A theological question that gets debated regularly is whether or not believers can lose their salvation. But what about unbelievers? Can they lose their damnation?
Believers are able to enjoy the assurance of salvation as they trust Jesus to be forgiven of their sins and earnestly seek to say “no” to temptation. Unbelievers, on the other hand, are on the path to damnation, rather than salvation.
The worst possible outcome for an individual is to end up in Hell. Jesus often spoke about this horrific place. When the Lord described those who lose their soul, He was essentially speaking about people who refuse to lose their damnation (see Mark 8:36).
I am very glad that “Christ died for sins once for all,” (1 Peter 3:18) and that “God wants everyone to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).
I am also thankful that unbelievers can “lose” their damnation by gaining Heaven and “losing” Hell.
Comedian Bill Maher has claimed for years that the concept of Hell is used by religious groups to scare and control people. Sadly, Bill completely misses the point. Jesus spoke regularly about Hell in order to warn people about its existence, while explaining how to stay out of it.
Bill Maher will turn 70 in a couple of months. Time is running out for him, just like it eventually does for each one of us. But some Christians continue to pray for Maher’s conversion. Unbelievers lose their damnation by repenting of their sins and believing in Jesus as Savior.
Many people have a hard time accepting the fact that Hell is a real place. And yet personal opinions do not change the reality that Heaven and Hell are actual places.
Jesus described Hell as a place “where the fire never goes out … where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ Everyone will be salted with fire” (Mark 9:44,48-49). No one in their right mind would ever want to end up there.
Scripture makes it clear that unbelievers are on the path to eternal damnation. Jesus said, “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They (holy angels) will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:41-42).
Millions of people in Hell today were absolutely shocked to learn firsthand that Hell actually exists. While on earth, they held erroneous assumptions based on subjective opinions, rather than embracing the objective words of the Son of God. And now they will have eternity to regret their decision.
The British writer and scholar C.S. Lewis said, “This is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, “No future bliss can make up for it,” not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say, ‘Let me have *this* and I will take the consequences,’ little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin.”
Unbelievers can only lose their damnation while here on earth. Once your soul leaves your body, you no longer have the opportunity to “repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15). “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
Jesus spoke about a rich man who went to Hell, “where he was in torment” (Luke 16:23). And yet somehow, he was able to see Abraham and Lazarus in Heaven. The man begged Abraham: “Send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment” (Luke 16:27-28).
Make no mistake about it: No one who is in Hell today wants their relatives or friends to go there.
While the biblical teaching about Hell is a difficult doctrine to accept, it is not make-believe, any more than the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Christ are make-believe. Your personal religious convictions do not change the eternal reality of Christ’s empty tomb, or of Heaven and Hell.
If your faith is in the cross for salvation, and you sincerely want to live for Jesus, then know that Heaven is your eternal home. On the other hand, if you have not yet bowed your knee to the Savior in repentance and faith, then you remain on the broad road Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7:13-14. This wide road leads directly into Hell, and many people enter this gruesome place of excruciating agony every day.
I urge you to take Jesus’ words extremely seriously. After all, no one gets a do-over after exiting this world. If you are an unbeliever, you could lose your damnation right now in this holy moment by coming to Christ. That is, if you truly want to enter Paradise when you die, and you truly want to be forgiven of your sins, and you truly want to follow Christ during your remaining time on earth. “Now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
Seize the day! It may never come again.
Dan Delzell is the pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Papillion, Nebraska.
