What do we know about Hell?
All the passages below are taken from Anne Graham Lotz’s book “Just Give Me Jesus” published in 2000.
Hell is a place of physical agony, mental suffering, and emotional sorrow. Jesus described it as a place where there is gnashing of teeth and weeping. "So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 13:49-50 NKJV)
Hell is a place of insecurity and fear. The Bible describes it as a “bottomless pit”, an abyss (Revelation 20:1). Imagine the terror of constantly falling, trying desperately to grab onto something---anything---to stop the fall. Hell is a place where one lives with the constant, conscious awareness of imminent danger.
Hell is a place of instability. It is described as a lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). A lake changes, fluctuates, with no firm surface on which to stand. Hell is a place where every moment is lived in uncertainty.
Hell is a place of darkness (Jude 13). It is totally devoid of light. Have you ever heard people quip that they want to go to hell to be with their friends? You might want to point out that while their friends may be in hell, they will never be seen. It’s pitch black in hell; there’s nothing to distract people from their suffering and sorrow and fears and insecurities and instability. When we are sick, our suffering seems to intensify in the middle of the night. We long for the daylight to come. Somehow just the light of day makes us feel better. But in hell the dawn never comes.
Hell is a place of loneliness. Each person is there alone. He or she may be able to hear the weeping and gnashing of teeth of others, but there is no one to talk to, no one to cry with, no one to even yell at. Each person is isolated in hate and bitterness and jealousy and pride and selfishness and meanness.
Hell is a place of dissatisfaction. Jesus described it as a fire (Matthew 5:22). It may be a literal fire that creates a physical sensation of burning or just an overwhelming yearning for God, for love, for joy, for peace, for life that will never be. It must be the equivalent of being intensely thirsty yet never having a drop of water. Or intensely hungry with never a crumb to eat.
Hell is a place of eternal separation from God (Matthew 7:23). Each person who goes to hell will be separated forever from the source of life, the heart of love, the very One for Whom he or she was created.
God doesn’t send anyone to hell. You send yourself there when you refuse His gracious offer of salvation: “For God so loved the world that he gave his One and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” BUT if you refuse to believe, you will perish. You will go to hell. The choice is yours.
Our desperate need for eternal life is met in Jesus Christ. All you and I need to do is receive Him. (84-85)