What is it Like in Hell?

     There are lots of ideas from popular culture, movies, books, games, and TV about what hell is like. Most of the time, it is depicted as being underground in a cave-like area. It is also usually seen as hot, filled with flames or molten lava. Dante further gave imagery of hell with The Inferno as part of his Divine Comedy. Dante imagined hell with 9 levels or circles, each one worse than the one before. Each depth contains worse sinners than those before, well the Devil in the center in ice, with three individuals in his 3 mouths, one being Judas Iscariot. 

    Hell is often portrayed as home to ugly and evil monsters that torment and torture the souls trapped in hell. The concept of eternal punishment extends outside of the Christian tradition, so we find many of these teachings get mixed a merged together. As in the inferno, there are mixings of extreme temperatures from flames to ice. Often, a division is created for those who are very evil and those who aren't as bad. As we have discussed in previous posts, the Devil and demons are often seen as the jailers or rules of hell. How do we know what to believe? The only credible source on what it is like in hell is found in the Bible, so what does the Bible say about hell?

Much of the most compelling descriptions of Hell come from Jesus. Jesus, being part of the Godhead and divine, knows and understands Hell. He was involved in creation, including the creation of Hell. Jesus tells some parables and stories about Hell and gives some powerful descriptors, so the best way to understand is to look at what He said about it.

Jesus tells a story of a rich man and a poor beggar. The rich man goes to "torment" while the poor man goes to "paradise". The rich man looks and sees the poor man in Heaven, and asks for the man to put his finger in water and cool his tongue. The man is told that a great gulf exists and no one can cross over. From this description, Hell exists outside of the realm of the physical, not in a cave or underground. The rich man can see Heaven, but cannot receive any of the benefits. It is unclear if those in Heaven can see into Hell. The rich man is also in physical pain, experiencing thirst, and says he is in anguish in the flames. He asks for his tongue to be cooled, showing the great heat. The man asks for the poor man to be sent back to warn his brothers, not wanting them to experience the suffering of being in Hell. You can read the Parable in Luke 16:19-31.

Jesus spoke of Hell as the place where "the fire is not quenched and the worm does not die". This description is highlighted by one of the words that Jesus often used when referring to Hell. He uses the word Gehenna. This is an actual place in Israel, once called the Valley of Ben-Hinnom. This valley was a place where many terrible things were done, including human and child sacrifice. This valley was cursed and eventually became a place for garbage. There was a fire that was lit and kept burning constantly, this is where the corpses of animals were thrown. Spoiled items, human waste, and other things that were foul smelling would be disposed of by the fire that was kept burning. It was an unpleasant place with foul-smelling smoke. Maggots would feed on those rotten parts not burned in the fire, giving us the idea of the flames and the worm. A disgusting, flaming garbage pile in the location that Jesus used to illustrate Hell and eternal torment.

Finally, Hell is eternal and completely separated from God. In 2 Thessalonians 1:8–9, we read that those in Hell are away from the presence of the Lord. As we discussed in an earlier post, everything that is good comes from God. We know that from James 1:17. In Hell, there is nothing good, no love or peace. There is no friendship or compassion. None of the things that we have on earth are good, even the things we take for granted. There is no rest, so deep breaths, not even the feeling of relief after being on your feet and being able to sit down. All of those good things are gone because everything good comes from God. The punishment for sin will be completely realized and the weight and depth of sin will be experienced in the torment. Individuals will fully comprehend what it means to sin against a holy, perfect, all-powerful God. The individuals who speak freely against God today will confess that Jesus is the Lord of all creation, that God is Holy, and that they are being given the punishment they deserve. This is definitely not a place where you want to spend eternity.