Scripture speaks of the new heaven and the new earth at the consummation with Christ's return and God dwelling with us. In Rev 21 it describes an earth where there is no sin, no evil, no sorrow, sickness or death and no unregenerate people.
If hell is a literal place, and I believe it is since Jesus speaks of it as being as literal as heaven, and he discusses hell even more than he does heaven---where is it?
I don't think the new heavens and new earth are very like this one, but without sin. I think this one is like them, though not very much. The new earth and heavens are not patterned after this one, but this one after them, I think.
By, "literal", then, I think they are in some way the difference between life and death we experience in regeneration, and even more, in our resurrection and glorification. Now, to me, a literal hell is not necessarily 'within' either this heaven and earth, nor in what is to come. I don't think we know enough to say that it is. God knows.
It is a rather intriguing speculation, that it may be the very 'burning purity' of God himself, that IS the hell that the reprobate go through, each according to the specifics of their sins, tormenting them. But it is speculation.
We speak in terms of a place, because that is what the Bible sounds like it is saying. But I'm not so convinced that what we conceive of as "a place" is quite adequate, anymore than I'm convinced that the New Heavens and New Earth are physical in the same sense that we experience here in this temporal order.
We look at everything backwards.
