Watch Out For Hell

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Watch Out for Hell

Ekkehardt Mueller

The eyes of a young man are burning like coals. Long flames come out of his ears. He hardly can
breathe. When he opens his mouth blazing fire rolls out of it. The blood is boiling in his veins. The brain
is boiling and bubbling in his head. The marrow is boiling in his bones, and yet he is conscious, and one
can talk to him. He will be suffering torment and pain not only for hundred millions of years but
throughout eternity. This description of hell is found in a tract for children published in 1855. Does the
Bible know of such a place called hell?

I. There Is a Hell

(1) Jesus knows about hell - Matt 18:9; 23:33; Luke 12:5.
(2) There are only two options: (1) life eternal or (2) being lost/destruction/eternal fire - John 3:16; Matt
7:13-14; Matt 25:31, 32, 41. However, destruction/eternal fire is a future event connected to Christs
second coming. Therefore, hell still lies in the future.

II. What Does Hell Look Like?

Some Bible translators have rendered various words with hell which in reality have other meanings.
Four words have been translated with the term hell: (1) sheol, (2) hades, (3) tartaros, and (4) gehenna.

1. Sheol
Sheol is used 66 times in the Old Testament. It is the realm of the dead who are in the grave.
Normally the Greek translation of the term is hades.
Gen 37:35 Jacob expects to go down to sheol/the grave, to his son Joseph.
1 Sam 2:6 God brings down to sheol/the grave and raises up.
Eccl 9:10 In sheol/the grave there is no activity, no planning, and no knowledge. Sheol is the place
of the dead. There is no fire, neither is there torment. The righteous and the unrighteous
are found there.
2. Hades
Hades is found ten times in the New Testament. It is also is the place of the dead, the grave. It
corresponds with the Hebrew sheol.
Acts 2:27, 31 In hades there is decay. Jesus was the exception.
In Asia Minor the term hades is frequently found on tombstones. But relatives of the deceased did not
want to say that their loved one was in hell. He or she rests in the grave. Hades is not hell which
supposedly is already burning.

3. Tartaros
The Greek tartaros is not directly found in the New Testament, however, the verb to cast in
tartaros is. It occurs in 2 Peter 2:4 only and is the abode of the fallen angels, who cannot return to the
presence of God in heaven. It is not used to describe the place of the dead nor a hell in which people are
cast after their death.

4. Gehenna
In the New Testament twelve times gehenna is mentioned. This is the hell about which Jesus spoke. It
is the future place of punishment of the unrighteous. The term may be derived from g hinnom pointing to
the valley of Hinnom, a gorge near Jerusalem. According to Jer 7:32-33 it is a place of judgment.
Rabbinical tradition understood it as a place outside Jerusalem for burning carcasses and rubbish.
2

Mark 9:43 Here gehenna is associated with fire. This fire begins only after Jesus second coming
(Matt 25:41), at the end of the age (Matt 13:49-50). Until then people sleep in their
graves.
Luke 12:5 Because God alone possesses immortality (1Tim 6:16), gehenna/hell does not begin
immediately after death for the person that has passed away.
Rev 20:9-10, 15 Does not mention the word gehenna but talks about the lake of fire in which after the
millennium the unrighteous are burnt up. Since gehenna is associated with fire and is a
future event after the Second Coming, having to do with judgment, it is best to
understand hell in the context of Rev 20. This is the hell Jesus warned us about.

5. The Term Forever
Does the future hell last forever and ever (Rev 20:10)? The term forever/eternal/ everlasting
as used in Scripture is broader than the English word. It may describe (1) something or someone existing
without beginning and without end (in connection with God); (2) something or someone with beginning
but without end (the eternal life of the redeemedJohn 5:24; Rev 21:3-4); and (3) something or someone
with beginning and with end in the sense of for some time (Exod 21:5-6; 29:9; Jonah 1:17; 2:6).

6. The Second Death
The unrighteous suffer hell for a limited time only. However, the results are eternal.
Rev 20:9 Fire devoured them.
Rev 20:14-15 This is the second death.
The unquenchable fire (Matt 3:12) cannot be extinguished until its work is done and everything is burned
up (Matt 13:40-42; Jer 17:27Jerusalem does not burn any longer). Eternal life is available only for those
who belong to Jesus. Satan is not the Lord of hell, but will also be destroyed (Matt 25:41; Rev 20:10).

7. Conclusion
Scripture knows about hell, but hell is still future. Greek philosophy is the mother of the doctrine of
purgatory and eternal torment in hell. Socrates (born around 470 B.C.) supported such concepts, but
acknowledged that they were fictitious stories.

III. Consequences

The doctrine of an already now and ever burning hell twists Scripture, misrepresents Christianity,
and distorts the character of God, his love and his justice. It may even hurt people. Reports claim that
after sermons on hell some people became mentally ill. The doctrine of eternal torment in hell is
immoral. How can a merciful God of love torture people in all eternity for having sinned
temporarily? We believe in a God of love and justice and in his kingdom in which sorrow, pain,
crying, and death will be no more (Rev 21:3-4).

10/05
Copyright Biblical Research Institute General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

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