When people read about Hell from God’s Word, they’re prone to conjure up images of medieval torture instruments like the rack or the thumbscrew. God isn’t in the torture business.
Torture instruments were typically used to get confessions or betraying information from a victim. Our all-knowing God, of course, doesn’t need torture instruments in order to obtain any information.
How about for punishment? No one needs instruments of torture in order to dispense punishment. An elementary example is a parent directing his two-year old to sit in the corner for several minutes. Mental torture ensues for that two-year old rather than physical. The teenager has his phone taken away for a month. Talk about mental torture.
So is the punishment in Hell meant to only affect a person mentally? Actually, two physical conditions of Hell affect every Hell-dweller. One of those ways is the lack of water in a brutally hot environment. The rich man in Jesus’ parable describes this physical torture in Luke 16:24: “So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
Hell is engulfed with fire. Revelation 20:15 describes it as a ‘lake of fire.’ In Matthew 13:50, Jesus describes Hell as a ‘fiery furnace.’ Other adjectives used in Scripture to describe this encompassing fire are ‘eternal’ (Jude 1:7) and unquenchable. Finally, it’s a fire of brimstone (Revelation 14:10).
If it’s a massive fire of brimstone, the Hell-dweller can expect to be assailed continually by the stench of rotten eggs for all eternity.
In summation, a Hell-dweller will forever suffer from unquenchable thirst and the insufferable stink of sulfur. Common sense screams that a person should do everything possible to avoid Hell as a dwelling place.
Yet, the person doesn’t. What an amazing irony. If that person, while living on earth, moved to a place of incessant heat along with air continually terrorized by the smell of sulfur, he would exit as quickly as possible. No amount of money could keep him there.
Imagine his horrified surprise when he leaves this temporary earthly place on earth only to land in a deplorable place he can never leave or find refuge within.
Hell is more than heat and stink. Jude 1:13 describes Hell as the ‘blackest darkness.’ Matthew 8:12 describes Hell as ‘darkness.’
Hell doesn’t need torture instruments in order to inflict punishment upon people who refuse to put their lives in the hands of Jesus. The Hell-dweller can never moisten his tongue with even one drop of water, can never escape the stench of sulfur, and can never enjoy the brightness of sunlight ever again.
No wonder, then, perpetual agony covers the Hell-dweller. But not from inflicted physical pain. More so from the mental anguish of never ever being able to simply enjoy a glass of water, the smell of fresh air, or the brightness of light. Across the chasm, he can see people, even people he knew on earth, enjoying all that in addition to other wondrous realities, like a thriving, loving relationship with the God of the universe.
It’s too much to bear, and what does the Hell-dweller resort to? Anger? Cursing? Plotting escape? Jesus tells us in Matthew 13:49: “This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Weeping we understand. Gnashing means uncontrollable grinding of one’s teeth. Sometimes some brave person with no common sense will state he’s going to Hell so he can party with his friends. Common sense should tell him no Hell-dweller will possess the desire to party. Every friend he has in Hell will be weeping and gnashing his teeth.
All he needed do was saying ‘yes’ to Jesus’ desire to have a relationship with him. So simple, yet he refused to do so. Such simple common sense. Regret overcomes him, and all he can do is weep and grind his teeth together. Forever and forever.