Hell Judgment and Salvation - are they eternal?

Is “hell” a real place? Some say yes, others say no. Does it matter what people say about it? In the end – not so much. If you’re walking with the LORD now you will make the transition to eternity with Him anyway so it’s a moot point really. People who are living according to their own lusts, be they carnal or religious, and pay no mind to whether they are in a personal relationship with Jesus will make the transition into eternity without Jesus and His sacrifice. It all comes down to identity and which family you’re in.

As for hell itself there are many misunderstandings about it. We recently received an email from a person who asked us to clarify what the Bible says about it so here it is. It may not be pretty but hopefully it will make sense to you when you’re finished reading this.

There are many things God (YHWH) cannot do. He cannot lie, for example. In fact He can’t be anything but perfect. Accordingly He demands perfection from all of us. God is a perfectionist. He is the only personality for which perfection is even remotely possible and He achieves it 100% of the time.

God gave humanity no less than three opportunities to become perfect. Following the “fall” from perfect standing with God in the garden Adam was essentially told “alright, you think you can do your own thing, go ahead and try it.” The result was that everyone turned to evil and God was forced to wipe the earth clean and start over with eight remaining souls.  

Out of the seed of those eight one was chosen to be an example; an example of what it takes to be perfect – faith that God will provide. Abraham walked by faith with God and trusted Him. He is the father of faith.

Following this God gave the law and, essentially, challenged them again. “Go ahead” He seemed to be saying. “Try this on for size”. He handed the law over to Moses; a law they would not be able to keep (Acts 15:10). It is because of this that it could never be said that God simply didn't give humanity enough time to become "good" people. The result from giving man the law (through the Jews though anyone could become a Jew) was that it simply exposed the cancer that had grown in the hearts of men when the disease was first introduced into our existential DNA by Adam. Like a spiritual x-ray machine it exposed the fallen nature of humanity.   

Hidden in plain view, however, was a theme of redemption which pointed ultimately to the redeemer Himself. Once a year the High Priest would lay the sins of the people on an animal and send it out into the desert to die – a symbol of their inability of last even one year without loading up with imperfection (Lev 16).

Then along comes Jesus – the perfect one. The sins of the entire world were laid on Him. Once and for all the sin problem was dealt with and God no longer sees the people’s sins. He only sees family membership.

Everyone is born on their way to hell, friends. This is because we are all born with Satan as our father and hell as our destiny. It is only through adoption out of Satan’s family that we are reckoned children of God and rescued from a destiny which ends in a lake of fire and embraced as sons and daughters of the Most High.

So then, is hell a forever place of torment? The short answer is no. It is not. Hell is a place of triage currently – a holding place for people awaiting judgment (Rev 20:13). Following this judgment hell will be tossed into a perpetual lake of fire (Rev 20:14).

So we can’t go back through the Bible and conclude that judgment and punishment is not eternal based on what it says about hell. We have to know the heart and character of God based on righteousness and what that means eternally. Since even hell itself will be thrown into this eternal lake let’s take a good look at what the Bible tells us about eternal existence with, or apart from, God and His protection.

Some people have dismissed the eternal nature of the afterlife saying that God loves everyone and all will be saved. Others have embraced the belief that punishment is not eternal saying that God will annihilate the wicked and they will simply disappear into a vapor, or something.

Yet when Jesus said “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” In Matthew 25:46 He seemed to be directly confirming the words of the angel who told Daniel “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Daniel 12:2

Daniel was being taught the resurrection of the dead at the time of the end; a time when everyone gets an immortal body which will be judged.

John 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

Currently God is not counting men’s sins against them. Jesus paid the price for all sin (1Jn2:2). In order to understand this you have to understand that sin was the problem and Jesus took care of that problem. He blasted the lock off the door to the adoption agency (Gal 4:5) and became perfection which satisfied the righteousness of God. Now it can be said that whosoever “will” may come (Rev 22:17). 

Sin is no longer the issue. Now we can all be adopted out of Satan’s family and into God’s family. This is why Peter was rebuked for his views on the unclean nature of the Gentiles (Acts 10). Sin became evident through the law but grace through the cross made sin powerless against the ability of God to save anyone who comes to him – Jew or Gentile – it makes no difference. We have a new covenant (Heb 12:24)... a new deal, friends.

So – is the lake of fire experience a forever thing? Jesus confirmed this in Matthew 18:8. But He also confirmed in Matthew 19:29 that salvation is a forever thing as well. Ultimately it comes down to identity. To whom do you belong? As long as you have breath and a heartbeat it is not too late to take part in the adoption process. The death rate on planet earth is one per person. You will spend eternity somewhere – and you’ll know it.

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Revelation 22:17

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.