Showing posts with label Hell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hell. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Why Does God Send People to Hell?

Matthew 18:12-14 – "What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in Heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”

Ezekiel 18:23, 31-32 – “‘Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?’ declares the Sovereign LORD. ‘Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone,’ declares the Sovereign LORD. ‘Repent and live!’”

God does not want to send people to Hell, but He does give them free will. If someone will not turn to Him and accept His forgiveness, then they’ve basically said that they don’t want to be with God in Heaven. Since God will not force them to go to Heaven, there is only one alternative for them. They have to go somewhere when they die. That place is Hell. If they have rejected Heaven, then they have chosen Hell by default.

If we accept the temporary nature of Hell, we can say that God allows people to go to Hell to “learn their lesson.”




What is Hell Like?

Hell is described most frequently as something like:

1. A fiery furnace.

Matthew 13:41-42 –The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 
2. Or a lake of fire.

Revelation 20:15 – If anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Luke 16:19-31 – There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 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.’

“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. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

“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.’”

Matthew 25:46 – "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

 
From these verses, we learn that:

  • Hell is a fiery furnace or a lake of fire. People are in agony and physical pain in Hell. They long for someone to give them a drink because of the heat.
  • They are weeping and grinding their teeth.
  • Hell is punishment.