Ask some Christians, “Do you believe in heaven?” All Christians will say, “yes”.

Then ask them, “Do you believe in hell?” The answers will be split between “yes and no”.

This is because of the spirit of unbelief in some toward Scriptures that talk about eternal punishment, hell etc!

Some liberalists say, “Man is not lost in sin and going to Hell as Hell does not exist”. This clearly contradicting Scripture.

Some liberalists believe in annihilation, as one is swept from existence, which is quite unthinkable or unconceivable because it contradicts what Jesus and writers of Scripture have said.

Luke 1:32-33: … shall be no end.

Ephesians 3:21: …throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Hebrews 7:15-16: …. but after the power of an endless life.

Revelation 1:18: … I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Revelation 15:7: … who liveth forever and ever.

We advocated that the eternal life given to repentant believers is a life where one lives with God eternally. This is true, but it needs to be qualified as a spiritual life as a spiritual being with a body and with an awareness of God for eternity, as a reward for believing in Jesus (John 3:16) with an act of repentance.

We are spiritually alive when we become repentant-believers and the inverse for the non-repentant person is correct.

The non-repentant person is spiritually dead to the things of God, albeit they are still physically alive.

The main issue here is the use of the words life and death, as some want spiritual life for the believers and a spiritual death for the non-believers. “Everlasting” means “everlasting” in heaven as it does in hell.

Death here for the non-repentant is to be conscious of their disobedience while still in a spiritual form with a body and not swept from existence which is rejected by those who advocate the doctrine of annihilation.

To say that there is an annihilation of non-repentant is like giving them a reward for disobedience and lack of repentance toward God. This is clearly a contradiction with Matthew 25:46—”These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.“

Another view says that there is an ultimate reconciliation of the non-repentant, who are given a reward for disobedience toward God.

Again it is clear contradiction with Matthew 25:46—”These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” But in Luke 18: 30 it refers to life everlasting, aionios and then when we compare this to Matthew 18:8 we see the same word used for everlasting punishment.

Therefore we are left to conclude that there is eternal life, which means ‘eternal fellowship spiritually and physically with God as a spiritual being’. Thus there is an eternal separation spiritually and physically with God in hell.

Jesus is our Forgiveness; He is the one who stands before God as our Advocate to proclaim where we stand in Him, whether we have made Him Lord and therefore appropriated His forgiveness.

2Corinthians 5:21 For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (MKJV)

Jesus’ death and the shedding of His blood provided forgiveness for the sins of the entire world – yours and mine. Now in Romans 6:23b tells us, “…but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”. There are three points to consider in this part of Scripture.

i) God wants to give us a gift, and the gift is eternal life.

ii) God wants to work through His Son, Jesus Christ to give the gift to mankind.

iii) The eternal life through Jesus Christ can be received only by making Jesus Lord; that is to say, you must be in Him.

The sickness that takes us to hell is “Sin with an unwillingness to repent”.

The medicine that takes us to heaven is repentance and receiving Jesus as Lord.

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