What is hell? Is hell real? Jesus had a few things to say about this.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, the life. No one gets to God except through me (John 14;6).” All of humanity is in sin, by nature and by choice. We all fall short of the glory of God because of Adam and Eve. Forget Adam and Eve and consider your own life; have you cheated? Lied? Lusted? Stolen? This is sin. It condemns you and disqualifies you from heaven and the presence of God. You are guilty of breaking His law, you are under His wrath, and He will punish you for your sin. Your only hope is Jesus. If you repent and turn from your sin to follow Him, Jesus takes the punishment for your sin and you are born again, given new life. You will spend eternity with Him in heaven; Hallelujah! Good for you! Have you entrusted your life to Christ?
But if you don’t choose to follow Him, His wrath and punishment remain, and you will die and go to hell. Jesus called it, “the outer darkness, that place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 25:30).” He tells the people who don’t follow Him, “Go away, I never knew you (Matthew 7:23).” He says, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (Matt 25:41-46).” He described hell as a place of unquenchable fire, where, “their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:43-48).” Hell is real, and it won’t be a place to party with all your friends. You will be miserable forever.
In John’s vision of Revelation, he warned the people who did not follow God, “You will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of His anger, and you will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of your torment goes up forever and ever, and you have no rest, day or night (Revelation 14:9-11).” Hell will be an eternity of torment, day and night, forever and ever (Rev 20:10). The cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, the murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, all those who do not follow Jesus, will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death (Rev 21:8). Is this where you’ll be?
Hell is forever, an eternal and conscious punishment. But you don’t have to go there. The good news is the gospel of Jesus. Repent of your sin and follow Him now while you still have time, before it’s too late.