Awesome Truths and Amazing Facts
Richard Vaughn

Today: “Hell. Are people there and is it burning now?” Part 2
In Part 1 we learned that no one is in hellfire today and that the hell fire comes at the end of the world. Also that the wicked will be destroyed and be no more. 
Now let’s see what the Bible has to say about when and how hellfire will start. Revelation 20:9 “And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” And in Proverbs 11:31 “Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.”
What we have just read in these two verses is at the end of this present world, God Himself will kindle the fire. As the holy city New Jerusalem comes down on earth, (Revelation 21:2), the wicked have been raised in the second resurrection following the millennium, and they make an attempt to capture the city. At that time God will rain down fire from heaven upon the earth, and it will devour the wicked. This fire is the Bible hellfire.
Now let’s see what the Bible has to say about the scope and intensity of the hellfire. 
2 Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” Hellfire will cover the earth and the atmospheric heaven will explode, burn and pass away with a great noise and all the works therein will melt with extreme heat. 
The question arises, “How long will the wicked suffer in the fire?” The Bible is silent as to how long the wicked will be punished, but it does indicate some will receive greater punishment than others, based upon their works. In Matthew 16:27 it reads “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” And in Luke 12:47,48 “And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.”
So the next question would be, “Will the fire eventually go out?” Isaiah 47:14 reads, “Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.” After a fire has done its work, there is only stubble and ashes. This verse indicates the there won’t even be a hot coal left. The fire goes completely out. So the wicked have been recompensed in the earth. The righteous will also be recompensed as we read in Revelation 21:1,4 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” The Bible is so clear on this point, as all the former things are passed away. Hell and the wicked being included in the former things, and that is God’s promise in His word.
Friends, God is no torturer. If God tortured His enemies throughout eternity, He would be more vicious and heartless than men have ever been in the worst of war atrocities. An eternal hell of torment would be hell for God also, who loves even the vilest sinner.
What is left after the fire goes out? Malachi 4:1,3 “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.” This verse does not say the fire will burn them like asbestos as many believe, rather like stubble, which will be burned up. The little word “up” denotes completion.  
Psalm 37:10,20 says the wicked will go up in smoke and be completely destroyed. It reads, “For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.”
We will continue this subject in our next article. 
Next Week: “Hell. Are people there and is it burning now?” Part 3