Hell is underneath us in the spirit world. This has always been the classic view of Hell from the Old Testament times, to the early church, up through the Middle Ages. Modern man with his scientific skepticism and rationalism thinks that he knows better, and says there is no Hell. They say this for the same reason they claim there is no God: neither of them are physical, able to be seen with the naked eye; nor are they testable in the scientific sense. And so, because skeptics cannot scientifically test the existence of Hell, they assume they know that no Hell exists; or, they take a comfortable “I don’t know” viewpoint. But this is a bad idea. For several reasons: (1) The Bible never claims that Hell can be scientifically proven by experiments. (2) The Bible shows that Hell is as much a place as Heaven is; just as much as demons and angels are persons. (3) The Bible shows that Hell was created by God at first, for the purpose of putting the devil and his angels into a sort of spirit prison (Matthew 25:41). (4) The Bible shows that the only way that men have ever come to receive information about Hell has come directly from God through what are called prophetic dreams, visions, and revelations; in modern times, people would also use the phrase “out-of-body experiences.” (5) The Bible shows that God requires men on Earth to have FAITH in the divine revelations He has given; including the revelations pertaining to that dreadful place called Hell.

Hell is seen in Biblical visions as located downward, under the Earth: “Let death seize them; let them go down alive into Hell, for wickedness is in their dwellings and among them” (Psalm 55:15). How can it be that someone remains alive after they die? The soul is immortal, that’s why; your soul will live forever–there is no getting around it. This is why the psalmist prayed that if God would just let the wicked die, and let them “go down alive into Hell”–for that is naturally where they are headed. But what is more, they will be “thrown into Hell” as Jesus said (Matthew 5:29, NIV). Either God, an angel, or a demon by the permission of God must do this. While present torments of Hell must be widely varied, according to the severity of sins committed in this life (Luke 12:47-48); in the very end after the Day of Judgment, the final, future torment of Hell’s inhabitants will consist of “being tormented with fire and brimstone (that is, burning hot fireballs of stinking sulfur, raining down upon their heads) in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb (that is, the Lord Jesus Christ). And the smoke of their torment will ascend forever and ever; and they will have no rest day or night” (Revelation 14:10-11). The reason for this is simple: to them, the wicked ones of humanity, it has been given to “drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger” (Revelation 14:10, NASB).

And why them? Why not all men, since all men have fallen short of the glory of God? Because these men rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ, ignored the Holy Spirit and their consciences, and lived their lives according to what they wanted to do, and not what God commanded. The Bible says that God will “in flaming fire take vengeance (or revenge) on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:8). This is why the apostle Paul said, “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19). HELL is what is referred to here; HELL is the place where God gets His payback upon the wicked; it is the place where He is at full license to punish the wicked with His fierce and holy anger, and to allow them to prosper no more; it is the place where they get what they deserve; it is the proper place for those non-Christians who continuously resisted the Holy Spirit, and the call of the Gospel on their lives. If you were to look into Hell right now, you would see: “the lawless and insubordinate, the ungodly and sinners, the unholy and profane, murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, manslayers, fornicators, sodomites, kidnappers, liars, perjurers…adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, the greedy and covetous, drunkards, revilers (or people who make fun of others in a hateful and demeaning way), extortioners (people who intimidate others to give them money)…the cowardly, unbelieving (that is, atheists and skeptics on purpose), abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars”–it is these that “shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone” (1 Timothy 1:10; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Revelation 21:8).

And there is no escape for these people, because they had their chance! When they were alive on Earth, God tried to get through to them time and time again, but they wouldn’t listen. They loved their sins too much to listen to God’s voice. They lived their lives as “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:4, NIV). Hell is God’s just and righteous penalty for their lives of sin. Hell is what they deserve for treating Christ’s death on the cross as nothing. They trampled upon the blood of Jesus with their feet all of their lives (Hebrews 10:29), and did not honor God; nor did they love or obey God’s commandments, nor did they do any good works to prove any faith in Christ. They loved themselves, and served themselves; and pushed God away. There will be no second chance for them. They had their chance on Earth to repent and believe in Jesus, but now they will live in Hell forever, regretting for eternity the decisions they made while they were up on the Earth–priding themselves in their education, financial responsibility, their business savvy, their success in the American Dream, and their sinful pleasure seeking. They lived as selfish, prideful, wicked men, “without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). Far be it from them that they should study the Bible and conform their lives to its ethics, morals, and laws! They wanted to watch their sin-filled movies, listen to their sin-filled songs, and read their sin-filled books; they wanted to fornicate with others in their hearts, and justify it by saying “everyone else does it; c’mon, we’ve experienced the Sexual Revolution…we know better than our forefathers.” But that “wisdom did not descend from above, but was earthly, sensual, demonic” (James 3:15)–and crowded up their hearts, minds, and lives with many perversions; only to drag their souls down to “everlasting punishment” in Hell, as Jesus said (Matthew 25:46). They should have listened to Jesus, but they did not; and so, the damned–those shut up in Hell–will remain there forever and ever, into all eternity, regretting that they did not repent and believe in the Gospel, and live their lives as Christians, real Christians.