Because God is holy, He cannot abide the unholy and that is why hell exists…for the unholy who would pollute perfection. God is, indeed, love and that is why – while we were yet sinners – He sent His only Son to die for us that we might escape hell. Imagine in a court of law the plaintiff who has been wronged offering to pay the penalty for the one who is guilty and you get a tiny sense of what it cost God to redeem us from hell.

Jesus said he saw Lucifer fall from Heaven where he had been the most beautiful of angels. It was pride and seeking to be co-equal with God that did him in (the same sin used by Lucifer to trap Adam and Eve in sin). In Luke 12:4-5, Jesus warns: “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.”

Heaven is a place which Jesus tells many parables about because it is too wonderful to be described in human terms. It is a “kingdom” that simultaneously exists in a real place that cannot be measured or discovered in human terms and within those who trust and know Jesus Christ. We can literally know a bit of Heaven on Earth when Christ is in us. It is a precursor to the ultimate, objectively existing Heaven where God, his saints (that’s those who know Jesus) and angels dwell in perfection, in holiness and for eternity.

Scripture repeatedly teaches the existence of a literal Heaven and a literal hell. Whether you believe depends on whether you think God is telling the truth and His Word is reliable. Waiting to find out for sure is too late. Tickets are “on sale” now. Choose your destination. Both are one-way journeys. The trip to Heaven is a free gift that has already been paid for, but like any gift you have to receive it. The trip to hell you must pay (and pay and pay) yourself.