On Heaven and Hell

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On Heaven

A. We Will Live Eternally with God in New Heavens and a New Earth

So, according to the Bible, God’s people will reign over a resurrected universe, centered on a resurrected Earth, with a resurrected Jerusalem as its capital city (Alcorn, 8)
We have never known an Earth without sin, suffering, and death—yet we yearn for it. God tells us that the world we—and all creation—long for, a world delivered from the Curse, will one day be ours to live in . . . forever (Romans 8:19-23). (Alcorn, 9)

1. What Is Heaven?

heaven is the place where God most fully makes known his presence to bless.
Isaiah 66:1 CSB
1 This is what the Lord says: Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. Where could you possibly build a house for me? And where would my resting place be?
Matthew 6:9 CSB
9 “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy.
1 Peter 3:22 CSB
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.
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2. Heaven Is a Place, Not Just a State of Mind

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Second Edition) (2. Heaven Is a Place, Not Just a State of Mind)
When Jesus ascended into heaven, the fact that he went to a place seems to be the entire point of the narrative, and the point that Jesus intended his disciples to understand by the way in which he gradually ascended even while speaking to them: “As they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9; cf. Luke 24:51: “While he blessed them, he parted from them”).
John 14:2–3 (CSB)
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.
The idea that we’ll go to a disembodied state fits with Platonism and Eastern mysticism, but not with Christianity. Scripture says that there is a resurrection, but if there weren’t, we would be of all people most to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:17-19).
Alcorn, Randy. Heaven: Biblical Answers to Common Questions: Biblical Answers to Common Questions about Our Eternal Home (Booklet) (p. 8).

What will heaven be like?

For example, we’re told that Heaven is a city (Hebrews 11:10; 13:14). When we hear the word city, we shouldn’t scratch our heads and think, I wonder what that means? We understand cities. Cities have people, buildings, activities, gatherings, art, music, athletics, events of all kinds, and goods and services. (Alcorn, 11)
Heaven is also described as a country (Hebrews 11:16). We know about countries. We also know what Earth is like, and thus we know much of what the New Earth will be like. If we can’t imagine our present Earth without rivers, mountains, trees, and flowers, then why would we try to imagine the New Earth without these features? If the word Earth means anything, it means that we can expect to find earthly things there—including atmosphere, mountains, water, trees, people, houses—and even cities, buildings, and streets (which are specifically mentioned in Revelation 21–22).
Just as a new car is a better version of an old car—but with all the same essential components (four wheels, an engine, transmission, steering wheel, etc.), so too will the New Earth be a far better version of the old Earth, but with the same essential physical components. The New Earth will be God’s dwelling place, but it will also be fashioned by God for resurrected people to live there. We’ll love our eternal home, and we’ll love being with Jesus and his family—which will be our family forever.
- Alcorn, Randy. Heaven: (p. 11). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

What will we do in heaven?

Both in the intermediate Heaven and on the New Earth, we’ll find our greatest pleasure in God.
We’ll worship and thank him as we see him revealed in the wonders of creation, including our fellow creatures.
Furthermore, incredible though it may seem, God has decided that we’re actually going to help him run the universe (Luke 19:11-27)!
He will give us renewed minds and bodies so that we will be whole people, full of energy and vision, eager to undertake new projects for God’s glory and our enrichment.
We’ll reign with Christ over the New Earth, where we’ll exercise leadership and authority, making important decisions.
This implies specific, delegated responsibilities for those under our leadership, as well as specific responsibilities given to us (Luke 19:17-19).
We will set goals, devise plans, and share ideas. Our best workdays on Earth—when everything turns out better than we planned, when everything’s done on time, when everyone on the team pulls together and enjoys each other—are just a foretaste of the joy our work will bring us in Heaven. In Heaven, we’ll rest (Revelation 14:13).
We know what it means to rest. And to want to rest (Hebrews 4:10-11). We will serve Christ there, working for his glory. We know what it means to work. And to want to work. We will work without any of the painful toil that came with the Curse, which will be forever lifted (Revelation 22:3).
Alcorn, Randy. Heaven: (p. 14). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
We will travel anywhere and everywhere we want to (perhaps even to other galaxies)
We will play sports, laugh, dance
All of this without the presence of sin to ruin it
imagine doing all these without sin

3. The Physical Creation Will Be Renewed and We Will Continue to Exist and Act in It

Creation itself will be renewed (Rom 8:19-21)
not destroyed and created — but renewed and recreated

4. Our Resurrection Bodies Will Be Part of the Renewed Creation

In the new heavens and new earth, there will be a place and activities for our resurrection bodies, which will never grow old or become weak or ill.
Creation was created ‘very good’ (Gen 1:31)
In our resurrected bodies, we will be as physical as we are now. After the New Earth is established and we are relocated there, we will be forever physical but no longer subject to sin, death, suffering, and the Curse (Revelation 21:4).
Alcorn, Randy. Heaven: (p. 12). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
We will eat and Drink
We shall eat and drink at “the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:9).
Jesus will once again drink wine with his disciples in the heavenly kingdom (Luke 22:18).
The “river of the water of life” will flow “from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city” (Rev. 22:1).
The tree of life will bear “twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month” (Rev. 22:2).
There is no strong reason to say these expressions are merely symbolic, without any literal reference.
Are symbolic banquets and symbolic wine and symbolic rivers and trees somehow superior to real banquets and real wine and real rivers and trees in God’s eternal plan?
These things are just some of the excellent features of the perfection and final goodness of the physical creation that God has made.
Music and Art
Since music certainly is prominent in the descriptions of heaven in Revelation, it is likely that both musical and artistic activities will be performed to the glory of God.
Other Activities
Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Second Edition) 4. Our Resurrection Bodies Will Be Part of the Renewed Creation

Once we abandon the unbiblical notion of a merely spiritual (nonphysical) existence in the new heaven and new earth and begin to reflect on the concrete physicality of our existence in the age to come, then it will seem very likely that we will work at a remarkably wide range of investigation and development of the creation by technological, creative, and inventive means, thus exhibiting more of our excellent creation in the image of God, and thus discovering and enjoying more of the excellence of the creation over which God has given us dominion, and which he wants us to enjoy, with thanksgiving to him, forever.

Leaning
Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Second Edition) 4. Our Resurrection Bodies Will Be Part of the Renewed Creation

Moreover, since God is infinite and we can never exhaust his greatness (Ps. 145:3), and since we are finite creatures who will never equal God’s knowledge or be omniscient, we may expect that for all eternity we will be able to go on learning more about God and about his relationship to his creation.

Animals
Why wouldn’t they be? They were apart of the Original Creation
We’re told that animals, along with all creation, long for the deliverance that will be theirs at the time of the redemption of our bodies, at the resurrection (Romans 8:19, 23). They await and long for it, because they will be part of it.
Isaiah 11, 60, and 65 depict animals on the New Earth. (18)
Animals were rescued in teh flood
Alcorn, Randy. Heaven: (p. 18). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

5. The New Creation Will Not Be “Timeless” but Will Include an Unending Succession of Moments

B. The Doctrine of the New Creation Provides a Great Motivation for Storing Up Treasures in Heaven rather than on Earth

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C. The New Creation Will Be a Place of Great Beauty and Abundance and Joy in the Presence of God

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Scriptures

2 Peter 3:13 (CSB)
13 But based on his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
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Revelation 21 (CSB)

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.
5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life. 7 The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. 8 But the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
9 Then one of the seven angels, who had held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues, came and spoke with me: “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 He then carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 11 arrayed with God’s glory. Her radiance was like a precious jewel, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. 12 The city had a massive high wall, with twelve gates. Twelve angels were at the gates; the names of the twelve tribes of Israel’s sons were inscribed on the gates. 13 There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. 14 The city wall had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb were on the foundations.
15 The one who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 The city is laid out in a square; its length and width are the same. He measured the city with the rod at 12,000 stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal. 17 Then he measured its wall, 144 cubits according to human measurement, which the angel used. 18 The building material of its wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold clear as glass. 19 The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of jewel: the first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 The twelve gates are twelve pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.
22 I did not see a temple in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 Its gates will never close by day because it will never be night there. 26 They will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. 27 Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Revelation 22 (CSB)

1 Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, 3 and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.
6 Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
7 “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had shown them to me. 9 But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you, your brothers the prophets, and those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”
10 Then he said to me, “Don’t seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near. 11 Let the unrighteous go on in unrighteousness; let the filthy still be filthy; let the righteous go on in righteousness; let the holy still be holy.”
12 “Look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to repay each person according to his work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.
14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to attest these things to you for the churches. I am the root and descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
17 Both the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let anyone who hears, say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life freely.
18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book. 19 And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share of the tree of life and the holy city, which are written about in this book.
20 He who testifies about these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with everyone. Amen.
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On Hell

Scriptures

Revelation 20:11–15 (CSB)
11 Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them.
12 I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.
13 Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; each one was judged according to their works.
14 Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
This is the second death, the lake of fire.
15 And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
- see Luke 10:20 “However, don’t rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.””
4. The Doctrine of Final Judgment Provides a Great Motive for Evangelism
The decisions made by people in this life will affect their destiny for all eternity, and it is right that our hearts feel and our mouths echo the sentiment of the appeal of God through Ezekiel, “Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezek. 33:11). In fact, Peter indicates that the delay of the Lord’s return is due to the fact that God “is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Second Edition) (4. The Doctrine of Final Judgment Provides a Great Motive for Evangelism)
We may define hell as follows: hell is a place of eternal conscious punishment for the wicked. (Grudem, 1413)
It is a place of weeping (sadness, despair) and gnashing of teeth (anger, bitterness) (Matt 25:30)
it will be eternal
Matt 25:46 “46 “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.””
The word translated “punishment” here is kolasis, which is used elsewhere of great physical suffering or torture that was endured by persecuted Christians (Martyrdom of Polycarp 2.4; cf. Ignatius, To the Romans 5.3). At other times it simply refers to divine punishment in general, without specification of the nature of that punishment (cf. BDAG, 555). (Grudem, 1413)
It will be a place with unquenchable fire (Mark 9:43), where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:48) Also Isa 66:24.
A place of anguish and torment (Luke 16:22-24, “The Rich Man and Lazarus”)
Revelation 14:9–11 (CSB)
9 And another, a third angel, followed them and spoke with a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, which is poured full strength into the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb, 11 and the smoke of their torment will go up forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or anyone who receives the mark of its name.
Revelation 20:10 (CSB)
10 The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
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Ezekiel 33:11 (CSB)
11 Tell them, ‘As I live—this is the declaration of the Lord God—I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person should turn from his way and live. Repent, repent of your evil ways! Why will you die, house of Israel?’
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From Randy Alcorn

1. Jesus spoke of Hell as a literal place, describing it in graphic terms (Matt. 10:28;13:40-42; Mark 9:43-44).
2. Hell is as literal as Heaven (Psalm 11:4-6) and as eternal as Heaven (Matthew 25:46).
3. Hell is a place of punishment designed for Satan and the fallen angels (Matthew 25:41; Rev. 20:10).
4. Hell will also be inhabited by people who do not accept God's gift of the Savior (Revelation 20:12-15).
5. Hell is a horrible place of suffering and everlasting destruction (Matthew 13:41,42; 2 Thessalonians 1:9).
6. In Hell people are conscious, regret-filled, retaining all their capacities and desires with no hope for any fulfillment for all eternity (Luke 16:22-31).
7. Because God is just, there will be degrees of punishment in Hell. Unsaved people—everyone whose name is not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life—will be judged by God in relation to the works they have done, which have been recorded in the books of Heaven (Rev. 20:12-15). The severity of punishment will vary with the amount of truth known and the nature and number of the sins committed (Matt. 11:20-24; Luke 20:45-47, Rom. 2:3-5).

Intermediate Hell

When we die, we face judgment, what is called the judgment of faith. The outcome of this judgment determines whether we go to the present Heaven or the present Hell. This initial judgment depends not on our works but on our faith. It is not about what we’ve done during our lives but about what Christ has done for us. If we have accepted Christ’s atoning death for us, then when God judges us after we die, he sees his Son’s sacrifice for us, not our sin. Salvation is a free gift, to which we can contribute absolutely nothing (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).
https://www.epm.org/resources/2018/Apr/4/presentintermediate-hell-empty/

ON NDE’s

The more I studied the Christian Scriptures, on my own and in seminary, the more intriguing and confusing reading about NDEs became. Intriguing because so many of them described the picture of the afterlife found in the Scriptures. Confusing because individuals’ interpretations of their experiences could wildly vary and even seem at odds with the Scriptures.

After reading hundreds of NDE accounts, I started to see the difference between what they reported experiencing and the interpretation they might give to that experience. While interpretations vary, I found the shared core experience points to what the Scriptures say. In fact, the more I studied, the more I realized that the picture Scripture paints of the exhilarating Life to come is the common experience that NDErs describe.

100 Stories included

I include well over one hundred stories of people who were clinically dead or near death, were revived, and had amazing details to report. Some of them I personally interviewed, but most I compiled from reading about their experiences.

Do not for worldview

I also do not advise forming a worldview of the afterlife from a few people’s interpretations. But what I am trying to do is show you something amazing that I think God is showing me.

False Reports

Could people make up stories or fabricate detail to sell more books? Yes. For this reason, I’ve tried to choose stories from people with little to no profit motive: orthopedic surgeons, commercial airline pilots, professors, neurosurgeons—people who probably don’t need the money but have credibility to lose by making up wild tales.

Boring Heaven?

I find that most people, whether Christ-followers or not, have a horrible view of Heaven. At best it’s a cloudy, ethereal, disembodied, nonphysical experience—yeah, maybe with love, joy, and no suffering sprinkled in, but if we’re honest, we don’t really get excited about it. We can’t imagine actually liking it. At worst, people think of it as an endless, boring church service, singing songs you’re not excited about—forever! That sounds horrible to me, and I’m a pastor!

How you think about Heaven affects everything in life—how you prioritize love, how willing you are to sacrifice for the long term, how you view suffering, what you fear or don’t fear. I’m convinced we can’t even begin—but we should try—to picture how magnificent, how spectacular, how much fun Heaven will be—how much of what we love about this life and more awaits us in eternity. As the Scripture says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT). But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t push our imaginations to the limit trying to understand.

Motivation for Looking at Heaven

If you consider yourself a Christian, I hope this book gives you a better picture of Heaven than you’ve ever imagined. Jesus implored us not to live for earthly treasures and material junk that won’t last, but to live every day with an eye on eternity. C. S. Lewis once said, “If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. . . . Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.”

Heaven (Introduction: The Subject of Heaven)
Perhaps you’ve come to this book burdened, discouraged, depressed, or even traumatized. Perhaps your dreams—your marriage, career, or ambitions—have crumbled. Perhaps you’ve become cynical or have lost hope. A biblical understanding of the truth about Heaven can change all that.
In 1952, young Florence Chadwick stepped into the waters of the Pacific Ocean off Catalina Island, determined to swim to the shore of mainland California. She’d already been the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. The weather was foggy and chilly; she could hardly see the boats accompanying her. Still, she swam for fifteen hours. When she begged to be taken out of the water along the way, her mother, in a boat alongside, told her she was close and that she could make it. Finally, physically and emotionally exhausted, she stopped swimming and was pulled out. It wasn’t until she was on the boat that she discovered the shore was less than half a mile away. At a news conference the next day she said, “All I could see was the fog. . . . I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.”
Consider her words: “I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.” For believers, that shore is Jesus and being with him in the place that he promised to prepare for us, where we will live with him forever. The shore we should look for is that of the New Earth. If we can see through the fog and picture our eternal home in our mind’s eye, it will comfort and energize us.If you’re weary and don’t know how you can keep going, I pray this book will give you vision, encouragement, and hope. No matter how tough life gets, if you can see the shore and draw your strength from Christ, you’ll make it.

JC RYLE

Heaven Chapter 1: Are You Looking Forward to Heaven?

The man who is about to sail for Australia or New Zealand as a settler, is naturally anxious to know something about his future home, its climate, its employments, its inhabitants, its ways, its customs. All these are subjects of deep interest to him. You are leaving the land of your nativity, you are going to spend the rest of your life in a new hemisphere. It would be strange indeed if you did not desire information about your new abode. Now surely, if we hope to dwell for ever in that “better country, even a heavenly one,” we ought to seek all the knowledge we can get about it. Before we go to our eternal home we should try to become acquainted with it.

J. C. Ryle

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Heaving Boring?

Heaven Chapter 1: Are You Looking Forward to Heaven?

Tragically, however, most people do not find their joy in Christ and Heaven. In fact, many people find no joy at all when they think about Heaven.

A pastor once confessed to me, “Whenever I think about Heaven, it makes me depressed. I’d rather just cease to exist when I die.”

“Why?” I asked.

“I can’t stand the thought of that endless tedium. To float around in the clouds with nothing to do but strum a harp . . . it’s all so terribly boring. Heaven doesn’t sound much better than Hell. I’d rather be annihilated than spend eternity in a place like that.”

Use our Imaginations

Heaven Chapter 2: Is Heaven Beyond Our Imagination?

Rather than ignore our imagination, I believe we should fuel it with Scripture, allowing it to step through the doors that Scripture opens. I did not come to the Bible with the same view of Heaven that I came away with.

Quotes

C. S. Lewis said of Hell, “There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, specially, of our Lord’s own words; it has always been held by Christendom; and it has the support of reason.”
Dorothy Sayers, another broad-minded Christian, claimed, “We cannot repudiate Hell without altogether repudiating Christ.”
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Bill Wiese Quotes

Jesus Word’s to Bill

Jesus said to me, “Go and tell them about this place. It is not My desire that any should go there. Hell was made for the devil and his angels.”15

Jesus’ sadness

I was instantly sobered as Jesus allowed me to see a steady stream of people falling through a tunnel—one after the other, after the other, after the other—into an open cavern, into the terror that I had just escaped.

While I was watching this scene, Jesus allowed me to feel just a small amount of the sorrow He feels for His creation that is going to hell. His love is so far beyond our capacity and is infinitely greater than our love. I couldn’t stand feeling even a fraction of the anguish He feels. I said, “Please, stop!” I couldn’t bear it.

I cannot elaborate enough on this point. It was the deepest insight into God’s feelings that I had during this whole experience. There’s no way to measure how much He truly loves all people. When a single soul is lost to the devil and damned to that horrible place forever, it saddens Him greatly

Because of this great love, God feels such sadness when He sees even one person going to hell. We looked back, and I saw the tunnel we just came up out of, and I saw people falling back down that tunnel, one after the other, after the other, after the other. It was so very sad. I couldn’t stand feeling the pain of what God feels. He allowed me to feel just a fraction of what He feels, and I had to ask Him to stop.

Descriptions

maggots

While I was in hell, I saw maggots by the millions crawling along the walls.

You are dead but alive

It is difficult to explain how it is that you are dead but still exist and feel pain in hell. Death is separation from God, and God is the source of all life. Your soul lives on forever, yet it is disconnected from the source of all life.

On the Edge of Insanity

The only moment I had to reflect back about my life here on the earth was a few seconds in two instances. Other than that, the terror fills your mind completely, leaving no calm moments to ever escape in thought. My point is, your mental escapes are ever so limited as you are too occupied with fear and horror to ever have even a minute, only seconds, to reflect on your past. You feel as if you will go completely insane, but the reality is, you never do. You stay right on the edge. If you did actually go insane, it would be a form of escape, and there is no escape of any kind, so insanity never quite occurs.

Besides, I believe everyone there is just on the verge of insanity. However, I believe you never quite go insane, for that would provide a form of escape.

And there is no escape, even mentally.

Hopeless

When you are in hell, you are separated from God, and that is hopeless indeed. There is absolutely not even one tiny ray of hope for all who enter hell’s gates.

I could hear the creatures speaking to one another. Although I could not identify what language it was, somehow I could understand their words. They were awful words—terrible, blasphemous language that spewed from their mouths, expressing extreme hatred for God.

Suddenly they turned their attention toward me. They looked like hungry predators staring at their prey. I was terrified. Like an insect in a deadly spider’s web, I felt helpless, trapped, and frozen with fear. I knew I had become the object of their hostility, and I felt a violent, evil presence as I had never felt before and greater than anything I could imagine. They possessed a hatred that far surpassed any hatred a person could have, and now that hatred was directed straight at me. I couldn’t identify what these beasts were yet, but I knew they meant me harm.

Weakness

I knew it was much more than physical weakness I was feeling. Indeed, it was weakness of every form. I was mentally and emotionally drained, even though I had only been there a few minutes. Most of us have experienced a loss of strength and energy after intense weeping, emotional distress, or grief. After a time of healing we regain that strength, though it may take years. However, at that moment I felt that there would never be a time for recuperating from the literal weight that had fallen upon me—a weight of hopeless despair.

Mercy

I pleaded for mercy, but they had none—absolutely no mercy. They seemed to be incapable of it. They were pure evil. No mercy existed in that place. Mercy is from God in heaven.

The mental anguish I felt was indescribable.

Odor

I was extremely nauseated from the terrible, foul stench coming from these creatures. It was absolutely disgusting, foul, and rotten. It was by far the most putrid smell I had ever encountered. If you could take every rotten thing you can imagine, such as an open sewer, rotten meat, spoiled eggs, sour milk, dead and rotting animal flesh, and sulfur, and magnify it a thousand times, you might come close. This is not an exaggeration. The odor was actually extremely toxic, and that alone should have killed me.

Screams

I was horrified as I heard the screams of an untold multitude of people crying out in torment. It was absolutely deafening. The terror-filled screams seemed to go right through me, penetrating my very being.

Darkness

I actually felt the darkness. Exodus 10:21 speaks of “darkness which may even be felt.” It was not like the darkness on the earth. I was once in a coal mine in Arizona that was completely void of light. I couldn’t see anything, yet it was nothing like the darkness in hell. It was as though the darkness in hell had its own power, a power that consumed me.18 The darkness was not simply the absence of light—it had a distinctive evil presence, a feeling of death, a penetrating evil.

Breathing

The air was filled with smoke, and a filthy, deathly, decaying odor hung in the oxygen-depleted atmosphere. It seemed as if all the oxygen had been sucked up by the high-leaping flames in the distance. I could barely breathe. The lack of oxygen in the atmosphere left me gasping for every little bit of air I could inhale. There was no humidity or moisture in the air. It was exhausting even to try to get just one breath.

Thirst

One of the worst sensations I experienced was an insatiable thirst and dryness. I was so extremely thirsty. My mouth was so dry it felt as if I had been running through the desert for days. There was no water, no humidity in the air—no water anywhere. I desperately longed for just one drop of water.

Flames

With thoughts of utter hopelessness flooding my mind, I looked out at the desolate, barren cavern toward the flames.

could faintly see flames from afar that dimly lit the skyline. I knew the flames were coming from a large pit, a gigantic raging inferno approximately one mile in diameter and about ten miles away. This was just one of the many things I simply knew. My senses were keener.

No Purpose

There was no work, no goals, no wisdom, and no opportunity to speak to anyone or to solve any problem. There was no need to offer advice, help, or comfort of any kind. Purpose was nonexistent. All life was over, and a useless “wasting away” permeated my being.

Fear

I was so far beyond terrified that there are no words to describe it.

The fear level is so far beyond anything you can imagine.

I can’t begin to express the terror and fear that consumed me. I mention in another chapter how everything good comes from God, including His love, which casts out all fear. There is no hint of God or His love in hell. The fear and torment were unrelenting and clung to me anxiously like a thick cloud. It is hard for me to relate to anyone this level of fear.

Terror

In hell this state of fear never ceases for even one second. It lasts for an eternity. There were people in hell who were contained in a massive pit. Horrible creatures surrounded the perimeter. There was no way of escape....Witnessing people in terror, in desperation, and in unending torment was more than I could bear.
Now try to picture the most fearful moment of your life. For me, I remember one morning when as a teenager I was surfing off the Coast of Florida. A school of sharks showed up and surrounded us. We frantically began paddling toward the beach, and in the frenzy a guy nearby had his leg torn off. Then one shark knocked me completely off my board. My friend Rene and I were now literally swimming with the sharks. We desperately tried to get to the shore, but I sincerely felt that the blood in the water combined with the number of sharks was a certain death sentence. Suddenly a nine-foot shark grabbed my leg in its mouth and pulled me down. For seemingly no reason the shark let me go without a mark (thank God!), and Rene and I swam to shore. At the time I was an avid surfer. Needless to say, I didn’t go near the water for almost two years. That was one of the most terrifying moments of my life, and that experience paled in comparison to the fear one endures for an eternity in hell. There is no way of escape. No one can rescue you.

I also experienced the misery of total exhaustion in hell. The continual emotional, mental, and physical trauma feeds this vicious cycle of sleep deprivation. You desperately long for even a few minutes of rest, but you never, ever get that privilege. Imagine for a moment how terrible you feel after only forty-eight hours of no sleep. In hell you never sleep, rest, or find a quiet moment. Any form of rest is nonexistent. Even though I was only there for twenty-three minutes, the torment and trauma were so intense that I felt as if I hadn’t slept in weeks. It could only worsen with time.

There is never any peace of mind. There is no rest from the torments, the screams, the fear, the thirst, the lack of breath, the lack of sleep, the stench, the heat, the hopelessness, and the isolation from people.

Isolation

You are truly alone amidst a sea of tormented souls.

As far as living in a separated state from God and all life, there is no way I can describe the horrendous feeling of being separated from God. It is the most empty, lonely, abandoned, and completely destitute feeling one could ever imagine.

The Pit

However, now I found myself next to an enormous pit with raging flames of fire leaping high into an open cavern. As I looked up into that dark, eerie, tomb-like atmosphere, it seemed to be like a mouth that had swallowed her dead. The flames of her ravenous appetite were never satisfied with the pitiful screams of untold multitudes.

I could see the outlines of people through the flames. The screams from the condemned souls were deafening and relentless. There was no safe place, no safe moment, no temporary relief of any kind.

It was raining fire and burning rock, similar to the way lava falls from the sky when a volcano explodes. The smoke from the flames was very thick, allowing visibility for only a short distance, but what I could see was horrifying. I saw many people reaching out of the pit of fire, desperately trying to claw their way out. But there was no escape.

The wall wrapped around me and led to the vast expanse of the pit. As I looked at the walls, I saw that they were covered with thousands of hideous creatures. These demonic creatures were all sizes and shapes.

There were also gigantic rats and huge spiders at least three feet wide and two or three feet high. I also saw snakes and worms, ranging from small to enormously large. I was petrified and could not believe my eyes.

. I could now see more of the enormous pit, which looked to be as much as a mile across. However, this was just a fraction of hell’s space.3 To the right of the large inferno were thousands of small pits, as far as I could see. Each pit was no more than three to five feet across and four to five feet deep—each pit holding a single lost soul.

The Gateway

My gaze followed the beasts up the sides of the wall, and I saw that there was a hole in the top of the cave. It was the entrance to an upward tunnel, approximately thirty-five feet in diameter. The fiendish creatures lined the tunnel walls as well.

Don Piper

People there

When I first stood in heaven, they were still in front of me and came rushing toward me. They embraced me, and no matter which direction I looked, I saw someone I had loved and who had loved me. They surrounded me, moving around so that everyone had a chance to welcome me to heaven.

I felt loved—more loved than ever before in my life. They didn’t say they loved me. I don’t remember what words they spoke. When they gazed at me, I knew what the Bible means by perfect love. It emanated from every person who surrounded me.

Brilliance

I stared at them, and as I did I felt as if I absorbed their love for me. At some point, I looked around and the sight overwhelmed me. Everything was brilliantly intense. Coming out from the gate—a short distance ahead—was a brilliance that was brighter than the light that surrounded us, utterly luminous. As soon as I stopped gazing at the people’s faces, I realized that everything around me glowed with a dazzling intensity. In trying to describe the scene, words are totally inadequate, because human words can’t express the feelings of awe and wonder at what I beheld.

Everything I saw glowed with intense brightness.

I wasn’t blinded, but I was amazed that the luster and intensity continually increased. Strange as it seems, as brilliant as everything was, each time I stepped forward, the splendor increased. The farther I walked, the brighter the light. The light engulfed me, and I had the sense that I was being ushered into the presence of God. Although our earthly eyes must gradually adjust to light or darkness, my heavenly eyes saw with absolute ease. In heaven, each of our senses is immeasurably heightened to take it all in. And what a sensory celebration!

A holy awe came over me as I stepped forward. I had no idea what lay ahead, but I sensed that with each step I took, it would grow more wondrous.

Then I heard the music.

The Music

It was the most beautiful and pleasant sound I’ve ever heard, and it didn’t stop. It was like a song that goes on forever. I felt awestruck, wanting only to listen. I didn’t just hear music. It seemed as if I were part of the music—and it played in and through my body. I stood still, and yet I felt embraced by the sounds.

As aware as I became of the joyous sounds and melodies that filled the air, I wasn’t distracted. I felt as if the heavenly concert permeated every part of my being, and at the same time I focused on everything else around me.

The praise was unending, but the most remarkable thing to me was that hundreds of songs were being sung at the same time—all of them worshiping God. As I approached the large, magnificent gate, I heard them from every direction and realized that each voice praised God. I write voice, but it was more than that. Some sounded instrumental, but I wasn’t sure—and I wasn’t concerned. Praise was everywhere, and all of it was musical, yet comprised of melodies and tones I’d never experienced before.

“Hallelujah!” “Praise!” “Glory to God!” “Praise to the King!” Such words rang out in the midst of all the music. I don’t know if angels were singing them or if they came from humans. I felt so awestruck and caught up in the heavenly mood that I didn’t look around. My heart filled with the deepest joy I’ve ever experienced. I wasn’t a participant in the worship, yet I felt as if my heart rang out with the same kind of joy and exuberance.

If we played three CDs of praise at the same time, we’d have a cacophony of noise that would drive us crazy. This was totally different. Every sound blended, and each voice or instrument enhanced the others.

As strange as it may seem, I could clearly distinguish each song. It sounded as if each hymn of praise was meant for me to hear as I moved inside the gates.

Many of the old hymns and choruses I had sung at various times in my life were part of the music—along with hundreds of songs I had never heard before. Hymns of praise, modern-sounding choruses, and ancient chants filled my ears and brought not only a deep peace but the greatest feeling of joy I’ve ever experienced.

The celestial tunes surpassed any I had ever heard. I couldn’t calculate the number of songs—perhaps thousands—offered up simultaneously, and yet there was no chaos, because I had the capacity to hear each one and discern the lyrics and melody.

Colors

In those minutes—and they held no sense of time for me—others touched me, and their warm embraces were absolutely real. I saw colors I would never have believed existed. I’ve never, ever felt more alive than I did then.

I was home; I was where I belonged. I wanted to be there more than I had ever wanted to be anywhere on earth. Time had slipped away, and I was simply present in heaven. All worries, anxieties, and concerns vanished. I had no needs, and I felt perfect.

Trying to Describe it

I get frustrated describing what heaven was like, because I can’t begin to put into words what it looked like, sounded like, and felt like. It was perfect, and I knew I had no needs and never would again. I didn’t even think of earth or those left behind.

For me, just to reach the gates was amazing. It was a foretaste of joy divine. My words are too feeble to describe what took place.

The Gate

Looming just over the heads of my reception committee stood an awesome gate interrupting a wall that faded out of sight in both directions. It struck me that the actual entrance was small in comparison to the massive gate itself. I stared, but I couldn’t see the end of the walls in either direction. As I gazed upward, I couldn’t see the top either.

One thing did surprise me: On earth, whenever I thought of heaven, I anticipated that one day I’d see a gate made of pearls, because the Bible refers to the gates of pearl. The gate wasn’t made of pearls, but was pearlescent—perhaps iridescent may be more descriptive. To me, it looked as if someone had spread pearl icing on a cake. The gate glowed and shimmered.

I paused just outside the gate, and I could see inside. It was like a city with paved streets. To my amazement, they had been constructed of literal gold. If you imagine a street paved with gold bricks, that’s as close as I can come to describing what lay inside the gate.

Everything I saw was bright—the brightest colors my eyes had ever beheld—so powerful that no earthly human could take in this brilliance.

Just as I reached the gate, my senses were even more heightened, and I felt deliriously happy.

I paused—I’m not sure why—just outside the gate. I was thrilled at the prospect and wanted to go inside. I knew everything would be even more thrilling than what I had experienced so far. At that very moment I was about to realize the yearning of every human heart. I was in heaven and ready to go in through the pearlescent gate.

During that momentary pause, something else changed. Instead of just hearing the music and the thousands of voices praising God, I had become part of the choir. I was one with them, and they had absorbed me into their midst. I had arrived at a place I had wanted to visit for a long time; I lingered to gaze before I continued forward.

Then, just as suddenly as I had arrived at the gates of heaven, I left them.

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Two People / Two Stories

Don Piper & Bill Wiese
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