To Encourage You

Matthew 25:30 “And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Do you ever think about what Hell is like? The Bible has a lot to say about it. For one, it is a real place. Matthew 25:30 calls it just that, a “place.” It’s not a place Christians dreamed up. Who indeed would want there to be such a place? But it is a place the Bible talks about over and over again. It is a place of complete and utter darkness – terrifying. Everyone there is weeping and gnashing their teeth. It’s a place of constant and unrelenting agony and constant regret. It’s a place where everyone knows it could have been different for them, but it is a place that will never be different. It is forever. No one that is there wants anyone else to come there. The sounds of Hell – weeping and wailing. Gnashing of teeth in extreme agony – constant fire, constant burning. Constant thirst, where even a drop of water on the tongue will be longed for but will never be received (Luke 16:24). Can you imagine a place where there is no rest? Constant pain, constant darkness, constant exhaustion, with no let up, no breaks. Forever. That is how the Bible describes it.

Many people don’t believe in Hell, not on the basis of any real knowledge, but on basis of just not wanting to believe there is such a place. This is exactly what Jesus warned when he said that the gate was wide leading to destruction, and many would enter it (Matthew 7:13). It is a place where there is nothing good. No friendship, no laughing, no music, no sunshine, no food, no water, nothing. It is a place of terrifying isolation and separation from everything and everyone you have ever loved. It is a place where there is a constant awareness of being “lost.” Have you ever been lost, or lost someone, such as your own child in a crowded location, and had that feeling? I have, and it is horrible.

Jesus warned us over and over about Hell. He has pleaded with us to follow Him and thus escape it. He is the only Savior, the only hope, the only Way to the Father. Jesus said ‘’For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life.” And he also said “God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:16-17).” Jesus warned us to “flee the wrath to come. (Matthew 3:7).”

Will you flee from hell and to Christ? Or, if you already know Jesus and have security and hope in Him – will you warn others?