Is Hell Burning with Fire Now and How Does It Differ from the Lake of Fire?
1) Direct answer
Yes. There is a present place of torment the Bible calls hell, where the lost are in flame now. But that is not the Lake of fire. Hell is a temporary prison; the Lake of fire is the final judgment and the second death after the White Throne.
2) Scriptural explanation
- Present torment now: “In hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments… I am tormented in this flame” (Luke 16:23–24). The Bible shows conscious suffering already.
- A prison awaiting judgment: “spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:19).
- Final distinction and timing: “Death and hell delivered up the dead… and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” (Revelation 20:13–14). If hell is cast into the Lake of fire, they are not the same.
- Purpose of the Lake of fire: “everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). It is the final, judicial end of sin, Satan, death, and all whose names are not in the Book of Life (Revelation 20:15).
- Outcome described: “the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven… it shall leave them neither root nor branch… ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet” (Malachi 4:1–3). Not an endless living-on in sin, but a complete end—second death.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- Hell now holds the guilty; the Lake of fire later executes the sentence.
- If hell were the final place, the Bible would not say hell itself is thrown into another place (Revelation 20:14).
- Only God has eternal Life. The wicked do not receive eternal life in misery; they face the second death. The fire is from the Eternal God, but its work is judgment and finishing, not maintaining sinners forever.
4) Reinforcing statement
Now notice, hell is burning with torment now, but it is temporary. The Lake of fire is the final and total judgment after the White Throne. You see, the Bible makes the difference clear: hell is the prison; the Lake of fire is the second death.
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Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Seals 9: Questions and Answers on the Seals
63-0324M §90
QUESTION: ... If not, is the lake of fire, hell, eternal? No, sir. No, sir. Anything that was created is not eternal. No, anything that's created... That's the reason there cannot be an eternal hell. If anybody ever tells you that you're going to burn in an eternal hell, I want the scripture for it. There is no such a thing as that. Hell was created for the devil and his angels, for the antichrist and his people. That was the devil, the incarnate devil. It was created for that, to destroy. And anything that... Ther...
Revelation, Chapter 5, part 2
61-0618 §78
Now, it's a book of the revelation---God revealing Himself. And now through these great mysteries, He's revealing the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in baptism. He's revealing that there's no such a thing as an eternal hell. It cannot be. There's no scripture in the Bible says there's such a thing. Now, there's a hell, and there's a lake of fire where the wicked are punished. But they're finally consumed. Maybe ten hundred million years, but they're finally consumed---because you cannot have eternal life unless you'...
Future home of the heavenly Bridegroom and the earthly Bride
64-0802 §132
And then when the earth is restored by the same thing, there can be no more cursing, no more storms, no more winds, no more taphoons---typhoons rather; you're reconciled. Man and God has met. The new earth will be put on its Eden beauty again. The new earth will spread forth her... After her baptism of fire, just think, she'll catch afire and burn up. The elements will burn with fervent heat; all the works in the earth will burn; all the water will explode; it'll ignite and blow all---everything will blow up. Volca...
Souls that are in prison now
63-1110M §60
But after the days of His preaching, His ministry continued on because the last group He preached to was the souls that were in hell, that could not be forgiven. I clearly read that from the Bible here from II Peter. He went and preached to souls that were in prison, (which is hell) locked up until the day of the judgment, because, you see, the judgment isn't now, and there's no burning hell now. Somebody tell you that a guy is in burning hell now---that's wrong. A Judge of this earth is just enough to never condem...
Church Ages, part 4: The Smyrnaean Church Age
60-1206 §64
Now, now there... Now you're going to ... be many disagree with this, but I want you to think real hard before you make your decision, see. I'm going to say something now. That's the reason I don't believe that there is an eternal hell. There cannot be an eternal hell, 'cause if there ever was an eternal hell, there always was an eternal hell, 'cause eternal... There's only one form of eternal life, and that's what we're all striving for. And if you're going to burn forever, and for eternity, then you'll have to ha...