Where and When Will Hell Burn?

Contrary to some popular conceptions, God doesn’t have a fire burning now in some place termed “hell” where sinners go at death. Hell happens when this earth is turned into a lake of fire (2 Peter 3:9-13). The wicked don’t somehow plummet into hell at the moment of death. God waits to carry out His sentence on the day of final judgment at the end of the 1,000 years (Revelation 20:9-15).

“The Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment until the day of judgment.”
—2 Peter 2:9, margin.

He also subjects our planet to the purifying fire.

“The present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for THE DAY OF JUDGMENT and destruction of ungodly men.”
—2 Peter 3:7.

God never planned for any human being to end his or her life in the fires of hell. But when people refuse to break with Satan and hold on to their sins, they must finally receive the consequences of their choices.

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS.’”
—Matthew 25:41.