Where Do Unbelievers Go When They Die?

I received this question about the word hell not being in the original manuscripts of the Bible.

Where do unbelievers go when they die?

Great question!

Jesus taught about the destruction of the soul in Matthew 10:28.

"Indeed rather you should fear the One being able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna."

Jesus is speaking to first-century, unbelieving Israel who did not acknowledge Jesus as the Christ.

Rather they shouted for his crucifixion.

Notice the destruction of both BODY and SOUL in Gehenna.

Jesus is using Gehenna figuratively.

Gehenna represented the bodies of Jewish people who died and were burned when Jerusalem and the Temple were burned by the Roman armies. (AD 70)

Their bodies were destroyed when this happened.

Their souls were destroyed in Gehenna, which would be the second death (the lake of fire) in Revelation 20.

The first death was the death of the body - physical death.

Th second death was the death of the soul - spiritual death.

It is the same today.

Everyone has a first death - the death of the body.

Unbelievers have a second death - the death of the soul.

The souls of believers are with God in heaven with heavenly bodies enjoying their heavenly inheritance - 1 Peter 1:3-4; Colossians 1:3-8.

The souls of unbelievers are destroyed in the second death.

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