Question:
Do Jews go to Hell? Jews have been around for longer than Christians. Jesus was a Jew. Yet, Jesus states that the only way to the Father is through Me.
Answer:
Why would Jews go to hell? The first apostles were all Jews, that is, descendents of Jacob. Jesus was indeed a Jew. Jesus was first sent to the Jews to redeem them. Most of the Jews rejected Jesus, though. But why would anyone think that Jews go to Hell. No one would ever be rejected by God because they came from a certain family. All people came from the two people originally created: Adam and Eve. We are all of one race in the natural. According to the spirit, there are two races. Those who have been born again, regardless of whether they are Jew, Greek, or a member of some other natural family, they are born into God’s family and removed from Satan’s family. Satan was their natural father, but now God is their Father.
God originally extended salvation to all people through Adam and again through Noah. When so many did not want His salvation, He turned to one man, Abraham. Of Abraham’s two sons, Ishmael was of the slave and Isaac was of the free. Salvation was given through Isaac, though Ishmael was also blessed by God. Of Isaac’s two sons, Esau was concerned with the flesh and didn’t value what was naturally his promise. He sold his birthright to his brother, Jacob, for a bowl of stew. Jacob was imperfect but valued the gift from God, so God gave him a new name and called him Israel. Israel had twelve sons and from those sons came the twelve tribes of Israel. When Moses, a Jew, was sent by God to rescue the nation of Israel from Egypt, God gave the law to the people. From then on, any person from any nation could join Israel and come under the law of God. The law was much more than the many commands of God that were given in the law. The law was a written description of love and how it would have to work in a fallen world. Built into the law was a view into the future permanent salvation that would be in Jesus Christ.
Many of the Jewish people didn’t understand that righteousness is a free gift from God. They set about to create their own righteousness by self-effort and failed to partake of the free gift of righteousness that flows down from the throne of God by faith, just as the animation on this page describes.
When most of the Jewish people rejected Christ, the apostle Paul was led by God to extend the invitation for salvation to all nations. Of course, many Jewish people did partake as well. Some refused.
“There is a Judge for the one who rejects Me [Jesus] and does not accept My Words; that very Word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day” (John 12:48)
This saying also stands for every person who speaks the utterances of Jesus. When we hear them, we hear Jesus Christ, and we either accept or reject Him. Every person who follows Jesus Christ is commanded to only speak His utterances and not their own words.
“[God] has set a day when He will judge all the world’s people with fairness. And He has chosen the man, Jesus, to do the judging for Him. God has given proof of this to all of us by raising Jesus from death” (Acts 17:31).
“When we love others, we know that we belong to the truth, and we feel at ease in the presence of God” (1 John 3:19)
Some will be so stubborn, lacking humility, and hard-hearted toward God that they will force God to allow them to go through Hell. That is unimaginable, but some people are really hardened against God and committed to evil. God judges in ultimate fairness without regard to lineage or other factors. He has great mercy for those who turn to Him regardless of the sins they have committed against Him. He says, “I do not condemn you. Go and sin no more or a worse thing will happen to you.”
