Where is Hell?

[Arial]

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?

 

[makesends]

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.

 

[JesusFan]

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?

Its within Creation

 

[makesends]

Its within Creation

Is that "Creation" only the New Heaven and New Earth? Or is there the Lake of Fire, besides?

 

[atpollard]

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?

The gate is near Caesarea Philippi ( 25 miles [40 km] north of the Sea of Galilee at the base of Mt. Hermon).

 

[fastfredy0]

The gate is near Caesarea Philippi ( 25 miles [40 km] north of the Sea of Galilee at the base of Mt. Hermon).

... might be a great source of Geothermal Energy which would lessen our carbon footprint

 

[makesends]

... might be a great source of Geothermal Energy which would lessen our carbon footprint

There's always a trade-off. You know the denizens aren't going to export energy without some kind of compensation. And besides, where's the smokestack? What's it going to be doing?

 

[JesusFan]

Is that "Creation" only the New Heaven and New Earth? Or is there the Lake of Fire, besides?

There is still entire Universe, its now just all reduced to earth and new Jerusalem

 

[fastfredy0]

There's always a trade-off. You know the denizens aren't going to export energy without some kind of compensation. And besides, where's the smokestack? What's it going to be doing?

Hmmm, good points. I hadn't consider them.

 

[makesends]

I don't think physical Hell/Lake of Fire is necessarily of a temporal physical nature. We look at everything backwards.

 

[Arial]

I don't think physical Hell/Lake of Fire is necessarily of a temporal physical nature. We look at everything backwards.

When you say "we" look at everything backwards do you mean everyone? And how is recognizing a truth, whatever that may be, from the position of our existence automatically looking at it backwards? That is once again essentially saying that the revelation God gives us in his word is irrelevant---disconnecting the effect from the cause.

 

[makesends]

When you say "we" look at everything backwards do you mean everyone? And how is recognizing a truth, whatever that may be, from the position of our existence automatically looking at it backwards? That is once again essentially saying that the revelation God gives us in his word is irrelevant---disconnecting the effect from the cause.

@Arial says, "That is once again essentially saying that the revelation God gives us in his word is irrelevant---disconnecting the effect from the cause."

No. It is not. That's like saying that I believe there is no relevance to the practical facts of Sanctification, or worse, to Redemption itself! It doesn't work down to that. I have to think that somehow I'm just not getting my point across.

We do, and must, and should, see the temporal facts, proscriptions and prescriptions, obey within time, and so on. But the fact that the temporal language of Scripture may also be "spiritually discerned", should already give us a hint, (though by, "spiritually discerned", I don't mean that "spiritual discernment" is not also applicable in/to temporal things.)

But by "We see everything backwards", I refer to many things, such as the fact that GOD is the center and causer of all FACT—this is about HIM, not us, not the universe— and that the eternal things are not patterned after our use of words/terms he writes into scripture, but this temporal patterned after the solid eternal facts. (E.g: Our gold is a poor imitation of the real thing. Our fathers hardly compare. Our bodies need glorified—our "physical" is a vapor by comparison— even possibly, time is patterned after logical sequences decreed, etc.) That I can't speak of the eternal except by temporal terminology doesn't impinge on the fact (or so I suppose) of the eternal not being according to time.

"We see everything backwards" shows up in awful fashion with the synergistic views of life, as though we have something to add to God's work.

And still, though I insist there is something to, "We see everything backwards", —particularly that God is not like us and his thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways—I happily admit to some degree of conjecture and supposition. Yet, I insist that there is more than what we suppose, concerning the afterlife, that is in some way(s) unrelated to time-as-we(here)-know-it, for both God, and for those who have died. And I think you have admitted the same, as has @John Bauer .

And so, I think that the dead do not experience time until the resurrection. They die, and are resurrected. And if there is an intermediate state—even if they are in some way conscious of it—it still does not mean passage of time-as-we-know-it. Cain (if he is in some intermediate state), will not have his tongue burning longer than Hitler. Or so I see things. BUT, I happily admit I could be wrong.

I think that hell/LOF may exist in some state that is not physical in quite the sense we are familiar with. We don't know God's ways well enough to say it is. BUT, I happily admit I could be wrong.

I think the tapestry of which you have written is much richer and deeper a sculpting than a two-dimensional wall-hanging of only 10 million colors.

 

[JesusFan]

I don't think physical Hell/Lake of Fire is necessarily of a temporal physical nature. We look at everything backwards.

Hell and Lake of Fire as real as heaven

 

[makesends]

Hell and Lake of Fire as real as heaven

—Depending on what you mean by 'real'. This temporal life is real, but a mere vapor in comparison with the eternal. That hell/LOF is eternal fact does not render it the same status of God's particular purpose in creating, as Heaven enjoys.

 

[JesusFan]

—Depending on what you mean by 'real'. This temporal life is real, but a mere vapor in comparison with the eternal. That hell/LOF is eternal fact does not render it the same status of God's particular purpose in creating, as Heaven enjoys.

Still existing though

 

[Hobie]

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?

This is a harder truth to understand as it got mixed with the pagan concepts and ideas and became a confusing conglomeration of confusion which takes much study and looking through the history of how this came about. Christians picked up from pagan Greeks the myth of Hades and its underworld myths of gods and rivers and utter nonsense which we all well know. Then from the apostate church of Rome you get another bundle of Gordian knot to untie, the myth of Purgatory.

Here is a short description of what and where it came from, so we can see the falseness of this doctrine and origin...
Purgatory as a doctrine teaches that a Christian's soul must burn in purgatory after death until all of their sins have been purged. To speed up the purging process, money could be paid to a priest so he could pray and have special masses for an earlier release, and much money was made with this doctrine. Purgatory is given as a way that no matter how sinful or unbelieving, when you die, you go to Purgatory and get things sorted out and finally get to heaven, so no acceptance of Christ is needed, you can buy your way in. But is it in the Bible, if you look it doesnt show it anywhere, so where did it come from. It comes from apostasy, it is a corrupt pagan doctrine, which was allowed into the church.

This pagan idea began creeping into the church around the end of the sixth century, and it has no scriptural support. In fact, Jesus warned us about this pagan practice in Matthew 23:14 when He spoke of those who devoured widows houses and made long prayers for a pretense. Psalm 49:6-7 tells us that a person couldn't redeem a loved one, even if such a place did exist: "They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:"

Peter addresses this issue in Acts 8:20 when he says, "Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money." God's word is clearly against the doctrine of purgatory.

The Greeks, as in some measure the Egyptians before them, created myths of the afterlife which spread throughout the Hellenistic world, and even into words which were used when the Hebrew text was translated into the Greek. Scripture clearly rejects the Greek notion of the immortality of the soul disembodied from the here and now as spirit beings, and early Christians affirmed the resurrection of the body just as Lazuras was resurrected by Christ. So there is no place for a underworld depicted in Greek myths or place of cleansing by fire such as purgotary where spirit beings are left till they are ready to be reunited with God, it comes from other origins which we shall see.

Purgatory as a transitional condition has from many sources, a origin from the pagan belief of caring for the dead and praying for them, and to the belief that prayer for the dead contributed to their afterlife purification. Pagan tradition created this place of purgatory which leaves hope after death for the wicked, who, at the time of their death, are unrepentant and cling to their love of sin.

In Egypt, substantially the same doctrine of purgatory was taught as in modern times and its priests created grand funerals and masses for the dead, along with celebration of prayer and other services for the soul of the dead. The priest who officiated at the burial service was selected from the grade of Pontiffs who wore the leopard skin; but various other rites were performed by one of the minor priests to the mummies, previous to their being lowered into the pit of the tomb after that ceremony. They practiced elaborate ceremonies to prepare the pharaohs for their next life, constructing massive pyramids and other elaborate tombs filled with luxuries the deceased were supposed to need in the hereafter. The famous Book of the Dead, a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary and ritual texts, describes in great detail how to meet the challenges of the afterlife. The pagan Egyptian belief was when the body died, parts of its soul known as ka (body double) and the ba (personality) would go to the Kingdom of the Dead. While the soul dwelt in the Fields of Aaru, Osiris demanded work as restitution for the protection he provided. Statues were placed in the tombs to serve as substitutes for the deceased.

The Egyptian belief in the immortality of the soul existed centuries before Judaism, Hellenism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. According to Herodotus, eventually the Greeks adopted from the Egyptians the belief in the immortality of the soul. He wrote: 'The Egyptians also were the first who asserted the doctrine that the soul of man is immortal . . . This opinion, some among the Greeks have at different periods of time adopted as their own.' The Greek philosopher Socrates (470-399 B. C.) traveled to Egypt to consult the Egyptians on their teachings on the immortality of the soul. Upon his return to Greece, he imparted this teaching to his most famous pupil, Plato.......

In Greece the doctrine of a purgatory was spread through the Greek mystery religions and even was spoken by one of its major philosophers. Plato, speaking of the future judgment of the dead, holds out the hope of final deliverance for all, but maintains that, of "those who are judged," some must first "proceed to a subterranean place of judgment, where they shall sustain the punishment they have deserved." The ancient Greeks sacrificed on the thirteenth day (after death) to Mercury as the conductor of the dead, they also had sacrifice which, according to Plato, "was offered for the living and the dead, and was supposed to free them from all the evils to which the wicked are liable when they have left this world.

In ancient Rome, the pagan priests also picked up and spread purgatory to the pagans, but as a belief in the early church it was not immediately picked up. From earliest times Greek religious beliefs were a strong influence in Italy, and the Graeco-Roman world was essentially one in its religious and philosophic views of the afterlife. There was no mention of the doctrine during the first two centuries of the church, it has no basis in scripture, the apostles did not teach it, nor did Christ.

In all pagan religions you will find a similar description of a place after death where everyone can be absolved of their sin, not in any way connected to what the Bible says. In the pagan purgatory, fire, water, wind, were represented as combining to purge away the stain of sin, and has its roots in the Babylonian belief of Tammuz or Zoroaster, the great God of the ancient fire-worshippers. The doctrine of purgatory is purely pagan, and in no way from scripture as those who die in Christ no purgatory is or can be needed as it teaches that Christs blood cleanseth true believers from all sin, not purgatory. Scripture does not tell us of at death being put through altered spiritual states of immortality till we are cleansed by purgatory fires and then go to eternal life or heaven, but clearly teaches that immortality is not an innate human possession, but a conditional gift of eternal life given to believers at the resurrection.

So what is the truth of the matter, lets go into that next...

 

[JesusFan]

This is a harder truth to understand as it got mixed with the pagan concepts and ideas and became a confusing conglomeration of confusion which takes much study and looking through the history of how this came about. Christians picked up from pagan Greeks the myth of Hades and its underworld myths of gods and rivers and utter nonsense which we all well know. Then from the apostate church of Rome you get another bundle of Gordian knot to untie, the myth of Purgatory.

Here is a short description of what and where it came from, so we can see the falseness of this doctrine and origin...
Purgatory as a doctrine teaches that a Christian's soul must burn in purgatory after death until all of their sins have been purged. To speed up the purging process, money could be paid to a priest so he could pray and have special masses for an earlier release, and much money was made with this doctrine. Purgatory is given as a way that no matter how sinful or unbelieving, when you die, you go to Purgatory and get things sorted out and finally get to heaven, so no acceptance of Christ is needed, you can buy your way in. But is it in the Bible, if you look it doesnt show it anywhere, so where did it come from. It comes from apostasy, it is a corrupt pagan doctrine, which was allowed into the church.

This pagan idea began creeping into the church around the end of the sixth century, and it has no scriptural support. In fact, Jesus warned us about this pagan practice in Matthew 23:14 when He spoke of those who devoured widows houses and made long prayers for a pretense. Psalm 49:6-7 tells us that a person couldn't redeem a loved one, even if such a place did exist: "They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:"

Peter addresses this issue in Acts 8:20 when he says, "Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money." God's word is clearly against the doctrine of purgatory.

The Greeks, as in some measure the Egyptians before them, created myths of the afterlife which spread throughout the Hellenistic world, and even into words which were used when the Hebrew text was translated into the Greek. Scripture clearly rejects the Greek notion of the immortality of the soul disembodied from the here and now as spirit beings, and early Christians affirmed the resurrection of the body just as Lazuras was resurrected by Christ. So there is no place for a underworld depicted in Greek myths or place of cleansing by fire such as purgotary where spirit beings are left till they are ready to be reunited with God, it comes from other origins which we shall see.

Purgatory as a transitional condition has from many sources, a origin from the pagan belief of caring for the dead and praying for them, and to the belief that prayer for the dead contributed to their afterlife purification. Pagan tradition created this place of purgatory which leaves hope after death for the wicked, who, at the time of their death, are unrepentant and cling to their love of sin.

In Egypt, substantially the same doctrine of purgatory was taught as in modern times and its priests created grand funerals and masses for the dead, along with celebration of prayer and other services for the soul of the dead. The priest who officiated at the burial service was selected from the grade of Pontiffs who wore the leopard skin; but various other rites were performed by one of the minor priests to the mummies, previous to their being lowered into the pit of the tomb after that ceremony. They practiced elaborate ceremonies to prepare the pharaohs for their next life, constructing massive pyramids and other elaborate tombs filled with luxuries the deceased were supposed to need in the hereafter. The famous Book of the Dead, a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary and ritual texts, describes in great detail how to meet the challenges of the afterlife. The pagan Egyptian belief was when the body died, parts of its soul known as ka (body double) and the ba (personality) would go to the Kingdom of the Dead. While the soul dwelt in the Fields of Aaru, Osiris demanded work as restitution for the protection he provided. Statues were placed in the tombs to serve as substitutes for the deceased.

The Egyptian belief in the immortality of the soul existed centuries before Judaism, Hellenism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. According to Herodotus, eventually the Greeks adopted from the Egyptians the belief in the immortality of the soul. He wrote: 'The Egyptians also were the first who asserted the doctrine that the soul of man is immortal . . . This opinion, some among the Greeks have at different periods of time adopted as their own.' The Greek philosopher Socrates (470-399 B. C.) traveled to Egypt to consult the Egyptians on their teachings on the immortality of the soul. Upon his return to Greece, he imparted this teaching to his most famous pupil, Plato.......

In Greece the doctrine of a purgatory was spread through the Greek mystery religions and even was spoken by one of its major philosophers. Plato, speaking of the future judgment of the dead, holds out the hope of final deliverance for all, but maintains that, of "those who are judged," some must first "proceed to a subterranean place of judgment, where they shall sustain the punishment they have deserved." The ancient Greeks sacrificed on the thirteenth day (after death) to Mercury as the conductor of the dead, they also had sacrifice which, according to Plato, "was offered for the living and the dead, and was supposed to free them from all the evils to which the wicked are liable when they have left this world.

In ancient Rome, the pagan priests also picked up and spread purgatory to the pagans, but as a belief in the early church it was not immediately picked up. From earliest times Greek religious beliefs were a strong influence in Italy, and the Graeco-Roman world was essentially one in its religious and philosophic views of the afterlife. There was no mention of the doctrine during the first two centuries of the church, it has no basis in scripture, the apostles did not teach it, nor did Christ.

In all pagan religions you will find a similar description of a place after death where everyone can be absolved of their sin, not in any way connected to what the Bible says. In the pagan purgatory, fire, water, wind, were represented as combining to purge away the stain of sin, and has its roots in the Babylonian belief of Tammuz or Zoroaster, the great God of the ancient fire-worshippers. The doctrine of purgatory is purely pagan, and in no way from scripture as those who die in Christ no purgatory is or can be needed as it teaches that Christs blood cleanseth true believers from all sin, not purgatory. Scripture does not tell us of at death being put through altered spiritual states of immortality till we are cleansed by purgatory fires and then go to eternal life or heaven, but clearly teaches that immortality is not an innate human possession, but a conditional gift of eternal life given to believers at the resurrection.

So what is the truth of the matter, lets go into that next...

2 myths also brought in were soul sleep and conditional immortality

 

[Hobie]

So lets see what scripture teaches. If we read the Hebrew text, back then the writters did not know the word "Hell", they used the Hebrew Sheol, which meant the grave, and also descriptions which with the translation to Greek, three different Greek words are used that are translated as Hell. They are "Tartarus," "Gehenna," and "Hades." Tartarus is used in 2 Peter 2:4.

2 Peter 2:4
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [Tartarus], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

This verse says that "the angels that sinned" which would include the devil have already been cast down "to hell" by God Himself. Yet they arent burning right now, or going around with sinners somewhere far beneath the earth. Tartarus means "dark abyss" or "place of restraint." It isnt a place of punishment either. What the text says is that Satans angels are "reserved unto judgment," which means their punishment is yet future. For Satan and his evil angels, the fire hasnt started yet.

Then lets look at "Gehenna" which we find in several places, but lets look at Mathew 5:22.

Matthew 5:22
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell [Gehenna] fire.

All authorities admit this word is derived from the name of the narrow, rocky valley of Hinnom just south of Jerusalem where trash, filth, and the bodies of dead animals were burned up in Bible days and where children were sacrificed to the god Moloch. We see it in serveral places...

Leviticus 18:21
And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord.

2 Kings 23:10
And 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.

Gehenna came to be associated in Jewish literature with a place of torment and unquenchable fire that was to be the punishment for sinners. The question is when will this fire burn, and Christ shows us when the fire will burn in Matthew 13:40
Matthew 13:42
40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Peter taught the same thing when he wrote about men perishing in the flood and will again perish but with fire of perfdition, which is being held back at this time

2 Peter 3:5-7
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.


Peter also adds even more, as to what will come to pass after the wicked are destroyed and the earth is cleansed of all sin and its affects.

2 Peter 3:10
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

So we see where the punishment will be at, its not some place with the devil in charge holding a pitchfork with his minions running around torturing people.

Now Hades is simply the Greek word that is used in some places for the Hebrew term, Sheol or grave as "the place of the dead". Thus, it is used in reference to both the righteous and the wicked, since both wind up there eventually.

 

[Hobie]

So now to the question at hand, lets get to that. We have natural death which all mankind goes to and scripture tells us.

Hebrews 9:27
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Then we have the Second Death, which is what tells us where 'Hell' will be at and is.

Revelation 20:6
Blessed 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 20:14
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Revelation 21:8
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: which is the second death.

Now there are more passages in scripture on the Lake of Fire and who is going to be cast there.

Revelation 19:20
And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Revelation 20:15
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

So we see where this lake of fire is, so the only questions is it what Christian call 'Hell'? Christ gives us some clues when He said 'As in the Days of Lot', we find it in Luke 17:28.
Luke 17:28
Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;

We see it in the next part of the text:
Luke 17:29-30
29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

So what did Jesus mean by this. Well lets look what was happening 'in the days of Lot'.
10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.
11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.
12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.
13 But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.

Lot had picked out a place to settle in and it looks like a good choice, but the people there it says 'were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.' and as a result of that, after years of patience God sent two angels to Sodom and we know how they were treated by the people of Sodom. The angels went to Lot’s home. Abraham meanwhile, was certainly praying for Lot who was his nephew because God had clued him in that Sodom was doomed. And the angels told Lot to basically, get out of town, and escape for your life, and dont look behind you, escape to the mountains lest you be,” what? The angels say to get out lest you be 'consumed', or be burnt up. We see it in Genesis

12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:
13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.
14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.
15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.

And the Bible says he got out of town and the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. It rained down and it destroyed the city in basically a "lake of fire", not the one that will be at the end, but Christ was giving a very true picture of what will happen at the end.

So what does Gods Word teach about this lake of fire.. It clearly gives us solemn warnings about a day of destruction coming. Jesus speaks also of Noah's day with the same warning He gives about Lot and his family in Sodom and Gomorrah.

Matthew 24:36-39
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

There is a reward of the wicked and sinners, the punishment, that will eternally destroy them and all evil. The wages of sin is not eternal torment, but death in the lake of fire, which is the final place for the wicked and sinners before the Lord, which is the "Hell" we are shown by scripture.

 

[Bruiser]

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've referred to Heaven, Hell and Earth as a Multiverse; different Realms. However a Multiverse may exist...