Isa 66:24 is interesting.

Isaiah 66:24 “Then they will go forth and look On the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die And their fire will not be quenched; And they will be an abhorrence to all mankind.” (NASB1995)

Hell is obviously based on this and other verses intended to extend on into eternity. But it did not exist in eternity past but was apparently created after Satan’s fall. Created for the Devil and the fallen angels according to Jesus in Matt. 25:41. But it is also in this passage and others that we learn that hell is also for men.

Matthew 25:41 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: (KJV)

If we do any research about hell using Scripture we are led not only to the New Covenant version of hell, but to the old as seen in Sheol and the pit.

You can view some of the scripture searches on hell and the pit below:

Men can and do escape the pit of destruction and or hell, but there is only one way. That way is through the Lord’s death on the cross. David spoke of this One our savior in this way: “The Lord said to my Lord”, and Jesus quoted him as stating such:

Mark 12:36 For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. (KJV)

Jesus is the Lord from eternity past who came to save us and deliver us from the destruction of the pit, from hell itself.

What I want us to consider surrounding hell is this word often associated with it: “destruction”.

The Apostle Paul tells us: Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NASB1995)

Obviously Satan comes to steal from us many things, but his ultimate goal is to steal from us the gift that Jesus came and offered to every man: eternal life with Him in heaven. In that sense he pulls off the perfect destruction of man. Paul uses the word death associated with sin. Now I want you to consider what that means, by contemplating the definition of another word: “perish”.

Perish as you can see is used by Jesus in the following verse as well:

This same Greek word (g622) that is used in the verse that you just read to mean perish is translated destroy in the next verse.

There is no question that hell is an eternal place, but is it an eternal place for every man who is judged by God as having to pay for his own sin, because he has refused payment for such by Jesus. Sins payment took place on the cross but many in the coming judgment will have never heard?

Psalm 145:20 The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy. (KJV)

Eternity for hell is not in question, neither is it in question that the Devil and his angels as well as at least some men will dwell there for all eternity. But why then is destruction associated with hell? Are we told why? I think that we are.

Jesus was 12 when found by his parents in the Temple teaching; therefore most have concluded 12 to be the age of accountability. You as a judge are so much less likely to be a just Judge than is Jesus. He says that when He returns that He will judge every man for his works. Then at the great white throne judgment God is said to judge every sinner.

Is it possible that Hell has destruction attached to it for the purpose of God’s just sentencing?

So for a moment I want us to consider that our friends son was 12 yesterday, this morning after breakfast he was killed by a car on his way to school. He did not know Jesus. Can you honestly say that you expect God to place him in hell for eternity? These are serious questions that I ask, and I ask them because of what is stated in scripture.

Is it possible that this is the reason why God placed cherubims at the east guarding entrance by man to the tree of life? Was it that men would not eat of it and live forever?

Genesis 3:22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”– 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. (NASB1995)

Genesis 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (KJV)

Is it further possible that since man is mortal and that his immortality only comes to him to escape the pit through being in Christ, that God must judge a man individually to what may or may not be immortality in hell?

Example:

Revelation 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them; and they were judged, each one [of them] according to their deeds. (NASB2020)

I absolutely believe the scripture that God has created a hell to be eternal; however I’m not nearly as certain that he has already passed His sentences on every man alike who will go there: that they will live their for eternity. It seems that destruction would argue against that teaching. The just Judge would not likely judge our 12 year old to the same sentence as He would Hitler — not in severity and not in duration. Nor would He likely judge the man in the Congo who had never heard the same as He would you, who have heard of His love for you on many occasions and yet do not believe.