Is Hell hot?

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As an orthodox Christian, our answer is “yes”.  You might wonder why I ask the question in the first place.  Fair.

To Christians, John 3:16 is perhaps the best-known Bible verse.  This verse, along with its context, teaches us a great amount about salvation.

If hell is hot…
If it is the place of eternal suffering where those who reject Jesus go…
If there is an option for our friends, family members, and loved ones to NOT go there…
Then, what’s that worth to US?

John 3:16-18 addresses that.  There we read:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

John 3:16-18
New International Version

Many seem to think Jesus spoke these verses after His conversation with Nicodemus.  But He didn’t.  This commentary is added by the Holy Spirit through John the Apostle.  Just like the ancient Israelites had to look at the bronze serpent on the pole, people would need to “look on” Jesus for salvation.  You can see the immediate reference in John 3:14-15, and you can find the story from the Old Testament in Numbers 21.

Although God initiated the gift of grace, humanity has responsibility to accept that gift and “believe in Him”.  That is, they must put their lives into the hands of Jesus.

We have already been introduced to this concept of believing and knowing Jesus in John’s Gospel.  This is not just a head knowledge—no magna cum laude atheists here.  This is heartfelt faith leading to a life changed from death to eternal life.

John 3:16 is also connected to verses 17 and 18.  Get this: God didn’t send His Son to condemn you.  God the Father sent the Son to save you through Jesus.

Because of God’s gracious gift in reaching out through Jesus Christ, we can—according to verse 18—avoid being condemned to an eternal hell by this belief in Jesus.

“But whoever does not believe”—look at this at the end of verse 18—“whoever does not believe stands condemned ALREADY” (emphasis added).

Why are they condemned already?  Because God wishes some to go to hell?  No! “Because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

Read this carefully: if someone rejects Jesus and chooses to die apart from him, it is not God’s choice.  It is theirs.  He has made the first move.  He has reach out with His best.  Condemnation is not His fault; it is ours if we do not believe in the Son of God for salvation.

So our role in the lives of people is to help bring Jesus to them.  They should not reject Jesus because we have not bothered to share His life with them.

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If hell is hot…
If it is the place of eternal suffering where those who reject Jesus go…
If there is an option for our friends, family members, and loved ones to NOT go there…
Then, why don’t we feel more passion about it?

As Charles H. Spurgeon famously said, “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies.  And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped around their knees.  If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let no one go unwarned or unprayed for.