The scary description of the realm of hellfire has made many to think and believe there should be no place like that. It is clear that there is a place called hellfire. I know because Jesus who is the Messiah mentioned that clearly and not figuratively.
“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:” (Matthew 25:41).
“And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.” (Matthew 18:9).
WHAT IS HELLFIRE?
Hellfire is an expression that describes the condition of life in the coming world of darkness outside the kingdom of God where God will send all those who would not submit to His authority.
Hellfire is a world. It is an imperfect world of perpetual chaos, ruin, evil and darkness. In the scripture, hellfire is mentioned as an opposite world to God’s kingdom for human beings. kingdom of God for mankind is God’s perfect world for mankind which is referred to as the Paradise of God. Hellfire therefore is the imperfect world which is completely opposite of God’s perfect world.
Hellfire is a world of darkness where the light of God will not shine. It will not have any of God’s provisions for good life because it will be outside the kingdom of God. Jesus actually called hellfire the outer darkness since it is a world outside the kingdom of God which is the kingdom of light.
God’s kingdom is known as the kingdom of light and according to the book of Revelation, God’s light will replace sun and moon in the coming perfect world.
“And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 10:11-12.
Hellfire is one of the two realms God prepared from the foundation of the world which shall be revealed and be populated at the time of regeneration.
“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:” Matthew 25:41.
The other place which God prepared from the foundation of the world is the kingdom of heaven which comprises of the new heavens and the new earth.
“Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:” Matthew 25:34.
These two places which have been prepared from the foundation of the world is different from the place Jesus told his apostles in John 14:2 that he was leaving to go prepare for them. The place the Lord said he was leaving to go prepare is the place for the few chosen disciples who shall be with him and reign with him. That place is the New Jerusalem city which actually is not a structural city but the assemble of the chosen ones transformed into the image of Christ. They are the Bride of the Lamb who shall reign with him.
There are three places where humans will be sent to at the end of the current world. The first group will be joined with Christ as the New Jerusalem, the second group will inherit the new earth as the children of God while the third group will join Satan and his demonic angels in hellfire.
Hellfire, as a matter of truth was not really made for humans. God said He does not take delight in the death of a sinner, because it does not delight Him (make Him happy nor give Him joy) to see humans sent to hellfire. He wants sinners to repent and be able to enjoy eternal life of peace and joy inside the new earth under the righteous reign of the kingdom of heaven.
HELL versus HELLFIRE.
Hell and hellfire are two different places. Hell, which is the holding place of the dead is also called the Grave or Hades. Hell is associated with darkness and is referred to as a place of darkness which is the place of the dead where human souls are held without activity till the day of resurrection.
Darkness is associated with the absence of light. Since God is Light, then the absence of light should mean the absence of God’s effect. Light is the source of life, so the absence of light means no life – death. Death here does not mean to be non-existent. It means not active even though it still exists (human soul is rendered inactive in hell).
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.” Ecclesiastes 9:10.
Unlike hell which is the place of the dead, Hellfire is a place for the living. Hellfire is a place of eternal life while hell is a temporary holding place of no activities. Hellfire shall be occupied by spirit beings and human beings (persons with soul and body) while hell is a holding place of human souls which does not have body and spirit.
Soul is inactive without bone and flesh. Any soul that is not clothed with bone and flesh is not a human being. Soul which is in hell is inactive because he does not have bone and flesh and is not a human being. But in hellfire, all souls shall be a human being with bone and flesh.
Resurrection will happen by Jesus Christ shining light on the dead who are held in hell and in the sea depth and they shall all come back to life with a new bone and flesh (Luke 24:39).
WHERE WILL HELLFIRE BE?
The world of hellfire will be beneath the earth. The Paradise world of God for humans shall come on earth but hellfire which is a world of darkness shall be a world beneath the earth. Every place above the surface of the earth is a heaven and as such hellfire will not be above the earth.
Human life is made to thrive on earth while spirits being are created to live conveniently in heavenly world. It is clear that casting both human beings and spirit beings into a world beneath the earth is primarily to deprive them the peace and comfort of their natural habitat.
On earth for instance, hard criminals are punished by being sent to underground cells where life is miserable without amenities like light, etc.
DESCRIPTION OF HELLFIRE
Hellfire is an unpleasant destination for human beings. To help one decide whether to go to a place or not, it is better to first study about the place to know what is the condition of life there. Going to hellfire is a choice, but before anyone should make that choice, it is very important we understand what hellfire is like and how life generally is there.
Hellfire is popularly described as a place of literal fire that will burn constantly all those that will be in it. This is not the true condition of hellfire according to the scripture. This believe must have been derived from the word of Jesus that referred to hellfire as the fire that shall never be quenched.
“If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’” Mark 9:43-46.
Some think that falsely presenting hellfire as a place of literal fire creates such fear in people that will persuade them to repent from their sins. Truth sold with lie does not bring the desired freedom. For instance we know that torturing suspects does not produce the required result. Likewise, using false fear will not bring true repentance from people.
To get better idea of the true description of hellfire, we should look at the other words Jesus used in referring to hellfire. Jesus said the fire shall not be quenched, but more frequently he said there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth there.
“So, it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 13:49-50.
Hellfire according to the Lord Jesus is a place of unquenchable fire where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. These are the common words the Lord used to describe hellfire. These three words are expressions which refers to the condition of life inside the world of hellfire because hellfire is a place for the living where there will be no death.
Hellfire describes the condition of life in the coming imperfect world and not its structure. It is about what their experience will be there. Hellfire is a world of darkness with the worst imaginable condition of life. It has both the hell condition and fire condition which is darkness and severity combined together. It is just the same way God referred to the Promised Land as a land that flows with milk and honey. These are metaphors that describes condition of life in these places.
UNQUENCHABLE FIRE
One of the definitions of fire given by dictionary.com is “severe trial or trouble; ordeal.” The fire shall not be quenched means the severe condition of troubles, trials, pain, suffering and anguish shall go on without end. It will be a permanent condition which shall neither change nor be improved. There shall be no escape from it because there will be no death.
The unquenchable fire does not refer to a literal fire. The unquenchable fire condition will even be worse than the effect of literal fire. They will always be under intense fire as the condition of their life. The rich man asked Abraham to allow Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue because he was in agony in the fire. He actually want Lazarus to come to where he is which shows the fire wasn’t a literal one but the severity of his life condition. Luke 16:24.
CONSTANT WAILING
Wailing constantly is an expression that shows they will be constantly in pain, manifesting deep sorrow with constant complain about the condition of their life. It is an expression of being in a hopeless situation without any foreseeable end and no opportunity to make amend because it will be forever.
GNASHING OF TEETH
Gnashing the teeth is an expression that shows they will be bitter and angry regretting endlessly the mistake they made that brought them there. The most fearful thing is that they will have these conditions forever and shall feel these ways forever without any hope for change.
To have these conditions forever is what it means that the fire shall not be quenched. It means there will be no recycling seasons to bring relief, there will be no death to end life there and there will be no hope of God’s intervention because they rejected God. On earth for instance, we have seasons that bring changes and death that terminates sufferings and pain, but there will be none of these in hellfire. Pains, sufferings, terrors and evil shall go on and on forever.
WHO WILL GO TO HELLFIRE?
“And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever…….. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:7-15.
According to the scripture, hellfire shall be populated by a mixture of human beings, Satan, demons, false prophets, death and Hades. What a terrible world it will be to have all these different creations share one world together.
Hellfire is the world where God shall send all those who rejected His authority over them and did not obey Him in their former life. From among humans shall be all those who will not be made perfect through salvation which is in the name of Jesus the Christ. These are the group of human beings who will not come into God’s perfect world of Paradise because they rejected and ignored salvation of God provided to humans through Jesus Christ (the Messiah).
Any human being who will not accept and believe in Jesus as the Christ (Messiah) and Lord shall not be known to Christ and their name shall not be written in the book of life. Anyone whose name is not found written in the book of life shall go to hellfire. Hellfire is a world of the perished, a world for those human beings who will refuse to receive the Son of God or to believe in his name.
Death is when a human soul is cut-off from the light of God. We all die first when the soul is separated from the body and is kept in darkness in hell where there is no light of God. Then second death is when the soul becomes a human being for the second time on resurrection and is again cut-off from the light of God by being send to hellfire because of its inadmissibility into the kingdom of God.
At the end of the world, anyone who is not saved shall not be allowed to come into the new earth under the kingdom of God. They shall be cast into the world of hellfire where they shall live consciously forever under severe pain and uncontrollable evil.
HOW TO ESCAPE GOING TO HELLFIRE
Only human beings have the opportunity to escape going to hellfire. The fate of Satan and his angels have been sealed. The only opportunity humans have to escape from going to hellfire is while they are alive on earth. There is no repentance in the grave once one dies. What follows after death is judgment and placement (either inside God’s kingdom or inside hellfire).
What is required for anyone to escape going to hellfire is to believe in God’s only begotten Son Jesus Christ who God the Father sent into the world for the salvation of mankind. Our sins are forgiven through faith in God’s plan and purpose revealed and perfected in Jesus Christ. We have to listen to Jesus as Lord and obey all he commanded us in the name of God the Father who sent him.
We first rejected God in Adam, but God has offered us another opportunity by sending His Son Jesus Christ so that whoever that believes in him now shall be saved by being forgiven of the first rejection. We shall be acquitted of our sin of not listening to God before if we should now receive the Christ who He sent to us and listen to him as Lord just as God have commanded us now .
“While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” Matthew 17:5. (Hebrews 3:7-19).
Satan and his demonic angels do not have the same opportunity like us. They rejected God’s authority like us, but when God sent His Son Jesus Christ, they crucified him rather than believe in him thereby completely closing every door of opportunity for repentance. (1 Corinthians 2:7-9). Therefore whoever that rejects Jesus as Son of God and Lord crucifies him by being against him.
COULD ONE ESCAPE FROM HELLFIRE
There shall be no escape from hellfire once inside there. The way God secured the Garden of Eden after He drove Adam and Eve out to prevent them from re-entering will be the same way hellfire as a world shall be secured so that no one could be able to escape from it.
In our current world, pains and sufferings are terminated by death. Without death in hellfire, the pain and sufferings will go on without end and there will be tendency for some to try to escape. Since there will be no death, the only option would be what the rich man wanted to do – to indirectly have access to the blessings of the Paradise world of God, but the scripture says there is a big divide that makes that impossible.
Abraham said to the rich man; “And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’’ Luke 16:26.
BEING TORMENTED in HELLFIRE
Jesus gave insight to what life in hellfire will be like in the story he told about the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. The rich man said he is tormented in the fire.
“Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” Luke 16:24.
Being tormented in fire is not the same thing as being tormented by fire or with fire. The scripture for instance spoke about righteous people of God on earth being tormented in flesh because of the flesh’s inclination to sin. To be tormented in fire is to be under intense hardship, deprivation, pain and suffering due to the condition of life.
The rich man requested for a drop of water to cool his tongue. Water represents eternal life of peace which would have provided him with God’s life meant for the children of the kingdom (Revelation 21:6). God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden to prevent them from having this life in their fallen state. Access to this life will neutralize the harsh effect of hellfire the same way it would have neutralized the harsh effect of the sinful nature of Adam and Eve if they were allowed to take it. That the rich man desired the good life Lazarus was having is explained by what Abraham answered him.
“‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.”
In other words, Lazarus was tormented with evil things he experienced in his lifetime the same way the rich man is being tormented by the evil things he’s experiencing at his current place.
The condition of life is what differentiates where they are. The condition of life in the place of the rich man is a tormenting fire while comfort and peace are the condition of life in the place of Lazarus. They are the world of hellfire and the world of milk and honey respectively.
There will be consciousness in hellfire. Anyone that enters there shall be alive and aware of how bad the conditions are for life, but there will be no end to those conditions and no escape for them. Their condition will be such that there will be no resources for good life because the people refused to acknowledge God as the source of all good things. They shall inherit a condition which shall be completely void of any God’s provision.
For instance, water which the rich man requested from Lazarus is a provision of God which Jesus promised to give those who are thirsty (Revelation 21:6). It represents a satisfying comfort from tormenting life.
The inhabitants of hellfire will go on lamenting, but no help shall be extended to them. The scripture says there is no peace and no rest for the unrighteous (the wicked) and that will be their eternal condition. This is the end of the wicked that King David saw and refrained from complaining about how the wicked seems to be going on in life unaffected by evil (Psalm 73:1-19).
PUNISHMENT IN HELLFIRE
As I mentioned above, people will not be punished in hellfire. Being in hellfire is the punishment. Sending someone to hellfire is the punishment because there is nothing that can give comfort or peace there. It is like dropping a human being in a cage inside an ocean with no chance to die, no chance to come out and no chance to survive there. The person will struggle continuously and endlessly.
To punish Satan and his demons, all what God did was to cast them down from heaven to the earth. Earth is a place where only physical life thrives. So, to cast a spirit being down to earth as his home is a real punishment because the life condition will be tormenting to them as spirits. This is the reason demons are looking for human beings to possess them so that they could function here, eat food, drink, smoke, steal, kill, perform all sorts of criminal and immoral acts, etc. They need our physical nature to operate here on earth.
WILL SATAN TORMENT PEOPLE in HELLFIRE?
The answer to this is no.
According to the scripture; “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20:10
Hellfire is a place under the jurisdiction of God and His Christ. In hellfire, Satan and his angels will be tormented like every other being there. They will not torment anyone because there will be nothing like tormentors in hellfire. The condition of life there is what will be tormenting them.
Satan (the devil) and his angels cannot torment anyone in hellfire because there will be no such thing like being tormented by another being. Hellfire is a place of endless tormenting condition for all the beings that will be cast into it including Satan and his demonic angels.
Hellfire is not a place people will be sent to be punished by being tormented by another being. People are sent there as punishment to be in torment and not to be tormented. To be sent to hellfire is the punishment. The condition of life there is the punishment. Satan and his angels have lost every right to have a position of authority anywhere even in hellfire. Jesus holds the key to all the realms (Revelations 1:18).
Inside hellfire, everyone shall be equal. The scripture says that both the devil, his angels, the beast and the false prophet shall all be under torment. The only thing Satan and his angels may do to humans that shall join them in hellfire will be to mock them for their foolishness in rejecting grace of God made available to them through Jesus Christ. It is like how deceivers would make jest and mockery of someone they successfully deceived and got into trouble.
Wailing and gnashing of teeth will be expressed mostly by human beings who will be in hellfire. The wailing and gnashing of teeth shall not be due to the whip they shall be receiving from Satan and his angels. Satan and his demons will respond to the complains of these human beings with mockery and jest. They cannot do anything more than this because they too are sent there as punishment with no special rights. Jest and mockery as we all know has great tormenting effect indeed.
“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot afterward do anything worse. I will show you whom to fear: fear God, who, after killing, has the authority to throw into hell. Believe me, he is the one you must fear!” Luke 12:4-5 GNT.
Wailing and gnashing of teeth are signs that reveals their life condition of severe pain, anger and bitter regret of the mistakes, ignorance and neglects that brought them there. The moaning of the hopelessness of their situation with the grief of how different it would have been for them if they had followed simple instruction while alive on earth will be their constant wailing.
These depicts the constant lamenting about the endless harsh condition of life there which is the same thing the rich man in the above story was doing.
- He complained about the situation there which he described as tormenting – not that someone is tormenting him.
- He regretted how he lived that brought him to that place and wanted his brothers to be warned.
- He felt pain that the condition is not amendable and wished he had known.
FINALLY
Hellfire is a real place. It is a real world which God had prepared for all those who hates Him but loves evil and darkness such as the devil, his angels and the false prophets. These are the ones who are encouraging humans with deceptive lies to hate and disobey God and at the same time persuading them to ignore/reject salvation which God has provided for humans in Christ Jesus His Son thereby denying them the opportunity to have their sins against God be cancelled.
“So, we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. 2 For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. 3 So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak? 4 And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose.” Hebrews 2:1-4 NLT.
Whoever that ignores this great salvation provided by God shall not escape hellfire. Anyone that will miss to enter God’s kingdom of heaven, will definitely not miss to enter hellfire. People will not be asked to go to hellfire. They will be cast into it.
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