The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

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Revelation 20:10 reads: “The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

In this verse, John describes Satan’s ultimate destination as “the lake of fire and sulfur.” In Matthew 25:41, Jesus calls it “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Jesus and the New Testament writers also describe this place as “outer darkness,” “eternal punishment,” and “the second death.” But there is an even more descriptive term for this place: gehenna, or hell. 

While the Hebrew sheol and the Greek hades generally depict the temporary abode of the dead, gehenna and its associated terms describe a place of everlasting future punishment, not only for Satan and evil spirits, but also for those whose names are not written in the book of life (Rev. 20:15).

The noun gehenna is derived from the Valley of Hinnom. Located southwest of Jerusalem, this steep, rocky valley is the scene of human sacrifices to pagan deities (2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chron. 28:3; 33:6). A particular part of the valley is called Tophet, which means “fire-stove,” where Israelite children are burned as offerings to the false gods Moloch and Baal. Jeremiah declares it the “Valley of Slaughter” (Jer. 7:31-34). To the Jewish mind, the images of fire and destruction become appropriate representations of the eventual fate of idol worshipers.

Jesus seizes rabbinic language connected with gehenna, such as “unquenchable fire” and “never-dying worms” (cf. Isa. 66:24), to impress upon his listeners that their choices in this life have everlasting consequences. In fact, of the twelve uses of gehenna in the New Testament, eleven come from the lips of the Messiah. The lone exception is James, who writes that the tongue “sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell (gehenna)” (Jas. 3:6).

It’s probable that Jesus uses gehenna on only four occasions: in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:22, 29, 30); in warning the disciples not to fear men (Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:5); in a discourse on relationships (Matt. 18:9; Mark 9:43, 45, 47); and in his denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 23:15, 33). Traditionally, these passages are understood to speak of final judgment, with Jesus using images from everyday life to warn about a place of everlasting punishment.

We should note that some commentators see Jesus speaking in more limited terms. Steve Gregg, in All You Want to Know About Hell, argues that Jesus may have used gehenna literally to warn first-century Jews that they are about to suffer fiery judgment at the hands of the Romans for their rejection of the Messiah – a judgment that falls hard on Jerusalem and its inhabitants in AD 70.

This is not to deny the existence of hell as a place of everlasting separation from God, since other texts speak of resurrection, final judgment, and fiery punishment for the wicked. But it is to encourage us to carefully consider the context of each passage of Scripture so we do not glean more from a text than is warranted.

It’s also important to understand who and what are cast into the lake of fire. The beast and the false prophet are tossed there (Rev. 19:20). So is Satan (Rev. 20:10), as is anyone whose name is not found written in the book of life (Rev. 20:15); this includes cowards, unbelievers, the vile, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars – meaning the unrepentant wicked (Rev. 21:8; cf. 1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:5). Ultimately, death and hades also are banished to hell, since there is no longer any need for physical death or a temporary spiritual existence in the underworld (Rev. 20:14). 

John describes Satan’s torment as enduring “day and night forever and ever.” This phrase may be considered metaphorically as “without intermission” or “unceasingly.” As surely as Christ’s kingdom is “forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15), so is the length of Satan’s punishment. The same divine fire that comes down from heaven in judgment of wicked people now engulfs the ultimate rebel (cf. 2 Kings 1:10, 12; Rev. 20:9).

The fires of hell devour, but do not annihilate, wicked humans and evil spirits. For unbelieving people, hell transforms the temporary consequences of sin, such as physical death and disembodiment in hades, into permanent and unalterable punishments such as the second death, darkness, and separation from the intimacy God offers all people through his Son’s finished work on the cross. 

As the apostle Paul writes, those who don’t know God and those who do not obey the gospel “pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence …” (2 Thess. 1:9). Perhaps this divine act of judgment is the first step in what Peter describes as God’s work of creating new heavens and a new earth. He first purges sin and its stain from the created order, and then restores the earth, skies, and outer space to their former pristine condition (2 Pet. 3:10-13; Rev. 21-22).

Next: Two Questions about Hell