By Jim Mettenbrink
Last week, we observed that the PEW poll ( 2021) revealed that 31% of folks in mainline churches deny the existence of hell and that such belief is a result of one’s pride, the root of all sin. Nonetheless, the Bible gives us a glimpse of what hell is like.
Although the Old Testament refers to hell 19 times, translated from the Hebrew word Sheol which refers to the grave, some of the verses seem to point to other than the grave. However, in the New Testament reference to hell is more descriptive, of which 12 times gehenna, the Greek word is translated as hell and referred to by Jesus alone as a metaphor – the Valley of Hinnom (gehenna) to describe hell. That valley was Jerusalem’s garbage dump and burned perpetually 24/7/365. One can only imagine the constant malodorous reminder of not only the garbage but of the carcasses of dead animals, some of which, if not many, were sin offerings not burned on the altar at the temple (Leviticus 4:12, 21; Hebrews 13:11). Who would want to live near this unbearable gehenna, let alone live in it? Hell! And that is just its smell!
Jesus emphasized that hell is a perpetual fire (Mark 9:43,45). Obviously, fire occurs here on earth, not in the spirit realm. But there is hardly any pain so excruciating as being burnt with fire. In my 14-year-old foolishness, I experienced that taste of hell on earth. Carelessly, I set a fire to wet tree branches using gasoline. It exploded and my arms were severely burnt. My mother packed my arms in ice to relieve the pain. For four or five hours I screamed with pain. It was as if my arms were still on fire. Worst of all there was no relief, thus making it the longest five hours of my life. Imagine that such terrible pain could last forever. Fire is the fleshly torment illustrating what Jesus used to describe hell.
Since the body returns to dirt, fire describes the pain of torment endured in one’s spirit eternally. More on this unthinkable hell, next.