Is Hell Hot Or Cold What You Need To Know
We all have questions about topics we do not understand. One of the most mysterious topics is what happens to us after we die. We grow up learning about heaven and hell, hearing countless stories and theories about what these two eternal destinations are like. But how do we learn more about hell? Although much of this mystery remains unknown to us, there are glimpses of truth found throughout the Bible that provide us with insight into the reality of hell.
Is hell hot or cold? There are many debates that center around the temperature of hell. While the exact temperature remains unknown, the Bible provides us with a few clues. Based on verses that mention fire and brimstone, we can assume that hell is a very hot place with no relief.
So, what else do we know about hell? Is it a physical location or simply a state of mental torment? Keep reading to learn more about hell based on the context provided through the Bible.
What Is The Purpose Of Hell
Why would God allow for all this destruction to happen? 2 Peter 3:10-14 explains that earth being on fire will melt, but that we should look forward to a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells. The fire purifies the earth and establishes a place of righteousness for the saved to live. Isaiah 65:17 adds, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. This righteous place is described in Revelation 21:1-5 in the following way: “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away…Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.
Have you considered the following? If people were tormented forever in hell how could all things be made new? Additionally, how could all tears be wiped away if you were saved and happily living in an earth recreated, but could still see loved ones burning in hell for eternity? Eternal life for you in heaven would be eternal torment as you continually saw those you loved in unending agony.
Will We Know Our Relatives And Friends In Heaven Will We Still Be Married
Jesus did say that we will not be married in heaven:
Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.
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Are People Suffering In Hell Right Now
How does a future date of hell show a loving God? Imagine if a man committed adultery thousands of years ago during the time of David. That man never repented and went down the wrong path. Now think about a man who just yesterday also committed the same sin. Would it be fair for the first man to be punished thousands of years more than the man caught in adultery yesterday? How would this be fair? The answer lies in the fact that both men are reserved for judgement . Each man will be punished beginning at the exact same time.
What Happens To The Wicked In Hell
This may surprise you, but the Bible says in several places that the wicked will be burned up and completely destroyed in hellfire. You heard right, the wicked will not burn forever. Malachi 4:1-5 says that on the day of the Lord, ‘All the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,’ Says the Lord of hosts, ‘That will leave them neither root nor branch…You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet. Psalms 37:10, 20 also states that the wicked will be no more, they will be carefully looked for but not found. Verse 20 adds that the enemies of the Lord will die and vanish away into smoke. All that is left of the wicked is smoke and ashes, there will not be any part of them left to be tortured forever. All wickedness will be removed from the earth. The root as well as the branches will become ashes with no more life left in them.
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Christian Quotes About Hell
I would rather go to heaven alone than go to hell in company. R.A. Torrey
I willingly believe that the damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end that the doors of hell are locked on the inside. C.S. Lewis
Hell is the highest reward that the devil can offer you for being a servant of his. Billy Sunday
People do not have to do something to go to hell they just have to do nothing to go to hell. John MacArthur
Those who go to Heaven ride on a pass and enter into blessings that they never earned, but all who go to hell pay their own way. John R. Rice
When sinners are careless and stupid, and sinking into hell unconcerned, it is time the church should bestir themselves. It is as much the duty of the church to awake, as it is for the firemen to awake when a fire breaks out in the night in a great city. Charles Finney
Free will carried many a soul to hell, but never a soul to heaven. Charles Spurgeon
denial of hell in the name of grace discourages people from the grace love, while leading toward the hell hates and denies He who thinks hes not drowning wont reach for the life preserver. Randy Alcorn
The hell of hells will be the thought that is forever. The soul sees written over its head, you are damned forever. It hears howlings that are to be perpetual it sees flames which are unquenchable it knows pains that are unmitigated. Charles Spurgeon
If we had more hell in the pulpit, we would have less hell in the pew. Billy Graham
View Of Conditional Immortality And Annihilationism
A minority of Protestants believe in the doctrine of conditional immortality, which teaches that those sent to hell will not experience eternal conscious punishment, but instead will be extinguished or annihilated after a period of “limited conscious punishment”. A phenomenalist view of immortality holds that there would be no experiential difference between eternal hell and limited conscious punishment.
Prominent evangelical theologians who have adopted conditionalist beliefs include John Wenham, Edward Fudge, Clark Pinnock, Greg Boyd, and John Stott . Conditionalists typically reject the traditional concept of the immortality of the soul.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church holds annihilationism. Seventh-day Adventists believe that death is a state of unconscious sleep until the resurrection. They base this belief on biblical texts such as Ecclesiastes 9:5 which states “the dead know nothing”, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13 which contains a description of the dead being raised from the grave at the second coming. These verses, Adventists say, indicate that death is only a period or form of slumber.
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What Is Hell Like In The Bible
In the Gospels, Jesus spoke of hell more then he did of heaven. In the Gospel of Matthew, hell is mentioned 7 times and Hades is mentioned 2 times, along with 8 descriptive terms concerning fire. Out of all the Gospels, Matthew speaks of hell the most, and out of the entirety of New Testament writings, Matthew contains the most content on hell, with Revelation falling in second. In Matthew 3:10, John the Baptist teaches that those who do not bear fruit will be cast into the fire. Scholar William Hendriksen writes, The fire into which the unfruitful trees are cast is evidently a symbol of the final outpouring of Gods wrath upon the wickedThe fire is unquenchable. The point is not merely that there is always a fire burning in Gehenna but that God burns the wicked with unquenchable fire, the fire that has been prepared for them as well as for the devil and his angels.
He also explains in Matthew 3:12 that the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, will come again and that He will separate wheat , from the chaff , which will be burned by an unquenchable fire. Hendriksen also writes,
Resurrection Of The Dead And Final Judgment
Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out – those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
God will judge different people by different standards, depending on their knowledge of the Gospel and the wealth, abilities and responsibilities that have been entrusted to them ” rel=”nofollow”> Matthew 10:14-15, , , , , , , ):
From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.
While we are still living, or until Jesus comes again, we have every opportunity to repent . But in the end we will all be judged. ” rel=”nofollow”> Matthew 12:35-37, , , )
Jesus stated that we will be judged based on what we have done to help other people in need:
The apostle Paul put it this way:
Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
Related verses: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Biblical Definition Of Hell
Hell is the place where those who reject the Lordship of Jesus Christ will experience the wrath and justice of God for all of eternity. Theologian Wayne Grudem defined Hell as a place of eternal conscious punishment for the wicked. It is mentioned many times throughout the scriptures. 17th Century Puritan, Christopher Love stated that,
Hell is a place of torment, ordained by God for Devils and reprobate sinners, wherein by His justice He confines them to everlasting punishment tormenting them both in Body and Soul, being deprived of Gods favor, objects of His wrath, under which they must lie to all eternity.
Hell is a Christian belief and teaching that many would like to avoid or forget altogether. It is a harsh and terrifying truth that awaits those who will not respond to the Gospel. Theologian R.C Sproul writes, There is no biblical concept more grim or terror-invoking than the idea of hell. It is so unpopular with us that few would give credence to it at all except that it comes to us from the teaching of Christ himself. J.I. Packer also writes, New Testament teaching about hell is meant to appall us and strike us dumb with horror, assuring us that, as heaven will be better than we could dream, so hell will be worse than we can conceive. Now a question may be asked, what do the Scriptures teach about hell?
What Is Hell Like
There are dozens of descriptions of hell but there are four common threads: its a place of death, darkness, torment, and being separated from God. Its being described as:
Gehenna – A Greek term that always refers to hell a place of torment
Sheol – a Hebrew term simply describing the grave or death.
Hades – A Greek term that refers to hell as a place of torment
Lake of fire- the final abode of unbelievers after they are resurrected
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Erroneous Views Of Hell
The second chance view After death there is still a way to escape hell.
Answer: It is appointed unto men once to die and after that the judgment .
Universalism All are eternally saved.
Answer: It denies the truth of salvation through Christ which means that a person decides to either trust in Christ or else he/she rejects Christ and goes to hell .
Annihilationism Hell means a person dies like an animal ceases to exist.
Answer: It denies the resurrection of the unsaved . It denies conscious torment .
Where Is Hell Is Located
Actually, the Bible does not tell us where Hell is located. In 2 Pet. 2:4, the statement, cast them into hell, has been translated by some as cast down to hell, but the Greek actually means, cast into tartarus, a place of torment and confinement. Others have sought to use Eph. 4:9, (Now this expression, He ascended, what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? to indicate that hell was in the center of the earth, but this is questionable because the passage is talking about the grave, not hell. Compare the comment below from the Bible Knowledge Commentary.
In essence, we can simply know that hell, both the temporary location of all unbelievers until the Great White Throne Judgment of Rev. 20, and the final place called the lake of fire are somewhere in Gods boundless universe.
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Who Is The Ruler Of Hell
Not the devil! Far from it! In fact, the devil is subject to Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell . God will throw Satan into the lake of fire , along with anyone whose name is not found written in the book of life .
Hell is the wrath of the Almighty God. Jesus rules over hell. Jesus said, I have the keys of death and of Hades . Jesus holds the power and authority. Every created being even those under the earth will give Him glory and honor and proclaim His dominion . At the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth .
16. Revelation 1:18 I am the Living One I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
17. Revelation 20:10 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.
18. Revelation 14:9-10 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of Gods fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.
No sleep in Hell
20. Isaiah 48:22 There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.
Saying hell is not real is calling God a liar.
What Jesus Really Said About Heaven And Hell
None of us likes thinking about death, but there are times when we have little choice. The virus spreads, hospitals fill, and systems become overwhelmed. Our greatest concerns, personal and national, are for survival. But for many people even the otherwise healthy the crisis has unexpectedly raised the specter of death itself, our constant companion even if, most of the time, we do our best to ignore it. Or, in more normal times, try to laugh it off. The most recent and memorable effort was NBCs smash hit comedy series The Good Place but the humor even there was rooted precisely in terror, as Eleanor Shellstrop and her companions desperately worked to avoid the afterlife they deserved in the Bad Place and its eternal torments.
The fear is as ancient as civilizations oldest surviving records. The hero of the Epic of Gilgamesh writhes in agony at the prospect of spending eternity groveling in dust being eaten by worms. Few people today may share Gilgameshs terror of consciously living forever in the dirt. Plenty, however, tremble before the possibility of eternal misery. Possibly this is a good time to help people realize that it simply will not be that way.
The vast majority of these people naturally assume this is what Jesus himself taught. But that is not true. Neither Jesus, nor the Hebrew Bible he interpreted, endorsed the view that departed souls go to paradise or everlasting pain.
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What Happens After Death
We know from Romans 3:23 that everyone has sinned and therefore stand condemned before a holy God. But John 3:16-17 tells us that because of Gods great love for the whole world, he stepped in to rescue people from this helpless trajectory, if they only trust in Christ Jesus the Messiah , God incarnate . This rescue is not forced but received by grace through faith. And should someone die without faith in God, the Bible says their sin has condemned them to hell.
The Bible does not indicate further opportunity to receive salvation after a person dies . Jesus told a parable illustrating this in Luke 16:19-31. Verse 26 describes a great chasm between heaven and hades that is set in place, so that no one can cross from one side to the other.