Eternal Questions - One Eternal Answer
This article is hard to write. But in truth, it will be—and should be—much harder for anyone facing an unsure future and considering the questions: What happens when I die? And where will I spend all eternity? Frankly, it’s better to consider these questions now, than risk not being able to later.
Right up front, let's confirm one truth:
You will die.
Now, let's dispel one misconception:
There is no possibility of spending all eternity—regardless of your ultimate destination.
You cannot spend what is limitless. Further, all implies boundaries. For eternity, there are none.
We hear the term, I’m going to spend a week in the mountains, or I’m going to spend the summer in Mallorca. And these things you can do; but when those time frames are complete, they have been spent.
In eternity, we have no time frame; no point at which we will depart or change location. You cannot spend what is inexhaustible, and you cannot establish walls by applying the term all, which implies boundaries.
Therefore, wherever you go when you die, there you will be. If it is heaven, then shout alleluia!
But if it’s not, it will be hot, dark, and lonely. So remember, you can’t “wear it out” or “jump the fence”. It just … is.
THE REALITY OF HELL
The Bible does not present hell merely as a figure of speech, nor as a temporary place from which a person might eventually escape. Jesus Himself spoke plainly of an eternal punishment awaiting those who remain separated from God.
Speaking of the final judgment, Jesus said:
—Matthew 25:46
The significance of His words is difficult to escape. The same verse that describes the life of the redeemed as eternal describes the punishment of the lost as eternal. Scripture offers no suggestion that one eventually comes to an end while the other continues forever.
Jesus repeatedly used terrible imagery to describe that judgment. He spoke of “outer darkness” and of “weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30).
Elsewhere, He warned of the “fire that shall never be quenched” (Mark 9:43).
Revelation ultimately describes the final destination of the lost as the “lake of fire” and “the second death” (Revelation 20:14–15).
These descriptions present a terrible combination: fire and darkness; suffering and loss; exclusion and despair.
Yet perhaps the most dreadful description of all is found in 2 Thessalonians 1:9. Those who reject the gospel will suffer everlasting destruction “from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”
Consider what that means.
Every good thing mankind has ever known ultimately has its source in God. Love. Beauty. Joy. Comfort. Hope. Friendship. Mercy. Light itself. Even people who want nothing to do with God presently live in a world touched everywhere by His goodness.
Hell is the final loss of that blessing.
There will be no expectation that tomorrow might be better. No possibility that the sentence might someday be completed. No door waiting to open. No countdown toward release. No hope that after a thousand years—or a million—the suffering will finally have been spent.
It will not have been.
Revelation describes torment continuing “day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10), while Jesus contrasts “eternal punishment” with “eternal life.”
Scripture therefore gives us no basis for imagining that eternity eventually exhausts itself.
And therein may lie one of the greatest horrors of hell: hopelessness.
On earth, even in terrible circumstances, we can hope. We can hope for morning. For healing. For rescue. For another opportunity. For someone to come through the door.
But final judgment is final.
That is why the message of Jesus Christ is not merely an invitation to improve this life. It is God's offer of salvation from a judgment no human being could ever undo. The question of what we do with Jesus Christ is therefore not merely important.
It is eternal.
If you have not yet entered into an open expression of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, hear the words of the apostle Paul as quoted from 1 Corinthians 15:1-8:
For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
This is the gospel that saves.
And to confirm belief, Paul further stated from Romans 10:9:
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
THE CHOICE IS YOURS
With the gospel as clearly stated as this, there is no reason or excuse for anyone reading this to face hell—the eternal lake of fire—when eternity with JESUS—the Lord God Creator of all heaven and earth—has prepared a place beyond human imagination … for you!
From 1 Corinthians 2:9-10a, Paul writes:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.”
What an exciting prospect for those who believe that JESUS IS LORD! But all that He has for believers is only revealed through His Spirit. If you do not believe in Him, then His Spirit does not live in you; you will not see or receive all that He has prepared and is freely waiting for you.
Each of us must make a decision; do you believe, or do you not? But in closing, consider this: no decision … is a decision.
If you have not done so, I urge you to view The Gospel of JESUS CHRIST. There, you will have the full story from beginning to end.