Hell and the Day of Judgment
The Bible's Teachings About Punishment of the Wicked
Many people believe that when a wicked person dies, he goes straight to hell where he is punished forever by the devil. If that is the case, then many people must be suffering in hell even now and will continue to burn throughout the ages. As a result of this teaching, many people have developed a hatred for God.
Many questions arise from the teaching that hell is a place of eternal punishment and damnation. What happens to good people who don’t believe in God? Do they deserve to suffer forever, as well? If God is love, how can He permit endless suffering? How can heaven be bliss, if the redeemed who have gone there are conscious of an ever-burning hell where some of their lost loved ones are being tortured by the devil forever? And if hell is a place of eternal punishment of which the devil is in charge, is not the devil, then, at work for God?
What exactly does the Bible say about hell and punishment, anyway?
Day of judgment.
The Bible teaches that there is a coming day of judgment. “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.” (2 Peter 2:9). From this verse it’s apparent that the day of judgment is yet future. So it cannot be that punishment of sinners has begun already.
There is a day coming, however, when punishment will be meted out to the ungodly. John 12:48 says, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” The day of judgment here, is also called the “last day”. Punishment for sins not repented of will follow this last day of judgment.
Where the wicked go when they die.
So what happens to the wicked when they die, if they don’t immediately go to hell? The Bible says that the dead, righteous and wicked, rest in their graves until the day of judgment when Christ will call them forth to face the consequences of their deeds. “The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” Since the “last day”, the day of judgment, has not yet occurred, it is apparent that the dead await that day in their tombs.
