If God is real (and He is), then Heaven and Hell also exist. If He is the Creator of Heaven and Hell (and He is), then He decides who spends eternity in Heaven, and who spends eternity in Hell.
The writer of Hebrews puts it this way: “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31) A common, false belief depicts a loving God who would never send anyone to Hell. A person holding that view is calling Jesus a liar. That’s the opposite of common sense. At our eternal peril, we ignore that God is also perfectly just, and His every action displays perfect justice.
Therefore, these words from Jesus deserve our attention: “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)
Usually, ‘destroy’ denotes wiping out the existence of an object. Applying that concept to this verse leads to the mistaken belief that a person who ends up in Hell will cease to exist.
A person taking that view might also arrive at this conclusion: “I’ll grab for everything I can in this life, regardless of right and wrong, because I will be destroyed in the afterlife. That’s not a horrible result if I can get everything I want in this life.” That’s basically the position of an atheist. In other words, common sense is absent.
Jesus refutes that nihilist position later in Matthew 25:46: “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Let’s connect the idea of ‘destruction’ and ‘eternal punishment.’ The reality of eternal punishment requires a living, eternal recipient. Psalm 9:17 describes those people: “The wicked will return to Sheol (Hell), even all the nations who forget God.” The word ‘nations’ tells us Hell will be extremely crowded. The word ‘wicked’ tells us everyone in that crowd will be horrible beings with a common sin: they forgot and then ignored God.
Common sense, then, tells us to not ignore God, or we will undoubtedly lapse into a life of wickedness. Then, eventually, the justice of God kicks in.
Yet, common sense tells us not everyone goes to Hell even though we are all sinners. But common sense fails us if we default to the position of only the Adolph Hitlers of the world end up in Hell while the man who takes the Lord’s name in vain escapes it. Sin is sin, and God’s justice is absolute.
The key is the phrase ‘forget God.’ The most memorized verse in the whole of Scripture clarifies this phrase: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
The opposite of ignoring God is believing in Him. That doesn’t mean only believing He exists. In that case, you’ve done no more than Satan and his demons. James 2:19 puts it this way: “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.” Hopefully, you note James’ sarcasm.
Believing means trusting. It means putting your full faith and trust in Jesus, knowing only He is able to save you from eternal Hell. With a sudden onslaught of common sense, you surrender your life to Him with the promise to obey Him as sincerely and thoroughly you can.
You will not be perfect in following Him, but His loving grace will cover you as you move closer and closer to Him in a thriving, expanding relationship. At this point, your common sense is serving you well.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest…and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light,” says Jesus in Matthew 11: 28-30.
The glorious zenith of the easy yoke and light burden occurs when you, immersed in common sense, declare you want to follow Jesus no matter the cost. Once you’ve done that, the incredibly heavy burden and difficult yoke of Hell will never touch you.