7 Facts About Hell: A Guided Tour Of Hell

What is hell? I prayed about this topic, just seeking God’s guidance and indeed the Lord indicated that it would be wise to study such a place, even though such a place is best left forgotten, in the end.

So buckle your seatbelts, because you may find this message today quite disturbing. However, if you will endure with me through this message, you will find a gift for you wrapped up inside of it.

Yes, a gift, just for you, a very special gift. This is a gift that I received many years ago, and have found it immensely powerful and useful in my walk with the living God. It is the fear of the Lord. Yes, the fear of the Lord.

The book of proverbs says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10). I’m going to give you a huge gift today, in Jesus name, that is the gift of trembling before a Holy God. And as much as God’s love is a prime motivator in my life, similarly the fear of God helps me to steer clear of evil and temptation and sin.

Luke 12:5 additionally says, (ESV) “But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!”

So let us begin our journey together down, down, down into the abyss, the abode of the damned, the place where in fact, sadly, most humans will spend their eternity.

From what I can tell, at least in our era of the world, most humans have decided they do not want God and would prefer to spend their eternal life in hell. From my calculations, I would guess only about 1% of humans born on Earth go to heaven, most head down that broad highway, which is the wide path to hell. Of course, I don't know for certain. But it seems, very few journey down the narrow path of salvation through Jesus Christ our savior.

So today we consider hell. Let’s look at a scripture about hell, from Luke 16:19-31 The Rich Man and Lazarus “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead."

So we begin our journey in this example that Jesus gave, of a rich man in hell. Point number one, hell is torment. What would it be like to be there, right now? What would it be like to be in hell? Imagine it for a moment. Many are there right now from what I can tell, billions upon billions of people, receiving the judgment they deserve for their sins.

But we see the rich man is, it says “in flame.” We often hear the phrase “burn in hell” right, well that’s apparently a reality of hell. We would be, on fire, there. Have you ever put your hand on a hot stove, or accidentally burned yourself? It’s terribly painful. But that is a daily reality for those in this place. To burn.

We see the rich man has his senses about him in hell. He can see, he can hear, he can even feel his parched tongue, because he has no access to water there. So a person in hell is still themselves. They’re still who they are. But they are in sorrow, in flame, and terribly thirsty. This is their permanent state.