What does hell look like? How hot is hell?

The Valley of Hinnom, the refuse dump outside Jerusalem, where fires always burned and maggots continually did their work, was known as Gehenna; and this word on the Lord's lips became a terribly apt figure of the abode of the lost. Verily hell will be the great refuse heap of eternity, where all that is incorrigibly evil will be segregated from the good, and lie for ever under the judgment of God. This terrible fact reaches us from the lips of Him who loved sinful men and wept over them.

The third picture given is that of the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:12; Matt. 22:13; Matt. 25:30; 2 Peter 2:17; Jude 13). This picture too is taken from the earthly reality. Inside the banquet hall there is joy and light, but outside it is night and those who are there do not share in the joy of those inside. This picture depicts the sharp contrast with the atmosphere of joy and light in the house of the Lord, in His kingdom. For this is the banquet hall where the wedding feast is held and where fellowship with God is enjoyed, who is light and in whom is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). The unbelievers have been removed from this realm of light and love. Just like the foolish virgins, they are out in the darkness, faced by a closed door (Matt. 25:10 ff.), and just like Judas, they have gone out into the night (John 13:30). They are separated from God forever and live on in darkness, far from His kindly face. In this place of outer darkness there is not even one ray of light to be seen and there is neither hope nor expectation anymore. There is only an impenetrable darkness. It is a place of weeping, of eternal grief. There is also gnashing of teeth. This may refer not only to remorse, but also to anger; an eternal rebellion against God. Weeping and gnashing of teeth are certainly characteristics both of the outer darkness and of the furnace of fire (Matt. 13:42, 50). This clearly indicates that the two pictures, that of the fire as well as that of the darkness, are about the same terrifying reality.

There are several names used for this: “the furnace of fire” (Matt. 13:42, 50; cf.Rev.9:2), “everlasting fire” (Matt 18:8), “hell, … the fire unquenchable” (Mark 9:43). The everlasting fire of hell (Gehenna), the lake of fire, is prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41; cf. Rev.20:10). The fact that it will not only be angels but also people who will be cast into this unquenchable fire — eternally in the company of the fallen prince of angels — will be because, during their life here on earth, they didn't turn away from the prince and god of this age who blinded their minds (2 Cor.4:4).

This first picture describes how the godless will be tortured by the everlasting fire of judgment. Fire is a symbol of the wrath of God, who is called “a consuming fire” and the “everlasting burnings” (Deut. 4:24; Deut. 9:3; Isa. 33:14; Heb. 12:29). It is questionable, though, whether we should be thinking here of the personal attribute of God, rather than its outward expression that will strike the godless through all eternity. Indeed, are we able to imagine the “lake of fire”? This is also called “the lake of fire and brimstone”, which perhaps suggests that this picture is partially derived from the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, when God rained down brimstone and fire out of the heavens (Gen. 19:24 ff.; cf. also the word “furnace” in verse 28).

What does Scripture say concerning the nature of eternal punishment? Christians who take the Bible seriously believe in the everlasting nature of eternal punishment. However awful it may sound, punishment in hell is without end. The Bible also clearly outlines the characteristics of eternal punishment. Those who advocate the doctrine of Universalism detract from the meaning of eternal punishment as regards both its length and content. They state, for example: “It is not literal punishment about which Scripture teaches. Rather it describes hell simply in a metaphorical sense, since it uses words such as fire, worm and darkness, which are only images and should not be taken literally. Where there is fire, there cannot be darkness at the same time”. Nevertheless, Scripture speaks of three things to bring the nature of eternal punishment before us: unquenchable fire, the worm that does not die and outer darkness . We will consider each of these characteristics in turn.

And so when we come to look at the details. There is no doubt that annihilation has been helped in many minds by the tendency to take literally the expressions used in Scripture to image to us the awful realities of eternal punishment. A "lake burning with fire and brimstone," if taken literally, would suggest to many the idea of utter extermination of the bodies at least of those cast into it. But how should the devil, a spirit, be tormented there? And what was the "flame" which tormented the spirit of the rich man in hades? The truth is, these are figures, which Scripture itself explains, where over and over again God's wrath is compared to fire. Thus, in the Lord's solemn words in Mark 9:48, the worm that dieth not is the gnawing of awakened conscience: who will suppose a literal undying worm? And so the fire that is not quenched is as surely that wrath of God which "abideth on" the wicked.

But the death he dies is not the death of Sadducean materialism, but one in which the sinner abides under the judgment to which it has consigned him. It is a condition of darkness — outer darkness — for God has finally and forever withdrawn Himself. It is torment in the flame of necessary anger against sin. These are the elements of a judgment which will not be altered in character, when in the resurrection of judgment the dead stand before the great white throne to receive the discriminate awards of the day of manifestation.

The eternal torment of the lost. "He that believeth not shall be damned," and "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him," are words of the God of truth which must have their fulfilment. Not to "enter in at the strait gate" for salvation, is not to believe in that Saviour whom God hath sent, but to be a "worker of iniquity," living in rebellion against the God of love and peace. "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." They will have the consciousness that others are saved, but themselves for ever lost; they will know that others are for ever happy through the redemption-work of Christ, and they themselves cast into the lake of fire, into everlasting punishment; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. How powerful were the Saviour's appeals! How simple, yet how thrilling, were the reasons He assigned why persons should "strive to enter in at the strait gate!"

Fire is the constant emblem of wrath and judgment, not of an arbitrary character, but that which is necessary and essential. All life is based upon heat, and all heat is in its last analysis a form of fire. "Our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29). Fire speaks of intense energy, of which God is the only source. As fire, it must burn up all that does not abide its test. Thus God must consume in judgment all that is opposed to His righteous and perfect will. Of this there will be eternal witness in the "lake of fire," where His wrath will necessarily burn against those who have made it necessary for that wrath thus to act.

— “His kingdom became darkened.” No doubt there is here an allusion to Exodus 10:21-23. There, however, the darkness was physical, here it is moral. It is difficult to realise in any conceivable degree the horror of such a doom. One main characteristic of the misery endured in the eternal abode of suffering, the lake of fire, is darkness and blackness (Matt. 25:30). That darkness is here foreshadowed with its accompanying consequences. “They gnawed their tongues with distress.” “This is the only expression of the kind that we have in all the Word of God, and it indicates the most intense and excruciating agony.”*

Although the rich man was separated from God for ever, he was still able to see. What was the nature of this “sight”? Did he simply see the brilliance of the heavenly reality from out of his surrounding darkness? This may be a point of difference between the interim state (the state of the deceased between death and resurrection) and the eternal state, as well as with the difference between Hades (the underworld) and Gehenna (hell). Gehenna, the ultimate place of torment, is without doubt the place of outer darkness. From there, any communication with the heavenly reality, a glorious reality of light and life, will be impossible.