How Long Does Hell Burn?
There are some Bible verses that may appear to say that. Let's look at some of those verses.
"Everlasting" Bible Texts
In Matthew 25:46, Jesus said, "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Mark 9:43 says, "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched."
Revelation 14:11, "And the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever..."
Other Bible Texts
Before we make a Bible doctrine from these verses, we need to see if there are other verses that speak of the punishment of the wicked.
First, let us go to Malachi 4:1 & 3. "For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly shall be as 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.'"
These verses tell us that the wicked will be burned up and burned to ashes. They will not keep burning forever because there will be nothing left of them to keep burning. In another place the Bible says in Psalms 37:10, 11, "For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; indeed, you will look diligently for his place, but it shall be no more." They will cease to exist.
Jude 7 makes this subject very plain. "As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexually immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire."
Sodom and Gomorrah are not burning today., you can even visit the place where the inhabitants of the two cities dwelt. But there isn’t anything there, just burned rocks. The Bible says they suffered the vengeance of eternal fire. How can this be explained? It means that these cities were completely burned, until there was nothing left. The consequence of their actions was eternal death, not eternal burning.
What Does Everlasting Mean?
In English these words mean that the fire will go on forever, but in the Greek it has a different meaning. Dr. Basil Atkinson explains it this way.
"When the adjective aionios, meaning everlasting, is used in Greek with nouns of action it has reference to the result of the act, not the process. The phrase everlasting punishment is comparable to everlasting redemption and everlasting salvation, both Scriptural phrases. No one supposes that we are being redeemed or saved forever. We were redeemed and saved once for all by Christ with eternal results. In the same way the lost will not be passing through the process of punishment forever but will be punished once and for all with eternal results.” On the other hand the noun 'life' is not a noun of action, but a noun expressing a state. Thus life itself is eternal [just as eternal death is forever as well]."
Basil F. C. Atkinson, Life and Immortality. An Examination of the Nature and Meaning of Life and Death as they are revealed in the Scriptures (Taunton, England, n. n.), p.101.
God Is Love
The Bible says, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). God even loves His enemies. As the soldiers were nailing Jesus to the cross, He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).
God yearns for the wicked to turn from their ways and accept his free gift of salvation. “‘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, O house of Israel’” (Ezekiel 33:11).
But God cannot allow sin, crime, and violence to forever continue causing suffering and death in this world. He is not one to torture His children. So, He does the most loving thing He can do, He destroys them eternally. The Bible says, "He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a the second time" (Nahum 1:9).
But the everlasting fires are not for God’s people or for any people at all, for that matter. Jesus says the fire is prepared for Satan and his angels, not for us (Matthew 25:41). But, instead, God has prepared for His very own people, the ones who have accepted His gift of grace and salvation, an eternal heavenly paradise beyond imagination in loveliness. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). What God wants for us will be too amazing for us to even imagine now! Don’t you want to choose to be there by accepting Him into your life today?
You may wish to learn more through the Discover Bible Lessons on our Bible studies section.
