I have been reading about Hell—and it is beyond awful.

In an age unwilling to accept pain or discomfort of any kind, Hell does not fit.

There is an unbending judgment, an uncommon finality to Hell that keeps it a respectful distance from normal conversation—even in most Christian circles.  In an era of felt-needs preaching, the subject of Hell rarely comes up.

But I have been reading about Hell—and it is beyond awful.

It is awful for at least four reasons.

1. The agony suffered in Hell is worse than anything imaginable. Unspeakable anguish. Unquenchable thirst.

2. Having suffered for a million billion years, the suffering of Hell will not relent in the slightest.

3. Having suffered in hell for a million, billion years, there will be not the slightest chance for any relief. Ever.  No hope…for any hope.

4. Those who end up in Hell will be fully conscious of the rejoicing going on in heaven…fully conscious of the fact that they need not have gone to Hell, but, in fact, actually chose it by refusing Christ’s offer: “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Gone the slightest shred of human decency.

Gone the tiniest glimpse of a smile or kind word or thoughtful deed.

Nothing but an eternity of daily agonies too numerous to count, too inexpressible for language.

How DARE we ignore the subject of Hell in our weekly sermons, in our daily conversations?

How DARE we let a day go by and not speak of it to those we claim we love?

How DARE we....How dare any of us mock the saints of old for being “Hellfire and brimstone preachers”?   Would that we were of their sterner constitution.   Hell is too hideous for any other.

Revelation 20:15: “Whosoever was not found written in the Lamb’s Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

I have been reading about Hell—and it is beyond awful.