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NASB | John 5:24 ¶ "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 5:24 ¶ "I assure you and most solemnly say to you, the person who hears My word [the one who heeds My message], and believes and trusts in Him who sent Me, has (possesses now) eternal life [that is, eternal life actually begins--the believer is transformed], and does not come into judgment and condemnation, but has passed [over] from death into life. |
Bible Question: Is Hell a literal fire that people burn forever and ever? What scares me that it is possible for any of us to go there even if we are believers. Even it their is a one percent chance, that alone scares me. Can you help me out please? |
Bible Answer: Jesus had a way of saying, “Fear not”. It is another way of saying that we should trust in him. Jesus says that hell is forever. He spoke of a fire “that never shall be quenched” (Mark 9:44). He says that we should avoid that place at all cost. It is a place “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched”. What drastic measures we need to take to avoid that dreadful place! “If thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched”. There are some who will explain these words away, distinguishing between “literal” and not “figurative”, and it may take all fear of hell away. But Jesus seems to be saying that hell is a place to be feared. The interesting thing is that believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have no fear of hell at all. The reason is that he says he will make sure we don’t go there. We have to believe him and trust him. He says he will take us to heaven (See John 14). Again there are those who will drain that promise of all the joyful anticipation that Jesus built into it. But that was his promise. Like that helicopter over the volcano, like the bridge over troubled water, like the baby in the arms of his mother, we can trust and feel safe. But these are poor comparisons. In Jesus, we are safe because he is true and able. We trust in his promises. “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). He is able (2 Timothy 1:12). So we can trust in him completely and have no fear at all. God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:9). We are in him, and he will not go to hell. Fear not, therefore. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ. Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in Jesus. In his Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, he would have told us. He has gone to prepare a place for us. And he will come again, and receive you unto himself; that where he is, there you may be also. |