I distinctly remember a time during college when I was with an open-air evangelism team doing some street preaching in New York City. As I was doing my best to explain the gospel – both the bad news of sin, death, and hell, and also the good news of Jesus, salvation, and eternal life – I was interrupted by someone passing by. He yelled to me and the small crowd that was listening, “I’m not worried about going to hell, all my friends will be there too, it will be one big party.”

Sadly, I don’t believe that perspective on hell is an anomaly. So many today have no fear of hell if they believe it even exists. It’s either considered to be not that bad, or it’s reserved for only the very worst of humanity, which everyone assumes doesn’t include them.

The flippancy by which many speak of hell and even use it as a common swear word betrays that they don’t truly understand the horrible reality that the Bible describes. Talking about hell is a sober truth, yet to genuinely appreciate our desperate need for Jesus and the depth of his loving sacrifice on our behalf, we must understand the reality and horrors of hell. Here are three common questions and answers about the subject to help us grasp the Bible’s teachings.

1. What Is Hell Like?

The Bible uses graphic images to describe the excruciating pain of hell. Jesus describes hell as a place where “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12; 22:13). He also says that unrepentant sinners will be “thrown into the fiery furnace” (Matthew 13:42, 50). Part of what makes the burning in hell so terrifying is that it never ends because it’s an “unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12; Mark 9:43; Isaiah 66:24).

All of these images are meant to convey that the experience in hell will be the worst pain imaginable. And yet, perhaps the most distressing aspect of hell is that people will experience absolute separation from God for all eternity. In describing the final judgment, Jesus relays the words that the damned will hear as “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).

2. How Can Hell Be Just?

The natural question that arises from the Bible’s horrible descriptions of hell is, how can that be just? Can anyone really deserve such a severe punishment? Why must hell be eternal (Daniel 12:2)? I think the main reason why we have these objections is because we have too small a view of God and our sin and too big a view of ourselves.

The holiness of God is what makes eternal punishment necessary. In Isaiah’s vision of God’s throne room, he hears the angelic chorus proclaim, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts” (Isaiah 6:3). In the presence of such holiness, all Isaiah could declare is “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5).

By any human measurement, Isaiah was a good and God-fearing man who was signing up to be a prophet. And yet, when confronted with God’s holiness, he was immediately aware of how sinful he was. What makes our sin so great that it deserves God’s eternal punishment is because of who we sin against, namely the eternal God. If we judge merely the action, say of a “little white lie,” we might deem it to be not that severe. But when we have a big view of God and his absolute holiness, every sin becomes an eternal capital offense.

Consider this illustration. If someone were to take a marker and make a small line across my garage door, I wouldn’t be happy about it, but I doubt I would call the police. Yet if someone made that same small line, except instead of across my old beat-up garage door, they made it across the Mona Lisa, a priceless piece of art, they would undoubtedly be severely prosecuted. The severity of our sin is not measured so much by the action itself but by whom we are sinning against, namely the infinitely holy God.

God sends people to hell, but he does it justly because of their hard-hearted rebellion against him. How prideful and arrogant that man would look at God, his creator, who gave him life and pours out his grace on him every day, who sent his Son to die as a sacrifice to escape hell, and essentially say, “No thanks! I got this figured out on my own. I don’t need you.” All of this demonstrates that God is greater than we thought and our sin is worse than we thought, which is why eternal punishment in hell is just.

3. Why Is Hell Important?

 The Bible’s teaching on hell is important because it helps us appreciate the glory of the cross. It’s much easier to see the stars in the sky on a dark night with no other lights around. In the same way, against the terrifying threat of hell looming over every sinner, the salvation offered by Christ demonstrates to be all the more incredible. Jesus took the punishment of hell on himself to satisfy the wrath of God on our behalf. He experienced all the horrors of hell for us so that we could be free of this eternal punishment. We must never forget the terrifying reality that Jesus has redeemed us from so that we never stop praising our Savior for his mercy and grace.

The Bible’s teaching on hell is also important because it helps us appreciate the urgency of our mission. Hell is real. Hell is horrible. Hell is eternal. Hell is the destiny for all those who do not believe in Jesus. And even though we know many people who have no concern for hell, we are concerned for them. Our understanding of the Bible’s teaching on hell propels us to share the gospel with those who desperately need Jesus to save them from the punishment their sin deserves. It’s our duty and great desire to warn them of the impending doom that awaits them apart from Christ.

I never enjoy discussing hell, but I do deeply yearn for others to hear, accept, and love the good news of salvation offered in Jesus Christ. To understand how good the good news truly is, we need to first understand how bad the bad news is. So, I’ll keep talking about sin, death, and hell so that I can point people to Jesus, eternal life, and heaven.