Is Hell a Real Place?

Nobody likes to talk about Hell. It's an uncomfortable subject; the prospect of unsaved people tormented in outer darkness forever. It's much more pleasant to imagine that Hell is simply a metaphor, or that unsaved souls simply cease to exist after death.

According to a recent survey, just over 80 percent of Americans believe in some form of afterlife, and 71 percent believed in Hell. However, how those 71 percent defined "Hell" varied from person to person. According to this survey, only one-third of Americans believe that Hell is an actual place of punishment:

• "While there is no dominant view of Hell, two particular perspectives are popular.
• Four out of ten adults believe that Hell is "a state of eternal separation from God’s presence" (39%) and one-third (32%) says it is "an actual place of torment and suffering where people’s souls go after death."
• A third perspective that one in eight adults believe is that "Hell is just a symbol of an unknown bad outcome after death" (13%)."

What does the Bible say about Hell? The Bible, however, describes a place of punishment for those who die in their sins. Three different words are translated "Hell" in the Bible:

1. Sheol - the grave, the place of the dead: (Num 16:33; Job 24:19; Ps 9:17; 31:17). Sheol is described as deep (Job 11:8), dark (Job 10:21,22), with bars (Job 17:16). The dead "go down" to it (Num 16:30,33; Eze 31:15,16,17).
2. Hades - the home of disembodied spirits. Hades refers to the abode of the unsaved dead prior to the great white throne judgment (Rev. 20:11-15). It is a prison (1 Pet 3:19) with gates and bars and locks (Matt 16:18 Rev 1:18) and it is downward (Matt 11:23 Luke 10:15).
3. Gehenna - the trash heap outside Jerusalem in the time of Christ: Here the dead bodies of animals and of criminals, and all kinds of filth, were cast and consumed by fire, always kept burning. It thus, in process of time, became the idiom of the place of everlasting destruction. Jesus uses it in this sense 11 times (Matt 5:22,29,30; 10:28 18:9; 23:15,33; Mark 9:43,45,47; Luke 12:5).

The Rich Man and Lazarus:

The most poignant description of Hell is Jesus' story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), in which the wicked rich man ended up in torment in the flames of Hades, while Lazarus was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man was quite conscious of his predicament and longed for just a drop of water to soothe his tongue, "for I am tormented in this flame." Jesus frames this as a true story and not as a parable.

Why Would God Create Hell?

Hell was not created for humans, but for Satan and his angels (Matt 25:41). God gave His Son to die for mankind so that all who believe in him can have eternal life (John 3:16), and He does not want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). But, those who reject the sacrifice of the Lamb of God will be subject to the punishment their sins deserve (Rev. 21:8). God is merciful and patient and full of love, but He is also perfectly holy and perfectly just, and nothing that defiles will be allowed into Heaven (Rev. 21:27).

While many Christians will say, "Yes, I believe in Hell," we often do not act like it. If we truly recognized that the unsaved people in our lives might die tomorrow and end up in eternal punishment, we might appreciate the urgency of telling them about the good news of the Gospel. Hell is not a scare tactic. It is a real danger that every one of us faces. The great gift of our loving God is freedom from that punishment, and eternity with Him in Paradise.

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

1 Peter 3:15