Why Would I Want to be Saved?

July 10th, 2025
by Cara Erickson

The Bible tells us that after this life, we will live in eternity. There are two possible scenarios of how we will spend that eternity. It won't be a matter of choice but of judgment. In scenario one, God will sit on his righteous throne and will welcome us into His presence, declaring us not guilty in Christ, able to enjoy Him forever. Or, in scenario two, He will cast us away from Him forever, condemning us of our guilt to a life of eternal shame and suffering. Let’s look a little more in depth at each of these.

What will Hell be like?

It’s popular in our culture to hear phrases like, “I want to go to Hell, because that’s where all my friends are going to be,” or “Hell is going to be one big party.” But that’s not at all the picture that the Bible paints of Hell. The Bible describes the people in Hell in this way: “he will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night” (Revelation 14:10-11) Hell is a place in which the full amount of God’s holy anger and wrath is poured out on its residents. It’s a place of unrelenting torment. There is no relief from the torture or suffering in Hell; it just continues on forever, without pause. We won’t even be able to look forward to death, because it will no longer exist. And far worse than the physical suffering of Hell is the mental suffering. The Bible says that in the end, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” When Christ returns, there is not a soul who won’t recognize Christ as Lord. Those who are in Hell will recognize him as Lord, and they will suffer eternally with the knowledge that they did not recognize him as Lord in time, that they continued in their rebellion against Him until it was too late. Those in Hell will recognize God as holy and good and worthy of worship, but they will live cast out of His presence forever, never able to enjoy the greatness and goodness of who He is. Hell is not a place anyone truly wants to be.

What will Heaven be like?
The picture the Bible paints of Hell is absolutely terrifying. But there really isn’t anything more beautiful than the picture the Bible paints of Heaven. Revelation 21 describes what Heaven will be like: “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’” Whereas Hell is far worse than anything we can dream up, Heaven far exceeds our wildest dreams. Heaven is a place where God himself, the true, perfect, holy, loving, and compassionate God, will rule over His people. Everyone will acknowledge His authority and His Goodness, and everyone will submit to Him willingly. Everything will be made new, no longer broken, cursed, or incomplete. There will be no more pain, suffering, or mourning; it just won’t exist anymore! We can’t even imagine how beautiful Heaven will be!

What does it mean to be saved?
Being saved isn’t just about staying out of Hell or getting into Heaven. Really, being saved is about getting God. When God saves us, He saves us to Himself. We get Him today and tomorrow and forever. Like Heaven, God is unfathomably good and satisfying. There is nothing we will find more fulfilling or worthy of our attention than God Himself. So, the fact that He gives Himself to us is incredible! The ultimate appeal of being saved by God, is that you are able to know God and worship Him for the rest of eternity, and you get to do it amongst the company of all the other believers who love Him just as much as you do.