The Scriptures also show us that hell will be a place where those who are there will be in a state of consciousness. They will be aware of their torment. Jesus in Parable of Lost Son illustrates this fact, "And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame,...'" (Luke 16:23,24) They will be aware of their existence, condition, and reason for their torment. I think that this will be especially severe for those who knew Christ, and have fallen away.

I suppose when average person hears of hell being referred to as lake of fire, they also picture it as a bright place. After all fire puts off quite a bit of light. But scriptures also describe hell as a place of darkness. "But sons of kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 8:12) The outer darkness may be a way to contrast beautiful picture painted for us in Revelation of what heaven will be like. The outer darkness may be an indication that it will be opposite of beauty of heaven. It is no doubt a very ugly place. The "outer darkness" could also be literally that; complete and utter darkness. We know that parable of lost son indicates that those in hell can see to other side, but that does not mean that they can see and understand what is going on right next to them. The torment spoken of in Bible would surely be multiplied if it happened in complete darkness.

Those in hell will be fully aware of what they have missed. It is hard for us to conceptualize beauty of heaven and ugliness of hell. But for those who get sent to hell, they will know of both. It will also be a place where those who are there are separated from their Christian loved ones. "There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all prophets in kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out." (Luke 13:28) What a horrible experience for someone to be able to see their loved ones; mother, father, brothers, sisters, and friends enjoying themselves in heaven and know that they themselves are cast into hell for eternity.

We know that in heaven there will be no pain, no sadness, and no crying. In order for this to be true, we will not be aware of all sad memories we have today. But that will not be true in hell. There will be memories. The ones which are sad for those hell-bound today will be even more pronounced. And joyous memories of today will turn to sadness as they realize what could have been.

Have you ever made a poor choice in life and have it "come back to haunt you?" Anyone of any age at all that has not experienced this is truly a unique person. We all make poor choices, and they will usually come back to haunt us in future. As those in hell are remembering their life on earth, they probably will be also remembering all opportunities that they had to give their lives to Christ, and didn't. They will probably remember each excuse that they used. They will remember those things that they did not want to give up to become a Christian, and how little those things eventually meant to them. The memories of all those things will be horrible memories indeed.

And finally we see that hell will be a place of no release. "And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but righteous into eternal life." (Matthew 25:46) A few years ago I was lamenting to a friend of mine about some aspect of my life that I was having trouble dealing with. We all go through that, dealing with unpleasant matters. My friend said, "Remember, this too shall pass." Whereas this is true with everything on earth, opposite is true in hell. Hell is for eternity, and for those banished there, it will not pass away.

Is hell a real place? Yes, it certainly is. It is a terrible place, and it is a place of eternal punishment. It is for all unsaved who reject gospel and turn away from God. It is a place of consciousness, torment, darkness, separation from Christian loved ones, separation from God, a place without any hope of release, and a place of horrible memories.

The unsaved need to know about hell. I hope that this article will help you to be a witness to lost in your community as well as your friends and loved ones who are without Christ. My prayer is that you will use this information to share with them.

All scriptures quoted are from New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

Stephen Kingery is an author, preacher, teacher and founder of The Home Bible Study Institute.

Visit our site at http://www.james1-22.org

Jesus is trying to tell us in this passage that those things that consume us, as a treasure does, should be those things which have to do with Heaven. Such things as being with God and His Son and joining with angels to sing praises to Him. We should not let our lives here on earth be consumed by those things which pass away: money, jobs, family, clothes, boats, cars, houses, friends, vacations, food, habits, feelings, and list could go on forever. We need to let our lives be consumed by thought of, and longing for eternal life with our Heavenly Father.

"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and body more than clothing?" (Matthew 6:25) This passage and thought is really a continuation of above passage. First Jesus tells us not to let life's desirable things consume us, then He says don't let life's bad things consume us either. We should not put our efforts into worrying about life's problems. God will take care of our daily needs, on this you can rest assured. Are there going to be troubles in life? You better believe it! But don't worry about it. Live each day in God's grace, and follow His commandments, and He will provide for you and help you bear up under life's problems. Worry indicates that we really don't have faith that God will provide. We do not show God love by worrying, we show Him love by having faith and not worrying.

"Judge not, that you be not judged." (Matthew 7:1) "And why do you look at speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider plank in your own eye? Or how do you say to your brother, 'Let me remove speck out of your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove speck out of your brother's eye." (Matthew 7:3-5) What in world does this passage have to do with showing love for God? Well, let's consider this. If we are judgmental and critical of our brothers and sisters in Christ, it tears down church. We all have things in our lives which are not right, planks in our eye. How can we see clearly (because of our sin) to be able to rightly judge our brother or sister? How do we know what they are really dealing with, concerns they have, and problems they have to overcome? The answer to both is that we can't. Since we can't be a righteous judge, we do our brothers and sisters wrong by trying to judge them. Instead of judging them we should pray for them and ask God to help them and guide them to right answers. This is showing love for both God and our brothers and sisters.

"Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is Law and Prophets." (Matthew 7:12) If every person on earth would follow this command of Jesus, we would have Heaven here on earth. Every ill on earth is a result of us (as humans) not caring for our fellow man. All greed, envy, jealously, hatred, and strife would end. If we as Christians would follow this command, church would not have strife it has as well. By treating our fellow Christians as we would like to be treated, we are truly showing love for them. By treating those outside of Christ, and our enemies too, way we would like to be treated, we again show love. Jesus told us to love all people. How can we? Read this passage again!

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." (Matthew 7:15) If we really love God, we will do everything in our power to keep ourselves true to doctrine as given in Bible. The Bible is God's word. To allow false teachers to destroy its meaning, to distort its teachings, and to attribute ideas to God which are not true, is to put ourselves and others in danger of loosing salvation. God is loving and righteous, but He is also just. If you or I follow a false teaching, even if it is taught as if it came from God, we are putting ourselves in jeopardy. Let's make every effort to "rightly divide word of truth."

"Therefore pray Lord of harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." (Matthew 9:38) We need to keep lost in our prayers daily. Not just "the lost" as un-named people, but those we know have not accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. Peter tells us in his second epistle that God does not want anyone to perish. Therefore, if God loves all people (and He does), then we should join in through prayer for harvesters. But, we should be one of those harvesters!

"But seek first kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." (Matthew 6:33) This is one of my most favorite scriptures in Bible. If every Christian would follow this command, troubles of church would be over. If we would follow this command, we would honestly show our love for God.

I hope that you have never thought to yourself, "I love God but I don't know how to show Him." But if you have, then I pray that what I have said to you through this article has helped show that we can truly demonstrate our love for God and His Son each and every day. I hope that we can live each day in fullness of God's love. At close of each day as we reflect on day's activity let us truly be able to say, "Today I told God that I love Him by manner in which I have lived this day."

All scriptures quoted are from New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

Stephen Kingery is an author, preacher, teacher and founder of The Home Bible Study Institute.

Visit our site at http://www.james1-22.org