Many think that one by one, billions of souls will be brought before the throne of God.  There, judgment will be passed on each individual.  Some will be rewarded with heavenly bliss, and others will be condemned to eternal torment 'in a fiery hell'.  However, the Bible paints quite a different picture of this period of time.  God’s Word portrays it, not as a terrifying time, but as a time of hope and restoration.

At Revelation 20:11, 12, we read the apostle John’s description of Judgment Day:  “I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it.  From before him the earth and the heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.  And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened.  But another scroll was opened; it is the scroll of life.  The dead were judged out of those things written in the scrolls according to their deeds.”

 Who is the Judge described here?

Jehovah God is the ultimate Judge of mankind.  However,  he delegates the actual work of judging.  According to Acts 17:31, the apostle Paul said that God “has set a day on which he purposes to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.”  This appointed Judge is the resurrected Son of God, Jesus Christ. (John 5:22)  

When, though, does Judgment Day begin?  How long does it last?

The book of Revelation shows that Judgment Day begins after the war of Armageddon, when Satan’s system on earth will be destroyed. a (Revelation 16:14, 16; 19:19–20:3) 

After Armageddon, Satan and his demons will be imprisoned in an abyss for a thousand years (millennial).  During that time, the 144,000 heavenly joint heirs with Christ will be judges and will rule “as kings with the Christ for 1,000 years.” (Revelation 14:1-3; 20:1-4; Romans 8:17) 

Judgment Day is not some hurried event lasting a mere 24 hours.  It lasts a thousand years.

During that thousand-year period, Jesus Christ will “judge the living and the dead.” (2 Timothy 4:1) “The living” will be the “great crowd” that survives Armageddon. (Revelation 7:9-17) 

The apostle John also saw “the dead . . . standing before the throne” of judgment.  As Jesus promised, “those in the memorial tombs will hear [Christ’s] voice and come out” by means of a resurrection. (John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15) 

But on what basis will all be judged?

According to the apostle John’s vision, “scrolls were opened,” and “the dead were judged out of those things written in the scrolls according to their deeds.” (Revelation 20:12) 

Are these scrolls the record of people’s past deeds?  No, the judgment will not focus on what people did before they died.  

How do we know that?  The Bible says: “The one who has died has been acquitted from his sin.” (Romans 6:7)  Those resurrected thus come to life with a clean slate, so to speak.  The scrolls must therefore represent God’s further requirements.  To live forever, both Armageddon survivors and  resurrected ones will have to obey God’s commandments, including whatever new requirements Jehovah might reveal during the thousand years.  

Thus, individuals will be judged on the basis of what they do during Judgment Day.

Judgment Day (the 1,000 year reign of Christ) will give billions of people their first opportunity to learn about God’s will and to conform to it.  This means that a large-scale educational work will take place.  Indeed, ‘the inhabitants of the land will learn about righteousness.’ (Isaiah 26:9)  However, not all will be willing to conform to God’s will.  Isaiah 26:10 says: “Even if the wicked is shown favor, he will not learn righteousness.  Even in the land of uprightness he will act wickedly, and he will not see the majesty of Jehovah.”  These wicked ones will be put to death permanently during Judgment Day.​—Isaiah 65:20.

By the end of Judgment Day, surviving humans will have “come to life” fully as perfect humans. (Revelation 20:5)  Judgment Day will thus see the restoration of mankind to its original perfect state. (1 Corinthians 15:24-28)  Then a final test will take place.  Satan will be released from his imprisonment and allowed to try to mislead mankind one last time. (Revelation 20:3, 7-10)  Those who resist him will enjoy the complete fulfillment of the Bible’s promise: “The righteous will possess the earth, and they will live forever on it.” (Psalm 37:29) 

Yes, Judgment Day will be a blessing to all faithful mankind!

Question; Why then do so many Christians believe that God created a hell for unbelievers to suffer eternally in pain and anguish?

Answer; Various religions mistranslated the original Bible words (Hebrew, “Sheol”; Greek, “Hades”) which basically refer to “the Grave,” that is, the common grave of mankind. The Bible shows that people in “the Grave” are in a state of nonexistence. 

Various older English Bible translations, such as the King James Version, use the word “hell” in some verses (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:27a) and many people then believe that hell is a place of eternal fire and torment where the wicked are punished.  

          But is that what the Bible teaches? 

• The dead are unconscious and so cannot feel pain.  “Neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge, shall be in hell” (the grave)  (Ecclesiastes 9:10, Douay-Rheims Version) 
• Hell is not filled with sounds of pain. Instead, the Bible says:  “Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave [hell, Douay-Rheims].”—Psalm 31:17; King James Version (30:18, Douay-Rheims); Psalm 115:17.

• God has set death, not torment in a fiery hell, as the penalty for sin.  God told the first man, Adam, that the penalty for breaking God’s law would be death. (Genesis 2:17)  God said nothing about eternal torment in hell.  Later, after Adam sinned, God told him what his punishment would be: “Dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19)  He would pass out of existence.  If God were actually sending Adam to a fiery hell, He surely would have mentioned it.  God has not changed the punishment for defying his laws.  Long after Adam sinned, God inspired a Bible writer to say: “The wages sin pays is death.” (Romans 6:23)  No further penalty is justified, because “the one who has died has been acquitted from his sin.”—Romans 6:7.

• The idea of eternal torment is repugnant to God. (Jeremiah 32:35) Such an idea is contrary to the Bible’s teaching that “God is love.” (1 John 4:8)  God desires an wants us to worship Him out of love, not fear of eternal torment.—Matthew 22:36-38.

• Good people went to hell.  The Bibles that use the word “hell” indicate that faithful men, such as Jacob and Job, expected to go to hell. (Genesis 37:35; Job 14:13)  Even Jesus Christ is spoken of as being in hell between the time of his death and his resurrection. (Acts 2:31, 32)  Obviously, then, when the word “hell” is used in these Bibles, it simply refers to the Grave. b

This parable was used by Jesus and recorded at Luke 16:19-31.  Parables are illustrations that teach moral or spiritual truths.  The parable of the rich man and Lazarus was not a real-life account. (Matthew 13:34)  To learn more about this parable, see the article “Who Were the Rich Man and Lazarus?”

No.  The doctrine that the dead can be aware of being separated from God contradicts the Bible, which clearly teaches that the dead are not conscious of anything.—Psalm 146:3, 4; Ecclesiastes 9:5.

Yes.  The Bible provides detailed accounts of nine people who went to the Grave (translated as “hell” in some Bibles) and were brought back to life by resurrection. c   If they had been aware of their surroundings in hell, they would have been able to speak about that from personal experience.  Significantly, though, no one resurrected ever mentioned being in torment or experiencing anything at all.  The reason?  As the Bible consistently teaches, they had been unconscious, as if in a deep “sleep.”—John 11:11-14; 1 Corinthians 15:3-6.

a  Most modern English translations do not use the word “hell” in Acts 2:27. Rather, some use expressions such as “the grave,” (New Century Version); “the realm of the dead,” (New International Version); “the dead” (The Passion Translation).  Others simply transliterate the Greek word as “Hades.”​—Holman Christian Standard Bible, NET Bible, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version.

b See the box “Original-Language Bible Words.”

c See 1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 4:32-37; 13:20, 21; Matthew 28:5, 6; Luke 7:11-17; 8:40-56; John 11:38-44; Acts 9:36-42; Acts 20:7-12.

Job 14:13:  “O that in the Grave [“hell,” Douay-Rheims Version] you would conceal me, . . . that you would set a time limit for me and remember me!”

Meaning: The faithful man Job knew that hell (the Grave) would bring him relief from his pain and that God could restore him to life from there.

Psalm 145:20:  “Jehovah guards all those who love him, but all the wicked he will annihilate.”

Meaning:  God will annihilate, or permanently destroy, the wicked.  He will not keep them alive in hell in order to torment them.

Ecclesiastes 9:10:  “There is no work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave [“hell,” Douay-Rheims Version], where you are going.”

Meaning:  Those in the Grave, (or hell), are unconscious and cannot suffer. Moreover, those to whom the Bible writer addressed his words of wisdom obviously also included good people.  "The soul that sins will die"  Ezekiel 18:4 

Acts 2:31: “He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell.”—King James Version.

Meaning: Jesus Christ went to 'hell' (the Grave) when he died (not a place of eternal torment), to be resurrected to eternal life because He had no sin.

Romans 6:23:  “The wages sin pays is death.”

Meaning: Death (ceasing to exist), not torment in hell, is the full penalty for sin.

Revelation 20:13:  “Death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them.”—King James Version.

Meaning:  Those in 'hell' (the grave) are dead.  They will be brought back to life by means of the resurrection.

Revelation 20:14:  “Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.”—King James Version.

Meaning:  After being emptied by means of the resurrection, hell (the Grave) will be destroyed forever, as if by fire.  Thereafter, death resulting from Adam’s sin will be no more.​—Romans 5:12.

As the following list shows, Bible translators have created confusion by using the word “hell” for original-language words with different meanings.  In some cases, it seems that they wanted to promote the idea that the wicked will be eternally tormented, not destroyed.

• Sheol (Hebrew שְׁאוֹל), Hades (Greek ᾅδης)
  Meaning:  Common grave of mankind.—Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:31
  Renderings:  Grave, hell, pit (King James Version); realm of the dead (New International Version)
• Gehenna (Greek γέεννα)
  Meaning:  Eternal destruction.—Matthew 5:30
  Renderings: Gehenna; hell (King James Version, New International Version)
• Tartarus (Greek ταρταρόω)
  Meaning:  Abased condition of the demons, who are wicked spirit creatures.—2 Peter 2:4
  Renderings: Tartarus; hell (King James Version, New International Version); lower hell (Douay-Rheims Version)
• Apoleia (Greek ἀπώλεια)
  Meaning: Destruction.—Matthew 7:13
  Renderings: Destruction; hell (Good News Bible)
• Pyr (Greek πῦρ)
  Meaning: Fire, literally or figuratively.—Luke 17:29; Jude 23
  Renderings: Fire; fire of hell (God’s Word Translation)
• 
  

Pagan origin:  The ancient Egyptians believed in a fiery hell.  The funerary text Book Ȧm-Ṭuat (Amduat), which historians date back to the 16th century B.C.E., describes those who “shall be cast down headlong into the pits of fire; and . . . shall not be able to flee from the flames.”—The Egyptian Heaven and Hell.

Not taught by the earliest 1st century Christians:  “It is noteworthy that in the N[ew] T[estament] we do not find hell fire to be a part of the [early Christian] preaching.”—A Dictionary of Christian Theology.

Greek philosophy crept in:  “From the middle of the 2nd century [C.E.] Christians who had some training in Greek philosophy began to feel the need to express their faith in its terms . . . The philosophy that suited them best was Platonism [the teachings of Plato].” (Encyclopædia Britannica)  That philosophy included belief in fiery torment after death.  “Of all classical Greek philosophers, the one who has had the greatest influence on traditional views of Hell is Plato.”—Histoire des enfers (The History of Hell).

Hellfire was used to justify torture:  During the time period commonly referred to as the Spanish Inquisition, those convicted of heresy and burned at the stake were said to be given “a taste of what perpetual hellfire would be like,” supposedly in hopes that they would repent before dying. (The Spanish Inquisition, by Jean Plaidy)  Similarly, Queen Mary I of England burned some 300 Protestants at the stake, reportedly believing that “as the souls of heretics are afterwards to be eternally burning in hell, there could be nothing more proper than to imitate the divine vengeance, by burning them on earth.”—Universal History, by Alexander Tytler.

Modern changes:  Some denominations have softened their teaching about hell, apparently based more on a desire to please their members than to reject a false teaching. (2 Timothy 4:3)  “People want a God who’s warm and fuzzy . . . It’s counter to the culture of today to talk about sin and guilt.”—Professor Jackson W. Carroll.

We hope the above information will help us all in correctly understanding that God never created a place of eternal fire torment for unbelievers, but in reality God provided the way for all human beings to be reconciled to Himself by the one-time sacrifice of the Son of His love, Jesus, and by receiving Him we would be given the gift of eternal live to live eternally on paradise earth.

"but as many as received him (Jesus), to them gave He [the] right to be children of God, to those that believe on His name;"  John 1:12

"The righteous shall possess the land (the earth), and dwell therein for ever."     Psalm 37:29 

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea exists no more." Revelation 21:1

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