Jesus provided more information about the afterlife, “hell,” and “damnation”
than any other person in the Bible. He was more vivid and emphatic than
anyone else, saying things like this:
“The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his
kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of
teeth.
Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:41-43)
To this day, there’s disagreement about the nature of hell. Is it a literal burning
or a figure of speech? Either way, nobody can read all that Jesus said about hell
without realizing that it must be really, REALLY bad. (Read more great
examples and commentary here
at Crossway.org, TheGospelCoalition.org, and Christianity.com.)
Why is there such an awful place? Surely our Father isn’t so trite that He seeks
childish revenge on His children who don’t do what He says.
Not at all. The scriptures make clear that there are eternal, spiritual laws and
consequences for obeying or disobeying those laws. God’s laws. (See 1 John 3:4;
Isaiah 1:19; Galatians 6:7-9; 2 Corinthians 5:10)
When we violate those laws and live contrary to God’s goodness and light, we
must pay the required and inescapable penalty—unless we are saved through
Jesus Christ, who pays the price of our penalties if we believe in, love, and
follow Him. That’s the good news we usually talk about: God’s grace! It’s
completely unfair—an eternal bargain in our favor! God offers His grace while
warning us about ignoring Him.
Ignoring God and dismissing the thought of an afterlife while thinking, “Eat,
drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die,” comes at a terrible price. (See Isaiah
22:13, Ecclesiastes 8:15, 1 Corinthians 15:32, and Luke 12:19)