Where Is Hell?

Some Christian children are taught that hell is a place located deep within the earth where the wicked burn forever, beginning the moment they die. Others teach that hell is located somewhere in the far reaches of the universe. Which one is true?

This is another area where the Bible leaves nothing to doubt.

Revelation chapter 20 says that a thousand years after the saints are resurrected, the wicked will be released from their graves. “They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them” (Revelation 20:9).

According to the Bible, the lost are then burned “on the breadth of the earth.”

One of the great promises of the Bible to His people on the earth is that we can “look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).

Just as God cleansed the earth in the days of Noah, He will cleanse the earth again at the end of the world, this time with fire. As in Noah’s day, sinners will again receive their recompense, and once more it will happen “on the breadth of the earth.”

God’s plan is to recreate this sin-marred earth and return it to its original Edenic splendor. The earth will be transformed into what the Bible calls a “lake of fire” (Revelation 20:10). Every last vestige of sin will be burned up, and the curse will be obliterated.