B3. What is the “hell” that Christ Spoke about?
The concept of God creating people to burn in a torturous hellfire forever, is contrary to a loving God.
The concept that burning in a torturous hellfire forever is necessary for a just God, would require that the crimes were deserving of such an extreme punishment. What possible crime could any human do that would deserve torture without end?
John 3:16 indicates that the alternatives for humans are everlasting Life and perishing or everlasting death.
If we are to believe that hell is not an everlasting punishing, we’ll need some other explanation for the Bible verses below.
1) Let’s start with this concept: God is asking for His created, free-willed being to choose Life by choosing to have a relationship with Him, while they live in this world. The alternative is to choose to not have any relationship with God, but this means that they are trying to “hide” from God. No one can really hide from God as long as He is thinking of them. So, if He is to grant those choices, He must stop thinking of them in any active scenario, even though He still knows them. This would put them into a state of total inactivity ever after. Let’s say that the Lake of Fire is symbolic of that situation. It would follow that they have been eternally rewarded with exactly what they chose, but the wages of that choice is everlasting death. Note that we distinguish “Eternal” from “Everlasting”, since only God is eternal with no beginning nor end. Other created things or beings have all had a beginning. Whether or not they will continue to exist thereafter, would depend on God deciding to continuing thinking of them thereafter. As such they may become “everlasting”, meaning that once created they continue thereafter.
2) Now let’s see what Christ could have been talking about when He spoke of the perpetually burning fires where the worm never dies “forever and ever”. Is there such a place as Hell.
Matt 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Rev 20:9-10 “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
Lake of Fire, Rev 20:12-15 “The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.” (see also Rev 21:8)
From these verses it is clear that the Lake of Fire (also mentioned in Rev 20:6 and Rev 2:11) is the Second Death, from which nothing returns, once thrown into it. This is where the devil and his angels are destined to be thrown, along with those who’s names are not written in the Book of Life. However, it is not hell, is it?
What then is this place Christ called, “Hell”.
For terms descriptive of "hell," see e. g., Matt 13:42; 25:46; Phil 3:19; 2 Thess 1:9; Heb 10:39; 2 Peter 2:17; Jude 13; Rev 2:11; 19:20; 20:6,10,14; 21:8.
Here are the
four terms used in biblical studies for this place, Hell.
1. geenna - represents the Hebrew Ge-Hinnom (the valley of Tophet) and a corresponding Aramaic word; it is found twelve times in the NT, eleven of which are in the Synoptists, in every instance as uttered by the Lord Himself. (from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright (c)1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers)
2. haides (hah'-dace) - properly, unseen, i.e. "Hades" or the place (state) of departed souls: KJV - grave, hell.
3. I cannot find the word “Sheol” in the Bible, but has been used to denote "the grave" and "hell", in some translations.
4. The verb tartaroo, translated "cast down to hell" in 2 Peter 2:4, signifies to consign to Tartarus, which is neither Sheol nor hades nor hell, but the place where those angels whose special sin is referred to in that passage are confined "to be reserved unto judgment"; the region is described as "pits of darkness."
I suggest that the, “Hell” Christ spoke of is a literal place, but it is the Earth during the 1000 years following the Second Coming of Christ.
During that time, the earth is a burned out cinder, smoldering continuously just as did the sanitary landfill at the edge of Jerusalem. There is no life on this cinder but there are dead bodies according to Rev 20:5. These humans did not choose to have a relationship with God, so they remain in the Grave until the 1000 years are over. Their dead bodies are indeed in a place that fits the description of Hell, but they are not alive to be tortured. Anyone who is in this place at that time is indeed lost, ie they will not receive everlasting life nor will they inherit the kingdom of heaven. They will perish. God is not yet finished with them, as they will arise after the 1000 years are ended. However, at that time their names will not be found in the Book of Life and so they will perish. Symbolically they will be tossed into the Lake of Fire and never heard from again. God will never again think of them in any active scenario. Yet, this is exactly what they wanted when they chose to hide from God. We say they are “lost”.
Furthermore, I suggest that the terms “forever and ever” and “unquenchable fire” indicate that something is consumed until it is totally gone. They are applied to Sodom and Gomorrah in Luke 17:29 and 2Peter2:6 to indicate that these cities were burned to ashes and totally destroyed, not that they are still burning. The term tephroo (tef-ro'-o); from tephra (ashes); to incinerate, i.e. consume, means KJV - turn to ashes.
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994
I see this as indicating that they burn until they are
totally destroyed not perpetual destroying.
If the dead were still being tortured, then
they are not dead. They would have
everlasting life anyway, albeit it an unhappy one.
Now let’s see how this interpretation and the above concept fit in the context of the following Bible verses:
Isa 66:24 "And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind." During the 1000 years, the saints will be with the Glorified Christ and will be able to look upon the earth as a burned out cinder containing the dead bodies of the lost.
Matt 5:22, 29, 30
22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
Mark 9:47-48 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where "'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'
These verses fit the concept that those who are left on the burned out Earth are lost forever, but they are lost whether they are alive there or dead. I suggest that they are dead at this point, but God is not yet finished with them.
Matt 10:28-29 Do not
be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be
afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Luke 12:4-5 "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell.
These verses confirm that they are really dead, not perpetually dying. Both the body and the soul are destroyed in hell, not kept alive and tortured. The soul is what you have when you have both the body and the breath of life. This verse means that everything about you is lost, not just your human body. For the righteous dead, their human bodies are lost, but they are recreated as glorified, angelic bodies with the same breath of life. Their spirit/thoughts are recreated intact and they will remember their human experiences. The unrighteous dead are gone and their thoughts perish as well.
Luke 16:22-23 The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.
This parable is symbolic in its entirety. EG No one is living in Abraham’s bosom. The rich man only realizes his torment when he is dead and raised in the second resurrection when the Big Picture is explained to him. Then as he understands the truth, he is in torment, ie perhaps he regrets his former decisions. The symbolic “hell “ in this parable fits the concept that his dead body will join the others in the final 1000 year millennium where the Earth is a burned out cinder.
If you wonder what God will do to those like the “rich man”, who refuse to have any relationship with Him, read 2 Peter 2:4-7:
4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent
them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; 5 if
he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly
people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; 6 if
he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and
made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; … ,9 if this is so, then the Lord knows how to
rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of
judgment, while continuing their punishment.
Regarding Sodom and Gomorrah: These cities are totally destroyed, not still burning with unquenchable fire. The fire was unquenchable in that it was not possible to stop it from totally consuming these cities. Likewise, it will be that the lost are totally consumed, in that they will be destroyed when God stops thinking of them (Lake of Fire). They will not be tortured forever after.
Conclusion: It is
consistent to interpret Hell as the Earth during the 1000-years following
Christ’s Second Coming. Those who are
not raised to be with Christ and changed at that time, are left dead on this
burned out planet for 1000 years. This
fits Christ’s descriptions of Hell and it is consistent with the rest of the
Bible. God is both just and
loving. People get what they chose and God is not torturing anyone. The wages of sin are indeed everlasting Death and the gift of God
is indeed everlasting Life. John 3:16
fits along with all those related texts.
21 April 2002, updated 5 July 2003
For more on this and a response to any questions, please email any comments to nasamike@nasamike.com
21 April 2002
For more on this and a response to any questions, please email any comments to nasamike@nasamike.com