Why Do People Go to Hell—and Why Is There a Hell in the First Place?

Posted on Oct 11, 2016 Topic : Men's Christian Living, Prophecy

Hell was created for a specific purpose. That purpose is found in Matthew 25:41: Then [Jesus] will also say to those on the left hand, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” This statement made by Jesus Christ, relating to judgment day, points out that hell was created for the judgment of the devil and his angels.

The apostle Peter sheds more light on this with these words in 2 Peter 2:4: If God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment… Because the angels sinned, they are being “reserved for judgment.”

Just when these angels sinned with the devil is not absolutely clear. In the book of Job we learn that the angels were present at the creation of the earth. It suggests that the earth was the choice dwelling place of the angels for perhaps many years, and then Lucifer—the greatest created being, perfect in all his ways in the day he was made—rebelled against God (Ezekiel 28:15; Isaiah 14:12-15).

These statements from the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostle Peter seem to indicate that the lake of fire was not originally intended for man at all, but for the eternal punishment of supernatural beings such as the devil and his angels. From the book of Revelation, particularly in 20:11-15, we see that unsaved people will be cast into the lake of fire in spite of the fact it was not originally created for them. There they will endure indescribable misery and suffering, and be numbered among the hosts of fallen supernatural beings.

People are sent to hell only if they are not fit to enter heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ said in John 3:3, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. “Born again” means “born from above” or “born anew,” indicating that natural, physical birth is not sufficient to entitle a person to see the kingdom of God.

Unless a person is born again, he or she is unprepared for the spiritual delights of heaven; he or she must spend eternity in the lake of fire. The apostle Paul made this clear in 1 Corinthians 15:50: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Our corrupt mortal bodies cannot dwell in heaven without contaminating it, for heaven is a perfect place.

A Christian, then, has full assurance that he is going to heaven not because he is naturally fit for heaven, but because he has been made fit by the new birth made available through Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ had not come into this world to die for our sins, we would all be sent to hell.