- George MacDonald, The Last Farthing

Hell is not a popular subject. We’d prefer it not be part of God’s creation (yes, God created it!), but we’re not calling the shots – and God has said there is a place where those who reject Him will be housed forever. But Hell needs to be talked about – it is no small wonder John the Baptist warned, “Flee from the wrath to come.” In Hell there is no death there, no time when the conscience is at ease. Hell is a place of desolation and great pain. It is a place where those who choose to be separate from God will get their eternal wish – separation from God forever. Hell was not created for man – it was created for Satan and his angels; if we refuse to follow God, we are rebels with Satan, whether we know it or not, and will join him there. Hell is for those who betray God – not vice versa. As real life is only found in God, so they will suffer the most extreme and real of deaths – a death that never ends! Revelation says that those in Hell will be “tormented day and night forever and ever,” in the “Lake of Fire.” Some people don’t like the idea of Hell, so they say, “I don’t believe that.” What does that change? Hell is paying a bill for your rejection of God – a bill that can never be paid; since it can never be paid, the bill just keeps coming around – the payments never stop. But do you know what the worst part of Hell is? The eternal torment of remembering that on such-and-such a day, the person say in church, heard the news of Hell, and didn’t do anything about it. Hell is knowing that you could have but never did address the issue of your eternal destiny. You didn’t take seriously the wrath of God. People in Hell remain fully conscious, have memories, conscience, and all physical senses intact – but it’s all agony! The memories are painful, your body is racked in pain, and you are all alone, in the darkness; think of the worst depression, and multiply it by a million. That’s Hell. The moment you step in, you’ll want to commit suicide – but you won’t be able to. Jesus was on the ball when He said, “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Some think Hell will be a big party – but Hell is solitary confinement. We were created as social creatures; we will be banished from one another, lost in our thoughts, our pain, our memories for eternity-upon-eternity-upon-eternity. There is no fellowship in Hell; no get-togethers, to parties, no reunions, no buffets. Hell does have varying degrees of punishment – those who knew more but rejected it will be punished far more than those who knew less and made the same decision. Yet even the slightest degree is beyond comprehension. No matter what you read, we’ll never be able to really understand – even catch a glimpse of – the tortures of Hell. And it will go on for eternity; how long is eternity? If you emptied the Pacific Ocean, the largest body of water in the world, and piled it full of sand as high as Mount Everest, you would have a huge pile, huge beyond comprehension! Now suppose you get a bird and trained it to pick up one grain of sand every million years. How long would it take that bird to empty the sand pile? A long time. We probably don’t have numbers to count that high! But guess what? When that bird has picked up that last grain of sand, you will have only spent your first second in Hell. That’s what I call an eternity. God doesn’t just come out of nowhere and boom on unsuspecting people who had no chance to do anything about their eternal destiny – God endures us with “much patience,” and is eager for us to turn from our sin and turn to Him for real life. God is patient, giving everyone space and time to change – but the decision is still theirs to make! Every one of us is a heartbeat from eternity – believers are a heartbeat from Heaven, and unbelievers a heartbeat from Hell. One heartbeat, one act of violence, one accident away from the judgment of God. God’s fury could blow the universe apart at any moment; the End could come at any second. Hell is not a place of jokes, because no one will be laughing. Hell is not a place for partying, because there will be no one to part with – just you and your pain. The Nile-infested slums of Africa become paradise when compared to what is to be experienced in Hell.