great day of judgment."
Jude 13 KJV “Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
Revelation 9:2,11 KJV
[2] And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
[11] And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
Revelation 14:10,11 KJV
(10)“The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Revelation 20:14,15 KJV
[14] And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
[15] And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Revelation 21:8 KJV “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Psalms 92:7 KJV “When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:”
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Ezekiel 18:23 NLT "Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.”
Acts 2:21 KJV “ And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
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