Where Is Hell? A Christian Study

Does the Bible say where hell is at? Is it under the earth?

The Reality of Hell

Jesus actually spoke more about hell than He ever did about heaven. He may have done so to show the reality of hell and that God’s desire is that none perish apart from Christ (2nd Pet 3:9) so God is warning them. The Gospel of Matthew alone has more accounts of Jesus speaking about hell (8 times) compared to the rest of the New Testament (9 times). Why was this more prevalent in Matthew’s Gospel? Perhaps it was because He was addressing the self-righteous religious leaders the most. Jesus was speaking about the need to rid ourselves of sin, no matter what the cost, by saying, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell” (Matt 5:29) so this must be a real place to get thrown into and it is not just the body that gets thrown into hell; it is both body and soul. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 10:28; “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

The Place of Hell

Jesus gave so many warnings about hell that we often see this as harsh but if you knew someone who was blind and saw them walking toward a giant cliff, wouldn’t you try and stop them? The greatest act of love you can show someone is to warn them of the wrath of God being on all who reject Jesus (John 3:18, 36b) and that’s what Jesus was trying to do. He didn’t want anyone to go to such an extreme place of torment. If hell wasn’t a real place, they why all the warnings from Jesus? He tried telling them that “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31). Speaking of hands, “if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:43) so Jesus speaks about hell that has an unquenchable fire, a place you can be thrown into (Mark 9:45) or cast into (Mark 9:47). Hell is real, heal is a place, and finally, hell is also a place of regret.

The Place of Regret

When Jesus was teaching and warning about the realities of hell, He said the place of hell is a place “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). The word “their” as in “their worm does not die” makes it different from “a” worm. No, it is their own personal worm that turns and like a worm that turns, it keeps turning upon itself. The story Jesus gave of the Rich Man and Lazarus shows that the man was in torment (Luke 16:23), felt regret (Luke 16:24a), in anguish from the flames (Luke 16:24b), and even wanted to warn the rest of his family (Luke 16:28) but it was an impassable, unbridgeable gap between heaven and hell (Luke 16:26).

The Place of Darkness

Finally, hell is also a place of darkness and this utter regret is apparently associated with this place. Jesus mentions a weeping (regret?) and gnashing of teeth (suffering?) but these occur in outer darkness, sometimes called the “utter darkness.” Jesus said “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.” (Luke 13:28). So again, this is a place; a real, actual location. What’s it like where they are cast into? It will be “into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt 22:13). And to those who thought that there were servants of Christ (Matt 7:23), but were the tares growing along with the wheat, they will say, “throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt 25:30). Since we know that God is light (John 1) and Jesus is that light, perhaps the absence of God and His goodness will be darkness. Can you even imagine the palpable darkness of the “outer darkness” which reminds me of the blackness of outer space?

Conclusion

What is the exact location of hell? Is it under the earth or in a black hole or….? I just don’t know. The Bible doesn’t give us an exact location but even though most will not believe that hell is real, yet a few will believe and they will repent and trust in Christ. The reason that hell comes up so often is because God doesn’t want anyone to go there. The reality of a dark, flame-filled, state of eternal regret makes the good news of the gospel so good! Without the goodness of God, none could make it on their own righteousness. We fall far too short (Rom 3:23). We need a Redeemer. We have a Redeemer (Acts 4:12).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.