The Eternal Prison Called Hell Is Empty – Part 2 of 7

Hello and welcome to Social Media Ministries. My name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you so much for tuning in today. This is part two of a great sermon series that I am calling “The Resurrection, Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory.”

Now last week we spoke about Hell. It is a place you do not want to go. If you have not watched it, please do so here on this card. Of course, you can watch this sermon first, but get back and check out that one as well because it is an excellent sermon where we dive deep into what Hell is and where it is in the Bible.

It has been talked about many times. We said the word “Hell” is not mentioned, but several other translations are Sheol, Gehenna, Hades, and Tartarus. We are going to talk a little bit about that today, because guess what, we are talking about the fact that Hell is empty.

They say, “Wait a minute, I thought last week you talked about Hell and you said that if people do not believe in Jesus that is where they are going?” Yes, but again we have different levels of Hell.

Now you say, “Oh no, that is not right.” Yes we do, there are different places as we alluded to last week.

We are going to get to it eventually, but we have different spots. When the believers died in the Old Testament they did not go right to Heaven, they went to a place called Abraham’s bosom or paradise. The thief on the cross next to Jesus, Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” That is paradise.

Now then that Jesus died He ferried all the saints into Heaven so if you die or if I die if you are a believer in Jesus Christ we go straight to Heaven we do not have to go to that middle ground, in the same way, there is a spot about Hell people would go to the realm of the dead where they are waiting for their impending doom their judgment.

When Jesus or their God comes back and judges the rest of everybody and sends them into the deep dark pit the abyss as mentioned in Revelation seals it all up over them they stay there for 1000 years and then that is where we have the 1000 years reign and and it is just pure bliss heaven on Earth then bam we go into Heaven.

They are let out to wreak their final reign of terror on the Earth, and then God destroys it all. And then, they get sent back into Hell forever. But right now, that place is just there in waiting, so these people are right now in the realm of the dead. And they have a glimpse of what they are going to experience, and they are in Hell right now, believe me, they are in Gehenna.

They are in the worst place; they are where worms are eating their flesh, they have heightened pain, they are burning, they are on fire, agony, pure agony, no hope. They have all of the regrets playing through their head, the lost hopes, all the dreams.

Everything they could have done, all their missed opportunities, is constantly being brought up. Yes, it is pure torture, it is horrible, it is Hell right now. But this is normally called “Hades” or the realm of the dead.

And I think that they even have a chance to see where they are going after this, which is even worse. And so they are like, “Oh my goodness!” Not only are they being tortured and tormented here, but they have no hope of getting to where they want to go, which is Heaven.

Right now, they might even be able to see the different spots. When we know the story of “The Rich Man and Lazarus,” he could see where he was. He said, “Father Abraham, please have Lazarus just put some water on his finger to cool the tip of my tongue.”

That is how much agony he was in in the realm of the dead. Now that was when they were in Abraham’s bosom, or the place there. So if they could see from there to there, that was like, let’s say the two middle-ground areas: we have Heaven, we have Hell, we have Paradise, we have Hades.

If they could see from here to here, and he could…now that this paradise is gone, can they see from here to Heaven, on what they could have had, and also their impending doom? I am not sure if they could see to Heaven now, but we know for a fact that they are in a horrible place, and they are about to go to an even worse place.

So the point is, save everyone you can from Hell, tell them about Jesus. But Hell was made as a prison, so right now it is empty because they have not…we have not had the final day of judgment yet. How do we know? Because we are still here on Earth.

We are not during the 1000 years of heaven on Earth, we are not in the 1000-year reign. How do we know? Because there is still pain and suffering and murder and sin going on. When that is gone, when we have a perfect world, that is [when] the thousand-year reign is here, we will…we will have Jesus, [He] will be here, we will see him in the sky, it will be like Megatron TVs.

I mean, it is going to be amazing. And so right now we know that they have not had their final day of judgment yet, so they are waiting to get into that final place of Hell. Right now, that place is empty.

Now you say in our limited English language, “It is all Hell,” so it can be very confusing. But if we use the original terms, Sheol is the pit or the grave. Then we have Gehenna or Hades, which is this place of fire. I would argue that that is where they are now.

Gehenna was a literal place and it is, you could look it up, it still exists, it is just no longer a trash dump, a place of burning bodies and stuff like that. But Gehenna when Jesus would talk about it, that is what He was referring to. He is like, hey this is an example.

It would be like me telling you, “Hey you do not want to go to the DMV or whatever because that place will take you forever, but you want to go to the one over here because they are usually a little better,” kind of like that.

What am I talking about? 100 years from now that building might not be there, no one will know what I am talking about. So that is what Jesus was saying. He was using a literal place, referencing it.

Right now these people are locked up in the first spot. Gehenna, Hades, the realm of the dead. Then we have Tartarus which was mentioned once in the New Testament, that is the eternal lake of fire, the abyss, where they are going to be locked up. That is what is reserved for all of those who rebelled against God.

Remember you are a spiritual being, you are a literal spirit, you are a higher being that is right now in an Earthly body. So what goes to Hell, if it is reserved for angels and spirits that rebelled against God? Can you go to Hell?

Yes, because you are a spiritual being. Now it might not be your body that is in Hell, it will be your spirit and you might have a new body in Hell or this body might be in Hell with you, we do not know. But yes we can go to Hell because we are not human, we are spirits inside a human form. It is very very fascinating.

Hell was made as a prison to lock up Satan and his angels on the day of judgment. Let’s dive into some scripture. We talked about a couple of them last week. Let’s start with Matthew 25:41. It says, “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.’”

So the eternal fire was prepared for the devil and his angels. There was nothing, no word there, it just said eternal fire. Now this could be Tartarus. How do we know? Let’s go to 2 Peter 2:4. It says, “For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but sent them to Tartarus.”

Or Hell depending on your translation, “Putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment.” God did not spare them when they sinned. He is saving them. They are being put into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment. So where are they now?

They are in a gloomy dungeon being held for judgment until they get sent to the eternal lake of fire. Tartarus is this horrible place. Let’s go to Revelation 20:10. Now we also have Revelation 20:3 which talks about it a little bit, so we are going to read them both.

Revelation 20:3, we talked about last week. It says, “He threw him into the abyss, locked and sealed over him to keep them from deceiving the nations anymore until the 1000 years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.”

So that is into the abyss, Hell. Right now they are not there, they are waiting to go into that final day of judgment, then they are going to get locked up for a thousand years and then released and then locked up again.

What is going on? Where are they now? Well, they are in the realm of the dead. They are in Hades, Gehenna, and Sheol, whatever translation you want to use, it is still Hell. But in English with our limited vocabulary, it would be like a level of Hell. Right now they are in level one.

Then they are going to go to the worst Hell, a better Hell, and a worse Hell, or in some translations and modern terms people call it “Purgatory.” There is a good purgatory and a bad purgatory. Right now they are in the bad one. Eventually, on the day of judgment, they will go into their final resting place, Hell.

There could be a lot of confusion there, but now you kind of see where we get all these terms. It is Biblically based; it was just an error in translation with what they are doing with it. Right now, they are all in Hell Stage One, and eventually, they are going to get locked up in Hell Stage Two.

Let’s go to Revelation 20:10. It says, “And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

They are somewhere now being held for the final day of judgment – a place of pure torture and agony, but it is not real Hell. Hell is empty right now. We are waiting. They are in Hades, let’s call it. They are in Gehenna, the realm of the dead being tortured day and night like we talked about last week. Eventually,

God is going to come back and judge, and they will be thrown into their eternal place where it is even worse – pretty hard to believe that it could be any worse. They are not there now, though. Why? The spirits and the demons are not there yet.

Wait a minute. Now Hell is a place reserved for the angels and the demons that rebelled against God, but they are not in Hades right now? Who is in Hades? That is us, spirits, anyone who is here on Earth who did not believe in Jesus and died; their spirit is in Hades, this realm of the dead.

They are waiting to get locked up in the abyss with all of the fallen angels and Satan and his demons that are rebelling against God. Why aren’t Satan and his demons in Hades right now? Because they are here on Earth.

They are here trying to lead as many people astray as possible, getting them locked up in a holding cell to go to the final prison. This is very, very bad. This is a diabolical scheme. It is very demonic; stay with me. Satan and his demons and his angels are here on Earth. Yes, they are here on Earth.

If there is someone that says, “Oh, I am a psychic or I am a medium or I can talk to spirits or I am a sorcerer, I use black magic or I am a practicer of witchcraft or sorcery or astrology or horoscopes,” guess who they are talking to?

They are talking to Satan and his demons that are still here on Earth. If there is someone who says, “I can talk to your dead grandfather,” guess what, they are not talking to your dead grandfather; they are talking to a demon that is taking the place of your dead grandfather.

How does the demon know? The demons know a lot about us. The demons could pose as anyone. They can speak and take the form of anyone. They could be walking around in human form; we would not recognize them.

But most likely, they are behind you in the shadows, lurking, waiting to hand you that gun to shoot someone, waiting to hand you a rock. They are waiting to whisper in your ear to get you to do bad things so that you will eventually be put in this holding cell when you die, and then when everyone is judged at the end, you and the demons will get sent into this eternal lake of fire.

Your job as a believer in Christ is to stop people from getting locked up in this holding cell. That means while they are alive, while their spirit is residing in this cell of a body, this prison of a body here on Earth, this mortal form, you have to save their spirit. That is your job.

Jesus said to be fruitful and multiply. Do you think He meant to multiply like rabbits? No, we have a sermon on that, “Being Fruitful and Multiplying.” He is talking about multiplying the Kingdom.

Save the spirits of those people who are going to be led away like sheep to the slaughter, going to that holding cell, because the demons are here on Earth leading them the wrong way. Stop, get in their way. Bring them into Heaven so they do not go to the holding cell, into the final prison.

How do we know that these demons are here on Earth? We have had several sermons about it, but Job 2:2 is a very popular verse when God is asking Satan where he is coming from. “What have you been doing?” Satan says, “I have been roaming the Earth to and fro.”

He is here. How do we know? Well, you got cast out of heaven, and he hoodwinked Adam and Eve into sinning and took dominion of the Earth from them. Let’s go to Job 2:2. Job 2:2 says, “And the LORD said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the LORD,” which is Yahweh, all capital LORD. “Satan answered Yahweh, ‘From roaming through the Earth and going back and forth in it.’”

Now what does this mean, you say roaming and going back and forth? This phrase means being in the world and having dominion over it. He was going back and forth through it, throughout the Earth, roaming here and there, controlling the Earth.

How do we know that he controls the Earth? Well, remember when we talked about this before, when Satan tempts Jesus and he says, “Look at all the kingdoms, look at the whole world, I will give it to you.”

Now wait a minute, how could Satan give it all to Jesus? If Jesus already had it, he cannot. Satan has it. Satan is in control of this world. This is Satan’s domain. Him, his angels, his demons, they are here.

Satan was going to give it all over to Jesus, which might have been like, wow, that could have been a good victory. God would have had the Earth back, just like in the Garden of Eden. But Jesus said no because there is a higher plan in place, and Jesus said “No, I am not going to bow down to you. Worship the LORD your God only.”

He knew we have a Heavenly Kingdom that is way better than this Earth, this fallen world. We do not want it anymore. We do not want it. So Satan has it, him, his demons, they are here; they are not in the holding cell yet.

That is where the dead people who rejected Christ went, and they are now. Anyone who is not a believer, who is not a Christian, who has died, their spirit is residing in this holding cell, in Hades, waiting for the final day of judgment to be thrown in the abyss.

Let’s go to Isaiah 14:12. I have got a lot of verses today; all of these will be in the description below, by the way. Isaiah 14:12 says, “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn? You have been cast down to Earth, you who once laid low the nations.” This is a prophecy talking about Lucifer, the fallen angel. “You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to Heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God.’”

He was proud. He wanted to take over heaven, and God sent him down to Earth, boom, you are gone. He fell to Earth. That is when he tempted Eve, and Adam, who was with her. By the way, they were together, and he took dominion and power from humankind and then started ruling the Earth.

Adam and Eve got cast out of the garden; the Earth became a fallen place, cursed. Why? Because Satan rules the Earth. The unbelievers who are dead are not in Hell, just like Satan and his demons are not in Hell yet. Hell is empty. This is a place prepared for the angel and his demons.

Remember 2 Peter 2:4, which we read a little bit ago. 2 Peter 2:4, let’s read it again because it is a good point, bear with me, let me get over there. 2 Peter 2:4 says, “For God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but He sent them to Hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment.”

So they are being held for judgment, just like that verse in Matthew says as well that we read. “He said to them on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels,’” Matthew 25:41.

The unbelievers who are dead, the spirits who rejected God who are dead, are not in Hell yet. Satan and his demons are not in Hell yet. Where are these people? The unbelievers who are dead are in Hades, the realm of the dead. Satan and his demons are still here on Earth. Sheol, the Pit, the Grave, Hades, Gehenna, that is where they are. Satan and his demons are here.

Your job is to resist them, to fight, and to get people to follow Jesus. God is keeping all of them out of Hell until the day of judgment. 2 Peter 2:9, “If this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment until the day of judgment.”

You can be godly here on Earth. God will rescue you from those trials. You can get out there. You can share Jesus with others. He will rescue you. Yes, Satan and his demons are going to be fighting against you every step of the way, because they want as many people to be led astray as possible.

They do not want to go to Hell alone. They want all these people to go down with them so they can feel like they have a victory even in their punishment and in their defeat. Do not let them have it.

Hell is an empty place because until Jesus comes back to judge the people of this world, no one can be sent to Hell. It is empty, waiting for the unjust and the unrighteous, the unbelievers. They are in a place of torment and in our English language we still call it Hell, but let’s call it Hades. It is a step along the way, it is a path to misery, and it is the other half of the realm of the dead.

Remember in Luke we talked about this a little bit. Luke 16:14-31. The believers were in a place called “Abraham’s bosom” or “Paradise.” Remember the thief on the cross, “Today I will be with you in paradise.” That is where the unbelievers are, in Hades, the other half of the realm of the dead.

Then we have heaven and Hell. Now the believers are all in Heaven because Jesus did His job. We are going to get to that in future sermons in this series. The unbelievers are still here in Hades, this place here. Hell is empty waiting for these unbelievers to go there, for all the demons and Satan who are roaming the Earth to go there as well.

Let’s read Luke 16:14-31, I am reading it all, bear with me. Luke 16:14-31. “The Pharisees who loved money heard this and were sneering at Jesus. Jesus said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men. But God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.’

‘The law and the prophets were proclaimed until John, since that time the good news of the Kingdom has been preached and everyone is forcing his way into it. It is easier for heaven and Earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the law.’

‘Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.’” That is the prelude. We do not need that, but it is a very important point.

Now we get to the story of the “Rich Man and Lazarus” which is where probably I should have started, but that is okay. It is Luke 16:19-31. “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.

At his gate, there was a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. When the beggar died, the angels carried him to Abraham’s bosom.

The rich man also died and was carried to Hell. Where is this Hell? It is Hades, in your translation, Greek Hades. So the rich man died and was sent to Hades, which is the other half of the realm of the dead where he was in torment.

He looked up and he saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. So he called to Abraham, “Have Lazarus dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue because I am in agony.” Abraham replied, “Remember in your lifetime you received good things and Lazarus had bad things.

Now he is comforted here and you are in agony. Besides this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so those who want to go from here to there cannot, and if you want to cross you cannot.”

So no one can cross over, but they saw. They could see what they missed, and talk about punishment. Then he answered, “I beg you, Father, send Lazarus to my father’s house for I have five brothers. Let him warn them so that they will not come to this place of torment.”

Abraham replied, “They have Moses, they have the prophets, let them listen to them.” “No Father Abraham,” he said, “But if someone from the dead goes, they will repent.” Abraham said, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”

Lo and behold, what happened later? Jesus rose from the dead and how many people today are still not convinced? Talk about prophecy. Get out there and try to convince these people. Yes, some are going to reject, and guess what, they are going to go into Hades and eventually into Hell.

These people are in the half of the realm of the dead that still exists. There is a great chasm. Now the chasm is even greater because now instead of Paradise, Hades, Hell, there is only Hades and Hell.

The dead unbelievers are in a place of torment and agony called Hades, it is not Hell yet. They are not there yet. It is a Hell though because they are being tormented and they are waiting for their impending doom.

Eventually, they will end up in Hell with the fallen angels. Very very bad. Maybe we can hope that God might say to them, “Maybe you have another chance,” but they have already made their choice, they have chosen to reject God, and they are now in Hades waiting to go to Hell.

What is your job then? Stop Satan and his demons from leading these poor spiritual beings into half of the realm of the dead, into Hades. You only have a certain amount of time. The average lifespan is about 80 years, which means you have 80 years to lead someone to Christ. If you are 30 and they are 60, maybe you only have 20 years.

If you are 80 and they are 30, well they have 50 years, but you might only have a few years before you pass on. That is the point, our time is finite, do as much as you can to get these people going to Heaven and not to Hell.

Satan wants them all. He has got them and he is going to work to hold onto them. He is going to try to stop you. He is going to try to put you down. He is going to try to make you feel helpless, make you feel like you are not doing anything, believe me, I speak from experience.

How many times do I think, “Man are my sermons reaching anyone?” You say, “Wait what are you talking about? You have views.” Yeah I know, it is still a battle every day. You are going to have that battle. It is your job to fight to bring more people to Christ.

Share these sermons with more people if you do not want to talk to them about it. Share it and then they may ask you questions, then you can comment, you can get engaged, and you can bring more people to Jesus using materials that are available to you.

We live in a world where so much is available, we can get the Bible on our phones, we can get a Bible here, and we get bibles everywhere. 30, 40, 50 years ago, and 100 years ago, in the 1600s, they did not have any of this technology.

People were trying to share Christianity and all they had was a book and if they gave it away they did not have it anymore. They had to memorize things. We have so much available to us, use it to bring more people to God. Rescue them from Hell, from Hades, and then Hell.

But right now Hell is empty. They are all in Hades waiting. Also, recognize that Satan and his demons are all around you. Protect yourself with the armor of God so that you can stand and fight against them while you are here on Earth.

Because you are a spiritual being, you are in a mortal body and you are a spiritual being in this mortal body. Fight with Scripture, with Jesus, and the words of the Spirit, and get through this life with as many people as possible. Helping them finish the race so we can all get to Heaven.

Let’s pray. Lord Jesus thank You so much for the sermon series. We have talked about Hell and Hades right now. Now I pray that these people will be convinced, would be hooked, that they will keep watching through this sermon series. That they would share this with other people.

They would use it as a tool of evangelism to bring more people to You, bring more people into the body of Christ, make more believers, make more Christians, be fruitful, and multiply. That they would fight against Satan. That they would fight against the demons who are here on Earth. That they would recognize who controls this Earth.

Yes, God we know You are in control, we trust in You. We are foreigners here in enemy territory. This is enemy territory, our enemies are all around us, Satan and his demons. We may not be able to see them. We are fighting a battle blindfolded. God, we need You to see for us here on Earth. We have to trust in You, trust in Your plan, and trust in Your purpose.

I pray that every person will be able to do that. That they would trust in You and trust in Your purpose while they are here, stumbling through this Earth fighting, trying to bring more people to You. So that they will not be sent and dragged down into the pit and Hades waiting for their eternal judgment.

Lord help them rescue other people, and bring them to Jesus. You said you are the way, the truth, and the life, no one goes to the Father except through you. Lord, I pray that they would realize this with urgency, that they would get out there and share you with as many people as possible. We can grow the body of Christ change this world and make it better while we are here for this limited amount of time. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Seriously share these sermons, get out there, and share Jesus with as many people as you can. If you have any questions or comments, please put them below. I hope that you stay tuned, subscribe, and hit that bell icon so that you can be notified when we post future sermons in this series. Because it is an awesome series and we have got a few more left to go. So stay tuned. God bless.