If this unsettled you, good! That is precisely what Alcorn wanted. But there is more than one kind of fear. There is terror such as Zedong has in this passage. But there is also the fear of the Lord, which drives out all other fears. And this fear is not a terror; it is a respect and awe of the One who really does have the power to cast you into the pit of Hell.

There is a way out! You need not fear this Hell. You must believe in the God of the Bible, and repent of your sins, and trust on Jesus Christ to save you from your sins.

But a further word of warning: I would be remiss if I did not tell you what it is you do if you repent and trust in God. You are leaving one kind of slavery and warfare for a different kind of slavery and warfare. Christianity is warfare, and if you are a Christian, you are a soldier. Christianity is not peace with the world, the flesh and the devil. You should not expect a life of ease. You must fight this good fight.

And what is the goal of this fight? Heaven, or Charis as Alcorn calls it. Heaven is rest, perfect peace. Communion with God. Rewards beyond anything you can imagine. Think of the most blissful thing that has ever happened to you, and try to imagine that experience multiplied infinitely over, and deepened and broadened. And then I tell you truly, that has not even scratched the surface of what Heaven will be.

In Christ.