Len's answer. -- Of necessity I am afraid this answer is a bit lengthy.
HELL
We are told only a little (that is; what is necessary for us to know) about Heaven & Hell in the Bible.
We must remember here that the Scriptures were written in the language of the people of the day. Words had to be used that the people were capable of understanding. What good would it have been in Moses day to speak of atoms, aircraft, computers, D.N.A. etc. They could not have understood such concepts. Nor could they understand the concept of different dimensions. So God had the prophets speak of Heaven as a place above the clouds and Hell as a place beneath or at the centre of the Earth. The fact is; they are spiritual dimensions. Heaven is easier for us to comprehend, probably because the thought of it is more pleasant. We know it to be the place of God’s throne, the dwelling place of God and His angels. We must at this point remember that God is an Omni-present Spirit.
Psalm 139;7-12,reads;
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven,You are there;
If I make my bed in hell,(Sheol)
behold,You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
If I say,“Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed,the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
We see from the above that God is everywhere. He cannot be restricted to any one place or time. Though God is in heaven all the time, He is also everywhere else all the time. So we cannot think of Heaven or Hell as being fixed to any sort of geographical location. They are in a spiritual realm or dimension.
So let us look at the subject of Hell.
Unfortunately the translators of the K.J.V. translated a number of different words as Hell, some of which had different meanings. This problem has carried over to the N.K.J.V. and has caused considerable confusion and misunderstanding.
They are;
From the Hebrew Old Testament ‘
Sheol’ & from the Greek New Testament ‘
Hades’. Both mean literally, ‘The unseen world’ or ‘The Chamber’ or ‘Abode of the dead’. It is the place of disembodied spirits. However the K.J.V. has translated Sheol 31 times as Hell, 31 times as Grave and 3 times as Pit. Whereas Pit can be a suitable word for Sheol, it should never be translated as Grave. The grave is a totally different place to Sheol.
The Hebrew word
Qeber and the Greek word
Mnēmeion are the words for grave, sepulchre, tomb or equivalent and as it happens whenever Qeber or Mnēmeion appear in the K.J.V. & the N.K.J.V. they have been correctly translated, except in the N.K.J.V. in Prov.1:12., ‘grave’ has been wrongly translated as ‘Sheol’.
Gehenna- A name that Jesus Himself gave to symbolise ‘
The Lake of Fire’,which is mentioned again in Revelation. This word appears 12 times in the New Testament, all but one of which was uttered by Jesus Himself. Jesus took the name from the rubbish tip “Ge-Hinnom” just outside Jerusalem which was continuously kept burning, for He saw it as a fitting way to describe the Eternal Lake Of Fire mentioned in other places, such as Mat 13:42,50,and Mat.25:41,46.Rev.19:20,&20:10,14,15. Aside from Jas.3:6,
all other references to Gehenna were by the Lord Himself.
The word ‘
Abyss’ used on its own in Luke 8:31& Rom.10:7 refers to‘Sheol’.
The phrase‘
Deepest Abyss’,translated as‘
Bottomless Pit’, in the K.J.&N.K.J.V. refers to a temporary prison for the worst of the fallen angels, within a separated section of Sheol. - Also referred to as’,‘
The pit or Shaft of the Abyss’, or‘
Tartarus’. 2 Pet 2:4 Also mentioned in Rev.9:1,2,11.,11:7.,17:8.&20:1,3,where it has been translated as‘bottomless pit’.
It is that deepest, darkest part of Sheol/Hades that is reserved for the worst of the fallen angels.
It is an area that is separated from all other spirits.
Sheol- has been correctly translated as such in the following 18 occurrences in the N.K.J.V.
2 Sa 22:6/Job 11:8/Job 17:16/Job 26:6/Ps 16:10/Ps 18:5/Ps 86:13/Ps 116:3/Isa 5:14/
Isa 14:11/Isa 14:15/Isa 28:15/Isa 28:18/Isa 38:10/Isa 38:18/Isa 57:9/Jonah 2:2
Heart of the earth in Matt.12:40 and
Lower parts of the earth in Ephe.4:9 are also references to Sheol.
Grave- has been wrongly translated as ‘Sheol’ in Prov.1:12. of the N.K.J.V.
Hades- is correctly translated as such in the following 11 occurrences in the N.K.J.V.
Mat 11:23&16:18/Lk 10:15&16:23/Acts 2:27&2:31/1 Cor 15:55/Rev 1:18&6:8/
Rev 20:13,14 Hades is the Greek word closest in meaning to the Hebrew ‘Sheol’, (The New Testament was first written in Greek).
Gehenna- on each of its 12 occurrences has always been translated as Hell.
Furnace of Fire- Mat.13:42,50, is another name for Gehenna.
Everlasting Fire&Eternal Punishment– Mat.25:41,46, are also other names for Gehenna.
If you take the trouble to mark all of these in your Bible, you will gain a clearer understanding as you read it.
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The dimensions known as Sheol/Hades had three divisions.
Paradise or Abraham’s Bosom. For those who worshipped/served God. (Luke 16:22), where the saved waited for Jesus resurrection. Paradise was moved from Sheol to Heaven after Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. (Luke 23:43./Eph.4:8-10./Rev.2:7./Psm.68:18.)
Torments. For those who rejected God and His authority. A temporary holding place (Like a Remand Prison). There to be held till the final judgement. (Luke 16:23).
Deepest Abyss or Pit, Is reserved for Fallen angels who were guilty of great sin.
(Jude 6&2 Pet.2:4.)
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There are a number of verses which show an awareness of the spiritual realm by those in Sheol/Hades, but there are other verses such as Eccl.9:5,6&10., which show that there is no knowledge of what is happening amongst the living i.e. (under the sun). For those in Sheol their knowledge is limited to what goes on in their part of the spiritual realm and an obvious tormenting awareness of judgement to come. There is some degree of torment for the unsaved in Sheol but to what degree and whether it’s a mental type or in some way a material type we cannot be sure. The certainty is that whatever the torment, it is nothing compared to what awaits them in the Lake of Fire (Gehenna). When people today speak of Hell, the place most have in mind is Gehenna.
There is ample proof to show that the Bible writers and Jesus Christ believed in a literal Hell.
We need to look carefully at the words found in Mat.25:41,46 and Mark 9:47,48.