Why did Satan decide to betray God and rule in Hell?

Wow! That’s an awesome question! In order to understand who Satan is and how he came to be, we need to look at Old Testament scripture and, in particular, the Book of Ezekiel, Chapter 28. Remember that Satan was an angel named Lucifer. In fact, he was more than just an angel, he was an archangel and was literally God’s second-in-command.

 

But, pride entered Lucifer’s heart and he wanted to be like God. Ezekiel 28:17 reads, “Your heart became proud on account of your beauty and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.” So because he became wicked and corrupted and because he was filled with violence and sinned, Satan was kicked out of Heaven. God expelled him BUT God did not send Satan to rule in Hell … Satan was cast down to earth. Satan is not the ruler of Hell, he rules here on earth to those who do not have Christ in their hearts. Sadly, not only was Satan cast down, so were a third of the heavenly hosts (angels) who decided to follow Satan. They are no longer angels but are called demons. Between Satan and his demons, all sorts of bad things have happened here on earth and will continue to happen. It started for us in the Garden of Eden and continues on to this day and beyond.

 

Satan wants to stop God’s plan because he knows that, in the end, he will lose against God. But, God’s greatest victory over Satan is Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection on Easter Sunday, death has been defeated and we can be assured eternal life with God in Heaven.

 

Oh, by the way, Satan will eventually be condemned to Hell where he will “reign and rule” for all of eternity, but not for a while yet.

What is the difference between your eternal life soul and your regular soul?

Wow! That’s an awesome question! For those of us that call ourselves Christians, or Christ Followers, we believe we only have one soul. That soul, or our spiritual being, is also eternal.

BUT, here’s the kicker, it is by our choice that we choose whether to spend that eternity either with God or separated from God. God does not choose for us. He reveals Himself to us and has revealed Himself to us throughout history in three distinct forms: God, the Father; God, the Son (Jesus); and God, the Holy Spirit. It is important to understand He is One God but in three persons.

It is our acceptance, through faith, of Christ’s saving grace that determines whether or not we spend life with God (Heaven) or apart from God (Hell).

The Bible tells us in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you’ve been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God – not by works so that no man can boast.” What that means is that there is nothing you can do or need to do to earn eternal life with God. Everything has already been done by Jesus, who took the sins of the world – past, present and future – on himself and died on the cross for us. He later rose again, three days later, overcoming death.

It is through that sacrifice and ultimate victory that our souls will have eternal life with God, in Heaven. Isn’t that amazing? I am so thankful for a God that loves me so much that He would sacrifice His One and Only Son so that I could have eternal life in Heaven!!!

If you are in Hell, can you actually see what Heaven looks like?

Yikes! Great question! The Bible doesn’t say outright but we do get a slight glimpse of the possibility of being able to see Heaven from Hell from the story of the rich man and a man named Lazarus. In the story, the rich man dies and ends up in Hell and sees Lazarus in Heaven with Abraham. The rich man asks Abraham to give him some relief because he is in agony and Abraham say that he cannot because, “…Between us and you a great chasm has been fixed so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross from there to us.” (Luke 16:26) In this story, we know that the rich man can see towards Heaven and can see partially into Heaven but we cannot know for sure that he can see all of Heaven. What we do know is that, once you are condemned to Hell, you are stuck there for eternity.

So, how can a person avoid the same fate as the rich man and live in Heaven with God like Lazarus? Honestly, there is only one way to get to Heaven and the great thing about it is that it doesn’t involve you or me having to be good! The truth is: Jesus is the only way to Heaven. He makes this quite clear in John 14:6, when He says, “I am the truth, the way and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” It’s not about being good because we can never be “good enough.” It’s about being forgiven and being saved through the grace of Jesus Christ.

What happens to your spirit when you die?

Wow, what an awesome question! And it’s also a very difficult question to answer because so many Bible scholars have different opinions on it. The truth is that no one knows for sure what happens the moment we die and I think that God had a good reason for keeping us wondering about the mysteries of heaven. Perhaps our brains just couldn’t grasp the realities of eternity.

BUT, the Holy Bible does reveal the following truth about the afterlife. We know that while our earthly bodies will die, our spirit will continue on for eternity. The million dollar question then becomes, where are you going to spend eternity? And there are only two choices there; you can spend eternity with God or apart from God.

You see, the choice is really yours. God gave you free will to either choose Him or reject Him. If you choose to follow God and accept Jesus as your Savior, you will spend eternity with God in Heaven. If you choose to reject God, then you will spend eternity separated from God in a place that God never meant for you. The Bible even says this place, Hell, is a place that God “prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).

Remember when I said earlier that no one knows for sure what happens the moment we die? Well, there are many Bible scholars who believe your spirit goes somewhere else before you get to Heaven and that you’ll only get to Heaven once Jesus returns. However, there are other Bible scholars that believe you enter God’s presence at death. We just don’t know.

Here’s what I’m confident of: If you believe that Jesus is who He says He is and you’ve received Him as your Lord and Savior, you will be with God forever (Psalm 23:6) and that Jesus is preparing a special place for all us believers in Heaven! (John 14:1-3) Not only are you with God forever, you will never die again (Revelation 21:1-4).

Can you go to Heaven when you are in Hell?

Wow! That is an awesome question! Sadly, the answer is no. Once you are condemned to Hell, you are stuck there for eternity. There is a story in the Book of Luke, Chapter 16, about a rich man and a man named Lazarus. In the story, the rich man dies and ends up in Hell and sees Lazarus in Heaven with Abraham. The rich man asks Abraham to give him some relief because he is in agony and Abraham say that he cannot because, “…Between us and you a great chasm has been fixed so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross from there to us.” (Luke 16:26)

But, here’s the truth about Hell. It was never intended to be a place for us. It was created for Satan and his demons. Jesus tells us that in Matthew 25:41. Furthermore, God doesn’t send us to Hell; we choose to go there by turning our backs on God.

Honestly, there is only one way to get to Heaven and the great thing about it is that it doesn’t involve you or me having to be good! The truth is: Jesus is the only way to Heaven. He makes this quite clear in John 14:6, when He says, “I am the truth, the way and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” It’s not about being good because we can never be “good enough.” It’s about being forgiven and being saved through the grace of Jesus Christ.

What does death lead to?

Wow …. I think the Bible makes it pretty clear that there are only two options when you die: either eternal life in Heaven with Jesus or eternal torment in Hell. There is no middle ground or some holding tank for second chances.

Bottom line: If you are saved, you go to Heaven. If you are not saved, you go to Hell. I think it is very important at this point to make a very important distinction or clarification and that is: it’s all about being saved, not being good. Good people don’t go to Heaven; saved people do.

What I’m trying to say here is that it’s not about the good things you’ve done in your life or that you will do in your life that determines whether you go to Heaven. You can’t “earn” a spot in Heaven. It’s already been bought for you by Jesus’ death. He gives it to you as gift … a gift called grace. I love Ephesians 2:8-9, which says it clearly, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith --- and this is not from ourselves but it is a gift of God --- not by works, so no one can boast.” It is right there for the taking! Jesus gives you eternal life with Him as a gift! All you have to do is accept it. You don’t have to “do” anything. If you try and do things to somehow earn it, you take away Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and make it about earning salvation. Jesus is crying out, “No! I bought and paid for you with my blood! I did it willingly because I love you.”

Let me also say something about Hell. God did not create Hell for people. It is a place that was created for Satan and his demons. In Matthew 25:41, Jesus tells those who never came to Him, “Depart from, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

It is a terrible place…the Holy Bible can’t even adequately describe it. We do know that it is a place where even Satan is tormented day and night forever (Revelation 20:10). It is a place of total darkness, where you are completely alone and where you are in constant anguish from the searing flame with a thirst that cannot be quenched and where there will be a constant weeping and gnashing of teeth (Revelation 14:11, Mark 9:4, Jude 7, Matthew 22:13). If that scares you, that’s okay … it scares me too.

There are people, who are non-believers, who will say, “How can a loving God send people to a place like Hell?” The truth is God doesn’t send us to Hell. The non-belief in Him and sin, choosing the devil’s way, put people in Hell. Remember, God is holy and will not allow sin in His kingdom.

But, know this: God does not want anyone to perish! He wants all of us to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) More importantly, God sent His One and Only Son to die for us so that we would not go to Hell. But, it’s not enough just to know that Jesus died for us. You must truly believe that He died for us and then confess Him as your Savior. Remember our A-B-C’s in the Bridge Illustration? You must Admit your sins, Believe that Jesus is who He says He is and Confess Him to be your Savior.

Never forget how much God loves you!!! He loves you so much that while we were still sinners he sent His son to die for us! (Romans 5:8) And the reward is so great, too, because the Bible says that, “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him” (John 3:16-17)

What if you are in Hell and you pray about your sins? Will God take you to heaven from hell?

Wow, dude, that is an awesome question! Sadly, though, the Bible is quite clear on that and the truth is, no. Once you are in Hell, it is for all eternity.

Jesus actually talks more about Hell than He does about Heaven and the reason is because He does not want any of us to ever go there. Hell was not created by God for you and me. It is a place that was created for Satan and his demons. In Matthew 25:41, Jesus tells those who never came to Him, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

It is a terrible place…the Holy Bible can’t even adequately describe it. We do know that it is a place where even Satan is tormented day and night forever (Revelation 20:10). It is a place of total darkness, where you are completely alone and where you are in constant anguish from the searing flame with a thirst that cannot be quenched and where there will be a constant weeping and gnashing of teeth (Revelation 14:11, Mark 9:4, Jude 7, Matthew 22:13). If that scares you, that’s okay…it scares me too.

There are people, who are non-believers, who will say, “How can a loving God send people to a place like Hell?” The truth is God doesn’t send us to Hell. The non-belief in Him and sin, choosing the devil’s way, put people in Hell. Remember, God is holy and will not allow sin in His kingdom.

But, know this: God does not want anyone to perish! He wants all of us to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) More importantly, God sent His one and only Son to die for us so that we would not go to Hell. But, it’s not enough just to know that Jesus died for us. You must truly believe that He died for us and then confess Him that He is your Savior. Remember our A-B-C’s in the Bridge Illustration? You must Admit your sins, Believe that Jesus is who He says He is and Confess that He is your Savior.

Never forget how much God loves you!!! He loves you so much that while we were still sinners he sent His son to die for us! (Romans 5:8) And the reward is so great, too, because the Bible says that, “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him” (John 3:16-17)

What happens to a baby that dies at birth? Do they go to Heaven or Hell, because they never sinned?

Babies that die at birth go to Heaven. Babies that die before they are born go to Heaven too. Even small children who cannot understand the concept of sin and salvation go to Heaven if they die unexpectedly.

There is a point, though, where we do hold individuals accountable for their sins, but that is usually later as they grow older. Hebrew Tradition usually celebrated this age of accountability with a Bar Mitzvah.

I wonder if I will go to Hell

I want to reassure you of what the Bible and God has to say about hell. And I know that you have said that you have accepted Christ as your Savior so I am speaking from that perspective.

First when you mention a fear of going to hell it makes me think you are questioning your assurance of salvation. I think it is common for us to question our salvation because we sometimes go by our feelings, we know we are sinners and that we really don’t deserve to go to heaven. The truth is, if making it to heaven was up to us then you would have reason to fear but fortunately God through Jesus provides the way to heaven. Rather than go by our feelings we need to look at God’s Word for our assurance. Here are some verses that we can trust:

John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works so that no one can boast.”

1 John 5:11-13 “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

These are just a few verses that give us confidence/assurance in what God has for us. If you use a concordance (some Bibles even have concordances in the back of them) you can look up more verses by going to salvation, saved, or Savior; you will find several.

If you’ve never heard of God, why do you go to Hell?

This is a good question with which many people have wrestled. Here are just a few remarks on what God’s Word tells us about God’s judgment on people, and those who go to heaven and those who don’t.

We do not know how God will judge those who have never heard of Him or His Son Jesus Christ. That’s the short answer to your question. We do not know for certain that they will go to hell. We simply do not know the mind of God with regard to those who do not know Him. But read on about what we do know …

God is a just God, a God of justice. We do know that He will judge each person uniquely and fairly and the only reason people are going to hell is because they have told God that they can live without Him. On Judgment Day God will allow people to continue to live with the decision they have made. Not everyone who hears the truth about God will be saved, only those who believe in Jesus and obey. Read Luke 8:1-15. Also read John 3:18, John 8:24, 1 John 5:11-13, Deuteronomy 32:4.

The only reason anyone will be in heaven is because Jesus bled and died on the cross to pay the penalty for human sin. Nobody will be in heaven because they lived a good life or because they were sincere. Rather they will receive eternal life as a result of God’s good gift to them in Christ. Read John 14:6, Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5, John 1:12, Acts 4:12, Romans 3:22-24, Romans 5:6-8.

Those who have heard about Christ will be held accountable for how they responded to Him. To reject Christ is to reject God’s offer of forgiveness and eternal life. To choose not to decide about Jesus is to reject Him. Love demands a choice. A loving God invites us to come to Him. Romans 10:9-10.

Have confidence in Christ. Keep asking great questions. But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander 1 Peter 3:14-16.

Is Jesus in Heaven or Hell because He died and took the sins of the world on Him?

Excellent point, except you forgot one little detail and that is that Jesus rose again three days after He died. After He rose from the dead, He traveled around for about 40 days before He ascended into Heaven, where He sits at the right hand of God.