Hell

By Jack Van Impe, Ph.D., Th.D., D.Min., D.D.
Jack Van Impe Ministries International, Rochester Hills, Michigan

Hell is the Biblical term for the place of those who are eternally lost. The two Greek words used for hell in the New Testament are hades and gehenna. The temporary holding place is hades, while gehenna refers to the final penitentiary for lost souls. The lake of fire is synonymous with gehenna, which differs from hades in that gehenna is a place where there are degrees of suffering. Thus, the final hell will differ depending on one’s evil deeds and the number of times one rejected Christ: Romans 2.5; Matthew 11.23,24 and 23.14.

Hades was the place where the souls and spirits of all humans went until the Cross. Sheol (Old Testament) and hades (New Testament) are one and the same. In sheol or hades, there were two compartments, one for the wicked and the other for the righteous; one for suffering and the other for comfort. The area of comfort was known as paradise or “Abraham’s Bosom,” Luke 16.22,23. The thief on the cross went to paradise as promised by Christ: Luke 23.43. This is where Christ went upon His death, Ephesians 4.8-10, releasing and transporting the entire righteous dead into the “third heaven” of 2 Corinthians 12.2. That is why paradise is referred to as “up,” Revelation 2.7 and 2 Corinthians 12.4. So presently, the comfort side of hades/paradise has been emptied by Him Who has the keys of death and hell: Revelation 20.13.

Of course, the suffering side of hades still teems with the wicked as the unregenerate continue to die day by day and are added to its population. They have joined the rich man of Luke 16.23 and will not come out again until Judgment Day when they will meet Christ at their trial and be transferred to the final penitentiary of lost souls, gehenna: Revelation 20.13,14. Christ describes hades eleven times in the New Testament: Matthew 11.23 and 16.18; Luke 10.15 and 16.22,23; Acts 2.27,31; Revelation 1.18; 6.8 and 20.13,14.

The word gehenna is used twelve times in the New Testament. It takes its name from the “Valley of Hinnom,” a place where King Ahaz introduced the sacrifice of little children to the idol Molech: 1 Kings 11.7. This place became so detested it was used as a dump for all kinds of refuse which burned continually. Therefore, gehenna is equivalent to the “lake of fire.” In the following Scriptures, Christ refers to gehenna, translated “hell” or “hell fire” in Matthew 5.22,29,30; 10.28; 18.9; 23.15,33 and Mark 9.43-47.

The lake of fire or gehenna is the final place of punishment and torment for all those who reject Christ: Revelation 19.20 and 20.10,14,15. Those consigned there are all whose names are not found in the Book of Life, Revelation 20.15; including worshipers of the antiChrist and false prophet, Revelation 19.20; the devil, Revelation 20.10 and Matthew 24.42; and the devil’s angels/demons, Matthew 25.41 and Revelation 19.20; 20.10; they are all forever separated from God, 2 Thessalonians 1.9.

The lake of fire is described in Scripture as a place “where their worm dieth not,” Mark 9.44; as a place of outer “darkness,” Matthew 8.12; as a place of “everlasting fire,” Matthew 18.8; where “the smoke of their torment ascendeth,” Revelation 14.11; and where the “second death occurs,” eternal separation from God in “fire and brimstone,” Revelation 20.14 and 21.8.