11. Will the wicked enter hell in bodily form and be destroyed both soul and body?
“It is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:30).
“Rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).
“The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20).
Answer: Yes. Real, living people enter hell in bodily form and are destroyed both soul and body. The fire from God out of heaven will fall upon real people and blot them out of existence.
12. Will the devil be in charge of hellfire?
“The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:10).
“I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. … You … shall be no more forever” (Ezekiel 28:18, 19).
Answer: Absolutely not! The devil will be cast into the fire, and it will turn him into ashes.
13. Does the word “hell” as used in the Bible always refer to a place of burning or punishment?
Answer: No. The word “hell” is used 54 times in the Bible (KJV), and in only 12 cases does it refer to “a place of burning.”
The word "hell" is translated from several different words with various meanings, as indicated below:
IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
31 times from "Sheol," which means the grave."
IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
10 times from "Hades," which means "the grave."
12 times from "Gehenna," which means "the place of burning."
1 time from "Tartarus," which means "a place of darkness."
54 TIMES TOTAL
Note: The word “Gehenna” is a transliteration of the Hebrew “Ge-Hinnom,” which means the “Valley of Hinnom.” This valley, which lies immediately south and west of Jerusalem, was a place where dead animals, garbage, and other refuse were dumped. Fire burned constantly, as it does at modern sanitation dump sites. The Bible uses “Gehenna” or the “Valley of Hinnom” as a symbol of the fire that will destroy the lost at the end of time. The fire of Gehenna was not unending. Otherwise, it would still be burning southwest of Jerusalem today. Neither will the fire of hell be unending.
14. What is God’s real purpose in hellfire?
“Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).
“Anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).
“For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more. … The enemies of the Lord … shall vanish. Into smoke they shall vanish away” (Psalm 37:10, 20).
Answer: God’s purpose is that hell will destroy the devil, all sin, and the unsaved to make the world safe for eternity. Any vestige of sin left on this planet would be a deadly virus forever threatening the universe. It is God’s plan to blot out sin from existence for all time!
Eternal Hell Would Perpetuate Sin
An eternal hell of torment would perpetuate sin and make its eradication impossible. An eternal hell of torment is not part of God’s great plan at all. Such a theory is slander against the holy name of a loving God. The devil delights to see our loving Creator pictured as a monstrous tyrant.
Eternal Hell Is Not Found in the Bible
The “eternal hell of torment” theory originated not from the Bible, but from misguided people who were, perhaps inadvertently, led of the devil. And while a fear of hell might get our attention, we are not saved by fear but by God’s grace.
God will be deeply saddened when He must destroy those His Son died to save.
15. Isn’t the act of destroying the unsaved foreign to God’s nature?
“ ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die?’ ” (Ezekiel 33:11).
“The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them” (Luke 9:56).
“The Lord will rise up … that He may do His work, His awesome work, and bring to pass His act, His unusual act” (Isaiah 28:21).
Answer: Yes—the work of God has always been to save rather than to destroy. The work of destroying the wicked in hellfire is so foreign to God’s nature that the Bible calls it His “unusual act.” God’s great heart will ache at the destruction of the wicked. Oh, how diligently He works to save every soul! But if one spurns His love and clings to sin, God will have no choice but to destroy the unrepentant sinner when He rids the universe of the horrible, malignant growth called “sin” in the fires of the last day.