Hell in the Bible
The word ?hell? is used 54 times in the Bible. It is translated from several different words with various meanings, as indicated below:
In the Old Testament:
?31 times from the Hebrew ?Sheol,? which means ?the grave?
In the New Testament:
?10 times from the Greek ?Hades,? which means ?the grave?
?12 times from the Greek ?Gehenna,? which means ?a place of burning?
?1 time from the Greek ?Tartarus,? which means ?a place of darkness? specially prepared for angels that have sinned.
Hell-fire What is that ?
Most people misunderstand the nature of Hell-fire. You say He doesn't HAVE to let people go there. So you think it's better for those people just to suffer in sin?
According to the Bible, Hell-fire does not yet exist, but will at the end of the Millennium. When people die (both the righteous and the wicked they go to their grave = hell), they do not go directly to Heaven or Hell-fire, nor do they "float around" as ghosts. They both remain in the grave, in a state of "sleep" where they have absolutely no consciousness of anything, nor the passage of time, until Christ returns. At that time, Christ will resurrect the Saved of all time back to permanent, physical life and take them with Him to Heaven, while the Wicked living at that time will be slain by the brightness of His coming. Both they and the Wicked dead of all time shall remain dead for another 1,000 years. During that time, all life on this Earth will be dead, and Satan will be trapped here on this dark, dismal planet littered with corpses during that Millennium. At the end of the 1,000 years, Christ will return with His Saved to judge the wicked (who will be resurrected into their old, mortal bodies), including Satan and his angels. Every person will see every sin they've ever committed. Satan will attempt to lead them in an attack on the New Jerusalem, but then Hellfire will rain down from Heaven and consume them all. They will be instantly and permanently incinerated, never to exist again. They will NOT be "tortured forever", as the pagan idea of Catholicism suggests. This is not scriptural. Even Satan and his angels will be destroyed in the fires of Hell-fire; he will NOT be tending it, poking people with a pitchfork!
The fire will completely cover planet Earth from pole to pole, burning up EVERYTHING, even the elements themselves, and all the ocean water will be evaporated. It will completely remove all trace of sin and sinners forever. Once its work is finished, it will burn out on its own. Some people use the Biblical verse that says the fire will be "unquenchable", but that only means that it cannot be PUT out, but it will burn out on its own.
Once this fire has burned out, then God will set about to re-creating the Earth the way it was in the Beginning - perfect, beautiful and unspoiled. Then the Saved of all time will be allowed to live on it, and build permanent homes and grow their own food. All the animals will be friendly, even former meat-eaters. I'm really looking forward to it.
May God bless you as you study His Word
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King James Bible
Are the three wise men (magi) now burning in hell for practicing witchcraft?
