Why Was Hell Made?

Hell was “prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell . . . to be reserved unto judgment” (2 Peter 2:4).

Who Will Be in Hell?

“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17). “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” (Revelation 20:13, 14). “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

Are Hell’s Fires Eternal?

“And the smoke of the torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night” (Revelation 14:11). “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48).

May a Sinner Be Saved After Death?

“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

The god that people would like to believe in is not the God of the Bible. Like a dead tree trunk, the popular god has no eyes to see, no ears to hear, and no arm with which to punish the ungodly.

The God of the Bible dashed sinning nations to pieces as we would break pottery. But the god of modern man has no judgment in his hand; he has sheathed his sword and is sitting down—an indulgent weakling! The arm that once visited vengeance upon unrepentant sinners now hangs nerveless and, they think, paralyzed! That is their god. Why worship men’s wishes? “These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself” (Psalm 50:21). Such is not the God of the Bible.

The true God is unchangeable. “I am the Lord, I change not,” is a word that hits modern thought and popular infidelity on the cheek and that will one day put an end to all unbelief.

He who reduced the city of Sodom to ashes, who destroyed Jericho with its inhabitants, and who gave Jerusalem to the Roman armies is the one who says, “I am the Lord, I change not.” And what He has done before, He can do again.

God is merciful and just. By giving the Old Testament Law at Sinai, He set forth His justice. By sending Christ to die for our redemption at Calvary, He is shown to be just and merciful. A god who is all mercy and who is not just is an idol of your imagination; He is not the God of the Bible. Justice and mercy are the pillars of God’s throne; and the day you take away justice and the punishment of sin, you have denied the true God and made one of your own imagination—one who is not the God of the Bible, the God of Calvary, the God of heaven.

There is a hell; be sure of that. The Hebrew people took their idea of that awful place from Hinnom’s Vale, a deep gorge on one side of Jerusalem. Here King Manasseh passed his children through the fire to a god called Moloch while the thunder drums drowned their dying screams. It was the sewer of the city—the abominable receptacle of every conceivable filth and impurity, and to consume it, fires were kept constantly burning, and the stenchful smoke always lay over that horrid vale. What a vivid illustration of hell!

There is a hell, though some tell us that all alike, saint and sinner, will turn up in heaven at last. They say that the murderer and the murdered, the seducer and the seduced, the hater and the hated, the robber and the robbed will all be in heaven at last. They believe that all these are to receive God’s blessing at the judgment throne! A strange heaven indeed where the hypocrites and whoremongers, drunkards and back­ biters and blasphemers dwell with the saints in heaven in the undefiled home of God! You cannot throw sin off as you do your clothes; it is a part of you and will live when the sun and moon pass away.

Others contend that they will die like a dog. One has said, “I die a sinner and am nowhere ever after. The coffin that holds my body is the grave of my soul; and, of course, punishment of any kind in eternity is an impossibility.” But this is not what God says.

To your Bibles, men, and let us have the truth, whatever it may be. The eternal God has spoken; hear what He says: “The wicked shall be turned into hell” (Psalm 9:17). Three times in one chapter (Mark 9), our tender-hearted Saviour speaks of a worm that never dies and of fire that never shall be quenched. Now, as your soul is at stake, answer these questions: Did the Lord Jesus lie when He spoke of the unquenchable fire? Did the Son of God picture a lie when He showed us the rich man lifting up his eyes in torments and begging a drop ofwater to cool his tongue? Did He mean to frighten souls with lying pictures of that which never existed? “Of course not,” you say, “for God cannot lie.” Well, then, let that settle the question forever.

If there is no hell, there is no heaven, for they have the same foundation—God’s truth. If hell be a fable, heaven is a fable too. There is as much proof in the Bible for hell as for heaven. The threatenings of eternal punishment are as numerous as the promises of eternal happiness.

There is a hell. To the extent that you love your soul, let not doubt rest in your mind on this point. If there is no hell, then Jesus is not God, for the Book that tells of the one also tells of the other.

We plead with you to “flee from the wrath to come.” Confess your sins, own Christ as your Saviour, and so make sure that you will not go to that terrible place prepared for the devil and his angels. “The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath” (Proverbs 15:24).

Your Sin May Be Completely Forgiven

“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19).

“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7).

“Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16).

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