They believe that Satan is the administrator or king of hell, ruling over demons and tormenting the souls of those who did not accept Christ as their Savior. They think Satan decides what to do with these souls sent to his domain. The image of a giant red monster with large horns, a pointed tail, and a trident in his right hand terrifies people at the mere thought. Movies have largely contributed to spreading this image, which many hope never to face.
I find it necessary to address this matter because most believers have accepted doctrines that lack Biblical foundation, have been misinterpreted, or have simply been invented. One such teaching is hell, which originates from ancient pagan beliefs. This place of torment was already known to the ancient Egyptians over 4,000 years ago. Many people are convinced that when a person dies without Christ, their inevitable destination is hell, or that if one is a Christian, their destiny will be paradise.
Let us analyze the origins of the doctrine of hell from Egyptian mythology.
Among the ancient Egyptians, a ritual book known as The Book of the Dead was widely known. We will take some excerpts from this book for you to evaluate and compare with the current doctrine of hell preached in modern congregations and what the Egyptians believed more than 2,500 years before Jesus.
The ancient Egyptians believed in an afterlife where the dead rested or were tormented according to their level of wickedness. Each person had a physical body and a ka, a vital force that continued after death, similar to a spirit. The ka needed sustenance, entertainment, and tools, so these items were placed in the tomb. The ka had to reunite with the body, which is why the dead were mummified. Since the body could not travel to the underworld, the ba or soul did so.
When the ba and ka united, they embarked on their final journey to heaven, where the dead resurrected as an akh, an immortal spirit. This journey and “divine” judgment, described in The Book of the Dead, is a collection of spells that helped the deceased on their way to the afterlife and in the judgment of Osiris. This book also contained passages to help the deceased recognize favorable gods and navigate their journey through “The 12 Regions of Duat,” or the spiritual world.
In the Duat, or underworld, the spirit of the deceased had to overcome dangers and pass through gates on its journey. Guided by Anubis, the deceased faced the judgment of Osiris. Anubis would extract the ib, or heart, and weigh it against the feather of Ma’at, Truth, and Justice. Dyehuty, the god of wisdom, would record the results and present them to Osiris. If the judgment was favorable, the ka and ba could reunite with the mummy and live eternally as an akh. If unfavorable, the ib was devoured by Ammit, the second death, ending the deceased’s immortality.
This brief excerpt from the ancient Egyptians’ The Book of the Dead contains many similarities with modern teachings about life after death, resurrection, and eternal judgment. These Egyptian teachings had some impact on Roman religious life, although there is no concrete evidence that The Book of the Dead directly influenced Christianity. However, the cultural context of the time allowed certain ideas about life after death and divine judgment to spread and be reinterpreted by the waning apostolic Christianity.
The Catholic Church adopted the doctrine of hell and paradise from its pagan roots.
The doctrines of hell, paradise, judgment, resurrection of the dead, and eternal life were concepts known to the ancient Egyptians. However, there is no evidence that early Christians were aware of these doctrines, much less that they believed in them. Nonetheless, 300 years after Jesus Christ, a political-religious movement began, absorbing these popular pagan beliefs of the time and merging them with budding Christianity. From this Christian-pagan fusion emerged the Catholic Church, which now assigned the names of renowned Christians to its pagan gods to worship them.
The doctrine of a place of torment has terrified millions of people for generations. However, this doctrine, as we know it today, does not appear in any of the epistles written by the Apostle Paul or any of the other apostles, nor in any of the Gospels. It was in the late fourth century that Saint Augustine of Hippo mentioned in his book, The City of God, that sinners would receive punishment proportional to the severity of their wickedness.
He wrote: “To the earthly city will belong an eternity of pain, both moral and physical; an eternity of punishment against which neither physical objections derived from the supposed impossibility of a fire that does not consume, nor moral ones, based on a presumed disproportion between a temporal sin and an eternal punishment, are valid. The severity of the punishment, however, will be proportional in intensity to the magnitude of the guilt. Meanwhile, the saints will be reserved eternal blessedness; not only for their souls in the contemplation of God but also for their own bodies, which will rise to a real life, albeit different from the earthly one.”
In the centuries that followed, and during the Middle Ages, this belief grew even stronger due to the constant epidemics ravaging Europe and the millions of resulting deaths. Catholic priests began to speak more fervently of a hell burning in the bowels of the earth, eagerly awaiting sinners.
This became an opportunity for many religious leaders to enrich themselves through masses that promised to free the “dead” from the place of torment. For the salvation of the deceased, the mediation of priests was necessary, which made death increasingly costly, as the paid masses were the “spiritual” formulas that connected the world of the living with that of the dead, much like The Book of the Dead did in ancient Egypt.
At that time, a clear social differentiation was evident, as the wealthy could afford more masses for their deceased loved ones, while the poor could not. During the Middle Ages, earthly life was considered merely a transition to eternity, and heaven was the destination everyone longed for. However, no matter how much an individual prepared, nothing was guaranteed on the path to salvation, and hell remained a serious risk.
There was a widespread belief during the Middle Ages in the existence of another life after death, eternal life. People feared dying suddenly and without warning, as it deprived them of precious time to distribute their belongings, ensure family harmony, and take care of arrangements for the afterlife—that is, to make sure they had performed good deeds and fulfilled all the rites of the church so their soul could at least reach purgatory.
Catholicism invented a third state for the dead.
From the thirteenth century onward, the idea of a third place, purgatory, gained strength. It was conceived as an intermediate state where souls needing a period of atonement to access glory waited and benefited from pious acts performed on earth, according to the understanding of Catholic leaders. Around this time, the concept of limbo also emerged as a particular place for the souls of unbaptized children.
Additionally, there was a general belief that at the resurrection of the dead, and after the final judgment, people would awaken alongside their loved ones. For this reason, they sought to be buried as close as possible to the burial places of their deceased relatives. In towns and villages, testators requested burial in the parish church cemetery, which “guaranteed” them familiar company.
With the Renaissance, the concept of hell reached its pinnacle thanks to the brilliant Dante Alighieri and his Divine Comedy and Inferno. Thousands of people believed that Dante’s descriptions depicted the real hell. Few understood that this work was, in part, a form of revenge against the Vatican, who had conspired for his arrest, confiscated his possessions, and exiled him. If we read the work and do not focus on the torments, we will see that the vast majority of the punished are church leaders or influential people of that time.
Dante’s Inferno is, today, the widespread belief in the largest congregations worldwide. It is difficult to understand how Christians continue to believe in and teach a cultural, literary, and non-biblical hell. This cultural and religious hell is considered real and true. Clearly, lacking a logical explanation supported by Scripture, anything is accepted by faith!
Now, let us see what the Bible says about hell.
What does God’s Word say about hell? Is hell truly a place where the “spirits” of the dead are tormented? Is it true that, upon death, there are only two possible places where the “spirits” can go?
To answer these questions, let us turn to Scripture and first examine the meaning of hell. There are four words that most Bible translations render as hell: Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, and Tartarus, which we will explore below.
The word translated as hell or place of punishment is Gehenna, a term that appears only 12 times in the Bible, primarily used by Jesus. See Matthew 5:22, Matthew 5:29, Matthew 5:30, Matthew 10:28, Matthew 18:9, Matthew 23:15, Matthew 23:33, Mark 9:43, Mark 9:45, Mark 9:47, Luke 12:5, and James 3:6.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus addressed the crowd, saying: “But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear the one who, after killing the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.” Luke 12:5.
The term Gehenna is a transcription of the Hebrew term “ge-Hinnom”, a cursed place where certain Israelites and their unfaithful kings burned their sons and daughters alive in honor of Molech (2 Kings 23:10). It seems that in Christ’s time, the bodies of criminals, animals, and all kinds of city garbage were burned there, much like in many countries where trash is burned in public dumps.
In Jesus’ time, Gehenna was a public crematorium located outside Jerusalem where garbage was burned. Its fire did not go out because there was always trash to fuel it. Jesus used a term familiar to the people of Israel to explain what would happen to those who ignored His warnings and sinned against God. Jesus used this word to tell people that in a place like this, possibly located in the same area, Satan, his angels, the beast, the false prophet, and all those who sinned against God would be cast. See Revelation 19:20, Revelation 20:10, and Revelation 20:14.
What do Sheol and Hades mean?
We all know that when a person dies, their body is taken to the place known as the grave. For the Hebrews, this was the realm of the dead, called Sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek. Thus, the difference between Sheol and Hades is simply the language in which it is mentioned. In short, the term Sheol refers to the grave, the tomb, the pit, or whatever one may call the place where a lifeless body is buried.
In the Old Testament, there are many examples of this term’s use, as seen in Numbers 16:33: “So they went down alive into Sheol with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly.” In this biblical passage, we see that these people fell into a pit when the earth opened under their feet. In no way does this verse suggest that the crevice was so deep it reached the center of the earth, where most people assume hell is located.
For humans, death represents the end of physical existence but not spiritual existence. Ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians, Hindus, Romans, and others believed that when a person died, their spirit survived in an afterlife. For this reason, they buried their dead with utensils, tools, or jewelry to be used in the underworld.
Scripture, however, teaches that death is equivalent to being asleep, as stated in Matthew 27:52: “The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.” The word “asleep” is literally the original Greek word meaning “to sleep” or “to rest.” Another example occurred when Jesus resurrected a young girl; He told those present that she was not dead but asleep: “He went in and said to them, ‘Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.’” (Mark 5:39, Matthew 9:24, John 11:11).
Every night, while we sleep, time literally ceases to exist. We have no memory, feelings, or awareness of what is happening around us. The same happens when a person dies; their body has no awareness of anything, and it dissolves into the dust of the earth. However, this does not mean we have completely disappeared, because God knows each one of us, even our DNA sequence.
If you are familiar with how computers work, you know that if you save documents, photos, audio, or videos on a portable device like a hard drive or flash drive, you can access that information for many years. Even if you store the device and find it many years later, you can still access the same data, even 100 years later. God has a record of all of us. He knows who we are, how we are, the color of our eyes, and the color of our skin. He knows who we were and has the power to bring us back to life just as we were.
Does this mean that when we die, we do NOT go to heaven or hell?
David understood that at death, our works cease; that is, we do not fly to heaven to play the harp or sing in His presence. David wrote in Psalm 6:4-5: “Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. Among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave?” In the grave, no one can praise God or remember anything because they are not conscious of anything. Whether the person is a Christian or an unbeliever, the process is the same: to die or sleep and then be resurrected. The soul is not an immaterial being that detaches from a person when they die. If you want to learn more about the soul, spirit, and body of man, we invite you to listen to our study titled in the same way.
The Bible says we are dust, and to dust, we will return. This process begins when we die, and our body starts to decompose, becoming part of the source that originated it: the earth. When people die, they simply cease to exist, and their bodies become part of the earth, waiting for the resurrection of all the dead.
All humans will be resurrected and then judged. That is the biblical order.
How will millions of decomposed or vanished bodies over time be resurrected? How is this possible?
If you want to learn more about the resurrection of the dead, we have a study titled the same way that we encourage you to listen to.
The intellectual capacity of man cannot explain the immense power of God and His creative ability. Just look around you to realize that everything has order and purpose. Look at the animals, plants, space, and microscopic creatures living in our bodies, and you will see it is impossible for everything to have arisen from a “void explosion.” The theory of the beginning of the universe, known as the Big Bang theory, is the most absurd thing anyone could believe. They think that nothing exploded to create the entire universe.
The brightest minds in the world believe that the void, or nothingness, exploded to form the entire universe and its multifaceted variety of life—plants, animals, water, air—all of it, according to them, arising from that explosion. As a Greek philosopher once said, “Out of nothing, nothing comes.”
Common sense, which is not so common, tells us that everything has an origin, and that origin is God. God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth; therefore, He knows where every cell of our body is located and knows our chemical composition. He knows our height, eye color, weight—He knows absolutely everything about us. He has a record of our DNA, preserving our memories and emotions. All humanity is registered in God’s archive, where EVERY detail about each of us is recorded. He knows you better than you know yourself. Thus, decomposed or entirely vanished bodies are no obstacle for God.
Hades or Sheol is not a place of torment; it is the grave where we rest.
There are only two places where the dead reside: the sea and the earth. For this reason, at the resurrection of the dead, both the sea and Hades (or Sheol) will deliver their dead. “The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done.” (Revelation 20:13).
In no way is Hades a place of torment as some believe, because Hades or Sheol will be cast into hell, or Gehenna. Please pay close attention to this detail: “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.” (Revelation 20:14).
If Hades or Sheol were hell, as many suppose, how could Sheol be thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur if it were already hell? Doesn’t that seem illogical?
These verses mean that there will no longer be death. No one will die after God’s great judgment, because some will rise for eternal life and others for eternal condemnation. In other words, everyone will be eternal in one way or another because death will be the last enemy to be defeated, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:26: “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” Death is a temporary state for all humans; it is not the end of existence.
The prophet Daniel received the promise that he would be raised from the dust of the earth to receive eternal life, as stated in Daniel 12:13: “As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.” Similarly, Isaiah 26:19 says that the earth will give up all its dead: “But your dead will live, Lord; their bodies will rise—let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy—your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.” These servants of the Lord have a reserved place of highest privilege in the Kingdom of Heaven, for they obtained a good testimony.
If you would like to learn more about the Kingdom of Heaven, don’t miss our study titled: The Kingdom of God.
We must understand that there are no dead in heaven.
The Bible says that God is a God of the living, not of the dead. Therefore, only living beings like you and me exist in His Kingdom. In no way do the dead form part of His Kingdom. Let me put it another way: NO DEAD PERSON IS WITH GOD. No one, regardless of how good, Christian, or devoted to spiritual matters they were, has gone into God’s presence. The only human beings taken or raptured by God into heaven were taken ALIVE, and today, they are ALIVE in God’s presence.
The first example is Jesus Christ. He resurrected and then ascended to heaven. In other words, Jesus Christ was alive when He ascended to heaven; He did not go to heaven when He died. However, millions of people believe that when they die, they will go to heaven. Another example is Enoch, about whom the Bible says he was “taken away so that he did not experience death” (Hebrews 11:5). That is, Enoch was entirely and completely alive when he was taken by the Lord. Lastly, Elijah was taken up by chariots of fire, with Elisha as a witness. Each of them is ALIVE in glorified bodies. I repeat: there are no dead in heaven.
The Bible says that before we can stand before God, we must be resurrected and transformed, just as Jesus Christ was. Paul understood this perfectly when he said: “I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” (1 Corinthians 15:50).
We must remember that the resurrection of the dead has not yet occurred. As Paul teaches: “and the dead in Christ will rise first.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). It is undeniable that all of Paul’s epistles mention the resurrection of the dead as an event that will take place in the future. It is a singular event, not a personal occurrence that happens at the moment of death. For this reason, each of the disciples waited patiently for this event because the resurrection of the dead is an essential prerequisite before the final judgment, where some will receive eternal life, and others eternal condemnation in hell (Gehenna).
Hell is the final punishment, not an intermediate state.
Hell, or the lake of fire and sulfur, is the eternal condemnation that all those who sinned against God will face, including the angels who rebelled against Him. Scripture says that God did not overlook the disobedience of beings more powerful than humans, and He will not overlook the disobedience of thousands or millions of Christians who delight in their sins. Hebrews 10:30 says: “For we know him who said, ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ and again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’”
Do not be mistaken or fall for deceptions that tell you that you can do whatever you want, even sin openly, and face no consequences. Salvation is not a title; it is a gift granted by God to those who do His will and persevere in it. Salvation is a process of sanctification that will end when God grants you rest. Your salvation depends on whether you have kept His commandments, just as Jesus said in Matthew 24:13: “But the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
Paul addresses the Christian people in the epistle to the Romans 6:12-13: “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.”
The writer of the book of Hebrews, in chapter 10, verses 26 and 27, makes even more emphatic statements: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.” These verses warn Christians that we must be sanctified and remain without sin; otherwise, God’s judgment will be the only thing you will receive. So, consider yourself warned.
Hell is the final punishment prepared by God as the place where Satan and all his demons will be cast, as declared in Revelation 20:10: “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
We must understand that Satan does not rule over hell nor operate at will as depicted in cartoons, movies, or some false visions and dreams. Hell is the punishment God has prepared for him and all who fell for his lies (Matthew 25:41). Being deceived is a sin—remember what happened with Adam and Eve! They were deceived and, as a result, sinned against God. Do not think you will be excused if you fall into the deception of Satan, a false prophet, or even your pastor. Deception is deception, regardless of its source, and the consequences of such deception in biblical matters are grave, even potentially eternal. Don’t take the risk—seek the truth DILIGENTLY!
HELL or THE LAKE OF FIRE AND SULFUR is the place of torment destined for Satan and his demons—it is not their domain! How different hell is according to God’s Word compared to the tales derived from Catholic religion! Many people may oppose this perspective, perhaps because they have heard testimonies of people who claim to have had visions of hell where they saw people tormented by demons or consumed by flames. According to these testimonies, people are currently being tormented in hell. I do not doubt the experiences these people may have had, and I am not one to judge them, but I want to emphasize that not everything supernatural comes from God.
It is important to note that there are only two sources for visions: those that come from God and those that come from the devil. Satan has the ability to project images into a person’s mind that seem real and tangible to us. Refer to Revelation 1:1, Daniel 8:14-16, Daniel 10:16, Ezekiel 1:28; 2:1-2, or Acts 10:16-18.
Visions are like what we experience when we go to the movies to watch a film. We all know that movies are not real, though some people believe what they are watching is real, and others even think they can perform the stunts and feats carried out by the superhero. However, one thing we cannot see is who is projecting the film.
Visions are not real; they are mental projections of something that will happen or is intended to appear real. A classic example of this is when Jesus’ disciples, 2,000 years before the invention of cinema, saw Jesus, Moses, and Elijah in glorified bodies. They had a vision, not a real event. Let us see what the Gospel of Matthew 17:8-9 says: “When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, ‘Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.’” The disciples saw their Master transformed and glorified—something that had not happened yet, as Jesus had not died or been resurrected.
Another example is when Satan took Jesus to a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world (Matthew 4:8-9). You know that even if you climbed Mount Everest, because of the earth’s curvature, you could never see all the nations. How, then, could Satan show Jesus all the kingdoms of the world? Because he did so through a vision. If Satan had the power to show Jesus a vision like this, do you think he lacks the power to deceive a Christian and make them believe in visions where he is depicted as the lord and master of hell? I repeat once more: NOT everything supernatural is from God.
The Bible does not say that when an unbeliever dies, they are immediately tormented in hell, because they have not yet been judged or sentenced. Hell is the place of punishment—it is the eternal sentence for Satan, the False Prophet, and for those who did not obey God’s commandments. Hell is the place where they will serve their final sentence. The lake of fire and sulfur is the second death—it is eternal condemnation.
Hell is the Lake of Fire and Sulfur, that is, Gehenna. We must not confuse it with another term that we have not yet mentioned: Tartarus, or the prison of darkness. This is the place where the angels who sinned against God are confined. It is similar to what some countries call Death Row, a section in certain prisons where those sentenced to death remain until their execution.
The Word of God says in 2 Peter 2:4: “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;” In this passage, the word translated as “hell” is the Greek word tartarosas, derived from “Tartarus.” According to Greek mythology, Tartarus was a place of torment and darkness in the underworld, deeper than Hades, reserved for the Titans and other wicked beings. In the biblical context, it is used to describe a place of confinement for fallen angels—a prison of darkness where they await the final judgment. In other words, Tartarus is not hell or Gehenna; it is a prison where the angels who sinned are locked up, solely awaiting eternal condemnation.
This is the place where Jesus Christ went to preach, as mentioned in 1 Peter 3:18-20: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water.” These spirits, that is, the angels who sinned by mingling with the daughters of men, were imprisoned in that place.
And what about the rich man and the poor man?
Scripture recounts that the rich man woke from his long sleep and was able to speak with Abraham. The rich man was alive and aware of the suffering he was enduring. On the other hand, the Bible says the beggar was carried by angels to Abraham’s side and buried in Sheol. Luke 16:23-24 says: “In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’”
The rich man in this story opened his eyes in Hades. Do you remember what Hades is? The grave! And we know there is no torment there. So why does Scripture say that he lifted his eyes in Hades and, being in torment, saw Abraham far away?
First, he opened his eyes, which means he woke up—that is, he was resurrected from the dead because all of us, without exception, will rise from the dust of the earth, or Hades. Second, being in torment does not mean this man had spent hundreds or thousands of years burning, only to then be judged and sentenced to the lake of fire and sulfur, where he would be tormented again. Let’s be clear that this was merely a story or a parable about divine judgment—an example of what will happen but not a description of something happening right now.
Now then, some may ask: What about the thief to whom the Lord said he would be with Him in paradise that day?
Bible translations sometimes do not convey the original text literally in order to make it more comprehensible to readers. In fact, many translations use different words to express the same idea. Let us examine the following verse: “Jesus answered him, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.’” (Luke 23:43, New International Version). This translation implies that the thief would be in paradise with Jesus that very day. However, the original text says something different:
“And he said to him, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.’” Let us remember that commas and periods are inserted by the translator, as Jesus spoke these words from the cross, and He did not personally write this verse.
A comma can change the meaning of a sentence, as is the case here. This is precisely what the Lord told the thief: “Jesus answered him, ‘Truly I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise.’” (Literal Greek translation of Luke 23:43). Translated into common language, it could be rendered as follows: “Jesus said to the thief, ‘I tell you the truth this day: You will be with me in paradise.’”
This in no way contradicts what the Word of God teaches, since Jesus, when He died, did not go to paradise but was placed in the tomb, also called Sheol or Hades. Then, after three days and three nights, He rose from the dead. Forty days later, while alive, He ascended in a cloud to the Paradise of God. It was there in heaven that He was transformed into a glorified, all-powerful, and immortal body.
Paradise is where God resides.
The greatest reward for Christians is to have their names written in the Book of Life and live in God’s paradise, where they will eat from the tree of life. “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” (Revelation 2:7). Paradise is the reward for all those who overcome, as mentioned in the book of Revelation. However, the counterpart to this reward is the eternal condemnation that will befall those who do not receive God’s approval, as described in Revelation 21:8: “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
It is important to understand that hell and Paradise will be available to humanity in the future—when the Lord returns to earth and brings with Him the holy city, the New Jerusalem, which is precisely the paradise of God. Revelation 21:10 says: “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” Are there two Jerusalems? It seems so… The holy city of Jerusalem will descend from heaven. That city contains a garden in which the tree of life is located.
Paradise is the place where God dwells, which is also the New Jerusalem. “Down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:1-2).
Isaiah 6:5 says: “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
The paradise of God will come when Jesus descends from heaven to dwell with humanity for all eternity, as stated in Ezekiel 37:26-27: “My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.” See also Revelation 21:3.
Jesus promised that He would come again to the earth, meaning His new residence will not be heaven but earth. And wherever He is, we will also be with Him for a thousand years (Revelation 19:15, Revelation 20:4).
The apostles are part of the Holy City
Each of Jesus’ apostles is a precious stone that forms the wall of the Holy City. “The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” (Revelation 21:14).
God desires us to be part of the Holy City, which is why He says: “The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name.” (Revelation 3:12).
Would you like to be part of the temple of God and His Kingdom? Overcome religious customs, listen to God’s voice to obey it, and, above all, do not be deceived because your eternal life is at stake!
