Proof of Hell

By Mark Swarbrick

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You have probably heard people say, “How could a loving God send anyone to Hell?” The implication of the question is that there can be no Hell. Yet Christ taught that there is. Beyond that, there is a fact of life that makes the reality of Hell abundantly clear—the suffering we experience in this life. God allows terrible things to happen in this world. When some horrendous massacre happens, people don’t say, “I don’t think that really happened. It is too horrible. God would never allow it.” They cannot say that because they cannot deny the reality of what they see and experience.

Now here is my point: The terrible things that happen in this life are signposts intended to tell us two things. Sin has brought death and suffering into the world, and there is a Hell beyond this life that brings eternal suffering to those who reject Christ in order to cling to sin. The fact that something is terrible does not mean that God will not allow it. We know that because we see the terrible consequences of sin all around us.

One day people told Jesus about a horrifying event that had taken place, and Jesus used that tragedy—and another in which eighteen people were suddenly killed—to warn His hearers of the consequences of failing to repent:

“There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.’” (Luke 13:1–5 ESV)

Jesus did not look at these tragedies and assure His listeners that a loving God would never allow anything terrible to happen to them. He did exactly the opposite. He pointed to those tragedies and warned, “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” The suffering and death we see in this fallen world should therefore serve as a warning that sin has consequences and that judgment is real.

C.S. Lewis put it succinctly when he wrote:

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” —C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

People can deny that Hell exists, but ultimately they cannot deny the signposts of warning God has placed all around them throughout their earthly lives. Every tragedy and every grave reminds us that something is terribly wrong with this world. Sin has consequences. Death is certain. Judgment is coming. And God has provided one way of escape—repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

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