What Does the Bible Say About Hell ? Is anyone in Hell now? Does Hell last forever?
1 John 4:8
He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Terms for Hell Used in the Bible
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word Sheol = Hell = Grave
Psalms 9:17
The wicked shall be turned into hell,
And all the nations that forget God.
Job 7:9
As the cloud disappears and vanishes away,
So he who goes down to the grave does not come up.
In the New Testament, the Greek word Hades = Hell = Grave
Acts 2:27
For You will not leave my soul in Hades,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
1 Corinthians 15:55
“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
Gehenna is a Greek word that referred to a dump outside of Jerusalem. Gehenna=Hell=Place of Burning
Matthew 23:33
Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?
Tartarus is a Greek word. Tartarus=Hell=Place of Darkness
2 Peter 2:4
For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment.
Jesus went to hell for a short time after being crucified on the Cross.
Acts 2:31
He, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.
The word ‘hell’ only means burning 12 times in the Bible. ‘Hell’ in the Bible mostly refers to the Grave and Darkness. How long does hell burn?
1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
2 Peter 3:7
But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
2 Peter 3:10
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
Malachi 4:1
“For behold, the day is coming,
Burning like an oven,
And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.
And the day which is coming shall burn them up,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“That will leave them neither root nor branch.”
Malachi 4:3
You shall trample the wicked,
For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet
On the day that I do this,
Says the Lord of hosts.
Psalms 37:10
For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more;
Indeed, you will look carefully for his place,
But it shall be no more.
Psalms 37:20
But the wicked shall perish;
And the enemies of the Lord,
Like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish.
Into smoke they shall vanish away.
Isaiah 47:14
Behold, they shall be as stubble,
The fire shall burn them;
They shall not deliver themselves
From the power of the flame;
It shall not be a coal to be warmed by,
Nor a fire to sit before!
Revelation 20:9
They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. 10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Where else is ‘forever’ used in the Bible?
Exodus 21:6
Then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.
Hebrew word ‘forever’ is the same as the Greek. The servant is not alive today.
1 Samuel 1:22
But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned; then I will take him, that he may appear before the Lord and remain there forever.”
Samuel served as long as his life lasted. Samuel is no longer alive.
1 Samuel 1:28
Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord.” So they worshiped the Lord there.
Jonah 2:6
I went down to the moorings of the mountains;
The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;
Yet You have brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord, my God.
Jonah was in the whale for 3 days.
Matthew 25:41
Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels’.
Jude 7
As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Mark 9:43-44
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched, where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’
Jeremiah 17:27
But if you will not heed Me to hallow the Sabbath day, such as not carrying a burden when entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
Jerusalem is not burning today.
Isaiah 66:24
“And they shall go forth and look
Upon the corpses of the men
Who have transgressed against Me.
For their worm does not die,
And their fire is not quenched.
They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
Imperfect tense is used so the worm does not die yet. not quenched yet.
Problems with eternal burning hell include that the wicked from 3,000 years ago have to burn much longer than the people that are wicked now. This is a direct conflict with one of the most known passages of the Bible.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Ezekiel 33:11
Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
The answers to the questions I started off this blog post with are apparent in the Bible verses above.
1. Hell Does Not Burn Forever. People cast into the Lake of Fire in the Book of Revelation when Judgment Day arrives are burned up and they no longer exist. They are ashes. All evil will be removed from this earth.
2. The Second Coming of Jesus Christ has not happened yet so no one is in hell right now.
3. God is not cruel and sent Jesus to save man from eternal separation. Jesus came to save all men.
A farmer in Australia lost his house & a barn to a fire. When the farmer returned to his home everything was destroyed. He was walking over his land and noticed a mound of dirt. Under the mound of dirt were baby chicks. The mother of the chicks had protected them by covering the chicks with her wings.
Jesus Christ also came from heaven to this sin filled earth to take our punishment for us when He died on the Cross at Calvary for all the sins of man. Jesus offers to cover you with His Wings. Will you accept the most incredible gift you will ever receive?