Some folks claim hell doesn’t exist. Others say it does but isn’t eternal. Still others admit hell exists but don’t think anyone actually goes there. But the Bible says hell is a real place where real people go for a real long time.
“[M]y spirit shall consume you like fire. . . . On Zion sinners are in dread, trembling grips the impious: ‘Who of us can live with the consuming fire? Who of us can live with the everlasting flames?'” (Is. 33:11, 14)
“He will separate them one from another. . . . Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. . . .’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels . . .’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Matt. 25:31-34, 41, 46).
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn in unquenchable fire” (Luke 3:16-17 [see also Matt. 13:24-30]).
“For it is surely just on God’s part to repay with afflictions those who are afflicting you. . . . at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his mighty angels, in blazing fire, inflicting punishment on those who do not acknowledge God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal ruin, separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power” (2 Thess. 1:6-9).