Conclusions
In our introductory study we looked at several verses which seem to speak about there being varying degrees of punishment in hell, from Matthew 11:22-24, and Luke 12:47-48. We also asked the question of why Jesus seemed to be showing a degree of mercy to the Legion of demons who pleaded with Him not to send them into the place called the Abyss from Luke 8:26-39. My reason for drawing attention to these Scriptures was two-fold.
Firstly, that the passage on the sheep and goats from Matthew 25:41 connects human souls with being cast into the place 'prepared for the devil and his angels'. This connection is important in any discussion on the immortality of the soul, simply because we could argue that, whilst angelic bodies may be immortal and suffer eternally in Gehenna (hell), the Bible clearly teaches that human souls are not naturally immortal and can be destroyed as in Matthew 10:28. Therefore, we may conclude that the Matthew 25 verse does not categorically state that human souls will suffer eternally.
Secondly, the verses which seem to teach degrees of punishment, and Jesus' treatment of the Legion of demons inside of the man from Gerasenes, should cause us to take a pause and recognize that we have many unanswered questions about the topic of hell, and should approach this topic with ample doses of humility.
In study one we discussed in depth the issue of the immortality of the human soul. It was through the Greek philosopher Plato that this idea was introduced into Christian thinking, however, the New Testament contradicts Plato. Jesus taught that both body and soul can be destroyed in Gehenna, Matthew 10:28, and in fact the Lord often used the Greek word appolumi when speaking of the destiny of unbelievers. In the context of hell, appolumi means to be destroyed utterly, a word which is translated as 'perish' in well-known verses such as John 3:16.
The apostles also deny the immortality of the soul, especially Paul. In several passages in Romans Paul uses appolumi to speak of eternal destinies, and in Romans 2:7 he speaks of those who seek immortality. Likewise, in his letters to Timothy, Paul states that God alone is naturally immortal. According to Scripture, human beings are not created with an immortal soul. Immortality is God's gift by grace, through faith in the saving power of Jesus Christ.
In study two we looked deeply into the place called Sheol in Hebrew, and Hades in Greek. In the Old Testament this word is often translated simply as grave, and also as a place under the earth. When we get to the New Testament we see Jesus using the word Hades to speak of a place of torment, as in His parable in Luke 16: 19-23 about the rich man and Lazarus. This is not Jesus' only direct reference to Hades, there being another in Matthew 11:23-24, but in Revelation chapter 20 Hades is mentioned several times. In that chapter souls who have been waiting in Hades for judgment are brought out to stand before God's Throne. Hades itself is destroyed in the Lake of Fire.
In study three we discussed Gehenna, the Lake of Fire, and the Abyss. Gehenna was used by Jesus as an analogy of the Valley of Hinnom, a place where human sacrifices were thrown into fires and destroyed during Israel's pre-Christian history. In this study we examined many verses in which Jesus uses the word Gehenna. We noticed that He spoke of Gehenna as the 'eternal fire', but perhaps more importantly, that in almost every instance He used the Greek apollumi in each verse. The importance of this cannot be overstated. In the context of hell, apollumi means to be destroyed, to cease to exist, and cannot be diluted or twisted to mean anything else.
If Jesus uses the words destroy (apollumi) and eternal fire in the same verse, we simply cannot interpret this as an existence of continual torment, for such would be a blatant contradiction. We are therefore forced to interpret eternal fire from the clear teaching of utter destruction, and conclude from these verses that the eternal fire is speaking of the effect of destruction, or means of destruction.
We also examined several passages where Jesus and Peter use the destruction of the Great Flood and the city of Sodom as examples of what happens to the wicked at judgment. Both the Flood and Sodom were acts of judgment which culminated in the absolute destruction of all living souls at those times. Surely, if we are to be responsible in our interpretation, we must conclude that Jesus and Peter are interpreting for us by giving these examples. Some might argue that these are just physical bodies being destroyed, not souls, however such an argument misses the point of the example.
What other possible analogy could be given which we could understand, except one from our own dimensional existence? Neither Jesus, nor any of the apostles ever tries to give us a physical description of hell except by analogy of something on earth, simply because we cannot relate to some spiritual dimension we cannot even imagine. For this same reason, there is no 'physical' description of heaven either, just Paul's quote that 'no eye has seen, ear heard or mind conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him'.
In study three we also looked briefly at the place called Tatarus, the Abyss, a place where fallen angels are kept in prison until the time of judgment.
In study four we examined the main verses which traditionalists use as key verses for the belief in continual unending torment in hell. The most common of these verses are found in Revelation and, like the verse in Matthew 25:41, connect the destiny of wicked humans with the destiny of demons, the Antichrist and False Prophet. We noticed that any literal interpretation of the Revelation texts produced contradictions and ridiculous conclusions. Revelation 14:9-11, a foundational text for traditionalists, states that the place of torment is in the presence of Christ and the Holy angels, its sulfurous smoke rises forever, day and night etc.
In the Matthew text about the sheep and the goats, Jesus commands the wicked to 'depart from me'. If we are going to apply any literal translation to John's vision, we end up with wicked souls who never depart the presence of Christ and the angels, and if we assume that Christians are to spend eternity with Christ and these angels, then heaven has a sulfurous pit with smoke rising forever, plus the concepts of day and night. Revelation is a vision which uses extreme language which is often hyperbolic, plus symbols and analogies, and is not given to us as a foundation for systematic theology.
We also took a look at the words forever and eternal, aion in Greek and olam in Hebrew. These words have a very broad usage in Scripture. For example, we can say 'may the King live forever', and the Old Covenant of the Law is 'forever' The word aion literally means an age, not the age of a person, but either a period of time which ends or never ends. We have examples in the Bible of the 'end of the age', and also ages which never end. When speaking within the context of hell, we must recognize that we are always referring to an age which is outside of time as we understand it, but this does not necessarily mean that such a 'time' cannot end.
For example. If a person's soul goes directly to Hades at the point of death and is then brought out of Hades and joined to their resurrected body for judgment, then their 'eternity' in Hades ended. These are time concepts which are impossible for us to comprehend, simply because they are outside of what we understand as time.
In study five we looked at objections to the doctrine of hell and also the idea of universal salvation. We asked some very serious questions about what traditional views may be suggesting about God's character, especially regarding Divine Justice. Taking into account the Old Testament Law of an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth and life for life, was it just for God to demand the equivalent of billions and billions of lifetimes of torment for one lifetime of disobedience? Does that scenario not seem to contradict His teachings of justice within the Old Covenant Law?
We also briefly discussed the problem of those who have never had the chance to hear the gospel, such as aborted, stillborn, or young children, and this brought us to our examination of the idea of universal salvation, namely, that eventually every person will be saved. Universalists quote many verses within Scripture which use the word 'all' to make their case, however, we concluded that in order to hold such a view one must disregard very clear Biblical teachings which contradict this view. Such is not good biblical exegesis. If our view contradicts the plain teachings of Scripture, then we, not the Bible, have it wrong.
As we come to the end of these studies, we may be asking this question. Is it possible, taking all of the Scriptures about hell, to formulate a solid biblical doctrine which covers every verse and objection? That is a question that you will have to answer for yourself. For me personally, these studies have shown me that through the revelation of Scripture God has given us as much as our limited minds can understand, and as we have seen, even with this much information about what lies beyond the grave, we can come up with several different scenarios, some of which contradict each other.
For me, the most important issue is this: Whatever we believe the Scriptures teach, we must lay as our foundation what we know about the character of God. Our Creator is a Holy God who can never compromise with evil, and He is also a forgiving, merciful and loving Creator who throughout history has forgiven and saved even the most vile of human beings who cried out for His salvation.
But what of those who reject salvation?
If I am forced to formulate at least a workable theology of hell, then, in my opinion, one close to the conditionalist view embraces the majority of Scriptures better than the traditionalist view. In this scenario, an unbeliever who has consciously rejected the gospel will find himself in Hades when he dies. There, he is in an 'eternal place', a place outside of time. Jesus spoke of this place as a place of suffering and used an analogy of fire burning the tongue of the rich man. Perhaps, also, it is in this place where different degrees of punishment occur which we studied in the introductory study. Also, if we can take the verses in Revelation 20 literally, this person will be united with their body at the resurrection of all people and face God's judgment. After this, the person will experience the second death when their body and soul are destroyed in the Lake of Fire.
This scenario fits well with Jesus' claim of God destroying both body and soul in Gehenna (Matthew 10:28), but perhaps more importantly, it has a sense of perfect Divine Justice and destroys the multitude of serious objections which question the character of God.
Of course many will object to this view on different grounds. Those with hyper-Calvinist leanings may argue that this view gives the creature power over the Creator, Universalists will argue that any form of annihilation distorts the nature of God who wants all to be saved, and many evangelicals will state that if we teach annihilation, people will not fear God and repent. I find none of these objections very convincing or valid.
To the hyper-Calvinist I would reply that God has allowed a specific period of time for humanity to exercise the freedom to choose, without which, we portray a sadistic, malevolent God who is responsible for both good and evil. If we believe that God predestined about 90% of humanity to never ending torture and torment before He created this world, and that human beings make no tangible decision to choose Him, then I believe we defame the character of God in the extreme and make a farce of the cross of Christ.
To the Universalist I would say this. Like hyper forms of Calvinism, you destroy God's decision to grant humanity the freedom to choose, but more importantly, you are creating God in an image which suits, rather than as He is revealed within Scripture. You cannot simply delete Jesus' teachings on hell. God is holy and perfectly just. He grants His creatures the opportunity to choose, He calls us by the Holy Spirit, He has taken our sins upon Himself on the cross, but if we reject all of this, then He holds us to our decision, our freely-made decision. If we reject salvation our sins remain our own, and God's infinite holiness will, at a time He has ordained, destroy all sin and evil completely.
And to evangelicals who object to the doctrine of annihilation on the grounds that people will not fear God and repent, let me say this. The conditionalist view embraces the clear interpretation of 'apollumi' (destruction), and also the concept of eternal punishment in Hades; it is not a die and immediately annihilated scenario. If the view is correct, then the person not only suffers in Hades, but also suffers from the fact that they have now seen that which they rejected, for the rich man looked up and saw Lazarus with Abraham. In a final act of both Justice and Mercy, God then 'gives to each according to what they have done', they answer for their own words and experience death a second time. This scenario should make a person respect the holiness and justice of God, whilst at the same time embrace His mercy and love offered in this life.
There is a great deal more we could say on the topic of hell, indeed I have edited thousands of words from these studies in an attempt to keep them concise. There are many questions which remain unanswered, and that is as it should be, for when we study hell we are talking about a time/dimension in which the Scriptures have used physical analogies to even give us a glimpse of this reality. From an intellectual perspective, I doubt that any of us can ever completely understand hell, or should ever arrogantly state that our view is the right one. What we cannot explain, we accept by faith in the knowledge that our Lord is Holy, Merciful, Just and Loving, for our Christian lives are seated on a foundation of Biblical faith.
But I would also ask you to consider this: We are taught in Acts 14:15 that a physical bodily resurrection will occur prior to the Great Judgment, a resurrection of both the wicked and righteous. Resurrection means that a person's body comes back to life, their individual human body, just as Jesus body resurrected from death. Jesus made very clear that His body was real and human, the same one He had before He was crucified. He showed the disciples His hands, feet and side, and then ate with them. We know that those souls who are in Hades will be united again with their human bodies, resurrected. We know that they will be judged and thrown into the Lake of Fire. How long do we think this body will last in that place? The Bible never teaches that unbelievers will recive a new immortal body, custom-made to endure the fires of hell for eternity, and this is exactly what would be needed.
We have two choices here. Either God continually resurrects these people for eternity so that they can be eternally punished, or, He lets the body be destroyed and makes their souls immortal so that they can suffer in some new soul type body. If this is the case, where is the Biblical teaching to suggest any such notion. There is not a single verse which suggests continual resurrection, or that the wicked receive new bodies. It is only the bodies of believers which are changed from mortal to immortal, perishable to imperishable, as Paul states. Unbelievers are thrown into the Lake of Fire, Gehenna, where, as Jesus stated, both body and soul can be destroyed.
But I want to close these studies with one final story about Jesus.
In Matthew 21:18-22, and Mark 11:12-26 we have the story of Jesus cursing a fig tree. Fig trees are fascinating because they are difficult to destroy. If you cut them off down to ground level they will grow again, and there are fig trees which are centuries old, some dating back almost 2000 years. Some fig trees grow very large and even strangle other trees to survive. In order to stop them re-growing, it is necessary to either poison them or dig out their roots.
So, in this story Jesus goes to a tree to see if it had any fruit because 'he was hungry'. Although Mark says it wasn't the season for figs, the tree should have had 'spring figs' which are quite edible. When he found it fruitless, He cursed the tree, saying "May you never bear fruit again". The tree withered immediately, but in Mark it says that it 'withered from the roots'. When the disciples pointed this out to Jesus, He gave them a lesson about having faith in God and receiving forgiveness for sins.
For me, this story is an illustration of what happens to those who stand before Christ as Judge, faithless and unforgiven. His curse upon them will not mean that they spend eternity faithless and unforgiven, but that they will be utterly destroyed as the tree was destroyed from the roots. This tree wasn't withered and revived continuously, rather, it was utterly destroyed.
This is the only miracle I can think of, in the entire life of Jesus, where He used His power to destroy rather than to heal or deliver, and I believe He used this tree to warn us of the destinies of those who refuse to have faith in Him and receive forgiveness. Jesus was warning us of His role as Judge and the final destruction of the wicked.
In these studies we have tried to synthesize verses on the topic of hell which cause division because they appear to contradict one another. No doubt there are mistakes in my conclusions, for no man can really understand and explain concepts, places or dimensions which are outside of our understanding of time. I doubt very much than anyone has all the answers to this difficult topic, but it is my prayer that, knowing the issues more fully, we may approach Scripture and teach on this topic with greater humility.
God bless
In our introductory study we looked at several verses which seem to speak about there being varying degrees of punishment in hell, from Matthew 11:22-24, and Luke 12:47-48. We also asked the question of why Jesus seemed to be showing a degree of mercy to the Legion of demons who pleaded with Him not to send them into the place called the Abyss from Luke 8:26-39. My reason for drawing attention to these Scriptures was two-fold.
Firstly, that the passage on the sheep and goats from Matthew 25:41 connects human souls with being cast into the place 'prepared for the devil and his angels'. This connection is important in any discussion on the immortality of the soul, simply because we could argue that, whilst angelic bodies may be immortal and suffer eternally in Gehenna (hell), the Bible clearly teaches that human souls are not naturally immortal and can be destroyed as in Matthew 10:28. Therefore, we may conclude that the Matthew 25 verse does not categorically state that human souls will suffer eternally.
Secondly, the verses which seem to teach degrees of punishment, and Jesus' treatment of the Legion of demons inside of the man from Gerasenes, should cause us to take a pause and recognize that we have many unanswered questions about the topic of hell, and should approach this topic with ample doses of humility.
In study one we discussed in depth the issue of the immortality of the human soul. It was through the Greek philosopher Plato that this idea was introduced into Christian thinking, however, the New Testament contradicts Plato. Jesus taught that both body and soul can be destroyed in Gehenna, Matthew 10:28, and in fact the Lord often used the Greek word appolumi when speaking of the destiny of unbelievers. In the context of hell, appolumi means to be destroyed utterly, a word which is translated as 'perish' in well-known verses such as John 3:16.
The apostles also deny the immortality of the soul, especially Paul. In several passages in Romans Paul uses appolumi to speak of eternal destinies, and in Romans 2:7 he speaks of those who seek immortality. Likewise, in his letters to Timothy, Paul states that God alone is naturally immortal. According to Scripture, human beings are not created with an immortal soul. Immortality is God's gift by grace, through faith in the saving power of Jesus Christ.
In study two we looked deeply into the place called Sheol in Hebrew, and Hades in Greek. In the Old Testament this word is often translated simply as grave, and also as a place under the earth. When we get to the New Testament we see Jesus using the word Hades to speak of a place of torment, as in His parable in Luke 16: 19-23 about the rich man and Lazarus. This is not Jesus' only direct reference to Hades, there being another in Matthew 11:23-24, but in Revelation chapter 20 Hades is mentioned several times. In that chapter souls who have been waiting in Hades for judgment are brought out to stand before God's Throne. Hades itself is destroyed in the Lake of Fire.
In study three we discussed Gehenna, the Lake of Fire, and the Abyss. Gehenna was used by Jesus as an analogy of the Valley of Hinnom, a place where human sacrifices were thrown into fires and destroyed during Israel's pre-Christian history. In this study we examined many verses in which Jesus uses the word Gehenna. We noticed that He spoke of Gehenna as the 'eternal fire', but perhaps more importantly, that in almost every instance He used the Greek apollumi in each verse. The importance of this cannot be overstated. In the context of hell, apollumi means to be destroyed, to cease to exist, and cannot be diluted or twisted to mean anything else.
If Jesus uses the words destroy (apollumi) and eternal fire in the same verse, we simply cannot interpret this as an existence of continual torment, for such would be a blatant contradiction. We are therefore forced to interpret eternal fire from the clear teaching of utter destruction, and conclude from these verses that the eternal fire is speaking of the effect of destruction, or means of destruction.
We also examined several passages where Jesus and Peter use the destruction of the Great Flood and the city of Sodom as examples of what happens to the wicked at judgment. Both the Flood and Sodom were acts of judgment which culminated in the absolute destruction of all living souls at those times. Surely, if we are to be responsible in our interpretation, we must conclude that Jesus and Peter are interpreting for us by giving these examples. Some might argue that these are just physical bodies being destroyed, not souls, however such an argument misses the point of the example.
What other possible analogy could be given which we could understand, except one from our own dimensional existence? Neither Jesus, nor any of the apostles ever tries to give us a physical description of hell except by analogy of something on earth, simply because we cannot relate to some spiritual dimension we cannot even imagine. For this same reason, there is no 'physical' description of heaven either, just Paul's quote that 'no eye has seen, ear heard or mind conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him'.
In study three we also looked briefly at the place called Tatarus, the Abyss, a place where fallen angels are kept in prison until the time of judgment.
In study four we examined the main verses which traditionalists use as key verses for the belief in continual unending torment in hell. The most common of these verses are found in Revelation and, like the verse in Matthew 25:41, connect the destiny of wicked humans with the destiny of demons, the Antichrist and False Prophet. We noticed that any literal interpretation of the Revelation texts produced contradictions and ridiculous conclusions. Revelation 14:9-11, a foundational text for traditionalists, states that the place of torment is in the presence of Christ and the Holy angels, its sulfurous smoke rises forever, day and night etc.
In the Matthew text about the sheep and the goats, Jesus commands the wicked to 'depart from me'. If we are going to apply any literal translation to John's vision, we end up with wicked souls who never depart the presence of Christ and the angels, and if we assume that Christians are to spend eternity with Christ and these angels, then heaven has a sulfurous pit with smoke rising forever, plus the concepts of day and night. Revelation is a vision which uses extreme language which is often hyperbolic, plus symbols and analogies, and is not given to us as a foundation for systematic theology.
We also took a look at the words forever and eternal, aion in Greek and olam in Hebrew. These words have a very broad usage in Scripture. For example, we can say 'may the King live forever', and the Old Covenant of the Law is 'forever' The word aion literally means an age, not the age of a person, but either a period of time which ends or never ends. We have examples in the Bible of the 'end of the age', and also ages which never end. When speaking within the context of hell, we must recognize that we are always referring to an age which is outside of time as we understand it, but this does not necessarily mean that such a 'time' cannot end.
For example. If a person's soul goes directly to Hades at the point of death and is then brought out of Hades and joined to their resurrected body for judgment, then their 'eternity' in Hades ended. These are time concepts which are impossible for us to comprehend, simply because they are outside of what we understand as time.
In study five we looked at objections to the doctrine of hell and also the idea of universal salvation. We asked some very serious questions about what traditional views may be suggesting about God's character, especially regarding Divine Justice. Taking into account the Old Testament Law of an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth and life for life, was it just for God to demand the equivalent of billions and billions of lifetimes of torment for one lifetime of disobedience? Does that scenario not seem to contradict His teachings of justice within the Old Covenant Law?
We also briefly discussed the problem of those who have never had the chance to hear the gospel, such as aborted, stillborn, or young children, and this brought us to our examination of the idea of universal salvation, namely, that eventually every person will be saved. Universalists quote many verses within Scripture which use the word 'all' to make their case, however, we concluded that in order to hold such a view one must disregard very clear Biblical teachings which contradict this view. Such is not good biblical exegesis. If our view contradicts the plain teachings of Scripture, then we, not the Bible, have it wrong.
As we come to the end of these studies, we may be asking this question. Is it possible, taking all of the Scriptures about hell, to formulate a solid biblical doctrine which covers every verse and objection? That is a question that you will have to answer for yourself. For me personally, these studies have shown me that through the revelation of Scripture God has given us as much as our limited minds can understand, and as we have seen, even with this much information about what lies beyond the grave, we can come up with several different scenarios, some of which contradict each other.
For me, the most important issue is this: Whatever we believe the Scriptures teach, we must lay as our foundation what we know about the character of God. Our Creator is a Holy God who can never compromise with evil, and He is also a forgiving, merciful and loving Creator who throughout history has forgiven and saved even the most vile of human beings who cried out for His salvation.
But what of those who reject salvation?
If I am forced to formulate at least a workable theology of hell, then, in my opinion, one close to the conditionalist view embraces the majority of Scriptures better than the traditionalist view. In this scenario, an unbeliever who has consciously rejected the gospel will find himself in Hades when he dies. There, he is in an 'eternal place', a place outside of time. Jesus spoke of this place as a place of suffering and used an analogy of fire burning the tongue of the rich man. Perhaps, also, it is in this place where different degrees of punishment occur which we studied in the introductory study. Also, if we can take the verses in Revelation 20 literally, this person will be united with their body at the resurrection of all people and face God's judgment. After this, the person will experience the second death when their body and soul are destroyed in the Lake of Fire.
This scenario fits well with Jesus' claim of God destroying both body and soul in Gehenna (Matthew 10:28), but perhaps more importantly, it has a sense of perfect Divine Justice and destroys the multitude of serious objections which question the character of God.
Of course many will object to this view on different grounds. Those with hyper-Calvinist leanings may argue that this view gives the creature power over the Creator, Universalists will argue that any form of annihilation distorts the nature of God who wants all to be saved, and many evangelicals will state that if we teach annihilation, people will not fear God and repent. I find none of these objections very convincing or valid.
To the hyper-Calvinist I would reply that God has allowed a specific period of time for humanity to exercise the freedom to choose, without which, we portray a sadistic, malevolent God who is responsible for both good and evil. If we believe that God predestined about 90% of humanity to never ending torture and torment before He created this world, and that human beings make no tangible decision to choose Him, then I believe we defame the character of God in the extreme and make a farce of the cross of Christ.
To the Universalist I would say this. Like hyper forms of Calvinism, you destroy God's decision to grant humanity the freedom to choose, but more importantly, you are creating God in an image which suits, rather than as He is revealed within Scripture. You cannot simply delete Jesus' teachings on hell. God is holy and perfectly just. He grants His creatures the opportunity to choose, He calls us by the Holy Spirit, He has taken our sins upon Himself on the cross, but if we reject all of this, then He holds us to our decision, our freely-made decision. If we reject salvation our sins remain our own, and God's infinite holiness will, at a time He has ordained, destroy all sin and evil completely.
And to evangelicals who object to the doctrine of annihilation on the grounds that people will not fear God and repent, let me say this. The conditionalist view embraces the clear interpretation of 'apollumi' (destruction), and also the concept of eternal punishment in Hades; it is not a die and immediately annihilated scenario. If the view is correct, then the person not only suffers in Hades, but also suffers from the fact that they have now seen that which they rejected, for the rich man looked up and saw Lazarus with Abraham. In a final act of both Justice and Mercy, God then 'gives to each according to what they have done', they answer for their own words and experience death a second time. This scenario should make a person respect the holiness and justice of God, whilst at the same time embrace His mercy and love offered in this life.
There is a great deal more we could say on the topic of hell, indeed I have edited thousands of words from these studies in an attempt to keep them concise. There are many questions which remain unanswered, and that is as it should be, for when we study hell we are talking about a time/dimension in which the Scriptures have used physical analogies to even give us a glimpse of this reality. From an intellectual perspective, I doubt that any of us can ever completely understand hell, or should ever arrogantly state that our view is the right one. What we cannot explain, we accept by faith in the knowledge that our Lord is Holy, Merciful, Just and Loving, for our Christian lives are seated on a foundation of Biblical faith.
But I would also ask you to consider this: We are taught in Acts 14:15 that a physical bodily resurrection will occur prior to the Great Judgment, a resurrection of both the wicked and righteous. Resurrection means that a person's body comes back to life, their individual human body, just as Jesus body resurrected from death. Jesus made very clear that His body was real and human, the same one He had before He was crucified. He showed the disciples His hands, feet and side, and then ate with them. We know that those souls who are in Hades will be united again with their human bodies, resurrected. We know that they will be judged and thrown into the Lake of Fire. How long do we think this body will last in that place? The Bible never teaches that unbelievers will recive a new immortal body, custom-made to endure the fires of hell for eternity, and this is exactly what would be needed.
We have two choices here. Either God continually resurrects these people for eternity so that they can be eternally punished, or, He lets the body be destroyed and makes their souls immortal so that they can suffer in some new soul type body. If this is the case, where is the Biblical teaching to suggest any such notion. There is not a single verse which suggests continual resurrection, or that the wicked receive new bodies. It is only the bodies of believers which are changed from mortal to immortal, perishable to imperishable, as Paul states. Unbelievers are thrown into the Lake of Fire, Gehenna, where, as Jesus stated, both body and soul can be destroyed.
But I want to close these studies with one final story about Jesus.
In Matthew 21:18-22, and Mark 11:12-26 we have the story of Jesus cursing a fig tree. Fig trees are fascinating because they are difficult to destroy. If you cut them off down to ground level they will grow again, and there are fig trees which are centuries old, some dating back almost 2000 years. Some fig trees grow very large and even strangle other trees to survive. In order to stop them re-growing, it is necessary to either poison them or dig out their roots.
So, in this story Jesus goes to a tree to see if it had any fruit because 'he was hungry'. Although Mark says it wasn't the season for figs, the tree should have had 'spring figs' which are quite edible. When he found it fruitless, He cursed the tree, saying "May you never bear fruit again". The tree withered immediately, but in Mark it says that it 'withered from the roots'. When the disciples pointed this out to Jesus, He gave them a lesson about having faith in God and receiving forgiveness for sins.
For me, this story is an illustration of what happens to those who stand before Christ as Judge, faithless and unforgiven. His curse upon them will not mean that they spend eternity faithless and unforgiven, but that they will be utterly destroyed as the tree was destroyed from the roots. This tree wasn't withered and revived continuously, rather, it was utterly destroyed.
This is the only miracle I can think of, in the entire life of Jesus, where He used His power to destroy rather than to heal or deliver, and I believe He used this tree to warn us of the destinies of those who refuse to have faith in Him and receive forgiveness. Jesus was warning us of His role as Judge and the final destruction of the wicked.
In these studies we have tried to synthesize verses on the topic of hell which cause division because they appear to contradict one another. No doubt there are mistakes in my conclusions, for no man can really understand and explain concepts, places or dimensions which are outside of our understanding of time. I doubt very much than anyone has all the answers to this difficult topic, but it is my prayer that, knowing the issues more fully, we may approach Scripture and teach on this topic with greater humility.
God bless
