Part 01 – Is Hell eternal?
Part 02 – Scriptures used to support an eternal Hell
Part 03 – New Testament scriptures that dispel an eternal Hell
Part 04 – Old Testament scriptures that dispel an eternal Hell
Part 05 – Other resources about Hell
The traditional view of Hell is that God burns sinners in a never-ending fire and for every second of eternity, they consciously suffer excruciating pain. But is this true or is it just another traditional teaching that doesn’t add up when you look at scripture? I would like to start with the following scripture to show how the traditional view is often at odds with God and scripture.
Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
Now we will take a look at a list of scriptures that seem at odds with the traditional idea of the nature of Hell. Remember we have already learned in the previous page that Hell is thrown into the Lake of Fire which is the Second Death. But even ignoring that Hell will suffer the Second Death and what that entails, these scriptures below dispel the idea that the wicked are consciously eternally tormented. Read on:
Psalms 21:9
“Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.”
To be devoured means to be consumed so that what is consumed is no longer there.
Psalms 37:10
“For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.”
If the wicked shall not be, then it means what it says. They will no longer exist.
Malachi 4:1
“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”
Once the wicked receive their reward for their sins, Yahweh will burn them up. When you burn up something, it simply means that there is nothing left to burn. When you burn a log of wood, at the point the log burns up, it is no longer a log, rather ashes.
Ezekiel 28:18
“Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.”
If a person is brought to ashes, then they have been consumed by fire and no longer exist.
Psalms 37:20
“But the wicked will perish:
Though the Lord’s enemies are like the flowers of the field,
they will be consumed, they will go up in smoke.”
Isaiah 47:14
Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up.
Again, the wicked shall be burned up.
Psalms 68:2
“As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.”
Psalms 104:35
“Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD.”
Again, the wicked will be no more because they will perish. It is clear that the wicked will not exist eternally in a place of punishment.
Psalms 145:20
“The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.”
Ezekiel 18:4
“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
So the soul that sins (and is not forgiven) it will die. That soul will be destroyed.
Ezekiel 28:19
“All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.”
Nahum 1:9-10
“What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time. For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.”
In this page, you have been shown Old Testament scriptures that clearly teach that the wicked will be burned up, turn to ashes, be destroyed, perish, and will be no more.
- Continue to Part 5: Other resources about Hell
