Is Hell Eternal?

For years I’ve heard the idea that those who die without the salvation of Christ will burn in hell forever. Yet the Bible tells us that God is love and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The scriptures also speak repeatedly about the mercy of God. I’m sorry, but abandoning souls, especially souls that you claim to love, to an eternity of excruciating torment doesn’t sound loving or merciful to me. It sounds cruel. So I decided to prayerfully explore the idea of an eternal hell more deeply.

I started my study by searching the Bible for the word “hell”. I found that it appears 54 times in the King James Version of the Bible, 31 times in the Old Testament and 23 times in the New Testament. I looked at each, but not one of them indicates that hell is eternal. There is mention of eternal damnation, but only in reference to blaspheming the Holy Spirit and hell is not mentioned. (Mark 3:29). The word “damnation” here simply means “separation”, according to Strong’s Concordance (G2920).

Next, I examined the purpose of hell. Hell is for unrighteous people. Specifically, unrighteous people who are dead. But is death a permanent state? Scripture says no. At the time of judgment, everyone will be resurrected. John 5:28-29 says, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” Acts 24:15 says, “I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.” And Revelation 20:12-14 says, “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: 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.”

So death is not permanent. This idea is also supported by Revelation 21:4 – “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” But what is the resurrection of condemnation? Revelation 20:15 says, “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Now, this brought me to a question I had not considered before: where is the lake of fire? I answered this question by the process of elimination. Those whose names are not written in the Book of Life wouldn’t be thrown into heaven. And Revelation 20:14 says that death and hell are cast into the lake of fire. Since something can’t be cast into itself, the lake of fire is not in hell, either. So, where does that leave?

Since there is never any mention of any realms beside heaven, hell, and earth, the lake of fire must be on earth.

So, let’s look at the whole scenario.

“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.  Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:11-15

It appears that this is describing the resurrection unto condemnation mentioned in John. Also, death and hell (or Hades) are now in the lake of fire, on the earth. Now, the next verse (Revelation 21:1), says, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.” So, if death and hell were on the earth, and the earth passed away, then so did they. And then comes a new heaven and a new earth, but there is no new death, and there is no new hell.

So hell is not eternal, but what of the people in the lake of fire? What happens to them? Revelation 20:10 states only that the devil, the beast, and the false prophet will be tormented in the lake of fire forever and ever (which can also be translated as “an age and an age”), which implies that anyone else there can be saved from it.  This idea is supported by Revelation 22:2, which describes the New Jerusalem: “In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

Wait. What nations? It’s not the Elect, since they were resurrected unto life. It must be everyone who had been in the lake of fire. Who else would need healing at that point?

In Obadiah, it talks about saviors (plural) coming to mount Zion (Obadiah 1:21).  Zion refers to Jerusalem in prophecy. Those who dwell in Jerusalem are followers of Christ. We are the saviors of Mount Zion. Revelation also states that God has made us kings and priests (1:6, 5:10). So, this begs the questions, how are we to be saviors if there’s no one to save? How will we be kings if there’s no one to rule? How will we be priests if there’s no one to lead? These positions are meaningless if the only inhabitants of the new earth are the Elect, and I don’t believe God is one to grant empty titles. The implication is that the punishments of hell and the lake of fire are only temporary and that those who suffer through them will be with us on the new earth.

Several places in the Bible refer to God’s will to save everyone. Colossians 1:19-20 says, “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of the cross.” And 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

All of this led me to another relevant question: what is needed to obtain salvation? Romans 10:9-10 says, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” In answer to this, consider Philippians 10:9-11: “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” And also Revelation 1:7: “Behold, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.” Will it be possible that those who see Christ will still not believe in him? I don’t see how. And these verses in no way indicate that anyone will be exempt from seeing, kneeling, and confessing. Also, the story of “Doubting Thomas” shows that the need to see before believing does not prevent you from obtaining salvation, as he was still listed among the apostles in Acts. It only says that those who do not see and yet believe will be “blessed”.

Will there be some who, after all is said and done, will still reject Christ? Possibly. But will they suffer eternal torture for that decision? No. If they decide to remain in the lake of fire, they will pass away with it. And this seems to me to be a far more just punishment than unending agony.

Finally,  consider Revelation 21:3-5: “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.” Strong’s notes that the term “men” in verse 3 refers to all men (G444). And I always wondered how God could take away all our sorrow when we had the knowledge that a loved one is suffering in hell. Now I understand that he will take away our sorrow by reuniting us with those loved ones.

So, what does that mean for us? Should we not worry about evangelizing because everyone will “make it” anyway? No. We must still do all we can to prevent anyone going through the extremely unpleasant process of the lake of fire.

The big difference for us now is that, even if we aren’t able to get through to everyone, there is still hope. Hope that everyone will have a place in the world to come.

This whole study was a bombshell for me. It blew apart everything I’d always been told about hell and made me realize that the Good News is even better than I’d ever believed. It also proved to me that you can grow up in church and live a faith-filled life for decades and still be absolutely astounded by what Christ will teach you if you will sit at his feet and learn from him.

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” – Matthew 11:29

For those interested, I use the online Strong’s Concordance at http://eliyah.com/lexicon.html and the online Bibles at https://www.biblegateway.com/ for my studies.