Is Hell Real? What It Is, What It Is Like, and What the Bible Really Says

With hell being such a horrible and painful place, it can be tempting to hope that it is merely a metaphorical play on words. But while the Bible does use metaphors, it typically makes them clear when doing so. Hell is not used in a way that justifies concluding that it is not literal.

A metaphor uses something real and tangible to describe something else. Normally, contextual clues indicate when a metaphor is being used.

Here are some examples of how metaphors can be identified and used in the Bible:

Here, Jesus explicitly states that He is comparing this generation to something else. Notice that He uses the word liken. This indicates that He is using something familiar to describe the generation.

Again, Jesus explicitly indicates that He is using a comparison to describe the kingdom of heaven. This is a common theme in His parables: He uses familiar, real-world things to help people understand abstract or unfamiliar concepts.

Metaphors use familiar and tangible things to help convey deeper truths. They may not always be as easy to spot as these two examples. But without some indication that the words are intended to describe something other than their literal meaning, we should not simply assume that a subject is metaphorical.

Hell, however, is consistently described as a real place, often with vivid imagery involving fire, torment, and darkness. But hell is typically the subject being described, not a word being used to describe something else. In other words, it is not a word used metaphorically to represent something else.

What Is Hell Like?

Jesus used metaphors to describe hell, not the other way around. And one of the clearest descriptions of it comes from the account of the rich man and Lazarus.

While there is debate over whether this account is a true story or a parable, one thing is clear: Jesus was not using this place as a symbol for something else. He was speaking of the real consequences of sin.

Imagine being in a house with no air conditioning during a desert heat wave. Do you know what that feels like? I’ve been there. Your eyes become bloodshot, you feel trapped, breathing becomes difficult, and your mind becomes clouded. Eventually, you may even begin to lose some of your sanity and thrash about, desperately trying to physically fight the heat.

You can’t sleep, yet your body is completely drained of energy. Your anger boils to the surface, and you begin to lash out at people you care about for no real reason. Now imagine countless people around you, clawing at themselves and each other in desperation, every one of them suffering through the same torment.

Multiply that unbearable heat to a level capable of tormenting an angel. Take away any hope of relief, any ability to die, and any escape from pain. Add the torment of being able to see heaven and communicate with those there, only to receive no help or pity.

This is only a glimpse of the torment described in hell. Revelation speaks of the smoke of their torment rising forever, a process of destruction without end.

Hell is a very real, physical place of eternal suffering. And sadly, many people will be lost to it because they rejected the pardon for their sins that God offers.

Attempts to reinterpret hell as a metaphor do not come from what the Bible says, but from a desire to soften an uncomfortable truth. The lost will suffer greatly. Sadly, many people do not even realize how real hell is.

In fact, even many people in the church have mistaken ideas about it. One of the most common errors is the belief that God simply grants people what they want: a place void of the presence of God.

God Is Not Absent In Hell

Obviously, hell is not a place with cartoon flames, a red guy with horns holding a pitchfork, and happy demons tormenting people. That is what we see in cartoons. But with very few people actually having read the Bible, it is easy for many to get their understanding from cartoons and jokes. Or, just as bad, from cliché phrases that sound good but are not true.

One such phrase is, “God doesn’t send people to hell; they choose to go to a place without God.”

This idea suggests that God, in His “kindness,” allows people to remain in a place where He does not exist rather than forcing them to be in His presence. But this is not true.

These verses clearly show that God is present everywhere, including hell.

But what about passages that seem to suggest otherwise?

Some verses are sometimes misunderstood to mean that hell is a place void of God. For example:

At first glance, the verses shared earlier might seem to contradict these passages. If God is everywhere, how can people depart from His presence? How can they be separated from Him?

But a closer look at Isaiah 59:2 helps explain this. Sin separates us from God in terms of relationship and fellowship, not physical presence. Even when humanity is far from God spiritually, His presence sustains our very existence. Without Him, there is no life and no existence.

It is not His physical presence that He commands people to depart from. It is His mercy, favor, and fellowship that they are cut off from. He refuses to be called their God. He refuses to hear them or help. He can be in the same room and ignore their very existence.

Even heaven and earth cannot escape God’s presence. There is no corner of creation—including hell—where He does not exist.

When God tells the condemned to “depart,” they are being cut off from His mercy and fellowship, yet they are unable to escape His presence. Like the heaven and earth, they will be unable to flee from Him or find a place to hide.

In fact, there is a subtle hint in the Bible that the lake of fire may actually be connected to the very presence and glory of God Himself.

The word from does not always mean away from or separated from. Considering the context, as well as what has already been shared, it is reasonable to understand it as referring to the source or cause of the destruction—destruction proceeding from the Lord’s presence and from the glory of His power.

There is actually a strong case to be made that God’s presence can be destructive to the wicked. For example:

Notice how Isaiah asks who will dwell with the devouring fire. It then gives the answer: the righteous will dwell with God. Yet the sinners, in the presence of God, will be in fear and torment. It is therefore possible that His very presence is connected to the fire in which the wicked suffer.

Of course, that is only my interpretation. It is not a hill I am willing to die on.

But knowing that hell is a real place, and that God is present even there, another question naturally follows: Where is it? Does the Bible give us any indication of its location?

Where Is Hell?

If hell is a real place, it must have a real location.

They referred to this place as “the deep.” The word translated deep here is another term for the abyss, meaning an unfathomable depth. This speaks of a place that is bottomless. These demons were asking Jesus not to send them into the bottomless pit.

There is enough information here to give us a general idea of where hell may be. We are repeatedly told that it is below or beneath, and we are also told that it has sides. This suggests that it is contained within a specific location.

I cannot say this for certain, but I personally believe hell may be located at or near the core of the earth. It is below us, and it could be described as bottomless because, at the exact center of the planet, every direction leads upward. But again, this is not a hill I am willing to die on.

The location of the lake of fire, however, is completely unknown. It only appears in Scripture after the heaven and earth flee away. So it may or may not even exist until that time. But both the temporary place of torment commonly called hell and the lake of fire are presented in Scripture as very real places.

Knowing that the Bible describes this as a real place with real flames, how does that make you feel? Does it make you afraid, sad, or angry? When we consider the suffering of loved ones in such a place, it is only natural to ask the question: How can a loving God send someone to hell?

I will answer that question in the next study.

Continue To Unit 2:15 – Would a Loving God Send Someone to Hell OR

Return To Christianity 101 Unit 2 – Sin and Eternal Judgment