Key Verses Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Luke 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; ... 9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

Revelation 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

The popular idea of Hell is that it is a place ruled by the Devil, who takes great delight in torturing the poor souls that belong to him. Nothing in Scripture supports this idea. Hell was prepared to begin with as a place of punishment for the Devil, Lucifer, and those angels who joined in his rebellion against God. The meaning of the passage in 2 Peter is uncertain; it is clear from the rest of Scripture that the Devil and his demons are still loose in the world, and will be until the start of the Millennial Reign. The passage may refer to a future event, the judgment of the fallen angels referred to in 1 Corinthians 6:3. It may be that the bodies of the angels are there, but their spirits are still loose in the world. In any event, they are already reserved to judgment, just as Satan himself is. Those who choose to die in their sins and who reject Christ have the same fate waiting for them. Hell was not made for sinners, not for human ones, anyway, but all who rebel against God will end up there. It is a "holding place" for those who die in their sins; the rich man who died was taken immediately to Hell, not to some limbo, and his punishment began immediately. Hell is a place of torment too awful for us to imagine, but the torment that begins at death lasts until all the dead appear before the Great White Throne described in Revelation 20:11-13.

Make no mistake. The judgment at the Great White Throne is not a trial; the guilty verdict has already been pronounced. There is no second chance to go back and make things right. When we die, our fate, or our reward, is already sealed. What will happen on that awful day is the pronouncing of sentence for the unjust. The lake of fire is their final destination. Hell will actually be contained within the lake of fire. Will sinners remain in Hell, within the Lake of Fire? We don't really know, and it doesn't really matter. What does matter is that those who refuse to accept Christ as Savior will end up there for all of eternity. Our concern as Christians should be to try to save as many from the fire as we can, by leading them to Christ as the Holy Spirit gives opportunity.