Tuesday; October 25

The other day I was a part of a “Question And Answer” session in a Bible Class. Now, before you ask if I have lost my mind, we didn’t take live questions from the audience, we asked that they submit them beforehand so we could be prepared. One question submitted was “What happens in hell?”. When I first thought about the question, I reflected on the obvious biblical references, including a response from one of Jesus’ parables, “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels …” (Matthew 25:41). While this sounds bad enough, I also got to thinking about another layer of hell – it is the place separated from God. Imagine, if you would, the worst and most dangerous place in the world filled with opportunists and evil people who believe in survival of the meanest. They do what they want and have no conscience nor any redeeming value. Yet, there is one more layer – there is no hope for rescue or redemption. Without God’s protection or regulation imposed by a concern for His values, they continue to torment people. At the heart of this evil is satan who hates God and His creation! That doesn’t sound like much fun, does it? As I thought about it, the fear of living for an eternity being abused by absolute evil is as scary as suffering in the heat of an eternal fire. I realize this detailed description isn’t found in the biblical text, but I do know a couple of things. First, I cannot fully imagine what hell will be like and, second, I do know that I don’t want to be there!

The good news is that as long as we have breath in this life we can repent of our evil ways and set our sights on heaven. Are you certain of your eternal future? If not, is it worth the risk of ending up in hell?

Think About It!

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