Every Knee Will Bow

I got married when I was 18 years old and my bride was only 16. I had this dream that if I loved my wife, like my father loved my mother, my marriage could survive anything. I truly thought love conquered all, boy was I ever wrong! My marriage lasted 8 years. During that time I had 3 daughters. After my divorce I spent 4 years as a single parent. This time was the most agonizing and difficult days of my entire life. One night I had a dream that my home was on fire and I couldn't find my daughters or get out of the house. In my dream the fire surrounded me and I was helpless to do anything about it. When I woke up I found myself wrapped in the sheets from my bed and drenched in sweat. The dream was so real that I called my mother and woke her up just so I could hear her voice and be assured that I wasn't burning to death. The bible describes Hell as a place of suffering, separation, and judgment. It is portrayed as a place of eternal punishment, unquenchable fire, total darkness, and a deep separation from God.

 Matthew 13: 47-50 ESV Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I hear so many people talk about Hell in such a flippant manner. They think that Hell is just one giant drunken party where they will go to hang out with their friends and really raise some Hell! I also hear people out of frustration and anger tell someone that they can go to Hell! Hell is such a terrible place I wouldn't want my worst enemy to be sent there. Hell is a place far more frightful than we could ever imagine. The Bible uses many very graphic pictures to describe Hell. Each image is terrifying. But the combination is even more horrifying than you can imagine. Second Peter 2:17 tells us that Hell is a place of total darkness. Matthew 5:20 says Hell is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Revelation 21:8 says it is a lake that burns with fire and sulfur. Jude 6 says Hell is a prison of everlasting chains from which there is no hope of release. The suffering in hell is beyond all comparison to any suffering found in this world today.

Revelation 20:15 ESV And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Knowing theses truths about the torment of Hell why then was it so hard for me, when I was younger to bow my knee and surrender my life to Jesus Christ? The bible tells us that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

 Philippians 2: 9-11 ESV Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

For those of us who are still living we must heed the warning in God's word about eternity in Hell. It is appointed for each of us to die once and then to face the judgment. Because one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Those who have hardened their hearts to the call of the gospel will bow their knees with great fear and trembling. Hell is a place of eternal punishment, where the suffering will never end! So it is better to bow your knee now, than to do so at the Judgment day.