WHY DID GOD MAKE HELL?

More than one word in the original manuscripts of the New Testament have been translated as “Hell” Three of them are Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna. Sheol and Hades both refer to the place of the dead, or where we go when we die before the day of judgment. The other word is Gehenna, and it refers to the final destination after the judgment. The Catholic teaching of Purgatory is not found or described in the Bible at all. Once people have died, they cannot return to this world until God raises them up for their judgment and to be sent to their final destination, whether that be Heaven or Hell. Once a person dies, he is beyond anything that we can do. He is there to wait for the judgment. This is made quite clear in the account of Lazarus and the rich man found in Luke 16:19-31. Scripture does not call this a parable. It reads:

“There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores. And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died and was buried: And in hell (Hades) he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And 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 place. But Abraham said Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father that thou wouldst send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren: that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses, and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”

“There was.” This is not a parable, this is fact. This was before the judgment. The rich man was in a place where he could not reach or be reached by his brothers who were still living. He was in a place where he could see Abraham and Lazarus and that where they were was that was not at all like where he was. He could not go there, nor could they come to him. There was a great gulf between them. The former beggar had no shortage of anything where he was. This was Hades or Sheol, here translated as hell.

In Revelation 20:11-15, on the other hand, we read of a completely different place. This is a prophesy of the judgment and following.

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that 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, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire,” (Gehenna is translated here “lake of fire”)

Chapter 21 tells us about the destination of those who are written in the book of life.

At this point the Rich man would be judged according to his works, and whether his name is in the book of life. This would be the same book that is referred to in Acts 2:47, “And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” Those who lived before the establishment of the church would have already been added; to them would be added those who repented of their sins and were baptized in obedience to His command, the key to the church and heaven used by Peter, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Now let us come back to the question, “Why did God make hell?”

2 Peter 1-5. “Put there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that brought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.”

One could go on, but God created the fires of hell for the false prophets, false teachers, and the angels that sinned by rejecting Him to follow Satan. Gehenna was created as a final place for all that is evil, and of course all who reject truth for lies, and follow Satan the father of liars.

Christ said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” God loved mankind and made a way for all mankind to come to be with him eternally.