Hell: A Serious Reality
By Allen J. Dunckley, Th.D.

Mark 9:43-45 declares, "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than
having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the
fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life than having
two feet to be cast into Hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched."

Why proclaim a message on Hell and eternal punishment? Because Christians need to be reminded
about the reality of Hell and eternal punishment so that their efforts may be stirred up to warn
friends and loved ones of what the consequence is for rejecting the salvation that comes only
through the Lord Jesus Christ.

The unsaved are to be constantly brought face to face with the dogma of eternal punishment. First, they must
be challenged to accept and to receive God's gift of salvation through Jesus Christ repenting of their way of living
that is contrary to godliness. Second, we must teach those rejecting God's gift of salvation what the severe, eternal
consequence is for living in open rebellion against God, and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

Therefore, let us outline two questions that will give us a Scriptural perspective of Hell. First, what is meant
by the term Hell? Second, what does the Bible teach about Hell?

WHAT IS MEANT BY THE TERM HELL?
In a tailor shop, there is sometimes a receptacle into which the tailor discards unwanted, useless scraps of
material. They call this receptacle Hell, or the Hell-box. This is where the tailor would cast the flawed, unusable
material. Pieces of fabric that started out with value, yet for various reasons ended unusable and flawed. When
compared to the standard, the fabric could not measure up to it. Therefore, the tailor would cast it into the Hell-box.
Spiritually speaking God, too, has a place into which He will cast the "useless" and "unprofitable" elements
of mankind. Scripture calls this place Hell. One might object here to applying the words "useless" and
"unprofitable" to people, believing instead that all people have value and worth. Yet, we must keep in mind that
God measures the individual's worth by one's relationship to Jesus Christ, His Son. God does not measure it by
one's moral relationship to his fellow man. Nor does God measure it in how much good one does in the world
system. Repeat, God measures individual worth by their relationship solely with His Son, Jesus Christ.

The words "useless" and "unprofitable" simply mean "cannot be used; cannot cause a profit." How is it useful
or profitable for God that people have removed the right to pray, and to read Scripture from the public schools?
Truth is in the Bible, no where else. How is it useful or profitable for God that people accept the man made idea
of "evolution" instead of special Creation? How is it useful or profitable for God that people kill or persecute His
believers? How is it profitable for God that people make laws to outlaw the teaching of His Word, the Bible?
Since, such activity is an open display of a LOST condition; God will cast them into the terrors of Hell when they
Die.

What determines that a person is LOST? A person renders himself LOST when he turns down God's gift of
salvation. He displays his lost condition by laughing and scoffing at God's truth from the Bible. If the person
would die in this stated condition; he would enter consciously the place of fiery torments -- Hell. This is what
being lost means.
This destiny does
not change because one holds membership in a church somewhere. This destiny does not
change because one has himself baptized as a baby. The God of the Bible does not care anything about whether
lost individual belongs to a church or anything else. God is only looking to see if one belongs to His Son, Jesus
Christ!

How can a person belong to Jesus Christ? First, one must admit that he has committed sin, and he is therefore
a sinner. Second, one must also acknowledge that God provided Jesus of Nazareth to be his substitute in the
penalty of death. Third, one must realize that Jesus suffered in his place for his sin. Forth, one must personally
ask Jesus to come into his heart and be his personal Saviour. This is the only way a person can go to heaven. This
is the only way a person can be saved. This is the only way a person can have any kind of relationship with the
Almighty God of the universe.

The Origin of the Word Hell: The word "hell" comes to us from the Anglo-Saxon language. It was the
term they used for the place of the dead. There are two biblical words that originally stood for the same place.
These two words come from two different cultures: The Hebrew and the Greek. The Hebrew word is "sheol."
The Greek word is "Hades." Therefore, the English word "hell" is synonymous with the Hebrew, "sheol" and the
Greek, "Hades." The place of the dead is where lost humanity believed that his soul and spirit would go when he
died. This was common belief among many ancient people.

With this understanding, let us examine what the Bible says on the subject. Because of this general belief in
all cultures that everyone would go to a "better" place to live after death, God had to give Special revelation on
this subject. This He has done in His infallible Word, the Bible. Therefore, let us consider the second question:

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE TEACH ON THIS TOPIC?
The Bible uses SIX different words and phrases to reference the place of existence after the death of a lost
person. The term used in the Hebrew Old Testament is the word, "sheol." There are five concepts used in the
New Testament: Hades, Gehenna, Tartaros, the Lake of Fire, and the Second Death.

Sheol and Hades: The English Bible translates these terms most commonly with the word "hell." These
are three words from three different cultures for the same place. The Bible teaches that this is the where the lost
soul goes after the individual dies. (The saved individual goes directly into heaven because of asking Jesus into
His heart to take away his sin.) This is not purgatory; it is Hell. It involves at this time only those who do not ask
Christ into their lives. Hades/Hell in the future will be cast into the Lake of Fire.

Gehenna: This word is the word our Lord Jesus Christ used to talk about the conscious suffering of the lost.
The English translators mistakenly translated it also as "hell." This resulted in much confusion concerning
whether in hell the punishment is eternal. Jesus taught that the torments of "Gehenna" would never cease. This
should be more accurately seen as a biblical synonym for the Lake of Fire, and the Second Death.

Tartaros: God uses this word only once in the Bible, in Second Peter, Chapter Two, and verse four. This is
the dwelling place designated prison for the unbearably evil spirits that followed Satan in his fall. This is the "pit"
from which these evil spirits will be released when God’s Judgment comes upon the earth, (see Revelation
9:1-12).

The Lake of Fire and the Second Death: God reveals in the Book of Revelation the fact that all that were
not found written in the Lamb's Book of Life were "cast into the Lake of Fire . . ." (Revelation 20:1, 20). This is
the final place of existence for all who die having never asked Jesus to come into their hearts to take away their
sin. This also should be understood as where the Christ-rejecter will experience the "Second Death."

The Second Death: Death in the Bible denotes nothing other than SEPARATION. Death does not mean
soul sleep; it does not mean annihilation. It never means cessation of existence. It only means separation. The
body becomes lifeless when its source of life, the soul, separates from it; this the Bible teaches is physical death.
Spiritual death is the state where a person's soul is separated from God. This does not mean that they are no longer in God’s presence since God is omipresent but that they are separated from God relationally. They have no viable relationship with God and God has no viable relationship with them. Since God is the soul's source of Spiritual life, an individual who is in this state has no spiritual life at all. This person is vulnerable to the devil who will offer a substitute spirituality to replace the one that God alone should occupy. The Second Death emphasizes the permanence of the individual's spiritual, relational separation from God.

The Nature of Hell: From a consideration of the above ideas, we can see that hell will be a place for all those
who die having rejected Jesus Christ. But what kind of place is it? The devil and his crowd would like to play
down the Biblical teachings concerning hell, and eternal punishment. Yet, the Bible is clear in its teaching that
hell is a real place. In Luke chapter sixteen, verses nineteen through thirty-one, Jesus gives the account of the
Rich man and Lazarus. This is not a parable, for Jesus uses real names; something that He NEVER does in
parables. In this story Jesus reveals several things about Hades/Hell. First it is a place that the dead depart to at
death. Since it is a story that happened before Calvary, this story shows that both the believer and the unbeliever
wound up there after death. It reveals that both these departed souls experience conscious existence. Next it
reveals that the one who was not a believer is in a state of excruciating suffering and pain. Also it reveals that
mental activity takes place. The rich man is reasoning out what has happened. Through it, he desires that
someone go and warn the living part of his family not to come to where he is. His extreme thirst suggests just
how intensely hot it will be to a person's conscious awareness.

The Duration of Hell: Hell is the place to which the unsaved soul departs now at death. Will it remain there
forever? The answer to this question is found in the last Book in the Bible, the Book of Revelation. Revelation
20:14, 15 instruct us that Hades/Hell will give up the dead. This means that the lost soul will be resurrected only
to stand before the White Throne Judgment to receive its eternal sentence, the Second Death. In one sense,
Hades/Hell can be seen as temporal; but, the key here is this: God will cast the fiery torments of Hades/hell into
the Lake of Fire thus combining it with the fiery punishment there. The location of the lost soul changes but not
his punishment.

The Second Death will be "lived" out eternally in the Lake of Fire. The Bible teaches clearly that from these
eternal flames of punishment there is NO escape or pardon. Note the words of our Savior when He says that "the
fire that NEVER shall be quenched . . .” with, " . . . and their worm dieth not . . ." (Mark 9:43 - 48). These words,
as used in the context, emphasize the solemn truth that there is no way out. The existence will be forever a state
of conscious existence. There will be no relief, no rest, no sleep, and no end.

The Bible teaches us that ALL who reject God's Way of salvation will be condemned to the eternal flame!
Note the solemn words of our Saviour in John 3:36, “He that hath the Son, hath life; he that hath not the Son hath
not life but the wrath [conscious hell-fire] abides [remains] upon him." See, God has already passed the Judgment
for the unsaved, Christ-rejecting person. God has already given them their judgment. Therefore, at the White
Throne Judgment of God, the only thing that the Christ rejecter receives is his sentence. This is why the unsaved
person goes directly into conscious punishment at death. There is no "soul-sleep" involved as the Seventh Day
Adventists, and Jehovah's Witnesses erroneously teach.

Life and salvation are in Jesus Christ ONLY. The words of Colossians 3:4 bear this out when God refers to
Christ as "our life." In John fourteen and verse six, Jesus Himself teaches that He is the Way, the Truth, and the
Life and that not one person in the entire world can come into heaven, into the presence of God, by any other way
"except through Him." The Apostle Peter teaches us this truth under the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit saying,
"Nether is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we
must be saved." (See Acts 4:12).

In summary, the English word hell is synonymous with the Hebrew, Sheol, and the Greek, Hades. Second,
the Bible teaches that when unbelieving men die, their soul goes into the fires of Hades/hell. Third, the Bible
teaches that hade/hell is a place of conscious torment. Forth, the Bible teaches that all people who die in a state
of having rejected God's Way of Salvation will enter the eternally condemned state of the Lake of Fire forever,
and ever.

You, dear reader, must choose to be either a "vessel fitted for the Master's use" or a vessel "fitted for
destruction," (Romans 9:22). Those who are unprofitable vessels have "fitted themselves" to destruction by
hindering God's work, and rejecting His Son Jesus Christ. Therefore, like those useless bits of fabric in the tailor's
shop, God will cast the lost soul into the "Hell-box" of God's eternal wrath.

The only way to avoid God's condemnation is to ask Jesus Christ into your heart NOW to take away your sin
and to be your Saviour. Do it TODAY for tomorrow may be too late.

As Christians, we must actively tell the Salvation message to those with whom God has given us contact --
friends, neighbors, acquaintances, and relatives. This is the only way the Church can be built -- universally,
corporately, and locally.

"For God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life,” John 3:16.




© 1989 AJD