Just Where Is Hell ?
The word "hell" in early English simply designated a low place in the earth like in our common word "hole" which comes from the same stem. We have such words as hollow which give the same significance. There is also the name of the country "Holland" (which simply means "Low Land," or Netherland which means the same thing). One could place his turnips or potatoes in the ground and that would be placing them in "hell." Furthermore, when one dug a grave to put in a dead person, it was known as putting a person in "hell" (in a hole in the ground). This means that all individuals (whether righteous or wicked) are put into "hell" if they are buried in a cemetery.
Actually every single person who is buried at death "goes to hell." The Greek word for this was hades (which meant the place of the unseen) which was also synonymous with the Hebrew sheol. Indeed, even Christ himself when he was placed in the tomb (where he remained for three days) was reckoned as being in "hell" and it was even prophesied that this event would occur. "He [David] seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption." (Acts 2:31).
There is nothing in the original meaning of the word to suggest that this was a place of suffering. Actually, the Bible refers to death as a time of "sleeping" (I Corinthians 15:51; I Thessalonians 4:14) and the word cemetery is from the Greek which means "sleeping place." However, the word "sleep" associated with death is only a figure of speech and does not convey the full force of what "death" actually means. This is because in normal sleep a person can still dream, and he or she is still alive. But the death talked of in the Bible has a far more certainty of unconsciousness. "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more reward [good or bad, while in the state of death]" (Ecclesiastes 9:5). "His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; in that day his thoughts perish" (Psalms 146:4). Being alive while still dead is used in the Bible only in figurative illustrations such as parables and such usage is not to be taken literally.
But what about The Lake Of Fire?
It can be shown from the Bible and history that the Lake of Fire is presently in existence on this earth. At the present the Lake is within one of its “quiet” cycles and fire is not observed within it at this time, but it is destined to erupt again before the second advent of Christ. Interestingly, this Lake was long ago known as a Lake of Fire and in history it has spewed forth its sulfuric and fiery eruptions in times when God chose to judge sinners for their ways. It will again be used to judge the wicked (Revelation 19:20), and Death and Hades are destined to be thrown into it (Revelation 20:14).
John tells us that the lake will be in existence and active with fire prior to the Millennium before Christ comes again (Revelation 19:20). This means it will be fully in evidence before the second advent of Christ to this earth.
“For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompense for the controversy of Zion. And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; and the land [of Edom] shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night or day; the smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste". (Isaiah 34:8-10) This burning of Edom (an area that borders the southern and southeastern portions of the Dead Sea) occurs when “the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll” (Isaiah 34:4)
Just like the Book of Revelation says will happen at the second coming of Christ (Revelation 6:14), this region of Edom will have its stream beds flowing with rivers of fire. This pitch and brimstone will flow into the Dead Sea located just east and south of Jerusalem. Since this judgment takes place so near to Jerusalem, it could be reasoned that “The Lake of the Fire” was certainly in the vicinity.
The lake cannot be Gehenna (another name of “hell” in the King James Version). The area of Gehenna (sometimes called Tophet) is a valley located on the southern edges of Jerusalem. In no way can the Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna) be considered “a lake.” It is also not the “bottomless pit” (Greek: abyss) because that is a pit in the earth with a door that a key can open (Revelation 9:1–2).
There is a prime New Testament reference which goes a long way in solving the identification of “The Lake of the Fire.” It is found in the Book of Jude. This New Testament writer was the brother of James, and the half-brother of our Lord. He said that there was, in his time, an example of eternal fire (age-lasting fire) that was an active and present witness to what the judgment of God would be like in the future. That example was the geographical area where the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah once existed. Jude called attention to the ruined condition of that region as well as the fire that was still burning in the locale. That’s right, the area around the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah was still having fires and smoke in the time of Jude. Notice carefully what he said on the matter.
“Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication [promiscuity] and going over to strange flesh, are set forth [are presently set forth] for an example, suffering [are presently suffering] the vengeance of age-lasting fire” (Jude verse 7, not “eternal” fire because the fires have long gone out).
When one looks at that verse closely, it tells us very much about the environment around the Dead Sea as it existed in the time of Jude. There were then active fires and smoke in the area. Strabo, the first century geographer, described the neighborhood as “a land of fires” (XVI, 764). Some of the fires were fed by the seepage of naphtha (an old name for petroleum), bitumen, and other gaseous fumes.
This fire and smoke was also seen coming from the midst of the Dead Sea as well. The geographer Strabo called the Dead Sea a lake (as did Josephus, the early Jewish historian--War IV,8,4), and described the fiery characteristics which came from its center: “In the midst of the lake is a source of the fire and also there are great quantities of asphalt in the middle. The eruption is uncertain, because the movements of fire have no order known to us, as it is of many other basis.”
The Dead Sea is the prophesied “Lake of the Fire.” Let us recall that Jude said that the area of Sodom and Gomorrah was a present example (in Jude’s time) for the eternal (age-lasting) fire that God has designed for the punishment of the wicked (Jude verse 7). The Bible tells us that those cities of which Jude spoke are now under the Dead Sea. The former Valley of Siddim in which Sodom and Gomorrah were situated “is the salt sea” (Genesis 14:3).
The Dead Sea is a part of what is called the Jordan rift—a great depression (or fault line) in the earth that starts north of Mount Hermon and continues southerly with the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee, and the Dead Sea in its nether regions. The rift continues south to the Gulf of Aqaba, the Red Sea, into Africa, and ends up near the source of the Nile River. It is the longest known fault line on earth. From satellite pictures, it is a very prominent feature on the surface of the earth and well distinguished from other land formations.
The Bible tells us that fire and brimstone fell on Sodom, Gomorrah, and the Valley of Siddim. So thorough was the devastation that the fire within the Jordan Valley appeared as though it were a complete destruction of the earth by the burning of fire. That opinion was expressed by Lot’s daughters. “There is not a man [left] in the earth,” was their appraisal (Genesis 19:31). They thought that the world had come to an end by the fire and brimstone and that there was not a man left in all the earth but their father Lot. What a surprise to the girls when they discovered that only the Jordan rift valley was destroyed. It was a great enough devastation, however, that it became the example of the future judgment when God will rain down a fiery rebuke on rebellious men at the end of the age.
We should briefly remind ourselves of the parable given by Christ about Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:19-31). The locale of that story is precisely in the area of the Jordan rift and the northern region of the Dead Sea. Here was the Rich Man after death in the place of fire. He looked and saw Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham. Between Abraham and the Rich Man was a “great gulf fixed” (Luke 16:26). The great gulf of Christ’s parable was clearly the Jordan rift valley. The Rich Man was east of the Jordan River, and Lazarus and Abraham were west of it. The latter two were inheriting the promises of the land of Palestine given to Abraham, but the Rich Man (Judah) was not allowed to enter. He had to remain in the region of the fires near the northern edge of the Dead Sea but east of the Jordan River. This was an area where there once were continual and unrelenting flames and they existed in the time of Christ.
The significance of the parable was to show that the region of the “great gulf” was a place of punishment. It was directly in the same location that Jude placed the example of eternal [age-lasting] fire to try the wicked (Jude verse 7).
The Jordan Rift Valley, also known as the Great Rift Valley is a unique topographical feature along which the ground has sunk between parallel faults. It extends north and south along the Jordan Valley, the Red Sea, and through Africa to the Zambezi River, in the south-east.
Zechariah wrote of "the day of the Lord", when He will come in power and majesty, "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives ... and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof ... and there shall be a very great valley" (ZECHARIAH 14:4).
With the information that the great chasm (or gulf) of the Jordan rift (with the smoking Dead Sea in its midst) is the place of punishment for the wicked, we can now understand much better the position of Gehenna (the Valley of Hinnom) in this scheme of future punishment. Christ frequently referred to Gehenna as a place of fiery judgment (Matthew 5:22,29,30; 10:28; Mark 9:47; Luke 12:5, etc.) This particular valley was situated outside the southern walls of Jerusalem. It was a place where the fires to the pagan god Moloch were sanctified (Jeremiah 32:35; Ezekiel 20:31). It was also called Tophet.
“For Tophet is ordained of old, yea, for the king [the evil king] it is prepared; he has made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone, does kindle it” (Isaiah 30:33).
It is the prison where some “high ones” [angels] and kings on earth will be incarcerated. Within the stretch of its confines is a very deep pit (a bottomless pit) and it is the place of containment for evil angels and finally for Satan during the Millennium (Revelation 20:1–3). The Valley of Hinnom commenced at Jerusalem and journeyed eastwards at a precipitous rate until it emptied into the northern parts of the Dead Sea. The watercourse is know to this very day as the Wady en-Nar (Arabic: The Streambed of Fire). This Valley of Hinnom (that is, the Gehenna mentioned by Christ) was about fifteen miles long. It plummeted into the Dead Sea (the Lake of the Fire). This means that Gehenna and the Lake of the Fire were typically connected.
The ceremony of the Scapegoat (Azazel) on the Day of Atonement was a part of this typical story (Leviticus chapter 16). Two goats were selected. One was to be sacrificed in Jerusalem, while the other was to be taken by an able bodied man into the wilderness east of Jerusalem. Indeed, the Scapegoat was to be taken down the Valley of Hinnom to a place about three miles east and south of Jerusalem called Beth Chaduda where the goat was allowed to go over a very deep cliff (like an abyss) so that he would never come in contact with civilization again (Yoma 67b; Targum Jerusalem Leviticus 14:10). This part of the wilderness was where the demons were supposed to be. It was near this region where Christ was tempted of the Devil (Matthew 4:1–11). The place was a part of the drainage system of the Wady en-Nar—the extension of Gehenna, the Streambed of Fire. From this area, the Streambed of Fire ran directly eastwards into the Dead Sea (the Lake of the Fire). This region between Beth Chaduda and the Dead Sea contained the abyss mentioned in the Book of Revelation. It will be a place of temporary confinement of Satan and his angelic powers for the Millennium.
“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit [the abyss] and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon [just like the “fit man” of Leviticus 16:21 led the Scapegoat], that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut him up [away from mankind and civilization], and set a seal on him that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be fulfilled: after that he must be loosed a little season”(Revelation 20:1–3).
The place that the Azazel Goat (the Scapegoat) was taken in the ritual of the Day of Atonement, is where Satan will be kept for the Millennium. Again, it is also the place in the wilderness where Christ defeated Satan during his forty days of temptation.
Did Judas Iscariot go to Hell for betraying Jesus?
In 2 Thes. 2:2-4, the Lord shows us that the antichrist will be revealed before the coming of the Lord. Paul says in verse 3, "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." The question is, "Who is this son of perdition?"
In Jn. 17:12, Jesus prayed to his father and said, "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled." He was referring to Judas Iscariot when he prayed that. So, by cross referencing scriptures, we see that Jesus identified Judas as "the son of perdition."
But you are saying to yourself right now, "How could the son of perdition be Judas? He’s dead and in hell right now! And this guy has yet to be revealed!!"
Well, for one thing, when Judas died, the Bible didn’t say that he went to hell. The Bible says that he went "to his own place," (Acts 1:25). That place is the bottomless pit, over which he is "the angel." The locusts in Rev. 9:11 "had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon." Do you know what Apollyon means? It means perdition.
So, Judas’ body is dead, but the soul of that old devil (Jn. 6:70-71) is still alive in the bottomless pit. This explains the mystery of the scarlet colored beast that carries the woman in Rev. 17. As the angel revealed to John in Rev. 17:8, "The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go into perdition." "The beast that you saw was [when Judas was on the earth with Jesus and his disciples], and is not [at the time of John’s revelation, Judas was dead]; and is about to up come out the abyss (bottomless pit), and go into perdition [during the tribulation, as in 2 Thes. 2:2-4]." Ah yes, there’s that word again: perdition.
The opportunity for Judas to ascend out of the bottomless pit and "rise from the dead" will come when the beast is wounded to death in the head. As Rev. 13:3 says, "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast." According to Zech. 11:17, the antichrist will be blind in his right eye and his arm will be useless from this deadly wound.
Zech. 11:17 says, "Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened." Now, check the context of Zech. 11:17!! It’s all about Judas Iscariot selling Jesus Christ for thirty pieces of silver and casting them down in the house of the Lord (Zech. 11:12-16)!!
There’s no doubt about it. The son of perdition is Judas!
The word "hell" in early English simply designated a low place in the earth like in our common word "hole" which comes from the same stem. We have such words as hollow which give the same significance. There is also the name of the country "Holland" (which simply means "Low Land," or Netherland which means the same thing). One could place his turnips or potatoes in the ground and that would be placing them in "hell." Furthermore, when one dug a grave to put in a dead person, it was known as putting a person in "hell" (in a hole in the ground). This means that all individuals (whether righteous or wicked) are put into "hell" if they are buried in a cemetery.
Actually every single person who is buried at death "goes to hell." The Greek word for this was hades (which meant the place of the unseen) which was also synonymous with the Hebrew sheol. Indeed, even Christ himself when he was placed in the tomb (where he remained for three days) was reckoned as being in "hell" and it was even prophesied that this event would occur. "He [David] seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption." (Acts 2:31).
There is nothing in the original meaning of the word to suggest that this was a place of suffering. Actually, the Bible refers to death as a time of "sleeping" (I Corinthians 15:51; I Thessalonians 4:14) and the word cemetery is from the Greek which means "sleeping place." However, the word "sleep" associated with death is only a figure of speech and does not convey the full force of what "death" actually means. This is because in normal sleep a person can still dream, and he or she is still alive. But the death talked of in the Bible has a far more certainty of unconsciousness. "For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more reward [good or bad, while in the state of death]" (Ecclesiastes 9:5). "His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; in that day his thoughts perish" (Psalms 146:4). Being alive while still dead is used in the Bible only in figurative illustrations such as parables and such usage is not to be taken literally.
But what about The Lake Of Fire?
It can be shown from the Bible and history that the Lake of Fire is presently in existence on this earth. At the present the Lake is within one of its “quiet” cycles and fire is not observed within it at this time, but it is destined to erupt again before the second advent of Christ. Interestingly, this Lake was long ago known as a Lake of Fire and in history it has spewed forth its sulfuric and fiery eruptions in times when God chose to judge sinners for their ways. It will again be used to judge the wicked (Revelation 19:20), and Death and Hades are destined to be thrown into it (Revelation 20:14).
John tells us that the lake will be in existence and active with fire prior to the Millennium before Christ comes again (Revelation 19:20). This means it will be fully in evidence before the second advent of Christ to this earth.
“For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompense for the controversy of Zion. And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; and the land [of Edom] shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night or day; the smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste". (Isaiah 34:8-10) This burning of Edom (an area that borders the southern and southeastern portions of the Dead Sea) occurs when “the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll” (Isaiah 34:4)
Just like the Book of Revelation says will happen at the second coming of Christ (Revelation 6:14), this region of Edom will have its stream beds flowing with rivers of fire. This pitch and brimstone will flow into the Dead Sea located just east and south of Jerusalem. Since this judgment takes place so near to Jerusalem, it could be reasoned that “The Lake of the Fire” was certainly in the vicinity.
The lake cannot be Gehenna (another name of “hell” in the King James Version). The area of Gehenna (sometimes called Tophet) is a valley located on the southern edges of Jerusalem. In no way can the Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna) be considered “a lake.” It is also not the “bottomless pit” (Greek: abyss) because that is a pit in the earth with a door that a key can open (Revelation 9:1–2).
There is a prime New Testament reference which goes a long way in solving the identification of “The Lake of the Fire.” It is found in the Book of Jude. This New Testament writer was the brother of James, and the half-brother of our Lord. He said that there was, in his time, an example of eternal fire (age-lasting fire) that was an active and present witness to what the judgment of God would be like in the future. That example was the geographical area where the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah once existed. Jude called attention to the ruined condition of that region as well as the fire that was still burning in the locale. That’s right, the area around the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah was still having fires and smoke in the time of Jude. Notice carefully what he said on the matter.
“Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication [promiscuity] and going over to strange flesh, are set forth [are presently set forth] for an example, suffering [are presently suffering] the vengeance of age-lasting fire” (Jude verse 7, not “eternal” fire because the fires have long gone out).
When one looks at that verse closely, it tells us very much about the environment around the Dead Sea as it existed in the time of Jude. There were then active fires and smoke in the area. Strabo, the first century geographer, described the neighborhood as “a land of fires” (XVI, 764). Some of the fires were fed by the seepage of naphtha (an old name for petroleum), bitumen, and other gaseous fumes.
This fire and smoke was also seen coming from the midst of the Dead Sea as well. The geographer Strabo called the Dead Sea a lake (as did Josephus, the early Jewish historian--War IV,8,4), and described the fiery characteristics which came from its center: “In the midst of the lake is a source of the fire and also there are great quantities of asphalt in the middle. The eruption is uncertain, because the movements of fire have no order known to us, as it is of many other basis.”
The Dead Sea is the prophesied “Lake of the Fire.” Let us recall that Jude said that the area of Sodom and Gomorrah was a present example (in Jude’s time) for the eternal (age-lasting) fire that God has designed for the punishment of the wicked (Jude verse 7). The Bible tells us that those cities of which Jude spoke are now under the Dead Sea. The former Valley of Siddim in which Sodom and Gomorrah were situated “is the salt sea” (Genesis 14:3).
The Dead Sea is a part of what is called the Jordan rift—a great depression (or fault line) in the earth that starts north of Mount Hermon and continues southerly with the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee, and the Dead Sea in its nether regions. The rift continues south to the Gulf of Aqaba, the Red Sea, into Africa, and ends up near the source of the Nile River. It is the longest known fault line on earth. From satellite pictures, it is a very prominent feature on the surface of the earth and well distinguished from other land formations.
The Bible tells us that fire and brimstone fell on Sodom, Gomorrah, and the Valley of Siddim. So thorough was the devastation that the fire within the Jordan Valley appeared as though it were a complete destruction of the earth by the burning of fire. That opinion was expressed by Lot’s daughters. “There is not a man [left] in the earth,” was their appraisal (Genesis 19:31). They thought that the world had come to an end by the fire and brimstone and that there was not a man left in all the earth but their father Lot. What a surprise to the girls when they discovered that only the Jordan rift valley was destroyed. It was a great enough devastation, however, that it became the example of the future judgment when God will rain down a fiery rebuke on rebellious men at the end of the age.
We should briefly remind ourselves of the parable given by Christ about Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:19-31). The locale of that story is precisely in the area of the Jordan rift and the northern region of the Dead Sea. Here was the Rich Man after death in the place of fire. He looked and saw Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham. Between Abraham and the Rich Man was a “great gulf fixed” (Luke 16:26). The great gulf of Christ’s parable was clearly the Jordan rift valley. The Rich Man was east of the Jordan River, and Lazarus and Abraham were west of it. The latter two were inheriting the promises of the land of Palestine given to Abraham, but the Rich Man (Judah) was not allowed to enter. He had to remain in the region of the fires near the northern edge of the Dead Sea but east of the Jordan River. This was an area where there once were continual and unrelenting flames and they existed in the time of Christ.
The significance of the parable was to show that the region of the “great gulf” was a place of punishment. It was directly in the same location that Jude placed the example of eternal [age-lasting] fire to try the wicked (Jude verse 7).
The Jordan Rift Valley, also known as the Great Rift Valley is a unique topographical feature along which the ground has sunk between parallel faults. It extends north and south along the Jordan Valley, the Red Sea, and through Africa to the Zambezi River, in the south-east.
Zechariah wrote of "the day of the Lord", when He will come in power and majesty, "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives ... and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof ... and there shall be a very great valley" (ZECHARIAH 14:4).
With the information that the great chasm (or gulf) of the Jordan rift (with the smoking Dead Sea in its midst) is the place of punishment for the wicked, we can now understand much better the position of Gehenna (the Valley of Hinnom) in this scheme of future punishment. Christ frequently referred to Gehenna as a place of fiery judgment (Matthew 5:22,29,30; 10:28; Mark 9:47; Luke 12:5, etc.) This particular valley was situated outside the southern walls of Jerusalem. It was a place where the fires to the pagan god Moloch were sanctified (Jeremiah 32:35; Ezekiel 20:31). It was also called Tophet.
“For Tophet is ordained of old, yea, for the king [the evil king] it is prepared; he has made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone, does kindle it” (Isaiah 30:33).
It is the prison where some “high ones” [angels] and kings on earth will be incarcerated. Within the stretch of its confines is a very deep pit (a bottomless pit) and it is the place of containment for evil angels and finally for Satan during the Millennium (Revelation 20:1–3). The Valley of Hinnom commenced at Jerusalem and journeyed eastwards at a precipitous rate until it emptied into the northern parts of the Dead Sea. The watercourse is know to this very day as the Wady en-Nar (Arabic: The Streambed of Fire). This Valley of Hinnom (that is, the Gehenna mentioned by Christ) was about fifteen miles long. It plummeted into the Dead Sea (the Lake of the Fire). This means that Gehenna and the Lake of the Fire were typically connected.
The ceremony of the Scapegoat (Azazel) on the Day of Atonement was a part of this typical story (Leviticus chapter 16). Two goats were selected. One was to be sacrificed in Jerusalem, while the other was to be taken by an able bodied man into the wilderness east of Jerusalem. Indeed, the Scapegoat was to be taken down the Valley of Hinnom to a place about three miles east and south of Jerusalem called Beth Chaduda where the goat was allowed to go over a very deep cliff (like an abyss) so that he would never come in contact with civilization again (Yoma 67b; Targum Jerusalem Leviticus 14:10). This part of the wilderness was where the demons were supposed to be. It was near this region where Christ was tempted of the Devil (Matthew 4:1–11). The place was a part of the drainage system of the Wady en-Nar—the extension of Gehenna, the Streambed of Fire. From this area, the Streambed of Fire ran directly eastwards into the Dead Sea (the Lake of the Fire). This region between Beth Chaduda and the Dead Sea contained the abyss mentioned in the Book of Revelation. It will be a place of temporary confinement of Satan and his angelic powers for the Millennium.
“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit [the abyss] and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon [just like the “fit man” of Leviticus 16:21 led the Scapegoat], that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut him up [away from mankind and civilization], and set a seal on him that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be fulfilled: after that he must be loosed a little season”(Revelation 20:1–3).
The place that the Azazel Goat (the Scapegoat) was taken in the ritual of the Day of Atonement, is where Satan will be kept for the Millennium. Again, it is also the place in the wilderness where Christ defeated Satan during his forty days of temptation.
Did Judas Iscariot go to Hell for betraying Jesus?
In 2 Thes. 2:2-4, the Lord shows us that the antichrist will be revealed before the coming of the Lord. Paul says in verse 3, "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." The question is, "Who is this son of perdition?"
In Jn. 17:12, Jesus prayed to his father and said, "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled." He was referring to Judas Iscariot when he prayed that. So, by cross referencing scriptures, we see that Jesus identified Judas as "the son of perdition."
But you are saying to yourself right now, "How could the son of perdition be Judas? He’s dead and in hell right now! And this guy has yet to be revealed!!"
Well, for one thing, when Judas died, the Bible didn’t say that he went to hell. The Bible says that he went "to his own place," (Acts 1:25). That place is the bottomless pit, over which he is "the angel." The locusts in Rev. 9:11 "had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon." Do you know what Apollyon means? It means perdition.
So, Judas’ body is dead, but the soul of that old devil (Jn. 6:70-71) is still alive in the bottomless pit. This explains the mystery of the scarlet colored beast that carries the woman in Rev. 17. As the angel revealed to John in Rev. 17:8, "The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go into perdition." "The beast that you saw was [when Judas was on the earth with Jesus and his disciples], and is not [at the time of John’s revelation, Judas was dead]; and is about to up come out the abyss (bottomless pit), and go into perdition [during the tribulation, as in 2 Thes. 2:2-4]." Ah yes, there’s that word again: perdition.
The opportunity for Judas to ascend out of the bottomless pit and "rise from the dead" will come when the beast is wounded to death in the head. As Rev. 13:3 says, "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast." According to Zech. 11:17, the antichrist will be blind in his right eye and his arm will be useless from this deadly wound.
Zech. 11:17 says, "Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened." Now, check the context of Zech. 11:17!! It’s all about Judas Iscariot selling Jesus Christ for thirty pieces of silver and casting them down in the house of the Lord (Zech. 11:12-16)!!
There’s no doubt about it. The son of perdition is Judas!