Hell is not ANYONE'S final destination

Well, it's not you know. It doesn't matter if you're saved or not. Hell is not your final destination. It's not yours or anyone else’s. Hell, according to scripture, is a staging area; a type of triage; a word which, when properly translated from the French simply means "to sort" (see dictionary.com).

Hell is mentioned fifty four times in the Bible and is split about half in the new and half in the Old Testament. Before the cross, hell was split in two sections. There was hell proper with an area within hell called "Abraham's Bosom". We have mention of Abraham's Bosom in Luke 16 talking about Lazarus and the rich man. This was not a parable but an actual event described by Jesus himself.

Luke 16:19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 And 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.
25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

Well, that's quite descriptive, isn't it? Heaven, as you know, was not open to people yet before the cross. They; that is their souls - had to go somewhere. Since heaven was unavailable due to the price of admission being too steep for anyone to pay, they were sent to "hell" for temporary holding until the keys to heaven were acquired by the savior. There were people who, as illustrated by Jesus, were looking forward to the cross as their propitiation and were, because of that righteousness believed on by credit, protected in Abraham's Bosom and separated by a "great gulf". People who were in hell proper; those who were counting on their own righteousness for salvation; were experiencing a taste of the "lake of fire" as we clearly see from the rich man's request to Abraham who was the father of faith. So, I like to call Abraham's Bosom a "faith bubble" in hell.

The fire in hell is not a metaphor. It is real. It is the place where God's anger is directed. It comes forth as a burning to the soul; the knowledge that God has forever forsaken you. His anger toward unrighteousness comes forth as fire and is vented into hell; at least for the time being

Deuteronomy 32:21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
24 They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.

Did you notice the reference to "hell"? It also gives us a sneak peek into the different levels of hell. Specifically the "lowest" hell. There are references in the Bible of a multi-dimensional sense of the place. That it is deep:

But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.
Proverbs 9:18

For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
Psalms 86:13

Proverbs 27:20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
Isaiah 5:14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

So, understanding that hell is a real place with depth and size and feeling is a sobering reality. Hell is more accurately translated "the place of the dead". Jesus describes all people without the truth as being dead. Take a look at what he told this young man:

Matthew 8:21 And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

What a fascinating thing to say. This young man's father has just died and Jesus rebukes him for caring about dead people. Jesus was referring both to the man's father, who had gone to hell, and his living relatives whom Jesus also described as being dead. Again - remarkable. There are a thousand sermons in that one verse alone. When I got the revelation about the meaning of that verse several years ago it literally sent my personal faith into outer space, so to speak.

Everyone born into the world is born dead with hell as their home and Satan as their father. Don't believe me? What did God tell Noah about His reasons for wiping out the earth with a flood? Well, He said this

And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
Genesis 6:7

Did you catch that? Almighty God regretted making people. Did that include Noah and his family? Of course! We have no reason to believe otherwise. After all, Noah, we later find out, was an alcoholic and one of his sons was a sexual pervert and everyone alive today is in Noah's lineage. That's why the sacrifice was needed; why the price was to be paid. To open the doors of the adoption agency to whomsoever will. Hell was created as the marshalling yard for the souls to wait for judgment.

King David had a disturbingly great deal to say about hell. He knew, without question, where he would end up without the sacrifice God would make on his behalf

For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
Psalms 86:13

The lowest hell? Come on David. You weren't that bad, were you? Did you really believe you needed a savior? Even back then under the old covenant?

Romans 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
7 Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

When we put our faith in the cross apart from works we are adopted out of a position of being bound for hell and elevated to the position of being bound for heaven. Not Abraham's Bosom which either no longer exists or is simply sitting there empty as a gruesome reminder. After the cross and during his body's time in the grave, Jesus went to hell. He took a little trip to take care of business. He preached to the demons in hell and emptied Abraham's Bosom where King David, Samuel, Noah, and countless others were awaiting the savior.

Acts 2:25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

So, David here is speaking of the time his soul will spend in hell or rather the section in hell known as Abraham's Bosom, waiting for the savior to redeem him. Do you see it? Good. How do we know Jesus went to hell?

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

So, after he was "put to death in the flesh" he went and "preached unto the spirits in prison". Who were they? They were the disobedient angels that obeyed Satan rather than God and were thrown into hell; probably back in Noah's day according to 1peter3:20. We also have evidence here

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
2 Peter 2:4

So these particular angels were cast down to hell to await judgment, eh? The Bible tells us that angels are spirits. Jesus preached to these "spirits in prison". I guess it was judgment time. When Jesus was resurrected he cleared out Abraham's Bosom and now when a believer dies he goes straight to be with the Lord

2 Corinthians 5:6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight: )
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

So, why did I say that hell is no one's final destination? Because hell will be thrown into the lake of fire along with Satan, his demon angels, and everyone who is in hell at the time and have received their resurrected bodies

Revelation 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

So, then, telling someone to "go to hell" is not the worst thing to wish on someone. And now you know why. The lake of fire, however? Now that's a scary place. Hell, along with its inhabitants, will be forever consumed and since the resurrected body can never die - well - hell will seem like a picnic in comparison.