One might think of life as a journey and all humans as pilgrims. Every journey has a destination. People usually like to map out a plan and know the nature of the destination before them. We usually look for the best route and the most pleasant place when we arrive. Every person has a destination for eternity where one shall ever be. There will be no return trip. Each should consider where he is headed. Let us consider the two destinations and toward which one each is headed.
1. Heaven is a home of mansions that the Lord Jesus Christ has gone to prepare for the obedient (John 14:1-3). On the other hand, hell is a place of exile where the unfaithful will be cast out into outer darkness (Matt. 25:30).
2. In heaven there will be no tears, no sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be no more death, nor pain, for all these things shall pass away (Rev. 21:4). But in hell there will be weeping, unhappiness and gnashing of teeth due to torment (Matt. 22:13).
3. Revelation 21:27 says there will be no temptations, for nothing that defiles, or works abominations shall enter therein, but those written in the Lamb’s book of life. On the other hand, those in hell will be with the tempter and all the wicked of the ages (Matt. 4:3; 25:46).
4. In the life to come, the saved will receive a crown of life (Rev. 2:10), but the wicked will drink of the wine of the wrath of God (Rev. 14:10).
5. To those who overcome, they will be granted to sit with Christ on His throne (Rev. 3:21). Those in hell will be in a place of the overthrown, and cry out for the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb (Rev. 6:16).
6. Those who do God’s commandments shall be blessed, and enter through the gates into heaven (Rev. 22:14). But those deceived by the devil will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone with the devil and false prophets (Rev. 20:10-15).
7. Heaven will be a place of rest from earthly labors and trials (Matt.11:28-30; Rev.14:13). But for the unsaved, there will be no rest, day nor night, forever and ever (Rev. 14:11).
8. Heaven shall be a place of music, where songs of praise will be sung to the Lamb (Rev. 5:9). In hell there shall be the wail of the lost (Matt. 13:50).
9. In heaven the righteous will live in peace forever, but the otherwise will go away into a place of eternal punishment (Matt. 25:46).
10. In heaven there will be no death, no sorrow as suffered on earth (Rev. 21:4). But, for the lost, they will be with the fearful, unbelieving, and the abominable, sorcerers and all liars (Rev. 21:8).
11. In the place of rest there will be no pain, for all such will have passed away (Rev. 21:4). On the other hand, in hell the lost will be cast into the lake of fire and be tormented day and night forever (Rev. 20:10).
12. In the paradise of God, there will be no parting. The redeemed will be safe forevermore, for they cannot cross the gulf that separates between the saved and the lost. On the other hand, there will be no escape for those on the nether side of the gulf that separates between them (Luke 16:23,26).
13. Heaven will be a place of glorious light. “The city will have no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Rev. 21:23). By way of contrast, hell will be a place of darkness, as Jesus said of the one-talent man, ”And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 25:30).
14. Heaven is the abode of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit, and all the angels, and the glory of God will fill it (Rev. 21:23). Not so in hell, for that will be the abode of Satan, who has devastated the soul health of humanity (Rev. 20:10).
15. Heaven will be the dwelling place of the redeemed for eternity, with the righteous of the ages, and shall walk in the light of the glory of the Godhead (Rev. 21:24). Opposite to that, hell will be the abode of the vilest of the ages. Nobody in his right mind would want to live with that kind in this world for a short time. Then, why choose to dwell with such for eternity (Rev. 21:8; 22:15)?
Likely some of the ideas used are figurative, portraying blessings or punishment with things man can understand. But we know that heaven is prepared for the good and obedient. Hell is prepared for the unprepared. Originally, hell was prepared for Satan, not for man (Matt. 25:41).
Therefore, heaven can be had on God’s terms, but hell can be had on our own terms. It is up to the individual.
Heaven is worth striving for (Heb. 4:11). Hell is a state to be shunned with every fiber of our being. Everyone shall be raised from the dead to stand before the judgment bar of God (John 5:28-29), and hear “Come ye blessed;” or “Depart ye cursed;” Which will it be for you?
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