Hell is the grave. We all go there!
(1) The Hebrew word Sheol clearly means "the grave" not "hell." Everyone went to Sheol when they died, not just the wicked. Sheol was not a place of suffering, because in Job 14:13, a much-beset Job asked to go to Sheol to escape suffering. Sheol was not a place where God was absent, because King David said in Psalm 139:8 that when he made his bed in Sheol (i.e., when he died and was laid in his grave), God would be with him. And Sheol was not an eternal inescapable prison, because in Psalm 49:15 the Sons of Korah said that God would redeem them from Sheol, by which they meant that they would be resurrected from the grave to new life. Furthermore, the prophet Ezekiel and the apostle Paul agreed that all Israel would be saved, and yet in Genesis 37:35, Israel himself said that he would be reunited with his son Joseph in Sheol. How can all Israel be saved if Israel himself is in "hell"? In each case Sheol clearly means "the grave" or "the abode of all the dead, good and bad" and cannot be interpreted as "hell" unless "hell" is heaven!
"For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption."
(Psalm 16:10)
The same verse is quoted by Peter so sheol and hades are used interchangeably:
"For You will not leave my soul in Hades,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption."
(Acts 2:27)
There are two problems with the idea that we stay in the grave when we die. The first one is (1):
'Therefore He says:
"When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men."
(Now this, "He ascended"-what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?"
(Ephesians 4:8-9)
The second one is:
"...absent from the body...present with the Lord."
(2 Corinthians 5:8)
The previous verse in Ephesians 4:8-9 says that He (Jesus) ascended.
We can't be in the grave if Jesus ascended because we're supposed to be absent from the body which is asleep in the grave and we're supposed to be present with the Lord who ascended. Some have tried to accomodoate the idea that the compartment called Abraham's bosom was God's throne room.
A-2 Noun Strong's Number: g161 Greek: aichmalosia
Captive, Captivity:
"captivity," the abstract noun in contrast to No. 1, the concrete, is found in Rev 13:10; Eph 4:8, where "He led captivity captive" (marg., "a multitude of captives") seems to be an allusion to the triumphal procession by which a victory was celebrated, the "captives" taken forming part of the procession. See Jdg 5:12. The quotation is from Psa 68:18, and probably is a forceful expression for Christ's victory, through His Death, over the hostile powers of darkness. An alternative suggestion is that at His Ascension Christ transferred the redeemed Old Testament saints from Sheol to His own presence in glory.
-Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words
Hell in the old testament (H7585) is transliterated Sheowl and it means the grave. Hell is eternal but the grave is thought of as the earth. The earth's crust is probably 2 to 20 miles deep and we know with volcanoes what is underneath. The first earth will be passed away so there will be need of a new hell. Whether you interpret it to be a new hell or Gehenna, the problem is that the term "passed away" (g3928 παρέρχομαι parerchomai) indicates "to perish":
Revelation 21:1 ¶ And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Hell is eternal as we will see but Jesus said "I am alive forevermore" and they are the same words translated "forever and ever". If some versions translate God as everlasting then you have no choice but to translate hell as being everlasting because the different translations use the same words for both hell and God. Since the old heavens and the earth will pass away, the old location of hell will be passed away or thrown into the new location which is the lake of fire.
Jesus said,"I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore [eis tous aionas ton aionon] (Rev. 1:17-18, NASB).
Revelation 20:10: "And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever [eis tous aionas ton aionon]."
Not one of these translations translates "aionion" as anything other than "eternal" or similar.
Matthew 25:41 "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.
Revelation 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Revelation 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Death and hell delivered up the dead. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire indicating that it isn't the same location.
Revelation 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
The people in hell were then cast into the lake of fire indicating a different position. Therefore hell is a concept using different places.
"Verse 5: 'But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.'
"The 'resurrection of the just' is mentioned in Luke 14:13-14, and the 'resurrection of life' is definitely distinguished from the 'resurrection unto damnation' in John 5:29. Here in Revelation 20:5 we learn for the first time the interval that separates the two resurrections: One thousand years. When Jesus comes in the Rapture, only the righteous will be raised (I Thess. 4:13:18).
"When He comes in the end of the ages, only the wicked will be raised and will appear before the great White Throne to be judged. The doctrine of a general resurrection- a time when the good and bad, just and unjust are raised-is certainly disproved by this text. In John 5:28-29 we read, 'Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."
-p.487, The Revelation, Verse by Verse Study, The Gospel Hour, Inc., Dr. Oliver B. Green.