QUESTION: If the lost are going to suffer an eternal burning, will it be in heaven or on earth?
ANSWER: It will be neither in heaven, nor on the earth. Peter tells us that this earth will be totally destroyed (2 Peter 3:10). Only the righteous will go to heaven (Matthew 25:34). A different place has been prepared for the sinner; a place of everlasting fire (Matthew 25:41) and everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46). In Matthew 5:29-30, this place of everlasting punishment in the English language is called “hell.” In the Greek language, the word is gehenna.