But now we must go a step further. A new word is introduced in the New Testament, a word not known in the Old Testament. It is introduced by the Lord Himself, a word of terrible import. It is the word gehenna.
Gehenna is translated hell nine times and hell fire three times. It is rightly translated hell, as we understand the word. It is never translated grave.
Both hades and gehenna are translated hell. To contrast the usage of the two words will help the enquirer as to the meaning of both.
Hades is a condition. This we have already clearly seen, and therefore there is no need to repeat the evidence.
Hades is temporary. " Death and hell ['lades] were cast into the lake of fire " (Rev. 20:1414And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. (Revelation 20:14)). This will be fully explained later.
Gehenna is eternal. "Two hands to go into hell [gehenna], into the fire that never shall be quenched "
not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy
Hades is like the condition of the prisoner awaiting the assizes.
Gehenna is like the prison into which he is cast on judgment being passed.
Just as the grave is a locality for the dead body, so gehenna is the locality of the lost—body and soul.
Gehenna was the valley of Hinnom, literally the valley of the groans of the children. It was a deep, narrow gorge on the south side of Jerusalem. We read of King Ahaz, " Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen (2 Chron. 28:33Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. (2 Chronicles 28:3)). It is written of King Manasseh that "He caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom " (2 Chron. 33:66And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. (2 Chronicles 33:6)). But Manasseh's godly grandson, King Josiah, "Defiled Topheth which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or daughter to pass through the fire to Molech " (2 Kings 23:1010And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. (2 Kings 23:10)).
A writer says, " It was not till within less than thirty years of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, that the idol—the hideous ox-headed human figure of Moloch -and its accessories were swept away from the valley by the good Josiah, and the place so defiled that it could never again be desecrated by the frightful worship. But so deeply had the horrors of the past printed themselves on the popular mind that henceforth the spot bore the name of Tophet—the abomination—the place to be spat upon; and in later times the very words Ge-hinnom—the Valley of Hinnom—slightly changed into gehenna became the common name for hell."
After King Josiah had defiled the place it became the open sewer of the city. Fires were kept continually burning to consume the filth and impurity of the place. Worms fed on garbage out of reach of the fire. Vultures gloated in crowds over the horrid scene. Stenchful smoke rose continually from the valley.
Well might our Lord use it as an emblem of hell, and stamp the usage of the word with the hall-mark of His authority. But let it be carefully noted that the Lord in speaking of gehenna never referred to the place outside Jerusalem, but used it to designate that place of eternal torment, which is prepared for the devil and his angels, and to which the impenitent will be consigned.
It is not a little remarkable that every time hell [gehenna] is spoken of, save once (see James 3:66And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. (James 3:6)), it is from the lips of the Son of God Himself. If it had been otherwise the critics would have cried out, " Paul spoke of gehenna, Peter spoke of gehenna, but Christ never did."
All the same, what Paul and Peter and John wrote is of equal authority with what the Lord said—the source is the same, divine inspiration. It is not a question of degree, but method. There is no difference save in method between what a person speaks and writes.
There is, then, no difference in authority between what Christ spoke and what HE wrote by Paul, or Peter, or John. But such a miserable quibble is shut out by the fact that hell (gehenna) is always (save once) spoken of by the Lord Himself.
There is no question as to the existence of hell to the one who bows to Scripture. To refuse to believe in its existence is to refuse to believe in the word of Christ -in truth, in Christ Himself. No person can rightly claim to be a Christian, and disbelieve in the existence of hell. Can anyone be a Christian who refuses to believe the most solemn and oft-repeated asseverations as to hell which fall in warning pity from His gracious lips? Let us clear our mind of cant. We believe in hell, or we do not. We believe Christ's word, or we do not.
If only the belief in the existence of hell establishes itself more firmly and absolutely in our minds, it will evidence itself in a deeper sense of sin, a truer appreciation of the atonement of Christ, in an intenser desire to spread the blessed Gospel of God's grace on the part of every true Christian. The weakening of these truths in our souls will loosen God's hold upon us, and sap our energy in seeking the blessing of others.
We all know of heavens and hells on this earth. We have come across men where the fire of remorse and the worm of accusing conscience have made their guilty breasts a veritable hell. Break the laws of nature, and suffering is the inevitable result. Sometimes an awful life of suffering is the result of a moment's gratification of sin in this life. Tears of blood have unavailed to stay the governmental laws of God.
And shall the punishment of sin be only in this life? Shall there be no reaping on the other side of death, when men in their sins, spurning the mercy of God, die red-handed in rebellion? God in pity and kindness warns us in terrible language that there must be. He says:- "Fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [gehenna] " (Matt. 10:2828And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)).
There is still another expression used as to hell -" the lake of fire "—which we must consider. It occurs five times in the latter part of the Book of Revelation. Most evidently it is the same place of gehenna. The proof of this lies in the fact that whilst the Lord speaks of the danger of being cast into gehenna, and clearly states such a doom will affect both soul and body, the Apostle John in vision presents the lake of fire as that into which souls and bodies of unbelievers will be consigned in their final doom. They cannot possibly be two different places.
Seeing all the "blessed" dead will have experienced the bliss of " the resurrection of life " before the millennium at the Lord's second coming (see Rev. 20:5-65But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:5‑6)), " the dead small and great " who " stand before God " must be the wicked dead, who will experience " the resurrection of damnation [judgment] " (John 5:2929And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:29)). So the verse might be explained for simplicity's sake as follows: And death (the condition of the bodies of the dead as being apart from their souls), and hades (the condition of the souls of the dead as being apart from their bodies) were in the persons of the resurrected wicked dead cast into the lake of fire. That is to say, the dead, whose bodies had filled the grave etc., were raised, and their souls, which had been in the condition of blades, were reunited to their bodies, as part of the process. As resurrected individuals, bodies and souls reunited, they represented what had been death and hades, and as such, sinners, who had died unrepentant, were cast into the lake of fire, which clearly answers to gehenna. When this takes place, not only will there not be any bodies in the condition of death, nor any souls in the condition of hades—but " death and hades " will thus have been " cast into the lake of fire." Hence the conditions themselves having come in by sin are ended by an act expressive of God's judgment of them. And note, this event will take place after the earth and heaven shall have fled away, after time, as such, has ceased to be. The scene is laid IN ETERNITY, in view of the new heaven and the new earth.
A few verses later on we read:- "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone " (Rev. 21:88But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)).
At infinite cost to Himself God has provided a way of escape, even through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, who bore all the wrath of God against sin, making full atonement for it.
The invitation to come to Christ is world-wide, emphatic, insistent. Would that all paid heed to it now, for:-
" There are no pardons in the tomb,
And brief is mercy's day."
There is then not the shadow of a doubt but that the Bible teaches the existence of a literal hell. We are told it is " prepared for the devil and his angels " (Matt. 25:4141Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: (Matthew 25:41)). Sad it is that man in his folly, refusing the mercy of God, must face upon the judgment seat Him who desires that all men should be saved. Thus will they seal their own doom in the companionship of the devil and the fallen angels.
We now address ourselves to the serious question:- Is the punishment of hell EVERLASTING?