What does it mean that hell is eternal separation from God?

The Lake of Fire is called the Second Death (Rev. 20:14; 21:8). The first death is separation of the body from the soul and spirit which never die (James 2:26). The second death is the eternal separation of the entire person from God (2 Thess. 1:8-10) in hell (Gk: Gehenna) (Matt. 5:21-30; Mark 9:43-49) where the fire of judgment is not quenched and the worm of conscience does not die. There are no friends there: each person is isolated as wandering stars (comets) in the blackness of darkness forever (Jude 13), under God's eternal wrath (John 3:36; Rev. 20:10). It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:31).

The judgment will not only have the character of vengeance, which might be expressed in temporal judgments, but it will also be eternal. Eternal separation from the Lord; eternal separation from the source of love and light and glory and power.

As to the first, we read of those “dead in trespasses and sins” when body and soul were both alive together on this earth. Death in the sense of the second needs no comment, save to say it does not mean ceasing to exist, as we have abundantly proved. The third way in which the term is used is plain, “And death and hell [hades] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” (Rev. 20:4). The second death is an abiding eternal existence of misery. We speak of “a living death,” and the meaning is plain. Here the meaning is equally plain: “second death” means everlasting conscious existence under the wrath of God—eternal separation from God, which must mean misery and torment, for all true blessing and joy consist in our right relation to God.

Now let us come more directly to the question, Is the punishment of the lost everlasting? If the wrath of God abides on the unbeliever, as Scripture states, there must be the unbeliever for it to abide on. There can be no getting out of the plain meaning of these words. If the unbeliever is annihilated the wrath of God cannot abide on what does not exist.

As to the first, we read of those “dead in trespasses and sins” when body and soul were both alive together on this earth. Death in the sense of the second needs no comment, save to say it does not mean ceasing to exist, as we have abundantly proved. The third way in which the term is used is plain. “And death and hell [hades] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” (Rev. 20:14). The second death is an abiding, eternal existence of misery. We speak of “a living death,” and the meaning is plain. Here the meaning is equally plain: “second death” means everlasting, conscious existence under the wrath of God—eternal separation from God, which must mean misery and torment, for all true blessing and joy consist in our right relation to God.

The terrible import of verse 8 is apparent. It stands in contrast to the victors in verse 7, and in both verses we are carried outside the bounds of time and into the endless expanse of eternity. There is that confined region, burning with the holy judgment of God, which will be the second death to those that are cast there. The first death is not annihilation. If it were, there could be no second. It is dissolution of soul and body. The second death will be the complete and absolute dissolution of every link that connects with God; complete severance from all that is summed up in the words, life and light and love. There will be existence but not life in the full and proper sense of the word.

Death is judgment, but not "the judgment." For this, the "resurrection of judgment" must have come in, — judgment claiming for this the body as well as the spirit — the whole man, in short. And here, that separation from God, chosen by the soul itself, becomes manifest in its true horror, and its definitive portion forever. This is the "outer darkness," when God the light of life is withdrawn forever.

Moreover, this awesome punishment is eternal destruction. How can words more dreadfully describe the horror of such judgment than is briefly done here: "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power?" This is not annihilation but "destruction," as a vessel broken and unfitted for its original purpose, for something destroyed does not cease to exist, but exists in a form of no value.

But more awful is the fact of banishment "from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power." One who has known Christ can conceive of no greater misery than to be without Him for eternity. Here is the Fountain of all truth and goodness, righteousness, grace, kindness, compassion, love, and peace. Without Him none of this is known nor can be known. What stark, unmitigated anguish to be forever banished from the pure light and glory of His presence! "From the glory of His power (or might)" would speak of no participation in that sphere of blessing where His might is operative for the great good of His people.

Notice also that there can be no worse fate than to be consigned to eternal ruin away from the presence of the Lord. We saw in considering the first Epistle that to live together with the Lord is the very height of bliss. The converse holds true. There can be nothing worse than to be banished for ever from the presence of the One who is the Fountain-head of life and light and love.

But the gospel! the sweet glad tidings of God, so divinely suited to all man's need, and with its revelation of the incomparable God of our Lord Jesus Christ, made known in the depths of His nature by the love-gift of His Son — what must be the consequence, answering to the revelation of the depths of man's own heart in it, of his disobedience to the gospel? Men, says the apostle, who shall suffer the judgment of everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might. It is not any materialistic annihilation that is declared or implied in this. Banishment from the presence of that glory which he has turned his back upon and despised, — hardening himself into a final, awful incapacity for it, — what is it but the "destruction" of one made at the first in the image of God, — and for communion with Him?

Death and hades are said to be cast into the Lake of Fire, indicating that there will be no more separating of the soul and spirit from the body. The second resurrection has ended these conditions. Yet consignment to the Lake of Fire is called “the second death.” It is not a physical separation of the spirit from the body, but a most solemn separation of the entire person from God, and as verse 10 has shown, it means “torment day and night forever and ever.”