Whenever I hear pastors, preachers, or religious leaders describing hell as a place of eternal torment — a realm where the wicked burn forever without end — I know instantly that the person has not truly understood what the Scriptures say. For centuries, human fear and mistranslation have built an empire of terror around that single word: hell. Yet in the light of truth, when one studies the ancient languages of Scripture — Hebrew, Greek, and Latin — the veil lifts. What emerges is not the image of a cruel God, but the portrait of a just and merciful Father whose plan ends not in eternal torture, but in eternal restoration.
THE HEBREW ROOT — SHEOL (שְׁאוֹל)
In the Old Testament, written in Hebrew, the word translated as hell is Sheol. Its meaning is far from the idea of a fiery pit. Sheol simply means the grave, the pit, or the realm of the dead — the condition or state of death itself (Psalm 6:5; Ecclesiastes 9:10). Both the righteous and the wicked were said to descend there. Jacob said, ‘I will go down into Sheol unto my son mourning’ (Genesis 37:35). David spoke of it when he said, ‘For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You suffer Your Holy One to see corruption’. (Psalm 16:10).
Sheol is not a place of torment; it is the silence of death — the realm where all flesh rests from labor, awaiting resurrection. The Hebrews did not picture demons stoking fires beneath the earth; they saw Sheol as the great sleep of mankind. Even righteous Job declared, ‘O that You would hide me in Sheol until Your wrath be past’ (Job 14:13). For him, Sheol was a refuge from suffering, not a chamber of pain.
THE GREEK UNDERSTANDING — HADES (ᾅδης)
When the Scriptures were translated into Greek, the word Hades was used as the equivalent of Sheol. Hades means the unseen realm, the world of the dead, or the state of being without life. It carries no suggestion of fire or torment in its root meaning.
Peter, quoting David in Acts 2:27, said of Christ: ‘Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption’. Notice the continuity — Sheol and Hades describe the same condition. They are not places of punishment but temporary states of death awaiting resurrection and judgment.
Jesus Himself declared in Revelation 1:18, ‘I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive forevermore, and have the keys of death and Hades’. If Hades were a place of eternal torture, why would Jesus hold its keys? He holds them because He conquered death. He can open its gates and release those within it. That is the essence of redemption — liberation from the grave, not escape from endless flames.
THE WORD JESUS USED — GEHENNA (γέεννα)
When Jesus warned about hellfire, He used the word Gehenna. Gehenna was a real, physical valley outside Jerusalem — the Valley of Hinnom (Joshua 15:8). In the days of ancient kings, it was the site of idolatrous sacrifice where children were burned to Molech (2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31). Later, it became Jerusalem’s refuse dump, where fires continually burned to consume waste, carcasses, and filth.
So when Jesus said, ‘Fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna’ (Matthew 10:28), His listeners understood the imagery. He was not speaking of an eternal furnace for disembodied souls but of total destruction — utter ruin. Gehenna symbolized judgment so complete that nothing remains. Just as the fires of that valley consumed garbage until nothing was left, so will the divine fire consume sin, corruption, and death itself.
THE RARE WORD — TARTARUS (Τάρταρος)
The Apostle Peter used Tartarus only once (2 Peter 2:4): ‘God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and delivered them into chains of darkness’. The word, borrowed from Greek mythology, signified a deep abyss — a prison of restraint, not of torment. It was symbolic of confinement, a place of waiting for judgment, not a chamber of everlasting pain. Tartarus, like Hades and Gehenna, expresses limitation, not eternal suffering.
THE LATIN TRANSLATION — INFERNUM (INFERNUS)
Centuries later, when the Bible was translated into Latin, Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna were all rendered as Infernum or Infernus, from which the English inferno and hell originated. Over time, religious imagination transformed Infernum into a blazing realm of eternal agony. Medieval art and literature — not Scripture — sculpted the idea of a pit of flames beneath the earth. The Dantean inferno replaced the biblical grave. Thus, through centuries of translation and interpretation, the original meaning of hell was buried under layers of fear and dogma.
REVELATION’S CLARITY — DEATH AND HADES DESTROYED
The Book of Revelation lifts the veil on this confusion with piercing clarity. It declares:
‘And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death’. (Revelation 20:14)
Notice — it is death and Hades that are cast into the lake of fire, not living souls. This means death itself will be destroyed.
The lake of fire symbolizes final annihilation, the end of everything contrary to divine life. It is the consuming purity of God’s presence that eradicates corruption.
The imagery of fire and brimstone in Revelation is not about endless torment but about total cleansing — divine fire that purifies by destroying what cannot be redeemed. As Hebrews 12:29 declares, ‘Our God is a consuming fire’. That fire is not cruel; it is holy. It burns away death so that life may remain.
WHO WILL BE CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE
The Scriptures do not leave us guessing. Revelation 21:8 gives a solemn list:
‘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’.
These represent categories of rebellion — not mere moral failures, but deliberate rejection of divine life. Let’s understand them deeply:
The fearful — those who let fear silence faith, choosing comfort over conviction (2 Timothy 1:7).
The unbelieving — those who reject the light of truth even when it shines before them (John 3:19).
The abominable — those who defile what is sacred through corruption and cruelty (Isaiah 1:16).
Murderers — those who destroy life, whether by hand, by word, or by hate (1 John 3:15).
Whoremongers — those enslaved by lust, selling the sanctity of love for pleasure (1 Corinthians 6:18).
Sorcerers — manipulators of power, deceivers who twist truth for control (Galatians 5:20).
Idolaters — worshipers of false gods, whether of gold, fame, or self (Exodus 20:3).
All liars — those who live in falsehood, denying truth in heart and action (Proverbs 12:22).
This list is symbolic of all who align with darkness — the spirit of rebellion itself. Along with them, Revelation names others who share this destiny:
The Beast (Antichrist) — Revelation 19:20
The False Prophet — Revelation 19:20
The Devil (Satan) — Revelation 20:10
Death and Hades — Revelation 20:14
Those not found written in the Book of Life — Revelation 20:15
All of these are cast into the lake of fire — not for eternal conscious torment, but for final destruction. The lake of fire is not a chamber of endless pain; it is the divine incinerator where death, evil, and rebellion meet their end.
THE SECOND DEATH — FINALITY, NOT ETERNITY OF PAIN
When Scripture calls this ‘the second death’ (Revelation 20:14), it means final separation from life. It is not an everlasting process of dying but a once-and-for-all end. The first death is physical — the body returning to dust. The second death is spiritual — the complete destruction of everything opposed to God.
In Malachi 4:1, the prophet declares, ‘The day comes that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble’. Stubble burns quickly; it does not burn forever. Likewise, evil will be consumed, not preserved in agony. God is not a tormentor; He is a purifier.
THE CHARACTER OF GOD — LOVE AND JUSTICE INTERTWINED
If God is love (1 John 4:8), can He delight in endless suffering? Impossible. Eternal torment would contradict His very nature. His justice is restorative, not vindictive. Even His judgment serves a redemptive end — the cleansing of creation from decay.
The cross itself proves this truth. Jesus did not go to hell to burn; He went into Hades to conquer death. He emerged victorious, proclaiming life to all who believe. The apostle Paul cried out, “O death, where is thy sting? O Hades, where is thy victory? (1 Corinthians 15:55). In Christ, death has no final say.
THE END OF HELL — WHEN THE GRAVE IS NO MORE
When the work of divine fire is complete, Revelation 21:4 declares:
‘And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away’.
No more death — which means no more Hades, no more Sheol, no more Gehenna. Even the memory of death will vanish. Hell, in all its forms, will be swallowed up by life eternal.
This is the glorious paradox: the lake of fire — the very thing feared as eternal punishment — becomes the tool through which God ends all death. Hell itself dies in that fire. The last enemy is destroyed, and the universe stands free from corruption.
THE TRUE MEANING OF HELL
So what, then, is hell? It is not a fiery prison beneath the earth. It is the grave — the state of death, the separation from life. And the lake of fire is not hell’s continuation but its conclusion.
When translators merged Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, and Tartarus into one English word — hell — they created confusion. But when we return to Scripture’s own voice, the picture is clear:
Sheol — the grave (Psalm 88:3)
Hades — the unseen realm of the dead (Luke 16:23)
Gehenna — symbolic destruction (Matthew 5:22)
Tartarus — a place of restraint for fallen spirits (2 Peter 2:4)
Each represents a different reality, and none describes eternal conscious torment.
THE VICTORY OF LIFE OVER DEATH
The final chapters of Revelation do not end in screams, but in songs. They tell of a city filled with light where there is no more night (Revelation 22:5). The story of the Bible begins in a garden and ends in a city — a city without graves, without hell, without death.
That is God’s ultimate purpose: to destroy death, not to sustain it. The lake of fire is His final act of mercy — eradicating the very things that brought pain to creation.
