Is hell real? By Dane Ortlund. Hell exists, and everyone deserves it. When we understand God for who he is as perfectly holy, we immediately see not only who he is, but who we are, utterly sinful. Some speak of hell as the absence of God, but hell is not the absence of God absolutely. Indeed, it is the presence of God in wrath. Hell is the presence of God, the righteous wrath of God, as unbelievers suffer the torments of their ruinous sin forever. The point is this.

A penitent murderer goes to heaven. An impenitent orphanage founder goes to hell. All of our badness does not make us harder to save. All of our goodness does not make us easier to save. The world tends to believe that heaven is for the good and hell is for the bad. The Bible teaches that heaven is for the penitent and hell is for the impenitent, however good or bad anyone has been. Jesus had no hesitation warning the crowds of the horrors of hell because he, more than anyone, saw the true frightfulness of it. No one who ever lived will receive injustice from God. Some will receive mercy. The rest will receive justice. No one is ever treated by God unfairly.

We tend to think that the default destiny of all people is heaven, and that hell is reserved for the particularly wicked. But in truth, our default destiny is hell, and heaven is reserved for those who honestly admit their wickedness and look to Christ alone for salvation. More than likely, in the next few days, within a few miles of the spot where you are sitting right now, someone will descend into hell. We are not any further from hell if we've lived a moral life We are not any closer to hell if we've lived an immoral life.

Heaven is not for the deserving. It is for the repentant. Hell is not for the undeserving. It is for the unrepentant. Hell is filled with people who think they should be in heaven. Heaven is filled with people who know they should be in hell. The astonishing surprise is not that there is only one way to get to heaven.

The astonishing surprise is that there is any way to get to heaven for miserable sinners such as us. All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath. but because of His great love for us. God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved.