Does the Bible Teach
That Sinners
Will Burn in Hell for
Eternity?
Here is a comment from
a Bible student that has enjoyed many
of the Bible studies on our website:
You have cleared up some questions
that I have had for a long time, but
some of your teachings frustrate me
because they are in obvious error. I
don’t understand how a Bible
teacher like you can know so much
about the Bible and overlook the
plain truth. For example, the Bible
clearly teaches that sinners will
burn in Hell for eternity. This issue
is so simple that it can be summed up
in one sentence. Everybody has an
eternal destiny – eternal life
in Heaven with Jesus or burning in
eternal Hell with the devil.
Haven’t you read Mark 9:43 and
other verses that says the fires of
Hell will never quit burning? If you
are going to teach the Bible, why
don’t you teach what it says?
____________________________________________________________
Dear friend,
Thank you for your
e-mail. Yes, the Bible teaches that
everyone has an eternal reward
coming, but what are the rewards? The
Bible informs us that the saints will
be rewarded with eternal life (John
3:16; John 6:40), and the Bible also
states that the penalty for sin is death.
(Romans 6:23, Revelation 20:14) I
know why millions of Christians
believe in an eternally burning Hell
because many Bible texts seem
to indicate that Hell will burn
forever. However, I would like an
opportunity to show you another point
of view. When you investigate all the
Bible teaches about God’s
justice, the Second Death, and Hell,
eternal death is not the same thing
as living for eternity in Hell!
Please consider this: The Bible
indicates that God has three
purposes for Hell. In a nutshell,
the first purpose is justice,
the second purpose is to
execute the wicked, and the third
purpose is to purify Earth. Since my
view on Hell is quite different than
yours, I hope you will consider my
responses and be sure to look up each
verse as we go along.
1. First,
I believe the Bible is the Word of
God. Therefore, each verse in the
Bible has to have the same authority.
The “same authority” rule
creates a big problem for every Bible
student. We are not honest in our
search for “The Truth” if
we “cherry pick”
those verses that suit our personal
bias and ignore those verses that we
do not like or do not understand.
Serious Bible students are forced
by the rule of “same
authority” to gather up every
statement said in the Bible
about a particular topic so that they
can harmoniously align all that
has been written. To my
knowledge, this is the only way
the Bible can reveal issues to us
that we would rather not believe.
During the past 20 years, I have
experienced many occasions when one
verse unraveled my entire conceptual
framework about a particular topic!
I have found that God is neither
simple nor simplistic. Therefore, I
try to remain cautious about my
conclusions. Many topics are
presented in the Bible, so my first
concern is to be sure that I have not
left something out that should be put
“on the table.” When I
study God’s Word, my prayer is
“Lord, I don’t care what
‘The Truth’ is, or where it
leads – I just want to know
everything about You that I can
possibly know!”
I am discussing the
rule of “same authority”
because there is a phenomenon in
God’s Word that some people
believe is called “apparent
conflict.” In short, one verse
will appear to contradict
another verse. These collisions
interest me because (a) both verses
have the same authority, and (b) I
believe that God’s Word is in
perfect harmony with itself;
otherwise, the truth about any topic
could be undermined. I have dealt
with “apparent conflicts”
long enough to know that they can be
resolved with the help of the Holy
Spirit and plenty of mental
“elbow grease.” God is
infinite, deliberate and thoughtful,
and I believe that God has allowed
“apparent conflicts” in
Scripture to energize our search for
truth. Nothing churns the human
mind like a worthwhile mystery.
I have delighted the
phenomenon of “apparent
conflicts” because many of them
are embedded in the topic of Hell.
The truth about Hell is only attained
when everything written about the
topic is resolved into perfect
harmony. A person cannot do a simple
word search through the Bible by
looking up the word “Hell”
and expect to resolve the topic. This
is because other Bible topics –
like justice, restitution and death -
are directly involved with the topic
of Hell! So, digging “The
Truth” out of the Bible is not
as easy or as simple as some people
would have you believe.
1. The
Bible declares that God is love. (1
John 4:16) Love is the perfect
balance of mercy and justice. This
means that God loves mercy, as well
as justice. (Psalm 89:14; Matthew
23:23) The Bible states that
God’s eyes constantly sweep over
the Earth. (1 Chronicles 16:9; Psalm
139:8) God sees every act of kindness
done in secret and He rewards
accordingly. (Matthew 6:4-6) God sees
every act of violence, watches every
theft, observes every adultery, and
hears every lie. (2 Chronicles 16:9;
Psalm 139:8) The reason that
God’s omniscient oversight is
important in this study on Hell is restitution.
Contrary to what many people think,
God requires that every sin be made
right before He will forgive
us of that sin. * (Exodus 21;
Matthew 5:23,24; 1 John 1:9) For
example, God will not forgive a
thief until the thief has
provided restitution to his victim!
Think about this. Can a man steal his
neighbor’s hubcaps and expect
God to forgive him while the hubcaps
remain in his possession? Of course
not. God will not forgive our sins
unless we truly repent, and the
evidence of true repentance is
restitution. (Matthew 5:23,24) We can
carry God’s justice one step
further. If the victim who lost his
hubcaps refuses to forgive the thief
when he attempts to make restitution,
God will not forgive the victim of
his sins, either! (Matthew 6:15) I
hope you can see that in God’s
economy, atonement for sin requires
restitution and forgiveness.
* Note: Sometimes
the issue of restitution is not
simple to resolve. Restitution in
kind is not always possible. For
example stolen hubcaps can be
replaced, but how does one make
restitution for adultery or abuse? I
have found three guiding principles
when it comes to the subject of
restitution. First, when there is
heartfelt sorrow for a sin, there is
a compelling desire and effort to
change behavior. This is the fruit of
repentance. Second, a determined
effort to restore the victim through
some form of compensation is
appropriate. In these cases where
tangible restitution is not possible,
the debt owed the victim can be
discussed and redirected toward
others in the form of service or
assistance. Last, because sin often
harms innocent people (like children)
who may or may not know about the
event, discretion is important. The
essential point is that the victim
knows about the heartfelt sorrow and
the endeavor to make restitution. I
hope the reader can see that
God’s demand for restitution and
forgiveness are important building
blocks in character development.
(Luke 3: 10-14)
Yes, it takes a lot of
courage and humility to confess our
sins and make restitution to those we
have done wrong, but it has to be
done. (Luke 19: 8,9) On the other
hand, a wicked heart will not
make restitution because there is no
genuine sorrow or deep regret for
doing wrong. Courage and humility are
displaced with rebellion and
pseudo-justification in the carnal
heart. But, like it or not, believe
it or not, God will be sure that
every wrong will be made right –
we can either do so voluntarily or
God will extract restitution from us
involuntarily. This explains, in
part, why God resurrects the wicked
dead at the end of the 1,000 years.
He resurrects the wicked to
extract the restitution they refused
to pay. After justice has been
served, they will be executed –
eternal death – there will be no
resurrection from this death. As I
wrote earlier, justice is the
first purpose for the fires of
Hell. Remember, the second purpose is
to execute the wicked and the final
is to purify the Earth.
Big Picture
Now that these two
issues have been considered, let us
see how God’s justice and
restitution fit into the big picture
of apocalyptic prophecy.
Prior to the Second
Coming, Jesus judges mankind. (Daniel
7:10; John 5:22. Acts 17:31) Jesus
Himself decides who will receive
eternal life and who will not. (2
Corinthians 5:10) When he completes
His judgment process, Jesus will
return to Earth. (Revelation 22:12)
notice how He administers His
judgment: At the Second Coming, dead
people previously judged to be saints
will be awakened from their sleep
to meet the Lord in the air. Also,
those who are alive at the
Second Coming and are judged, as
saints during the Great Tribulation
will also be caught up in the air to
meet Jesus because Jesus will not
touch Earth at the Second Coming.
(1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, Luke 14:
13,14)
After the saints from
all ages have been gathered up to
Jesus, He will proceed to kill all of
the wicked, who are alive at the
Second Coming, with a sword (a verbal
command) that comes out of His mouth.
(Revelation 19:20,21; Revelation 6:
15-17) Then, Jesus and the saints
will return to His Father’s
house in Heaven, the place where
Jesus has prepared for them. (John
14: 1-3) During the ensuing 1,000
years, there will be no life on Earth
except for the devil and his angels.
They cannot leave Earth in its
desolate condition because they are
bound in the abyss (the spirit
realm). (Revelation 20:1-3) During
the 1,000 years, the saints will
reign with Jesus in Heaven during the
sentencing phase of judgment.
This means the saints will review the
case of each wicked person and the
saints, along with Jesus, will
determine the amount of restitution
that will be extracted from the
wicked at the end of the 1,000 years.
Restitution will be extracted through
suffering in Hell. (Exodus 21,
Revelation 18:6, 2 Timothy 4:14,
Hebrews 10:30,31; Revelation 20:15)
Reigning with Christ
Remember, the saints
will reign with Jesus for 1,000
years. Jesus will give the saints
authority to determine the amount of
punishment wicked people and wicked
angels must suffer. (Revelation 3:21;
20:6; 1 Corinthians 6:2,3) The saints
will not determine who is righteous
or who is wicked because Jesus
determined the eternal destiny of
each person before the Second
Coming. Those people who injured and
harmed others will be tortured
in Hell according to the amount
of suffering they caused. (Romans
12:19, Matthew 10:28) Here is the
interesting part: Many of the saints
will have been victims of the people
they judge! Who would be better
judges to determine the amount of
suffering that must be extracted from
a wicked assailant than those who
were their victims? God’s system
of justice is perfect!
The Golden Rule
demands a life for a life, an eye for
an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a bruise
for a bruise and a burn for a burn.
(Exodus 21, Luke 12:58,59, Matthew
18:23-35) Some people will perish
quickly. These will be “salted
with fire,” while others, who
caused great suffering, will suffer
for a long time. (Mark 9:47-49,
Matthew 13:41,42) The fires of Hell
will extract restitution and will not
burn out until justice has been
served and restitution has been
“paid in full.” (Mark 9:43)
The fires of Hell will not burn
eternally. After the wicked
people’s torture is over, the
wicked will perish. “’Surely
the day is coming; it will burn like
a furnace. All the arrogant and every
evildoer will be stubble, and that
day that is coming will set them on
fire,’ says the Lord Almighty.
‘Not a root or a branch will be
left to them… then you will
trample down the wicked; they will be
ashes under the soles of your feet on
the day when I do these things,’
says the Lord Almighty.” (Malachi
4:1,2)
God has promised that
at the end of the world, every wrong
will be atoned for He will even
resurrect dead people to achieve
justice. (Hebrews 10; 30, 31;
Matthew 25:46) Since the fires of
Hell will also extract restitution
from the devil and his angels, I
suppose Hell could last for several
days – perhaps 40 days and 40
nights? Regardless of how long it
takes, everyone in Hell will
eventually die and when the wicked no
longer exist, Jesus will create a new
Heaven and a new Earth. John wrote, “Then
I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first
earth had passed away,
and there was o longer any sea [of
fire].” (Revelation 21:1,
insertion mine)
I hope you can see
from this sequence of apocalyptic
events how God uses Hell to
accomplish justice, death, and
purification of Earth. Now, I would
like to address the question of the
eternally burning Hell from several
different perspectives altogether.
Please consider the following eight
points:
1.
Eternal Life: The reward that
will be bestowed upon the saints at
the last day is eternal life. “For
God so loved the world that he gave
his one and only Son, that whosoever
believes in him shall not
perish but have
eternal life.” (John
3:16) “For my Father’s
will is that everyone who looks to
the Son and believes in him shall
have eternal life, and I
will raise him up at the last day [and
give him eternal life].” John
6:40, insertion mine)
Here is the problem: A
person cannot writhe in Hell
throughout eternity without first
receiving eternal life. In other
words, a wicked person has to receive
eternal life so that he can be
tortured for eternity. The Bible
teaches that the wicked will not
receive eternal life. In fact,
the Bible teaches that the wicked will
perish – cease to exist.
(See John 3:16 above.)
2. The
Penalty for Sin: Most Christians
believe that Jesus died on the cross
to pay the penalty for our
sins. (2 Corinthians 5:21) This
problem is a simple one: If the
penalty for sin is burning in Hell
throughout eternity then Jesus did
not pay the price for sin.
Period. Even if you say that
Jesus was tortured in Hell for three
days and three nights, three days in
Hell is not the penalty for sin! Even
after billions and billions of years,
eternity has just begun!
To pay for our sins,
the penalty for sin had to be imposed
upon Jesus and it was. The
penalty for sin is “death by
execution – without hope of
resurrection.” Consider the
first recorded command given to Adam:
“And the Lord God commanded
the man saying, ‘Of every tree
of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
But of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of
it: for in the day [whether it be
a Tuesday or a Friday] that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die
[be executed].’” (KJV,
Genesis 2:16,17, insertions mine)
Adam and Eve were to be put to death
on the very day they sinned, but
Jesus, seeing that they did not sin
defiantly, chose to become man’s
intercessor instead of man’s
executioner.
3. Two
Resurrections: Let us assume for
a moment that a wicked person does go
to Hell at the time of death. Then
try to explain why the wicked are
resurrected at the end of the 1,000
years? What is the point of
resurrecting Cain 9the first
murderer) if he has been burning in
Hell for the past 6,000 years? Even
more, what would be the point of
resurrecting Abel if he has been
sitting at Jesus’ side for the
past 6,000 years? The doctrine of
two resurrections is in direct
conflict with the doctrine of an
eternally burning hell. The Bible
teaches the first resurrection occurs
at the Second Coming for the
righteous dead (1 Thessalonians
4:15-18, Revelation 20:6) and the
second resurrection occurs at the end
of the 1,000 years. (Revelation 20:5)
The second resurrection is for the
wicked of all ages. “Marvel
not at this: for the hour is coming,
in which all that are in the graves
shall hear his voice, 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.” (KJV,
John 5:28,29)
4.
Immediate Judgment at Death: The
Bible states that everyone will stand
before “the Judgment Bar of
Christ.” (2 Corinthians
5:10) If a person goes to Heaven or
Hell at the time of death,
this presumes that ‘the Judgment
Bar of Christ” has been in
session ever since Abel was killed.
The problem is that ‘the
Judgment Bar of Christ” has a
beginning point in time and an ending
point in time. The apocalyptic books
of Daniel and Revelation tell closes
and us the Judgment Bar of Christ
began in 1844 during the Great
Tribulation, at the end of the 1,260
days allotted to the Two witnesses,
just before the seventh trumpet
sounds.
No one can be judged
by Christ until His Judgment Bar is
“set up.” For reasons
beyond the scope of this response,
Jesus was found worthy to ascend
Heaven’s throne in 1798 and
Jesus began reviewing the books of
record in 1844. (Ecclesiastes
12:13,14, Daniel 7:10) So, Bible
prophecy indicates that immediate
judgment at death is not possible.
(Note: God the Father has made
a few “executive”
exceptions to the Judgment Bar of
Christ. Enoch, Elijah and the 24
elders were taken to Heaven prior to
1844. These exceptions are justified
on the basis that the Father foreknew
this was the best way of resolving
issues that are not part of this
discussion.)
5.
First heaven and Earth Passed Away: The
Bible teaches that God will create a
New Heaven and New Earth after the
old Heaven and Earth are destroyed. “Then
I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first
earth had passed away…”(Revelation
21:1) This verse means that Hell
itself has to pass away. Hell is
the means through which earth will be
purified of sin! Sin and sinners will
have no place on Earth, in Earth or
under the Earth when everything is
made new. God’s universe will be
clean of sin and sinners.
6.
Reigning with Christ: If there is
an eternally burning Hell, what
judgment is left for the saints to
conduct during the 1,000 years? “Do
you not know that the saints will
judge the world…? Do you not
know that we will judge
angels…” (1 Corinthians
6:2,3) Think about this: If all of
the wicked receive the same
sentence – burning in Hell for
eternity, then there is nothing left
for the saints to judge during the
1,000 years!
7.
Walking on the Ashes of the Wicked: The
Bible declares the wicked will be
devoured – destroyed –
annihilated – turned into ashes.
“’Then you will trample
down the wicked; they will be ashes
under the soles of your feet on the
day when I do these things, ‘
says the Lord Almighty.” (Malachi
4:3)
Christians mess the
doctrine of Hell up today largely
because people do not understand the
doctrines of restitution. God’s
vengeance, soul sleep, the Second
Death or the Judgment Bar of Christ.
I understand how people conclude that
the wicked will burn in Hell forever.
Language in the Bible seems to
support the idea of eternal suffering
in Hell until you put
everything in the Bible has to say
about Hell on the table. Then, and
only then, can we understand the
truth on this topic. The Bible is
like a giant crossword puzzle.
When all of its doctrines are
properly defined and understood, all
of the pieces will harmoniously form
one beautiful mosaic.
8.
Golden Rule: The final reason why
Hell cannot burn for eternity is that
God’s own law, the Golden Rule, does
not permit God to punish wicked
people beyond the point of achieving
restitution. Period. God abides by
His own laws. He has proven His
submission to His own laws by the
death of Jesus! The Father would have
not allowed Jesus to die if there
had been any other way to redeem
man. No sinner, not even the devil,
merits endless torture in Hell
throughout eternity! Restitution is a
finite matter and once justice is
served, the wicked will die a death
from which there is no resurrection.
If God tortured demons
and “slightly wicked”
people throughout the endless ages of
eternity with the same punishment, He
would be a tyrant. Justice
demands that punishment be
commensurate with the crime.
Tyrants do not punish fairly. With
tyrants, justice is arbitrary and
self-serving. They abuse their
victims to suit their selfish or
mean-spirited objectives. The Golden
Rule can be stated: “As you do
unto others, the same will be done
unto you.” This is perfect
justice. According to the rule, there
are limits to torture in Hell.
Summary
- After
considering the “same
authority” rule…
- After
considering God’s demand
for restitution…
- After
considering the apocalyptic
sequence that includes the
Judgment Bar of Christ, the
two resurrections and the
purpose of the saints
reigning with Christ during
the 1,000 years…
- After
considering the eight
theological points listed
above…
I conclude that Hell
will burn for a period of time. I
conclude that wicked people will be
tormented with fire according to the
injury and harm they inflicted on
others. I conclude that Lucifer and
his demons will burn the longest
because they have caused the greatest
injuries. I also conclude that after
restitution has been extracted and
justice has been served, the wicked
will be put to death. They will never
exist again. At that time, God will
purify this orb with fire so that the
foundations of a New Heaven and a New
Earth will be free of the blight
caused by sin.
Because the topic of
Hell is so important, it seems to me
that God has deliberately made the
matter of an eternally burning Hell a
topic of controversy to keep the
subject alive! By keeping this
subject in a state of controversy, it
forces those who seek the whole truth
to resolve this highly important and
complex topic. For me, the
conclusions stated above align with
everything else that I have learned
about the marvelous ways of God.
There is no doubt about it. God is
righteous, fair and just. He is truly
a God of love. There is no
selfishness, meanness nor arrogance
in God. If you have lost a loved one
through a violent crime or if you
have been hurt in a grievous way by a
thug, I hope you can appreciate the
idea that God will fully repay.
Millions of soldiers who raped and
killed innocent people will pay for
their deeds, too. You can be sure
that justice will be served before
death eliminates the devil and every
wicked person. “It is a
dreadful thing to fall into the hands
of the living God.” (Hebrews
10:31)
