"Fire and Brimstone" are Metaphors (Figures of Speech)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This phrase of "fire and brimstone" that can never be quenched is used so frequently, you can't dismiss it. What this metaphor implies is far more serious than you or I have any conception of.
Satan will be cast into the pit for 1000 years then let out for a short while thereafter to show he will never repent. The fire will still be going at that time, so amazing, he does not repent, even though he was burning for a thousand years. This is proof that those who go to hell, truly belong there. If you are not saved you will be in a fire that never consumes. It is a very different experience.
Hell will be greater than all the weak and feeble metaphors which human language can provide.
How else can we characterize the ultimate alienation from God outside the limitations of time and space? We don't have any capacity to imagine that. All we have are metaphors to get across.
Let's examine the report of the one true expert...
The Lazarus and the Rich Man initially you may think it is a parable, but the more you read it, you realize it is real event. Parables don't have specific names of people who lived.
Luk 16:19 Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, faring sumptuously every day: Luk 16:20 and a certain beggar named Lazarus was laid at his gate, full of sores, Luk 16:21 and desiring to be fed with the [crumbs] that fell from the rich man's table; yea, even the dogs come and licked his sores. Luk 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and that he was carried away by the angels into Abraham's bosom: and the rich man also died, and was buried.
Luk 16:23 And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Luk 16:24 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 in anguish in this flame. Luk 16:25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things: but now here he is comforted and thou art in anguish.
The Rich Man can see Abraham and Lazarus and there is this idiom of flame.
Luk 16:26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that they that would pass from hence to you may not be able, and that none may cross over from thence to us. Luk 16:27 And he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house; Luk 16:28 for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
In no way is the Rich Man saying this is unjust or complaining that this is unfair. He's just acknowledging he is in torment. The rich man understands that if his brothers repent, they can avoid this destiny. He knows its permanent.
Luk 16:29 But Abraham saith, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. Luk 16:30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one go to them from the dead, they will repent. Luk 16:31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, if one rise from the dead.
Interestingly, there was another Lazarus that was raised later from the dead by Jesus to further prove the point; even still, that did not convince many people as prophesied here.
Also, sending them a witness, and if they still do not believe, that will increase their punishment. The withholding of that is a form of mercy.
From Matthew 13 on Jesus speaks in parables because in so hearing they will not understand. By speaking in parables it lessons their punishment for not believing. The punishment in hell will be different for each person who gets there. It is elliptically an act of mercy.
