the description of hell

Here is a few;
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

—Daniel 12:2
Matthew 5:22
22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

—Matthew 5:22
Matthew 10:28
28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

—Matthew 10:28
Mark 9:43-45
43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell.

—Mark 9:44
Luke 16:19-26
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’

—Luke 16:19-26
2 Thessalonians 1:9
9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

—2 Thessalonians 1:9
Revelation 20:9-15
9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Judgment Before the Great White Throne
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

—Revelation 20:9-15

 

In the bible there is a form of writings known as apocalyptical literature. This is writings that usually refer to catastrophic events that cannot be placed into accurate language. I think the hell and heaven are like that way. That is why John describing heaven has to use familiar language to portray what he sees, such as 'streets of pearl'. Heaven may not actually contain streets of pearl, it could just be John groping to explain something. The same thing can be said of saying heaven is both flame and darkness.

 

While the Bible is as broadly descriptive about Hell as some people would like it is clear that Hell is eternal, tormenting, and for those who never accept Jesus Christ.

Lots of Christian perceptions of Hell have grown from Dante's work The Inferno which has vivid langauge that is not awfully coherent of a biblical view. That said we do know Hell is separation from God for eternity. That should be tortorous enough.

 

Not to those who end up there.

 

Hardly! That would be a blessing to the lost. The very thing that they want is to be away from God. That is why they deny Him in this life. The fact is that hell is torment and such that the mind cannot even imagine.

 

Corndoggy is correct when he observes that the NT speaks of Hell as though one already knows about it. Some of the descriptions of it apparently arose during the intertestamental period and were common to all Jews in the first century. Scripture does not tell us when those descriptions arose. But it is clear that the Lord affirmed those very ideas in his own statements about Hell.

We may expect that the descriptions of Heaven and Hell are figurative, but at the same time we must remember that God does not give us pictures in order to mislead us. He gives us pictures in order to make things clear to us. This being the case, one will get the most accurate picture of Hell which a human may achieve when he thinks of Hell just as the Bible describes it: eternal fiery torment. When we veer off into our own imaginations, we err.

 

Yes. Being utterly outside of God's protection for eternity will be pure hell. Do not think, however, that there will be tormenters there, delighting in torturing hell's occupant. Occupant. Singular. No crowds. No one to "share" your pain. In hell one is utterly alone, with no hope. Only utter anguish. One will not be able to think of what might have been, or what might become. No awareness of past and future. The only awareness is that of being utterly alone, paralyzed, unable to move, in agony. Forever. Imagine yourself in the middle of the Sahara Desert, the lower half of your body buried in sand, the upper half exposed to the relentless sun, which never "goes down." But you aren't aware of the desert or the sun. You are just aware of the pain. Time doesn't pass anymore. Therefore, it is impossible even to scream. Even if you could, no one would hear. Ever. That's eternity in hell, utterly outside of God's protection.

Lord, make me a witness to someone today. John 14:6, John 3:16-17, Romans 10:8-13. Prepare the way for me to share those precious Words with someone today.

 

John, in Revelation, employs figurative language in describing the church, the endtimes, the Tribulation, eternity. He creates word-pictures for his readers.

I employed figurative language based upon my interpretation of Bible passages describing the horrors of eternal separation from God.

I'll never know if I got it right.

raying: <-----Thank you, Lord!

 

Actually you will.

Isaiah 66:24

 

Which is found in the New Heavens and New Earth:

Isa 66:22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.