HELL: WHAT IS IT?

By

Curtis Dickinson

Perhaps no other doctrine has been so abused as that of the destiny of the lost. Not too
much is said these days about hell-fire and damnation, as the idea conflicts with the
popular bumper-sticker doctrine that whoever you are, you can smile because God loves
you. Of course, the sinner who still has some conscience left doesn’t buy that kind of
easy grace. So the church has tried the “hold-‘em-over-hell-and-shake-‘em” approach and
also the “something-good-is-going-to-happen” approach, and a quiet “ho-hum” is the
general response to both.
Is there a hell? A better question might be, “What is hell?” The word isn’t found
in the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, but four different Greek words were translated
“hell” in the King James Version of the Bible.

Sheol: This is an Old Testament Hebrew word translated as “hell” 31 times. The
same word also appears 31 times translated as “grave” and 3 times as “pit.” When the
Psalmist says, “If I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there” (Psa. 139:8), he simply
means that even burial in the grave does not remove him from God’s care.
Hades: This is the Greek equivalent of sheol. It appears 10 times in the New
Testament. The quotation in Acts 2:27, “thou will not leave my soul in hell” (KJV), is
from Psalms 16, where it is translated “sheol.” Again it refers to the grave or place of the
dead.
Gehenna: Like the word “hades” this is a transliteration from a Greek word and
is used nine times as “hell” in the KJV and three more times in combination with “fire”
(hell-fire). It comes from the word referring to the Valley of Hinnom, an area outside the
city of Jerusalem where idolaters burned their children during the reigns of King Ahaz
and King Manasseh (II Chron. 28:3). It was considered defiled and unclean and
eventually became the city dump of Jerusalem where fires smoldered and maggots fed on
the refuse of animals and criminal bodies thrown there. Jesus described it as a place
where the “worm dies not and the fire is not quenched.” The word He used for worm is
the Greek word for maggot, and did not refer to immortal maggots, but rather to the fact
that one always found them there, eating on that which the fire had not destroyed.
Tartarus: This word appears only once (II Peter 2:4). Tartarus was a mythical
place of detention for punishment, and is used only in reference to the “angels that
sinned.”

So we have three meaning for the one word, “hell.”

The only one of the three that has to do with the punishment of the sinner is
“Gehenna.” In all the references of man being cast into “Gehenna,” it is in the future
tense. “The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the
unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (II Peter 2:9). Jesus said that “the hour is
coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they
that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation” (John 5:28–29).
Jesus emphasized this fact, that the punishment of sinners would not take place
until His return. “So shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man shall send forth
his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them
which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and
gnashing of teeth” (Mt. 13:40–42).
Paul writes that those who obey not the gospel “shall suffer punishment, even
eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might when he
shall come to be glorified in his saints…” (II Thess. 1:8–9).
Contrary to much evangelical emphasis, there are no “lost souls in hell” today.
Judgment and hell are still in the future.

What happens in hell? Several scriptures indicate that the wicked will experience
intense suffering. It is also plainly indicated that some shall suffer more and some less.
“And then he shall reward every man according to his works” (Mt. 16:27). “That servant
which knew his lord’s will…shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew
not…with few stripes” (Luke 12:47–48). If the Bible praises God for anything, it is His
justice. Here Jesus plainly teaches that men will be punished according to their deeds, and
that not all shall receive the same degree of punishment, although all will eventually be
destroyed or put to death, as that is the ultimate object of the fire. In comparing the
righteous and the wicked to the wheat and the chaff, John said that Jesus will burn up the
chaff with unquenchable fire (Mt. 3:12). Although the fire is unquenchable, this does not
say that it will not cease to burn when its work is done, and it certainly does not say that
the wicked cast into it are imperishable and must burn forever without ever being burned
up! This would be a ridiculous contradiction in the statement.
If the wicked lived forever, being tortured in hell, they would be immortal. But
this is impossible because the Bible says that God “only has immortality” (I Tim. 6:16).
The teaching that sinners will be immortal in hell was originated by Satan in the garden
of Eden when he told Eve “You shall not surely die,” even after God had expressly said
that she would, if she ate of the forbidden tree (Gen. 3:4). After she and Adam had sinned
God put them out of the garden and posted an angel to guard the tree of life so that man
could not partake of the tree and “live forever” (Gen. 3:22). I cannot think of any doctrine
taught in churches today any more contradictory to plain Bible statements then the one
that says that every person who dies out of Christ must go to live forever in hell, and
there be tortured, roasted, seared, scorched, singed, baked and burned without ever being
burned up because he is an “immortal soul” and must suffer this torture perpetually and
eternally. Not only does this contradict the plain statement that “the sol that sins, it shall
die” (Ezek. 18:20), but makes a mockery of the kind of Justice God has demonstrated.
Not just poof! From all the scriptures referring to God’s wrath and man’s
punishment for sin, it seems clear enough that for the wicked there will be great suffering
. Being “cast into hell” doesn’t mean that life will be snuffed out in a flash and a puff of
smoke. No one knows how much punishment a person deserves; that is, no one but God,
and he certainly is able to make the punishment fit the crime. But ultimately, there is to
be an end to the suffering and to the sinner. As mentioned above, Adam was barred from
the tree of life because God didn’t want him to live forever as a sinner. The Bible says
that the wicked suffer “death” (Rom. 3:23), shall be “destroyed” (Psa. 145:20), shall
suffer destruction (Job 21:30), shall perish (Psa. 27:20, shall be burned up (Malachi 4:1),
shall be cut off (Psa. 37:9), shall be slain (Psa. 62:3). Aren’t these scriptures supposed to
mean anything? And if God was trying to say that the wicked would NEVER die but be
perpetually tortured, could He not have said so, instead of saying over and over that their
lives are to come to an end?
What of these Scriptures? I know many are thinking about Matthew 25:40.
“Depart form me, you cursed, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his
angels.” In the first place this text does NOT say that the cursed are eternal. It says
nothing about eternal souls or immortal sinners. In the second place the “eternal fire”
does not necessarily mean a continuous burning, but a fire that produces an eternal effect.
This is exactly the meaning of the term as used in Jude 7, which descries the destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah as being “set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of
eternal fire.” The fire is not still burning, but the cities were destroyed for eternity.
And what of Matthew 25:46, which says that the wicked are to go into “eternal
punishment” and the righteous into “eternal life.”? “The wages of sin is death.” The
punishment is death, and it is death that is eternal, not the process of punishing.
Who’s in charge? All my life I have heard people speak of the “devil in hell” as
though he were already there. My impression from early teaching was that the devil was
in charge of hell as if he were the judge who sentenced the wicked to their punishment.
Wrong on both counts! Neither the devil nor anyone else is in hell yet. Gehenna (hell)
refers to the fire kindled after judgment (II Peter 3:7). It is the Lord who does the
sentencing to death and the devil himself will be a victim of the fire (Mt. 25:41, Rev.
20:10).
God is sovereign and self-sufficient. He can crate or not create; he can give life or
destroy. He has not created something (immortal soul) which He cannot get rid of! In His
ultimate purpose for all created things in heaven and on earth, they must ALL be found
“in Christ” and bringing glory to God (Eph. 1:9–10, Phil. 2:10–11, Col. 1:16, I Cor.
15:26–28). There is to be no place for any rebellious spirit or thing in all of God’s
creation. Furthermore, even “death and hell” are to be “cast into the lake of fire,” which
is without meaning unless it means the final destruction, rather than continuing torment.
Is that punishment enough? Why is it that some think that final and total death
9after a period of suffering) is not sufficient? For centuries people have been trying to
eliminate capital punishment, saying it is too severe, that it is stiffer punishment than
imprisonment. Yet many believers think a final death for sinners is not enough! Let us be
reminded that Jesus died for sin. The penalty was not perpetual torture, but death, and
that is the wages for sin which Jesus met. Praise God!
After the destruction of the unbelievers, the people of God will live forever in a
new Paradise with God, where there will be no pain, no death, tragedy, woe, tears,
sickness, sorrow, nor sin. Everyone will be filled with perfect peace, joy, love and
happiness far more glorious than words are able to describe. What a terrible tragedy for
anyone to fail to enter into such a life.
Copyright © Curtis Dickinson. Formatted and Posted by Ken Fortier Ministries.
Permission is hereby granted by Mrs. Regina Dickinson to reproduce and distribute
Curtis’ articles to as many as possible. This statement is to remain attached to this article
for permission to be valid. Vol. XX, Number 7.