It seems that Hell was created for satan and his angels. Matthew Then he shall also say, to those who will be on his left: ‘Depart from me, you accursed ones, into the eternal fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels. So Hell was not made for man but for the fallen angels. But man can also be sent to Hell if he cooperates with the devil through sin and evil. The fires of Hell must be entirely 'spiritual in nature' as the angels are pure spirit. Justin Martyr "The prophets have proclaimed his [Christ’s] two comings. One, indeed, which has already taken place, was that of a dishonored and suffering man. The second will take place when, in accord with prophecy, he shall come from the heavens in glory with his angelic host, when he shall raise the bodies of all the men who ever lived. Then he will clothe the worthy in immortality, but the wicked, clothed in eternal sensibility, he will commit to the eternal fire along with the evil demons" (First Apology 52 [A.D. 151]). But Scripture also seems to suggest that the devils have already been sent to Hell? If so have they been temporarily released from Hell?? 2 Peter 2:4 For God did not spare those Angels who sinned, but instead delivered them, as if dragged down by infernal ropes, into the torments of the underworld, to be reserved unto judgment. Here I assume the underworld means Hell.
The Venerable Mary of Agreda in her wonderful book, 'City of God' has a great chapter on this on her book on the Life of Our Lady, 'The Mystical City of God'. (By the way this is worth watching}: Mary of Agreda suggests that this is what happened. That the devil was never really sure who Jesus really was, that this was kept hidden from him be divine decree. You also see this point of view in Mel Gibson's film . 'The Passion of the Christ' {which is based very closely on the writings of the mystics} . As time rolled on Satan more and more suspected that Jesus was the Saviour and he engineered the Passion thinking that Jesus would be forced to show His hand and use force against those who were to kill Him. He never really thought Jesus would actually go the whole hog and sacrifice Himself for the Salvation of the world on the Cross. However when Jesus died, Mary tells us all the demons threw themselves into hell as they were terrified at what had happened, for they thought their Kingdom on Earth was finished. However, Mary says that they gradually crept back out of hell again when they realised folks could be still tempted to do evil, even Christians. I think Mary's point of view is so insightful. I think everytime we do evil, especially great evil we open the gates of hell a little more and so more and more demons are let loose on the Earth, Since this is the most evil and faithless generation the world has ever know the demons are now at their most powerful and only the direct intervention of God Himself will stop thing sin their track. But the devils who are let loose from hell by our sins (and may god have mercy on us for our guilt} still suffer the pains of Hell. WORDS OF THE QUEEN. (The Virgin Mary speaks to Sister Mary of Agreda, Spain.) This close imitation and living reproduction of Christ, confronting the demons in the first children of the Church, they feared so much, that they dared not approach and they precipitously fled from the Apostles and the just ones imbued with the doctrines of my divine Son. In them were offered up to the Almighty the first fruits of grace, and of Redemption. What is seen in the saints and in perfect Christians in those times, would happen in the present times with all the Catholics if they would accept grace and work with it instead of permitting it to go to waste, and if they would seek the way of the Cross; for Lucifer fears it as much now as in the times thou hast been writing of. But soon the charity, zeal and devotion in many of faithful began to grow cold and they forgot the blessings of the Redemption; they yielded to their carnal inclinations and desires, they loved vanity and avarice and permitted themselves to be fascinated and deceived by the false pretenses of Lucifer, obscuring the glory of their Savior and inveigling them into the meshes of their mortal enemies. This foul ingratitude has thrown the world into the present state and has encouraged the demons to rise up in their pride against God, audaciously presuming to possess themselves of all the children of Adam on account of this forgetfulness and carelessness of Catholics. They presume to plot the destruction the whole Church by the perversion of so many who have fallen away from it; and by inducing those who are in it, to think little of it, or by hindering them from producing the fruits of the blood and death of their Redeemer. The greatest misfortune is, that many Catholics fail to recognize this great damage and do not seriously think of a remedy, although they can presume that the times, of which Jesus forewarned the women of Jerusalem, have arrived; namely, those in which the sterile should be happy, and in which many would call upon the mountains and the hills to cover and fall upon them, in order not to see the devastation of wickedness cutting down the sons of perdition, the dried trees, barren of all the fruits of virtue.
garabandal wrote: The fires of Hell must be entirely 'spiritual in nature' as the angels are pure spirit. What came to mind is the description of the lake of fire in the Book of Revelation. It includes the image of burning brimstone. :twisted: Also, the sufferings of hell will probably include a physical dimension since condemned mankind will possess resurrection bodies. Safe in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary!
