A short distance south of Jerusalem, a deep ravine cuts across the landscape. During the reigns of Ahaz and Manasseh, this valley was used as a place of unthinkably evil worship. Here followers of Molech dropped their children into the red-hot arms of an immense brass idol. They sang and danced to drown out the anguished cries as their little ones burned to death. The Hebrews called the place the Valley of Hinnom. In Greek, the name of the area is translated as Gehenna.
At the time of Christ's earthly life, the Jews used the valley as a place to dump their waste and filth. Into it were cast dead carcasses, as well as the corpses of outcasts and criminals. The air was thick and putrid. Fires burned eerily day and night. The stain of smoke never disappeared from the sky, and the fires never went out.
The Valley of Hinnom provides a vivid example of damnation and hell. “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). Christ’s listeners could easily envision an intolerably horrible place where one would burn forever. Eternal punishment after the Judgment is an established truth in the Bible.
It could easily be argued that the majority of people in our culture no longer believe in a biblical Hell. We can see this by simply examining the casual way it is used in everyday speech. We don’t hear people using the term “concentration camp” in such a relaxed manner. That’s because if one understands the history of concentration camps, a rational person with any sort of conscience would never refer to them with any sort of passive irreverence due to the disturbing nature of what happened in them during the Nazi regime.
Christians must recover the biblical view of Hell. This is important for two reasons; First, that in rightfully understanding this doctrine, we might more effectively purify our lives before God. And secondly, we would be more apt to warn people not to enter this most dreadful place. To that end, what follows are some basic questions and answers meant to unpack the biblical doctrine of Hell.
