And what about “heaven” for that matter?
If you’re like most people—Bible believing people—then your instant response to both would be “Yes, hell is forever and so is heaven”. Probably most people believe that heaven and hell last forever. If this is true, then most people on Earth are incorrect and need to get back to their Bibles.
I’m going to show you, in very simple logic (with Bible quotes), that both heaven and hell are temporary places and conditions.
If you’ve read my post on the Three Realms of Existence, then you know that I consider life to exist in three realms: Physical, Spiritual, and Divine (God’s own place). Of these three, only the divine realm is eternal and infinite, because God is eternal and infinite. When He created the heavens and the earth, they bounced into reality—into time. Angels are not eternal beings and their abode (heaven, or the Spirit Realm) is not eternal either. Both heaven and hell had to have been created and both are not eternal. To be eternal is to not have a beginning or and end.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.”
(Revelation 21:1, NLT)
That’s about all the proof we need that heaven and hell are not eternal. They expressly meet their end when God decides. And when will that be, you may ask? Just after the Great White Throne Judgment. But if you’re calling me out for the quote not mentioning hell, hang on a minute.
11 “And I saw a great white throne and the One sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from His presence, but they found no place to hide. 12 I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds.14 Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. 15 And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
(Revelation 20:11-15, NLT)
Revelation 20, verse 14, clearly says that death and the grave are thrown into the lake of fire. This place is called in the Greek, “Hades”. It is what we commonly think of as hell.
When people think that hell is forever, they are confusing the Lake of Fire with hell (hades). The Lake of Fire is everlasting. It is also called the “second death”. A second death would imply a second life.
My position is that the second life is without a physical or a spiritual body (at first), but as disembodied spirits, souls, or both (not sure). The third (and final) life as saved humans will be in our new bodies, after the temporary state in heaven or hell has passed and those places have been removed from reality. Now, we who are saved by the cross really only live once. The expression, “start a new life”, does not mean that the current life will cease to be. There is a transition. But the point is that my life in the mortal flesh on earth is a lot different than living in the Spirit Realm with the Lord, Saints, and Angels without having a body of my own. And that will be different from the new heaven, called The New Jerusalem, which will be our next place of adventure and fellowship, where we will all have spirit bodies like Paul mentioned (1 Cor. 15).
(What if God just keeps giving us new worlds every few millennia?) [Trippy]
This second life takes place in the Spirit Realm. It is either in the presence of Christ, or not. If not, it is in hell that the person is kept. This place will have torment, much regret, and will be an extremely difficult time for the ones who are relegated there. However, it is clear that this is for a time; not eternity.
By the way, if you think that heaven is forever, you might be confusing it with the New Jerusalem, spoken of in Revelation 21.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her Husband.”
(Revelation 21:1-2, NLT)
Think of our current “Heaven” as a place of fellowship, rest, and joy… It sounds like God brings this New Jerusalem out of heaven just before the old heaven (the one we know of now) passes away.
Think of our current “Hell” (not the Lake of fire) as a place of regret, sorrow, etc., and hopefully reflection on the goodness of God. I see no proof that people may not repent while in hell. In fact, I think it would be a great place for it. So I openly declare that I hope (not with Bible references) that people in hell will find salvation before they receive God’s eternal sentence upon their everlasting soul. You can tell me that such a message is not in the Bible. To that I would concur 100%. But I can also say with confidence that God has not told us everything. Maybe that’s because if we had that glimmer of hope that there is life after hell, we might be willing to do the time and live however we want until then. Well, I have my hopes for the many folks I’ve met who are definitely going to hell but only because their minds have been blinded by the enemy of man. With proper stimulation, encouragement, motivation, knowledge, etc., I could see billions of people finding their way to Jesus’ salvation after a period of actual hell.
When the Lord returns to Earth, He will bring with Him His angels, His freshly resurrected saints, and then He’ll snatch up His living saints (who are still alive at His coming) to Himself up into the air, while over earth. (See Matthew 24:29-31)
While here, He will reign over the Earth for 1,000 years (see Revelation 20) with His newly glorified saints reigning over “the nations” with Him. Who are the nations? It’s the people who survived the apocalypse and will live under His rule over Earth. It’s anyone’s guess how many people will survive, but it won’t be many. Out of the 7+ billion inhabitants of Earth, my guess is that fewer than ¼ survive to see Jesus set foot on terra-firma again. But it will be enough to repopulate the planet for the next 1,000 years.
The final judgment comes a thousand years later, after His millennial reign. That’s when the people relegated to hell are released, so that they can face judgment. Does this mean that all people who were in hell are going to be sent into the Lake of Fire (the real eternal damnation)? I highly doubt it. As people, we know how stubborn people are, because each of us has a stubborn streak as well. I could think of many, many scenarios where a person knew of God and His plan of salvation for them, but they turned it down. I would think that over a thousand years in hellish torment might soften them up to the one and only means of escape from eternal damnation, wouldn’t you? And who says that the gospel is not pounded into their heads, along with all of the terrible things they’d done in life? I’m not being dogmatic. In fact, this isn’t even a doctrine of mine…it’s a hope. A hope that so many silly, stupid souls who refused the Lord in life will eagerly accept Him after such a time of punishment in hell.
There are lots of ideas floating around out there about heaven and hell. Most of them are completely false, while a few miss the mark by just a hair. Be careful about what you choose to believe. Look into your doctrine. After all, doctrine does matter.
If you find yourself in disagreement with me, take a look and see if you have been conflating the Lake of Fire with hell and the New Jerusalem with heaven. As to people being saved between hell and the judgment, well, it’s a hope that I have, that’s all. Peter mentioned Jesus giving the gospel to those who died before His crucifixion. Why not give the gospel to other dead souls as well? (See 1 Peter 3:19-20)
You should also read my post on God’s Wrath. There I discuss the different kinds of wrath and recipients of it. You probably won’t get that teaching anywhere else (at least, I haven’t heard it from anyone else).
One thing I know above all else: God is good.
Walk with Him,
Gary
