Hell

Jesus descended into hell before he rose from the dead so that sinners would not have to receive the justice due for their sins.  Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.

In today’s culture it is not popular to acknowledge and consider the reality of the Biblical concept of hell.  This is due primarily to a failure of human beings to understand the holiness and goodness of God and also the sinfulness and depravity of mankind.  In short, man is considered to be ‘basically good’ and God is thought of as not being very serious about sin and as loving sinners unconditionally.  God’s unconditional love implies that sinners do not have to worry about the consequences of sin or even make an effort to refrain from sin.  This is an unbiblical concept of sin and God’s character.  God is love and does not want to punish sinners, but he is also just and must punish sin to remain true to his character traits of truth, justice, and holiness.  This sin is punished in hell as Jesus himself pointed out many times. The parable of Lazarus mentioned above is an example.  Jesus, in his atonement, not only died a physical death to pay the penalty for sin, he also descended into hell and received the punishment of eternal death to pay the spiritual penalty for the sins of the redeemed.  Through the atonement of Jesus, God executed his justice on sin in the person of Jesus Christ and justified those who have faith in Jesus …. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—²⁶he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus (Romans 3:25-26).  Jesus went to hell for those sinners that put their faith in him.  Sinners who do not put their faith in the atonement of Jesus for their sin debt will have to make the one way trip to hell and pay their own penalty for sin.  The sentence duration is eternity and there is no pardon or parole provisions.  The better choice is to accept, through faith alone in Christ alone, God’s offer to be declared not guilty on judgment day.