Hell

Definition

Religion teaches that hell is a place where the wicked suffer a twofold punishment: the pain of loss, and the pain of sense. The pain of loss consists in the eternal separation of the sinner from God and the realization that the failure to reach heaven is due to his own fault. The pain of sense consists in the torment of unquench­able fire. It is claimed that the body by itself is incapable of pain; it is the soul that suffers. This unreasonable doctrine contradicts the Bible, the truth of which has been confused by mis­representing in translation the original meaning of three distinct Greek words and one Hebrew word. Sheol, Hebrew, and Hades, Greek, were originally used by Bible writers to represent gravedom or the common grave of mankind. Gehenna, Greek, was used as a symbol of annihilation or everlasting death in unconsciousness from which there was to be no awakening. Tartaros, Greek, meant a de­graded or debased condition only for rebellious spirit creatures during their conscious lifetime with the certainty of annihilation awaiting them at the time of their execution. These original words have been indiscriminately translated “hell”, “hell-fire,” “grave,” “pit” and “death”. The English word “hell” is taken from the Anglo-Saxon, helan, literally meaning “to conceal”. Hence the English word “hell”, to conform with the original expression of the condition for the dead and according to its own original meaning, Scripturally applies to gravedom, the common grave of all mankind, good and bad alike, in an unconscious state without suffering or pleasure. After Jesus introduced the truth about life and immortality, only the willfully wicked were spoken of as being in Gehenna, the expression Hades [translated “hell” in English] being applied to the dead in God’s memory, those with opportunity or hope of a resurrection.

Origin

The false conception of eternal torment after death was introduced early into apostate Christianity, and by the fourth century after Christ was firmly entrenched in false religion. It is based on Satan’s original lie in Eden: “surely you will not die”.

All Men Being Sinners Are Con­demned by God and Liable to Punishment

Romans 5:12 “That is why, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.”

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages sin pays is death.”

True Meaning of “Hell” Con­fused by Translation of Four Original Words That Mean Three Different Conditions

Psalm 16:10 “For You will not leave my soul to sheol [“hell”]

Acts 2:27 “Because You will not forsake my soul in Hades [“hell”]

Luke 12:5 “Fear Him who after killing has authority to throw into Gehenna [“hell”]

2 Peter 2:4 “God did not hold back from punishing the angels that sinned, but, by throwing them into Tartarus [“hell”] delivered them to pits of dense darkness to be reserved for judgment.”

Psalm 30:3 “O Jehovah, You have brought up my [David’s] soul from sheol [“the grave”] You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.”

Numbers 16:33 “So they, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into sheol [“the pit”; “hell”]: and the earth closed upon them, and they perished.”

Sheol, Hades Translated “Hell”, “Grave,” “Pit,” “Death”; Mean Gravedom or Common Grave, Without Pain or Pleasure

Job 7:9 “As the cloud is con­sumed and vanishes away, so he that goes down to sheol [“grave”; “hell”] shall come up no more.”

Job 17:13-16 “If I look for sheol [“the grave”; “hell”] as my house; if I have spread my couch in the darkness; if I have said to corruption, You are my father; to the worm, You are my mother, and my sister; where then is my hope? And as for my hope, who shall see it? It shall go down to the bars of sheol [“the pit”; “the deep­est pit”], when once there is rest in the dust.”

Job 24:19, 20 “Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so does sheol [“the grave”] those that have sinned. The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.”

Amos 9:2 “Though they dig into sheol [“hell”], thence shall My hand take them.”

Job 14:13 “Oh that You would hide me in sheol , that You would keep me secret, until Your wrath be past, that You would appoint me a set time, and remember me!”

Hosea 13:14 “I will ransom them from the power of sheol; I will redeem them from death. O death, where are thy plagues? O sheol, where is your destruction?”

Numbers 16:30-33 “But if Jehovah make a new thing, and the ground open its mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down alive into sheol [“the pit”; “hell”]; … So they, and all that ap­pertained to them, went down alive into sheol [“the pit”; “hell”]: and the earth closed upon them, and they perished.”

Revelation 1:18 “I became dead, but, look! I am living for ever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of hades [“hell”].”

Revelation 6:8 “And I saw, and, look! a pale horse, and the one seated upon it had the name Death. And hades [“hell”] was closely following him. And au­thority was given them … to kill.”

Nonexistence in the Land of the Dead or Gravedom (Sheol – Hades) Contrasted to Full Existence in “Land of the Living”

Isaiah 38:10, 11 “I said, in the noontide of my days I shall go into the gates of sheol: I am deprived of the residue of my years. I said, I shall not see Je­hovah, even Jehovah in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.”

Psalm 52:5 “God will likewise de­stroy you for ever; he will take you up, and pluck you out of your tent, and root you out of the land of the living.”

Psalm 116:9 “I will walk before Jehovah in the land of the living.”

See also: Job 28:13; Psalm 27:13; Psalm 142:5; Isa. 53:8; Jeremiah 11:19; Ezekiel 26:20; 32:23-26.

Actual Individual Burial Places, Graves or Tombs, Referred to by Different Original Language Words, Just as Individual Lo­cations in the “Land of the Living” Are Indicated by Names of Places or Cities

Keber (Hebreiv), burying place or grave (English)

Genesis 23:4 “I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

Judges 16:31 “Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burying-place of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.”

See also: Exodus 14:11; Numbers 19:16.

K’boorah (Hebrew), grave, bury­ing place, sepulchre (English)

Genesis 35:20 “And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave: the same is the Pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day.”

Deuteronomy 34:6 “And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab over against Beth-Peor: but no man knows of his sepulchre unto this day.”

See also: Genesis 47:30; 1 Samuel 10:2.

Ga-dish’ (Hebrew), tomb (English)

Job 21:32 “Yet shall he be borne to the grave, and men shall keep watch over the tomb.”

Taphos (Greek), grave (English)

Matthew 23:27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! be­cause you resemble whitewashed graves, which outwardly indeed appear beautiful but inside are full of dead men’s bones and of every kind of uncleanness.”

Matthew 27:64 “Therefore com­mand the grave to be made se­cure until the third day, that His disciples may never come and steal Him and say to the people, ‘He was raised up from the dead!’ and this last imposture will be worse than the first.”

Mnema (Greek), tomb (English)

Mark 5:3 “He had his haunt among the tombs, and up to that time absolutely nobody was able to bind him fast even with a chain.”

Luke 23:53 “And he took it down and wrapped it up in fine linen, and he laid Him in a tomb carved in the rock and in which no man had yet lain.”

Acts 2:29 “Brothers, it is al­lowable to speak with freeness of speech to you concerning the family head David, that he both deceased and was buried and his tomb is among us to this day.”

See also: Acts 7:16; Revelation 11:9.

Mnemeion (Greek), memorial tomb (English)

Matthew 28:8 “So, quickly leaving the memorial tomb, with fear and great joy, they ran to report to His disciples.”

John 5:28, 29 “Do not marvel at this, because the hour is com­ing in which all those in the me­morial tombs will hear His voice and come out.”

See also: Matthew 8:28; Luke 11:44; John 19:41.

Adam Was Not Sent to “Eternal Torment” but to Unconscious Annihilation in Dust of the Ground. Thus, No “Pain of Loss” Is Possible, and “Sep­aration from God” Is Not Realized

Genesis 3:3-5, 17, 19 “Of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God does know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil. And unto Adam He [Jehovah] said, Because you have hearkened unto the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I com­manded you, saying, You shall not eat of it: cursed is the ground for your sake; … in the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and unto dust shall you return.”

Genesis 5:5 “And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages sin pays is death.”

Psalm 6:5 “For in death there is no remembrance of You: in sheol [“the grave”, “hell”] who shall give You thanks?”

Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10 “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, nei­ther have they any more a re­ward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wis­dom, in sheol [“the grave”, “hell”], where you go.”

Always Associated with Death and the Dead, Not Life and the Living

2 Samuel 22:5, 6 “For the waves of death compassed me; the floods of ungodliness made me afraid: the cords of sheol [“hell”] were round about me; the snares of death came upon me.”

Proverbs 5:5 “Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on sheol [“hell”].”

Proverbs 7:27 “Her house is the way to sheol [“hell”], going down to the chambers of death.”

Proverbs 9:18 “But he knows not that the dead are there; that her guests are in the depths of sheol [“hell”].”

Habakkuk 2:5 “Yea, moreover, wine is treacherous, a haughty man, that keeps not at home; who enlarges his desire as sheol [“hell”], and he is as death, and cannot be satisfied.”

Revelation 20:13 “And the sea gave up those dead in it, and death and hades [“hell”] gave up those dead in them.”

Before Jesus All Spoken of as Going to Same Place of Unconsciousness

Ecclesiastes 3:19-21 “For that which befalls the sons of men be­falls beasts; even one thing befalls them: as the one dies, so dies the other; yea, they have all one breath; and man has no pre-eminence above the beasts: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who know­s the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward to the earth?”

Psalm 31:17 “Let me not be put to shame, O Jehovah; for I have called upon You: let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in sheol.

Psalm 49:14 “They are appointed as a flock for sheol [“the grave”] death shall be their shepherd: and the upright shall have do­minion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall be for sheol [“the grave”, “hell”] to consume, that there be no habitation for it.”

Psalm 141:7 “As when one plows and cleaves the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of sheol [“grave’s”; “hell”].”

Good as Well as Bad People Go to Hell

Jonah 2:2 “I called by reason of my affliction unto Jehovah, and He answered me; out of the belly of sheol [“hell”] cried I, and You heard my voice.”

Job 14:13 “Oh that You would­ hide me in sheol , that You would keep me secret, until Your wrath be past, that You would appoint me a set time, and re­member me!”

Psalm 139:8 “If I ascend up into heaven, You are there: if I make my bed in sheol, behold, You are there.’

Psalm 16:10 “For You will not leave my soul to sheol; neither will You suffer Your holy one to see corruption.”

Soldiers That Die Go to Hell and Not to Heaven

Ezekiel 32:21, 27 “The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of sheol [“hell”] with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie still, even the uncircumcised, slain by the sword. And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised [in battle], that are gone down to sheol [“hell”] with their weapons of war, and have laid their swords under their heads, and their iniquities are upon their bones; for they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.”

Ezekiel 31:17 “They also went down into sheol [“hell”] with him unto them that are slain by the sword; yea, they that were his arm, that dwelt un­der his shadow in the midst of the nations.”

Hope Held Out for Those in Hell Since Some Have Been Delivered

Acts 2:31, 32 “He saw before­hand and spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was He forsaken in hades [“hell”] nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus, God resurrected.”

1 Samuel 2:6 “Jehovah kills, and makes alive: He brings down to sheol, and brings up.”

Psalm 86:13 “For great is Your loving-kindness toward me; and You have delivered my soul from the lowest sheol.”

Proverbs 15:24 “To the wise the way of life goes upward, that he may depart from sheol [“hell”] beneath.”

Revelation 20:13 “Death and hades [“hell”] gave up those dead in them.”

Hell Spoken of as Powerless Against God’s Chosen

Matthew 16:18 “On this rock-mass I will build My congregation, and the gates of hades [“hell”] will not overpower it.”

Isaiah 38:9, 10, 17 “The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was re­covered of his sickness. I said, In the noontide of my days I shall go into the gates of sheol [“the grave”]: I am deprived of the residue of my years… . But You have, in love to my soul, delivered it from the pit of corruption.”

Proverbs 23:13, 14 “Withhold not correction from the child. . . . You shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from sheol [“hell”].”

Willfully Wicked Cannot Escape Death; Are Abased as Low as Sheol, Hades

Matthew 11:23, 24 “And you, Ca­pernaum, will you perhaps be exalted to heaven? Down to hades [“hell”] you will come; … It will be more endur­able for the land of Sodom on Judgment Day than for you.”

Psalm 9:17 “The wicked shall be turned back unto sheol [“hell”], even all the nations that forget God.”

Isaiah 26:14 “They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore You have visited and destroyed them, and made all remembrance of them to perish.”

Isaiah 28:15, 18 “Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with sheol [“hell”] are we at agree­ment; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us;… And your covenant with death shall be annulled and your agreement with sheol [“hell”] shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.”

Proverbs 15:10, 11 (footnote) “There is grievous correction for him that forsakes the way; and he that hates reproof shall die. Sheol [“hell”] and De­struction are before Jehovah.”

1 Kings 2:9 “Now therefore hold him not guiltless, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do unto him, and thou shall bring his hoar head down to sheol [“the grave”] with blood.”

Hell to Be Finally Destroyed by Casting into “Lake of Fire”, Meaning Destruction

Revelation 20:14 “And death and hades [“hell”] were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire.”

Hosea 13:14 “I will ransom them from the power of sheol [“the grave”; “death”]; I will redeem them from death: O death, where are thy plagues? Sheol [“grave”; “hell”], where is thy destruction?”

“Limbo” (Not Found in Bible). Those Dying Before Jesus Not in Some Such Separate Place

Jesus’ account of Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom and rich man in hell shown to be a symbolic illustration.

Genesis 37:35 “And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down to sheol [“the grave”; “hell”] to my son mourning.”

Genesis 42:38 “And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left: if harm befall him by the way in which ye go, then will ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to sheol [“the grave”; “hell”].”

Isaiah 38:18 “For sheol [“the grave”; “hell”] cannot praise You, death cannot cele­brate You: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Your truth.”

Jews of Jesus’ Day Realized Abraham and Men of Old Not in Heaven or “Limbo”

John 8:52, 53 “The Jews said to Him: ‘Now we do know You have a demon. Abraham died, also the prophets, but you say, “If anyone observes My word, he will never taste death at all.” You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died, are You? Also the prophets died. Who do You claim to be?'”

John 3:10-13 “Jesus said to him: ‘… Moreover, no man has ascended into heaven but He that descended from heaven, the Son of man.’ “

Matthew 11:11 “Truly I say to you people, Among those born of women there has not been raised up a greater than John the Bap­tist; but a person that is a lesser one in the kingdom of the heav­ens is greater than he is.”

Jesus Did Not Take Anyone with Him Out of Hell or “Limbo”

Acts 2:14, 29, 34 “But Peter stood up with the eleven and raised his voice and made this utterance to them [ten days after Jesus had ascended to heaven]: ‘Brothers, it is allowable to speak with freeness of speech to you concerning the family head Da­vid, that he both deceased and was buried and his tomb is among us to this day. Actually David did not ascend to the heavens, but he himself says, “Jehovah said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a stool for Your feet.’ “

Even Faithful Christians Had to Sleep Until Christ’s Return

1 Thessalonians 4:15, 16 “We the liv­ing who survive to the presence of the Lord shall in no way precede those who have fallen asleep in death, because the Lord Him­self will descend from heaven … and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first.”

2 Timothy 4:7, 8 “I have fought the right fight, I have run the course to the finish, I have ob­served the faith. From this time on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me as a reward in that day, yet not only to me, but also to all those who have loved His manifestation.”

Jesus Used Hades, Not Gehenna, in Order to Show Deathlike Condition of Rich Man

Luke 16:22, 23 “Now in course of time the beggar died and he was carried off by the angels to the bosom position of Abraham. Also the rich man died and was buried. And in hades [“hell”] he lifted up his eyes, he existing in torments [“and was buried in hades he,” Sinaitic MS.; “and he was buried in the infernus. But he,” Vulgate MS.].”

Gehenna Was the Literal Valley of Hinnom (Topheth) Outside the Walls of Jerusalem

Joshua 15:8 “And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom unto the side of the Jebusite southward (the same is Jerusalem).”

Joshua 18:16 “And the border went down to the uttermost part of the mountain that lies before the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is in the vale of Rephaim northward; and it went down to the valley of Hinnom, to the side of the Jebusite southward.”

Jeremiah 19:2, 6 “And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell you; … therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter.”

Under Later Kings of Judah Ge­henna or Valley of Hinnom Be­came Used for Idolatrous Worship

2 Chronicles 28:3 “Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom Jehovah cast out before the children of Israel.”

2 Chronicles 33:6 “He also made his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom.”

Jeremiah 32:35 “And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I com­manded them not, neither came it into My mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.”

1 Kings 11:5-7 “Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, in the mount that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon.”

King Josiah Had the Valley Pol­luted and Turned into Dumping Place

2 Kings 23:10, 14 “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. And he broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men.”

2 Chronicles 34:4, 5 “And they broke down the altars of the Baalim in his presence; and the sun-images that were on high above them he hewed down; and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images, he broke in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it up­on the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and purged Ju­dah and Jerusalem.”

Under Jewish Law No Creatures Were Cast Alive into the Valley

Isaiah 66:24 “And they shall go forth, and look upon the dead bodies of the men that have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.”

Deuteronomy 21:22, 23 “And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and you hang him on a tree; his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he that is hanged is accursed of God; that you de­file not your land which Jehovah your God gives you for an in­heritance.”

Joshua 8:29 “And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the eventide: and at the going down of the sun Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree, and cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised thereon a great heap of stones, unto this day.”

Jeremiah 7:31, 32 “And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded not, neither came it into My mind. There­fore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place to bury.”

Symbol of “Lake of Fire” Taken from Literal Place of Gehenna (Topheth)

Revelation 1:1 “The revelation by Jesus Christ, which God gave Him, to show His slaves the things that must shortly take place. And He sent forth His angel and pre­sented it in signs through him to His slave John.”

Revelation 20:14, 15 “And death and hades were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire. Further­more, whoever was not found written in the book of life was hurled into the lake of fire.”

Revelation 21:8 “But as for the cowards and those without faith and those who are disgusting in their filth and murderers and for­nicators and those practicing spiritism and idolaters and all the liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur. This means the second death.”

Conscious Eternal Torment Not in Scriptures but Eternal De­struction Is, Symbolized by Ge­henna and “Lake of Fire”

Matthew 23:33 “Serpents, offspring of vipers, how are you to flee from the judgment of Gehenna [“hell”] ?”

Matthew 10:28 “And do not become fearful of those who kill the body but can not kill the soul; but rather be in fear of Him that can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna [“hell”].”

Jeremiah 19:12, 13 “Thus will I do unto this place, says Jehovah, and to the inhabitants thereof, even making this city as Topheth: and the houses … shall be as the place of Topheth.”

Jeremiah 7:32, 33 “Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place to bury. And the dead bodies of this people shall be food for the

birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall frighten them away.”

Obadiah 16 “For as ye have drunk upon My holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually; yea, they shall drink, and swallow down, and shall be as though they had not been.”

“Fire” a Symbol of Destruction, and “Everlasting” Shows No Re­covery Possible

Revelation 17:11 “And the wild beast that was but is not,. . . goes off into destruction.”

Revelation 20:10 “And the Devil who was misleading them was hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur, where both the wild beast and the false prophet already were; and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

Ezekiel 28:13-15, 18, 19 “You were in Eden, the garden of God; . . . You were the anointed cher­ub that covers: and I set you, so that you were upon the holy mountain of God; .. . You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, till un­righteousness was found in you. .. . therefore have I brought forth a fire from the midst of you; it has devoured you, and I have turned you to ashes upon the earth . .. and you shall never­more have any being.”

Matthew 3:10-12 “Already the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree, then, that does not produce fine fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire. … the one coming . . . will baptize you people with holy spirit and with fire. His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will com­pletely clean up his threshing-floor, and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, but the chaff he will burn up with fire that cannot be put out.”

Genesis 19:24-29 “Then Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Go­morrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven; … and, look, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain.”

Jude 7 “So, too, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them … are placed before us as a warning example by under­going the judicial punishment of everlasting fire.”

2 Peter 2:6 “And by reducing the cities Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes He condemned them, setting a pattern for ungodly persons of things to come.”

Luke 17:29, 30 “But on the day that Lot came out of Sodom it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed them all. The same way it will be on that day when the Son of man is to be revealed.”

Abyss Symbolizes Condition of Helpless Impotence, Deathlike Inactivity Used in reference to spirit creatures or to those symbolic representations of organizations and of classes of people

Revelation 9:1-3, 11 “And I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth, and the key of the pit of the abyss was given him. And he opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke ascended out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace,.., And out of the smoke locusts came forth upon the earth, and authority was giv­en them,.. . They have over them a king, the angel of the abyss.”

Revelation 11:7 “And when they have finished their witnessing, the wild beast that ascends out of the abyss will make war with them and conquer them and kill them.”

Revelation 17:8 “The wild beast that you saw was, but is not, and yet is destined to ascend out of the abyss, and it is to go off into destruction.”

Demons Dread Prospects of Going into the Abyss

Matthew 8:28, 29 “When He got to the other side, into the country of the Gadarenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men coming out from among the memorial tombs, unusually fierce, so that nobody had the courage to pass by on that road. And, look! they screamed, saying: ‘What have we to do with You, Son of God? Did You come here to torment us be­fore the right time?’ “

Luke 8:30, 31 “Jesus asked him: ‘What is your name?’ He said: ‘Legion,’ because many de­mons had entered into him. And they kept entreating Him not to order them to go away into the abyss.”

Jesus in Abyss (Also in Sheol – Hades) Since Flesh Did Not See Corruption

Acts 2:24-27 “But God resur­rected Him by loosing the pangs of death, because it was not pos­sible for Him to continue to be held fast by it. For David says respecting Him, “… Moreover, even my flesh will dwell in hope: because you will not forsake my soul in hades [“hell”], neither will You grant Your man of loving-kindness to see corrup­tion.’ “

Romans 10:6, 7 “The righteousness resulting from faith speaks in this manner: ‘Do not say in your heart,… “Who will descend into the abyss?” that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.'”

Satan’s Gravelike Place Is Abyss of Inactivity Where He Will Be Bound for 1,000 Years Before Final Destruction

Revelation 20:1-3, 7-10 “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven with the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he seized the dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he hurled him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, that he might not mislead the nations any more until the thousand years were ended. After these things he must be let loose for a little while. Now as soon as the thousand years have been ended, Satan will be let loose out of his prison, and he will go out to mis­lead those nations in the four quarters of the earth,.. . And the Devil who was misleading them was hurled into the lake of Are and sulphur.”

Tartarus a Symbol of Debased Condition for Rebellious Angels

2 Peter 2:4 “Certainly if God did not hold back from punishing the angels that sinned, but, by throwing them into Tartarus, de­livered them to pits of dense darkness to be reserved for judg­ment.”

Eternal Torment as Inducement to Obey God Repugnant to Him

1 John 4:8, 9 “He that does not love has not come to know God, because God is love. By this the love of God was made manifest in our case, because God sent forth His only-begotten Son into the world that we might gain life through Him.”

Ezekiel 33:11 “Say unto them, As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?”

Jeremiah 7:31 “And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hin­nom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded not, neither came it into My mind.”

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