Do Not Enter is this blog post edition of Road Signs of the Bible. The Bible tells us of a place that we do not want to enter. This is the story of the rich man. This rich man in the Bible got to see what hell is like. God doesn’t want anyone to perish and go to hell, but God did give us a free will to accept His Son or Reject His Son. This decision determines your destiny, where you will spend eternity. If we accept Jesus we will go to Heaven, if we reject Jesus we will go to hell.
See Luke 16:19-31
19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’
27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”
This rich man was in torment. He wanted just one drop of water and couldn’t get it. Hell is a place of punishment and torture. There will be gnawing of teeth (See also Matthew 13:42 & Matthew 13:50), extreme darkness, darkness unlike anyone has seen (See Matthew 22:13). It will be extremely hot. You cannot get away from this torture. Also hell will be eternal separation from God (See 2 Thessalonians 1:9). Just think of it this way, the Lake of Fire will be so hot that it will be black. Just think about a volcano and the lava flow, we often see bright red or orange, but sometimes we see black lava flowing too. The Lake of Fire will be more extremely that that lava flowing.
This rich man wanted everyone else to know what awaits them if they don’t accept Christ. The rich man wanted to send a warning to his brothers so they would change and not meet the same fate he did. See Luke 16:27 above.
The Bible talks more of hell than it does of heaven. That is because God doesn’t want anyone to go to hell. Hell is a real place, a place that no one wants to go. Hell is known as the Lake of Fire.
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