Hell was not created, but prepared. According to Strong’s Concordance, the word “prepared” means “to make ready.” In Matthew 25:41 (NKJV), Jesus said, “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'” This is the same word God used in John 14:2b, where He said, “I go to prepare a place for you.”
In the preparation of hell, God simply removed His attributes, or His goodness. This became hell (Hades). When His attributes are removed, there is nothing left but desolation, darkness, the absence of all life and the absence of all that is good.
As for the time when hell was prepared, it happened sometime after the six days of creation. The reason we know it didn’t exist prior to the six days is because Genesis 1:31b (KJV) tells us, “God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” If hell had existed prior to that, He would not have said everything was “very good.”
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In his book, “The Classic Writings Of Billy Graham,” the late evangelist wrote, “It is difficult to suppose that their fall [fallen angels] occurred before God placed Adam and Eve in the garden … at the end of all creation, and pronounced everything to be good. By implication, up to this time, even the angelic creation was good.”
Wayne Grudem wrote in “Systematic Theology,” “If the angels (the sons of God) shouted for joy when God was making the earth inhabitable, this could imply that God created the angelic beings early on the first day … Some time before Satan tempted Eve in the garden (Gen. 3:1), a number of angels sinned and rebelled against God (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6-7). This event occurred apparently after the sixth day of creation when ‘God saw everything that He had made and behold, it was very good.'”
This would indicate that Satan hadn’t yet sinned and fallen during those six days; therefore, hell was not yet prepared. Since Satan, also known as Lucifer, was the highest of God’s creation before man, he may have felt that he was special to God. After all, he was the top of the angelic host.
Lucifer may have been envious of God’s attention centered on man. Man is also made in God’s image, and angels are not. Pride entered his heart. It most likely was not long after the creation week that Lucifer rebelled in heaven. The reason for this belief is found in 1 John 3:8b (NKJV): “The devil has sinned from the beginning.” Mark 10:6 says, “But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female.” Romans 5:12 reads, “Therefore just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men.”
We see that man was created at the beginning and also sinned from the beginning, in the garden. Satan sinned from the beginning in heaven (Ezek. 28:15). Satan first brought sin into heaven, and then after that man brought sin into the earth (Rom. 5:12). Jesus said in Luke 10:18b, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
We can conclude that Satan must have rebelled shortly after the creation week, which means hell was prepared, not created, soon after the six days.
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Bill Wiese is the author of the New York Times bestselling book “23 Minutes in Hell,” the story of his life-changing visit to hell in 1998. Bill has since authored six additional book titles and continues to share his experience around the world. He and his wife, Annette, founded Soul Choice Ministries in late 2006 and have dedicated their lives to reaching the unsaved. For more information about Bill Wiese and Soul Choice Ministries, please visit us at: https://soulchoiceministries.org/
You can find more of Bill’s teachings at: https://www.youtube.com/user/BillWieseTV.
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