Is Punishment In Hell Eternal ?
           
There are some things that the Bible teaches that I absolutely love, such as how much God loves us.  There are other things that I actually wish were not there, but my study of Scripture has convinced me that, If I am going to be completely honest in how I handle Scripture, I have to believe it teaches that the lost will suffer eternal torment in Hell.

Those who would question the idea of eternal torment in Hell will often say that the words used to describe the duration of the torment do not exactly mean eternal.  And while this is true, that the Greek of New Testament times did not have and use a word exactly equivalent to our word eternal, the writers of the New Testament used the words available to them to describe both how long we will live with God and how long the ungodly will suffer in Hell. 

Matthew 25:46 says, “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”  The same words translated eternal are used to describe God in Romans 16:26 and the Holy Spirit in Hebrews 9:14.  2 Corinthians 4:17&18 helps us understand what the Greek words translated “eternal” really mean.  It says, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”Mark 9:48b “It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.”  Jude 13c “For whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.” 

Revelation 14:10b&11 “They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.  And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever.  There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”  All these passages indicate something that does not end.Perhaps the strongest indication that punishment in Hell is eternal is found in Revelation chapters 19&20.  In Revelation 19:20 we read that the beast and the false prophet (both human beings) “were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.” 

After that it says in Revelation 20:1-6 that Christ reigns for a thousand years.  During those thousand years Satan is locked up in the Abyss but Revelation 20:7 says, “When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison.”  After he makes a final attempt to defeat God we read in Revelation 20:10, “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown.  They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”  The word “they” includes the beast and the false prophet who have already been there for a thousand years.