You may have heard the phrase Dante’s Inferno. It’s part of a poem by fourteenth century Italian writer Dante Alighieri. It describes the journey of a man through hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. The fictional Inferno is composed of nine concentric circles of torment. As the character goes deeper into each circle, he encounters increasing wickedness, by people who try to justify their sins and are unrepentant.[1]Inferno tries to paint a picture of a place so terrible that all who read of it would fear finding themselves there. As a leader, do you ever contemplate what will happen to you after you die?
Interestingly, more people believe in angels and heaven (69%) than in hell or the devil (57%).[2] Yet we use hell in our culture as a generalized destination for everyone who is sinful or evil, even if it’s just in our own experience. Have you ever said, “This is a living hell” to describe a horrible situation? Or maybe you’ve had a combat experience that makes you agree with the phrase, “War is hell.” Have you been so disappointed or angered by someone that you wished they would “go to hell!?” Western cultures have a view of justice that centers on guilt and innocence. Good people are rewarded, and bad people are punished—and for religious adherents this happens on an eternal scale. If good people go to heaven, then bad people go to a place of eternal torture and punishment—that’s hell. Is this a reasonable view to hold as a leader? What is the Bible’s view?
The Bible describes hell as prison of everlasting chains from which there is no hope of release (Jude 6). It is a furnace of conscious torment where the fire never goes out (Matthew 13:49-50). It is a place of excruciating misery where the worm does not die (Mark 9:47-48). It’s a place of black darkness (2 Peter 2:17). Hell is a lake that burns with fire and sulfur (Revelation 21:8). It is a place of agonizing thirst that can never be quenched (Luke 16:22-24). Hell is inescapable pain, torment, torture, evil, day and night, forever and ever. If we believe that God is real and the Bible is His true account, then we must also believe that hell is real. Hell exists. And a great many people—the majority of people, in fact—are headed there for all eternity.
Cultural hell. R.C. Sproul explains that we have a “tendency to use the word hell as a descriptive term for the most ghastly human experience possible. Yet no human experience in this world is actually comparable to hell. If we try to imagine the worst of all possible suffering in the here and now we have not yet stretched our imaginations to reach the dreadful reality of hell. Hell is trivialized when it is used as a common curse word.”[3] Indeed the suffering one would encounter in hell is beyond all comparison to the worst suffering we could possibly encounter on earth. To truly contemplate hell should really terrify us.
As Christian leaders, we don’t often delve into the topic of hell. It is difficult and uncomfortable. Even when sharing the Gospel, we avoid hell as a negative outcome. We may call people to repent from sin and follow Jesus, but we seldom dig down into the consequences for those who choose to go their own way in life apart from Christ. After all we don’t want to frighten people or make them think we’re some kind of religious zealot, having a view of the afterlife filled with souls suffering in eternal damnation. Hell honestly doesn’t make for good conversation around the conference table.
What happens in hell? Many Christian theologians describe hell as a place in which God is absent. After all, if Christ-followers are with God in heaven, then it follows by some logic that everyone in hell does not enjoy God’s presence. But the reality is that you will indeed find God in hell. What is He doing there? He is meting out His holy wrath and perfect justice upon those present. Hell is a place where God’s everlasting comfort and peace and freedom from pain is absent, even though He Himself is present. Hell is a place where God’s holiness will be fully understood by those who rejected Him, and so must pay the high price of their sins.
Philippians 2:9-11 teaches of Jesus that “God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Who are those “under the earth?” This group includes satan and all his demons and all those who are condemned to hell. Imagine dying, discovering the reality of hell, and accepting the reality of Jesus Christ as Lord. But you won’t join satan and all the hordes of evil in cursing God, because God will not permit it. Instead, all the occupants of hell will bow before God’s holy presence, even as they suffer the cost of their sins for all eternity.
Who says a lot about hell? It was Jesus Who spoke more about hell than anyone else in the Bible.[4]Jesus says, “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:41-42). Jesus also refers to hell as a place of “eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:46). Notice how this description is the polar opposite of heaven, a place of “eternal life”.
Hell is not a place where Jesus sends people who reject Him. The truth is that people send themselves to hell because they make choices that lead to hell. But Jesus explains that the rebellious choices people make are really deserving of hell. He taught, “Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to [that is, guilty of, or deserving of] the hell of fire” (Matthew 5:22). Jesus spent a considerable portion of His teaching time on earth warning people about the wrath of God and the punishment for their sins that awaited them in hell—that is, if they refused to repent (turn away from their evil deeds) and surrender their lives to Himself.
Fear hell. Fear God. We should have an awe, reverence and respect for God. But we should also have a fear of God. The Bible teaches that fear is a healthy facet of our understanding of God because of His power, righteousness and wrath. Jesus said, “Fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (Luke 12:5). Honestly most people do not fear hell because their belief in God is centered on the fact He is good and loving. So how could He send anyone to hell, if it even exists. But the Bible paints a picture of God that is love, but equally He is just. We should fear God because of Who He is, and the dire consequence of hell for those who do not follow Him.
In life we may go through suffering and challenges. We experience loss, death, pain, destruction. We’re surrounded by wars, terrorists, liars, cheats, thieves, adulterers. People go hungry. Others are homeless. Many people could describe their lives as “a living hell”. You may look at the Bible’s depiction of hell and think, “I’m already there.” But there is a great difference in the evils of earth and the reality of hell. And that is, one is permanent and the other is not. As bad as things may be on earth, they can get better. And you have the opportunity to know Jesus and avoid the permanent, never-ending hell that awaits after death.
Not yet. Thankfully we’re not yet in hell. But among the greatest mistakes we can make today is to simply assume that paradise awaits us upon death. Jesus warns, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
Similarly Dante Alighieri wrote in Inferno, “There is no greater sorrow than thinking back upon a happy time in misery.” What a terrible fate! To believe by one’s deeds that you had earned your way into heaven, only to find out you did not have a relationship with the One Person who could open the door. Many upon death will look back and long for the lost opportunity to make a different choice and choose a different fate. Alas, hell will be their last destination. Alighieri’s haunting poem should make us shiver a little:
“I am the way into the city of woe,
I am the way into eternal pain,
I am the way to go among the lost.
“Justice caused my high architect to move,
Divine omnipotence created me,
The highest wisdom, and the primal love.
“Before me there were no created things
But those that last forever—as do I.
Abandon all hope you who enter here.”
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_(Dante)
[2] https://apnorc.org/projects/belief-in-angels-and-heaven-is-more-common-than-belief-in-the-devil-or-hell/
[3] https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/hell
[4] https://www.crossway.org/articles/jesus-said-more-about-hell-than-anyone-in-the-bible/
Cover image: Shutterstock
On the surface the story of Job may seem a cruel game. A faithful man, he suffers greatly, questions God, and receives God’s pointed response. How should we lead when faced with trials and difficulty?