| The word “hell” in the Bible is translated from 4 words: 31 times from the Hebrew word sheol, which simply means “the grave;”[544] 10 times from the Greek word hades, which also means “the grave;” 12 times from the Greek gehenna, which is a transliteration from the Hebrew word for the garbage dump outside Jerusalem. No one was ever thrown alive to suffer in Gehenna, only trash and dead animals. The final instance it is translated from the Greek tartarus, which means “a place of darkness.” The fact that hell is not a burning place where the wicked go at death is evident from the judgment scene in Revelation 20:11-15, where the wicked are judged—they are brought forth from where they had been whilst dead: “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened… and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” Three distinct places are mentioned as holding the dead until the judgment: the sea, death, and hell. It then tells us that “death,” along with “hell” is cast into the lake of fire for final destruction. This is what Paul was speaking of in I Corinthians 15:26, when he says, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” While there are Bible texts that speak of sinners being tormented “forever and ever,” we must follow the most important rule of interpreting the Bible, which is the Bible defines itself. The term “forever” as used in the Bible, simply means a period of time, usually “until it ends.” It is used 56 times in the Bible in connection with things that have already ended. It is like the word “tall,” which means something different in describing men, trees, or buildings. In Jonah 2:6, “forever” means “three days and nights.”[545] In Deuteronomy 23:3 it means “10 generations.” In the case of man, this means “as long as he lives” or “until death.”[546] So the wicked will burn as long as they live, or until death. God will not have a dark corner of the universe where he torments those who choose not to love him. “For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be… The wicked will perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away…” They shall “not be.” “transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the wicked shall be cut off.”[547] “For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch…. And ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in that day.”548 Sodom and Gomorrah are examples of “everlasting punishment” and “eternal fire:” “Sodom and Gomorrah… are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”[549] These cities lie in ruins today underneath a portion of the Dead Sea. “Turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly.”[550] Satan himself shall be consumed into ashes: “I will destroy thee, O covering cherub…therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee; it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee…. Thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.”[551] |
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| 545 see also Jonah 1:17 546 see I Samuel 1:22,28; Exodus 21:6; Psalm 48:14 547 Psalm 37:10,20,36,38 548 Malachi 4:1,3 549 Jude 7 550 2 Peter 2:6 551 Ezekiel 28:16,18,19 |
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