What does Jesus say about Hell in the Bible?
Did Jesus actually talk about Hell or was He just a peaceful hippy that supports all world religions?
Let’s see what Jesus said about Hell in the Bible.
And if you stick around till the end, I’ll teach you about Sheol, Hades, Tartarus, and the Bottomless pit as well. (see graph)
It turns out that Jesus mentions Hell more than anyone in the Bible.
Jesus describes Hell as:
an unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:12)
a furnace of fire where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:40)
an everlasting fire (Matthew 18:8)
a place where worm doesn’t die and fire is never quenched (Mark 9:43)
Hell is a place of separation from God.
Hell in the Greek is ‘Gehenna’
Gehenna was originally the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, where the filth and dead animals of the city were cast out and burned.
In other words, Gehenna was a burning trash dump.
When Jesus mentions Gehenna He is clearly talking about a symbol of the wicked and their future destruction.
The best illustration Jesus can use for Jews to grasp the idea of Hell is Gehenna since they would have been familiar with its location and purpose.
Gehenna was also a place where children were sacrificed to the false god Molech.
And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech. (2 Kings 23:10)
Notice how Gehenna is south of Jerusalem, meaning it’s outside of Jerusalem.
Why is this significant?
Because the religious leaders, who Jesus also warned about Hell, would have been familiar with the “New Jerusalem”, a city coming down from Heaven prophesied by Ezekiel in the Old Testament and later confirmed by Jesus and John in the New Testament. (Revelation 3:12, 21:2, 21:10-21)
What Jesus said about Gehenna:
It’s a place so terrible it’s better for you to cut off your hand, pluck out your eye, or cut off your foot than go to Gehenna. (Matthew 5:29-30, Mark 9:45)
Jesus says don’t fear those who can kill your body, but fear God who can destroy both your body and soul in Gehenna. (Matthew 10:28, Luke 12:5)
Jesus calls the religious leaders a group of vipers (people who desire to do evil) and rhetorically asks them how they can escape the condemnation of Gehenna. (Matthew 23:33)
Jesus Tells a Fascinating Story about The Rich Man and Lazarus
Luke 16:19-31
19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’
25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’
27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’
29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’
30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”
The Rich Man and Lazarus Summary:
Both the rich man and Lazarus die.
Lazarus goes to Abraham’s bosom.
Abraham’s name means ‘the father of a multitude’ and Lazarus rests on the chest of a father, Abraham, (fulfilling prophecy in Genesis 17:5) the same way John rests on the chest of Jesus (John 13:23)
The rich man is tormented in the flames of Hades.
This is a torment so bad that he begs for just the tip of Lazarus’ finger to be dipped in water to cool his tongue.
Hades:
name Hades or Pluto, the god of the lower regions
Orcus, the nether world, the realm of the dead
later use of this word: the grave, death, hell
Hades (Greek) was the realm of the dead. It’s synonymous with Sheol (Hebrew).
There is a great gulf fixed between them so that neither can pass.
Realizing that the rich man won’t be able to pass the gulf, he changes his request and instead begs Abraham to send Lazarus to testify to his five brothers.
Jesus then alludes to his resurrection and says, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”
Interestingly enough, we have another Lazarus in the Bible that was dead for 4 days and resurrected and many still did not believe in Jesus after Lazarus’ resurrection (John 12:10-11)
How does Jesus say you can escape Hell?
(John 3:15-18)
15 “whoever believes in Him (Jesus) should not perish but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
There will be a judgement and a separation of those who go to everlasting life and eternal death.
The wheat will be separated from the chaff. The wheat will go into the barn and the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:12).
The sheep will be separated from the goats (Matthew 25:32)
The tares will be separated from the wheat. The tares will be burned and Jesus will gather the wheat (Matthew 13:30)
“those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” (John 5:29)
Eternal life doesn’t begin in Heaven, but the moment one decides to turn from their sin (repent) and turn toward Jesus.
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3)
Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. (John 5:24)
Those who do not believe are already dead (spiritually, not physically).
36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36)
2 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1-2)
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
And if they continue to not believe they will experience the 2nd death.
8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)
15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15)
Good works or religion can’t give you eternal life, only faith in Jesus can.
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past (Romans 3:23-25)
According to the Bible, is Jesus the only way to eternal life?
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Eternal life is a relationship with Jesus Christ, the one true God, who rose from the dead.
I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. Revelation 1:18)
What is Tartarus?
regarded by the ancient Greeks as the abode of the wicked dead, where they suffer punishment for their evil deeds
the deepest abyss of Hades
to incarcerate in eternal torment:—cast down to hell
For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell (Tartarus) and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly (2 Peter 2:4-6)
Tartarus is a place that God reserved for the angels to be tormented.
1 Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. 2 And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. (Revelation 9:1-2)
11 And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon (Destruction), but in Greek he has the name Apollyon (Destroyer). (Revelation 9:11)
It’s also the same place that a group of demons begged Jesus not to send them.
31 And they (the demons) begged Him (Jesus) that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. (Luke 8:31)
Jesus will punish unbelievers.
8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9)
29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:29)
God has reserved for the unbelievers and ungodly “the blackness of darkness forever” (Jude 1:13)
Additional Notes:
Direct Quotes from Jesus about Gehenna:
But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. (Matthew 5:22)
If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. (Matthew 5:29)
“And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. (Matthew 5:30)
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. (Matthew 23:15)
“Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? (Matthew 23:33)
