Once an unrepentant person dies, he is given no further opportunity for repentance. His fate in sealed. The Bible says, “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27).

Hell is eternal, and those who are confined there have no hope of escape. Speaking of the future condemnation of the unrighteous, Jesus said, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46, emphasis added). The punishment of the unrighteous in hell is just as much eternal as is eternal life for the righteous.

Similarly, Paul wrote:

For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you…when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power (2 Thes. 1:6-9, emphasis added).

Hell is a place of indescribable agony because it will be a never-ending punishment. Confined there forever, the unrighteous will bear their eternal guilt and suffer the wrath of God in an unquenchable fire.

Jesus described hell as a place of “outer darkness,” where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” and a place “where their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched” (Matt. 22:13; Mark 9:48). Oh, how we need to warn people of that place and tell them of the salvation provided only in Christ!

One particular denomination teaches the concept of purgatory, a place where believers will suffer for a time to be purged of their sins and thus be made worthy for heaven. This idea, however, is nowhere taught in the Bible.

Scripture also tells us that Jesus made a proclamation to a group of people, disembodied spirits, at some point in time between His death and resurrection. We read in 1 Peter 3:

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water (1 Pet. 3:18-20).

This passage of Scripture certainly raises some questions to which I don’t have answers. Why would Jesus make a proclamation specifically to some disobedient people who died during Noah’s flood? What did He tell them?

In any case, this scripture does seem to support the fact that Jesus did not spend the entire three days and nights from His death to His resurrection in Paradise.

The fourth word often translated hell in Scripture is the Greek word tartaros . It is only found once in the New Testament:

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell [tartaros] and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment (2 Pet. 2:4).

Tartaros is normally thought of as a special prison for certain angels who sinned; therefore, it is not Sheol/Hades or Gehenna. Jude also wrote of angels who are being detained:

And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day (Jude 6).

It is clear that the New Testament Greek word, Hades, refers to the same place as the Old Testament Hebrew word Sheol. For proof of this, all we need do is compare Psalm 16:10 with Acts 2:27 where it is quoted:

Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol; neither wilt Thou allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay (Ps. 16:10, emphasis added).

Because Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay (Acts 2:27, emphasis added).

This being so, it is interesting that in all ten instances where Hades is mentioned in the New Testament, it is always spoken of in a negative sense and often as a tormenting place where the wicked are incarcerated after death (see Matt. 11:23; 16:18; Luke 10:15; 16:23; Acts 2:27; 2:31; Rev. 1:18; 6:8; 20:13-14). Again, all of this indicates that Sheol/Hades was and is an after-death abode for the unrighteous, a place of torment. ^[1]

^[1] Some try to make a case by means of a few scriptures, such as Gen. 37:35, Job 14:13, Ps. 89:48, Eccl. 9:10 and Isa. 38:9-10, that Sheol was a place that the righteous also went after their deaths. The scriptural evidence for this idea is not very compelling. If Sheol was a place where both unrighteous and righteous went at death, then Sheol must have consisted of two separate compartments, one a hell and one a paradise, which is what is usually argued by the proponents of this idea.

What is heaven like? In our finite minds we could never fully grasp all of the glories that await us there, and the Bible gives us only a glimpse. The most exciting fact about heaven for believers is that we will see our Lord and Savior, Jesus, and God our Father face to face. We will live in “the Father’s house”:

In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:2-3).

When we get to heaven, many mysteries that our minds cannot currently comprehend will be understood. Paul wrote,

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I have been fully known (1 Cor. 13:12).

The book of Revelation gives us the best picture of what heaven is like. Described as a place of great activity, wonderful beauty, unlimited variation, and inexpressible joy, heaven won’t be a place where the people just sit around on clouds and strum harps all day!

John, who was once given a vision of heaven, first noticed the throne of God, the center of the universe:

Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. And around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns upon their heads. And from the throne proceed flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God; and before the throne there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. And the first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.” And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created” (Rev. 4:2-11).

John did his best to describe in earthly terms what can hardly be compared to anything on earth. Obviously, there is no way we are going to comprehend everything he saw until we see it ourselves. But it certainly makes for inspiring reading.

The most inspiring passages about heaven are found in Revelation chapters 21 and 22, where John described the New Jerusalem, which is presently in heaven but will come down to earth after the thousand-year reign of Christ:

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels….And the one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and its wall. And the city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal….And the material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass….And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. And the city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb…..And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. And on either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. And there shall no longer be any night; and they shall not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall illumine them; and they shall reign forever and ever” (Rev. 21:10-22:5).

Every follower of Jesus can look forward to all of these wonders, as long as he continues in the faith. No doubt, we’ll spend our first few days in heaven saying to one another, “Oh! So that’s what John was trying to describe in the book of Revelation!”

Let us further consider Psalm 16:10 and its quotation by Peter recorded in Acts 2:27, two verses that indicate that Sheol and Hades are the same place. According to Peter’s Pentecost sermon, David was not speaking in Psalm 16:10 of himself, but prophetically speaking of Christ, because David’s body, unlike Christ’s, did undergo decay (see Act 2:29-31). This being so, we realize that it was actually Jesus speaking to His Father in Psalm 16:10, declaring His belief that His Father would not abandon His soul to Sheol or allow His body to undergo decay.

Some interpret this declaration of Jesus as proof that His soul went to Sheol/Hades during the three days between His death and resurrection. That, however, is not actually implied. Note again exactly what Jesus said to His Father:

Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol ; neither wilt Thou allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay (Ps. 16:10)

Jesus was not saying to His Father, “I know that my soul will spend a few days in Sheol/Hades, but I believe You won’t abandon Me there.” Rather He was saying, “I believe that when I die I will not be treated like the unrighteous, my soul being abandoned to Sheol/Hades. I won’t even spend a minute there. No, I believe your plan is to resurrect Me in three days, and You won’t even allow My body to undergo decay.”

This interpretation is certainly warranted. When Jesus said, “Neither wilt Thou allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay,” we don’t interpret that to mean that Jesus’ body progressively decayed for three days until it was restored at His resurrection. Rather, we interpret it to mean that His body never went through any decay whatsoever from the time of His death to His resurrection.

Likewise, His statement that His soul would not be abandoned to Sheol/Hades does not need to be interpreted that He was left in Sheol/Hades for a few days but was ultimately not abandoned there. ^[1] Rather, it should be interpreted to mean that His soul would not be treated like an unrighteous soul that would be abandoned to Sheol/Hades. His soul would never spend a single minute there. Notice also that Jesus said, “Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol,” not, “Thou wilt not abandon my soul in Sheol.”

^[1] Those who do subscribe to this particular interpretation must then subscribe to one of two other theories. One is the theory that Sheol/Hades was the name for an after-death abode of the unrighteous and righteous that was divided into two compartments, a place of torment and a place of paradise to which Jesus went. The other theory is that Jesus endured the torments of the damned for three days and nights in the fires of Sheol/Hades as He suffered the full extent of the penalty of sin as our substitute. Both of these theories are difficult to prove from Scripture, and neither are necessary if Jesus never spent any time in Sheol/Hades and that is what His declaration actually means. In regard to the second theory, Jesus did not suffer the torments of the damned for three days and nights between His death and resurrection, because our redemption was purchased through His sufferings on the cross (see Col. 1:22), not through his alleged sufferings in Sheol/Hades.

Today when the bodies of the righteous die, their spirits/souls go immediately to heaven (see 2 Cor. 5:6-8; Phil. 1:21-23; 1 Thes. 4:14).

The unrighteous still go to Sheol/Hades where they are tormented and await the resurrection of their bodies, their final judgment, and their being cast into “the lake of fire,” a place that is different and separate from Sheol/Hades.

This lake of fire is described by a third word that is also sometimes translated hell , the Greek word Gehenna . This word was derived from the name of a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem in the valley of Hinnom, a rotting heap that was infested with worms and maggots, and part of which perpetually smoked and burned with fire.

When Jesus spoke of Gehenna, He spoke of it as a place where people would be cast bodily. For example, He said in Matthew’s gospel:

And if your right hand makes you stumble, cut if off, and throw it from you; for it is better for you that one of the parts of your body perish, than for your whole body to go into hell [Gehenna]….And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [Gehenna] (Matt. 5:30, 10:28, emphasis added).

Gehenna and Hades couldn’t be the same place because Scripture says that the unrighteous are sent to Hades as disembodied spirits/souls. It is only after the thousand-year reign of Christ when the bodies of the unrighteous will be resurrected and stand judgment before God that they will then be cast into the lake of fire , or Ghenna (see Rev. 20:5, 11-15). Moreover, one day Hades itself will be cast into that lake of fire (see Rev. 20:14), so it must be a different place than the lake of fire.

The primary purpose of fasting is to gain the benefits provided through spending extra time praying and seeking the Lord. There is hardly a reference to fasting in the Bible that does not also contain a reference to prayer, leading us to believe that it is pointless to fast without praying.^[1] Both references to fasting in the book of Acts, for example, mention praying. In the first case (see Acts 13:1-3), the prophets and teachers in Antioch were simply “ministering to the Lord and fasting.” As they did, they received prophetic revelation, and consequently sent Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. In the second case, Paul and Barnabas were appointing elders over new churches in Galatia. We read,

When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed (Acts 14:23).

Perhaps in this second case, Paul and Barnabas were following Jesus’ example, as He prayed all night long before choosing the twelve (see Luke 6:12). Important decisions, such as appointing spiritual leaders, need to be prayed about until one is certain he has the leading of the Lord, and fasting could give more time for prayer to that end. If the New Testament commends temporary abstinence from sexual relations between marriage partners in order to increase devotion to prayer (see 1 Cor. 7:5), then we could easily understand how temporary abstinence from eating could serve the same purpose.^[2]

Thus when we need to pray for God’s direction for important spiritual decisions, fasting lends itself to that end. Prayers for many other needs can be made in a relatively short time. We don’t need to fast, for example, in order to pray the Lord’s Prayer. Prayers for guidance take longer because of our difficulty in “discerning God’s voice in our hearts,” as God’s voice often competes with any wrong desires or motivations, or lack of devotion that may be within us. Gaining assurance in guidance can require an extended period of prayer, and that is one instance where fasting is beneficial.

Of course, just spending any time in prayer for any good purpose could hardly be considered anything but spiritually beneficial. For that reason, we should consider fasting to be a wonderful means towards spiritual strength and effectiveness—as long as our fasting is coupled with prayer. We read in the book of Acts that the early apostles were devoted “to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). Surely that reveals to us at least part of the secret for their spiritual power and effectiveness.

^[1] I have fasted for as many as seven days without any spiritual benefit whatsoever, for the simple reason that I had no spiritual purpose and did not spend any extra time in prayer.

^[2] The King James Version of 1 Corinthians 7:5 commends the mutual consent of husbands and wives to abstain from sexual relations in order that they might devote themselves to “fasting and prayer.” Most modern English translations of this verse do not mention fasting, but only mention prayer.

Now that we have established some scriptural reason for fasting under the New Covenant, we should also consider some unscriptural reasons for fasting.

Some people fast hoping that it will increase the chance of God answering their prayer requests. Jesus, however, told us that the primary means to answered prayer is faith, not fasting (see Matt. 21:22). Fasting is not a means to “twist God’s arm,” or a way of saying to Him, “You better answer my prayer or I will starve myself to death!” That is not a biblical fast—that is a hunger strike! Remember that David fasted and prayed for several days for his sick baby by Bathsheba to live, but the baby died because God was disciplining David. Fasting didn’t change his situation. David was not praying in faith because he had no promise on which to stand. In fact, he was praying and fasting contrary to God’s will, as evidenced by the outcome.

Fasting is not a prerequisite to having a revival. There is no example of anyone in the New Testament fasting for a revival. Rather, the apostles simply obeyed Jesus by preaching the gospel. If a city was unresponsive, they obeyed Jesus again, sweeping the dust off of their feet and journeying to the next city (see Luke 9:5; Acts 13:49-51). They didn’t stay around and fast, trying to “break spiritual strongholds,” waiting for a revival. This being said, however, I must add that fasting coupled with prayer can certainly benefit those who minister the gospel, making them more effective agents of revival. Many of the spiritual giants of whom we can read in church history were men and women who made a habit of prayer and fasting.

Fasting is not a means of “putting the flesh under,” as the desire to eat is a legitimate and non-sinful desire, unlike the obvious “desires of the flesh” listed in Galatians 5:19-21. On the other hand, fasting is an exercise in self-control, and the same virtue is needed to walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh.

Fasting for the purpose of proving one’s spirituality or advertising one’s devotion to God is a waste of time and an indication of hypocrisy. This was the reason why the Pharisees fasted, and Jesus condemned them for it (see Matt. 6:16; 23:5).

Some people fast to get victory over Satan. But that is unscriptural. Scripture promises that if we resist Satan by faith in God’s Word, then he will flee from us (see Jas. 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8-9). Fasting is not necessary.

But did not Jesus say that some demons can only be cast out by means of “prayer and fasting”?

That statement was made in reference to getting someone delivered from a certain kind of demon that possessed him, not in reference to a believer who needed to gain victory over Satan’s personal attacks against him, something to which all believers are subject.

But does not Jesus’ statement indicate that we can gain a greater authority over demons by fasting?

Remember that when Jesus’ heard a report that His disciples had failed to deliver a certain boy from a demon, the first thing He did was lament their lack of faith (see Matt. 17:17). When His disciples asked Him why they had failed, He replied that it was because of the littleness of their faith (see Matt. 17:20). He may also have added as a footnote, “But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matt. 17:21). I say He may have added those words as a footnote because there is some evidence that particular statement may not have actually been included in Matthew’s original Gospel. A note in the margin of my Bible (the New American Standard Version, a highly-respected English version) indicates that many of the original manuscripts of Matthew’s Gospel do not contain this particular statement, which means it is possible that Jesus never said, “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” English speakers have the benefit of having scores of different Bible translations in their language, whereas many Bible translations in other languages were translated, not from the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, but from the King James Version of the Bible, a translation that is now over four-hundred years old.

In Mark’s account of the same incident, Jesus is recorded as saying, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer” (Mark 9:29), and it is noted in the margin of the New American Standard Bible that many manuscripts add “and fasting” to the end of the verse.

If Jesus actually did say those words, we would still be wrong to conclude that fasting is necessary for one to successfully cast out all demons. If Jesus gives someone authority over demons, as He did His twelve disciples (see Matt. 10:1), then he has it, and fasting can’t increase one’s authority. Fasting, of course, could give one more time to pray, thereby increasing spiritual sensitivity and perhaps his faith in his God-given authority.

Also keep in mind that if Jesus did actually make the statement under consideration, it was only in reference to one kind of demon. Although Jesus’ disciples once failed to cast out one particular kind of demon, they successfully cast out many other demons (see Luke 10:17).

All of this is to say that we don’t need to fast to gain personal victory over Satan’s attacks against us.

Some Christians have unfortunately made a religion out of fasting, giving it the dominant place in their Christian life. There is, however, not a single reference to fasting in the New Testament epistles.^[1] There are no instructions given to believers on how or when to fast. There is no encouragement given to fast. This shows us that fasting is not a major aspect of following Jesus.

In the Old Testament, fasting is mentioned more often. It was most often associated with either times of mourning, such as in connection with someone’s death or a time of repentance, or with fervent prayer during times of national or personal crises (see Judg. 20:24-28; 1 Sam. 1:7-8; 7:1-6; 31:11-13; 2 Sam. 1:12; 12:15-23; 1 Kin. 21:20-29; 2 Chron. 20:1-3; Ezra 8:21-23; 10:1-6; Neh. 1:1-4; 9:1-2; Est. 4:1-3, 15-17; Ps. 35:13-14; 69:10; Is. 58:1-7; Dan. 6:16-18; 9:1-3; Joel 1:13-14; 2:12-17; Jonah 3:4-10; Zech. 7:4-5). These, I believe, remain valid reasons for fasting today.

The Old Testament also teaches that devotion to fasting at the neglect of obedience to more important commandments, such as caring for the poor, is unbalanced (see Is. 58:1-12; Zech. 7:1-14).

Jesus certainly cannot be accused of overly promoting fasting. He was accused by the Pharisees of not practicing it (see Matt. 9:14-15). He chided them for placing it above more important spiritual matters (see Matt. 23:23; Luke 18:9-12).

On the other hand, Jesus did speak of fasting to His followers during His Sermon on the Mount. He instructed them to fast for the right reasons, indicating that He anticipated His followers would fast at times. He also promised them that God would reward them for their fasting. He Himself practiced fasting to some extent (see Matt. 17:21). And He said that the time would come when His disciples would fast, when He was taken from them (see Luke 5:34-35).

^[1] The only exception would be Paul’s mentioning of fasting by married couples in 1 Cor. 7:5, but among English translations of the Bible this is found only in the King James Version. Involuntary fasting is mentioned Acts 27:21, 33-34, 1 Cor. 4:11 and 2 Cor. 6:5; 11:27. These were fasts done not for spiritual purposes however, but only because of trying circumstances or because no food was available to eat.