The purpose of this post is to expose a very sacred cow of the Christian community.  Most believe when an incorrigibly wicked human dies; those who have chosen not to receive salvation offered through the blood atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ will spend eternity being tortured in “hell.” 

It is believed these wicked humans will spend eternity in a never-ending state of being tormented and punished.  It is widely taught that God created man with an eternal spirit that cannot die.   But what does the written Word of God have to say about this? What does God say about the wicked and their punishment? 

Please Make Note:  Today’s topic is NOT about fallen angels. We are only speaking about human beings here.

A good place to start is in Genesis 1:26-27, when God created man.  Genesis 2:7 says,

“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” 

 The Hebrew word translated as “soul” is “nephesh.”  Nephesh is the same Hebrew word used and translated as “creature” in Genesis 1:24, “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.”  The word “nephesh” is used to describe all living beings that breathe – mankind and animals.

 I am going to take a minute to touch on a term we are all familiar with: “body, soul, and spirit.” 

The word “body” can be a very wide term and include: an animal, human, or another life form outside this 3-dimensional realm.  But this word translated “soul” is a life form which has the breath of life, breathing air, and can refer to mankind or animal.  But the Bible also speaks of man having a “spirit.”

And there is only one verse in the Bible that names the three components that make up a human being together in one verse:  body, soul, and spirit are mentioned together in 1 Thess. 5:23, which says,  

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The original Greek word translated “spirit” is “pneuma,” and springs from the Hebrew word “ruach.” Pneuma (the Greek), and Ruach (the Hebrew), mean the same thing, and have a broad range of usuage, including: spirit, wind, breath, inner life, and used to refer to the human spirit, the Holy Spirit, or even demonic spirits.  It means “breath of life,” air in motion.  In this verse, the word spirit is referring to the entire individual.  Remember, Paul was speaking to followers of Jesus Christ who are born again believers.  They have a body (their earth suit), they have a soul (the breath of life), and they have a spirit (the spirit of man), which differentiates from the animal kingdom.  And the group Paul was speaking to also had the Spirit of God.

What everyone needs to realize is that translators often interchange the word “soul” and the word “spirit,” especially when speaking of the “spirit of man.”

Now Hebrews 4:12 speaks of the soul and spirit, making distinction between the two: 

“For the Word of god is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit…”

Here the word “soul” is referring to the life force – living and breathing – in Hebrew – Nephesh.  And the word translated as “spirit” is Ruach – “spirit of man.”  But there is also the “Spirit” of God.  Normally, when speaking of God’s Holy Spirit, it is capitalized like in the following verse:

Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”

Here the word Spirit is capitalized when referring to God’s Spirit, and the spirit of man is not.  Another example in Proverbs 20:27 says,

“The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inwards parts of the belly.” 

God uses the spirit of man to search him, to woo him to salvation, to communicate with him, and if man chooses life – to unite with him. 

To summarize before proceeding:  We have a body (earth suite).  That body houses our soul (nephesh – life force).  We have a human spirit, which sets us apart from the animal kingdom.  It is like a blueprint of your individual personality, your mind, will, and emotions.  And as pointed out, the spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inwards parts of the belly.

The spirit of man apart from being impregnated with the Holy Spirit of God is NOT IMMORTAL.  Now, this is contrary to what is taught in most churches and what you will see all over the internet. 

The human soul and spirit without the Holy Spirit of God is subject to death.

Romans 8:9-11 says,

“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Many scriptures touch on this topic of life and death, and each of us need to do our own homework.  I will only quote the “clenchers;” scriptures that put the nail in the coffin so to speak. 

What did Jesus say about “hell?”

Jesus said in Matthew 25:41,

“Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”  

Jesus plainly tells us Hell was created for the devil and his angels – not for mankind.

Jesus told His followers, “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:  but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28). 

This time the word translated as “soul” is “psuchen,” which refers to the principle-life force of a person, and here Jesus says to fear God who is the only One able to destroy that life.

The word translated as “hell” is the word “Gehenna.”  Gehenna was used by Jesus to describe the final place of punishment.  In Jesus’ day, Gehanna, or the valley of Hinnom, as it was also called, was a valley outside Jerusalem. It was a garbage dump where the fires were continually kept burning to consume garbage and corpses thrown in.  The fires were never quenched (as they say), but were kept burning at all times 24/7, in order to completely consume whatever was thrown into the fire – general trash and the corpses of those not deemed worthy of proper burial, like criminals and such.  I doubt it a coincidence Jesus used this place of Gehenna to describe the fate of the wicked, which they routinely threw into the flames after executions.

But that is why words and terms such as: unquenchable fire, eternal fire, or where their worm dies not.  Worms completely consume a corpse.  Those deceived out there use terms like this to “prove” the wicked will live forever in such torment – after the Great White Throne Judgment. 

Malachi speaks of a day coming (see ‘The Last Great Day’) when the wicked shall be ashes under the soles of the feet of the Saints.

Malachi 4:1,3, “For, behold, the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yes, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, that it will leave them neither root nor branch.  And you shall trample down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I will do this, says the LORD of hosts.”

This will consume and leave neither the root nor branch of the wicked. 

It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment. 

2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 says,

“In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power…”

Are we hearing what is said here?  The wicked shall be punished with everlasting destruction!

“The soul that sins, it shall die.” Ezekiel 18:20

Where are the wicked right now?  We are talking about their ultimate destruction – the second death described in Revelation 20, which we will get to in a second.  We all have heard stories of this or that person that had a near death experience, or were taken to see hell in a dream or vision, etc.,  There are tons of these stories.  First, it says in Hebrews 9:27,

“It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment.” 

Okay, where are they until that judgment, after they die the first time – before the final judgment day in Revelation 20?

Ecclesiastes 12:7 says, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit (lower case) shall return unto God who gave it.” 

Where does God keep them?   Many places in the Old Testament speak of the righteous being “gathered unto their fathers – or Abraham’s bosom.”  But Jesus seemed to further define it with the parable of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16:19-31, 

“But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.  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. And being in torments in Hades (sheol), he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom… 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.’ 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.  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.’

So, the body returns to dust, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.  So, both the righteous and the wicked go SOMEWHERE – interim waiting – or a holding tank for the spirits of the wicked seems to be a place of torment.

Just think of it.  Final judgment has not been declared.  Their blueprint is still on file. They have not been destroyed!  All those stories we have heard about hell have some merit until final judgment is rendered.

Now, let us look at what is described as the second death. 

The Great White Throne Judgment:  I recommend to read that post for much more detail, but in Revelation 20:11-15, it says,

“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

This is the final fate of the wicked that choose not life through Jesus Christ.

But where did this false narrative about man living eternally in a state of sin begin? 

First, we need to look at what God originally told Adam and Eve about their choice.  The two trees:  Genesis 2:16-17, says,

“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it:  for in the day you eat of it – YOU SHALL SURELY DIE.”

And then the serpent questioned Eve about it in chapter 3:1-4, Let’s read:

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.”  Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.”

There you have it!  That is where the lie originated – the serpent in the garden.  He contradicted God.  God said in the day you eat of it you will surely die.  The devil said, you will not die!

And after God drove Adam and Eve from the Garden, He put Cherubim with flaming swords to guard the entrance, lest they take also of the tree of life AND LIVE FOREVER!  Read it – verses 22-24.

“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Sin earns us the death-penalty, Eternal life is offered as a gift to us – only through Jesus Christ. 

The truth was well known and understood by the Israelites and early church fathers.  But in about the early 2^nd century forward, the tide began to change. And when the Catholic church came to power, it quickly led the masses into the false doctrine of God casting the wicked into an eternity of being tortured in “hell.” 

Much persecution came against those who would speak against the narrative being presented by the enemy.  This was about controlling the masses. 

The serpent’s narrative of, “You shall not surely die,” came to be preached from the pulpits of mainstream Christianity.   

Why is this important?  We are told to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them (Ephesians 5:11).  We are also told in 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11, “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  And for this cause God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” So, we must have a love for the truth in order to not be deceived in the days ahead. 

The Word of God also says there will be nothing hidden that will not be revealed (Luke 8:17), and this is the season knowledge will be increased (Daniel 12:9-10).

More will soon be shared regarding this topic.

Please take all presented here before the Lord for confirmation and additional revelation.  Let us all study to show ourselves approved, and be those good Bereans, who study to see if what has been spoken today is so.

Emphasis added mine

Related Posts: 

Genesis of Cain

The Last Great Day