"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit," (Romans 8:1, NKJV). With these words, the Lord through the apostle Paul declares that the exclusive group of humanity who are in Christ Jesus by faith and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit are righteous before Him!They are delivered out from under His guilty verdict for sin and the consequence of eternal punishment. This is good news par excellence to every sinner that has received it!
There have been and are sinners that refuse to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that is to their tragic loss both now and forever. However, it was and is their choice. We are not forced to receive God´s free offer of salvation we are invited. He invites men to receive the Gospel respecting the fact He gave us free will and the right to make decisions for our own souls. Choices have consequences.
Thus, all sinners choose to either receive God´s free offer of forgiveness, righteousness and eternal life or to reject it and receive the consequences He as sovereign Creator has justly determined. He has declared, "The soul who sins shall die," (Ezekiel 18:4b, NKJV). As God has proven with Adam and every soul since, He means business!
Death is separation and the absence of life in all its realms of experience. The death of the body results from the departure of the spirit (Psalm 146:3-4; Ecclesiastes 12:6-7; James 2: 26). The spirit of man is dead unless the Spirit of God dwells within it. We are born spiritually disconnected and separated from God due to sin. There would be no hope of life unless God had sent Christ to make atonement for our sins and "cleanse" the way for the Holy Spirit to indwell the spirits of those that receive the Gospel (John 1:12-13, 3:3-8, 6:63, 7:37-39, 14:16-17; Romans 8:2-11; Ephesians 2:1-7).
Sinners that refuse to receive the Gospel remain under the condemnation of separation from God in spiritual death. If they die bodily without repentance, they stay in the condition of spiritual death forever as their choice (John 3:36). But that is not all. What they do not understand or apparently care about is that disembodied spirits and souls of sinners are sent immediately to a place prepared by God deep within the interior of the earth. This special region of existence is called in the Old Testament Hebrew "Sheol," "Hades" in the Greek and "Hell" in the English translations of the entire Bible. The "Grave," "Abyss," "Pit" or "Bottomless Pit" are synonyms of Hell.
In very general use, Hell is the abode of condemned disembodied human beings and chained fallen angels who await the final judgement of God (Psalm9:17; Isaiah 24:21-22; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). It is described in the Bible as a prison (1 Peter 3:19; Revelation 20:1-3, 7), a place of torment and fire (Isaiah 50:11; Luke 16:23-24) as well as deep darkness (Job 10:20-22). Hell is said to be below the earth as in at its heart (Numbers 16:28-34; Psalm 55: 15; Proverbs 15:24; Matthew 11:23).
Hell is the place of detention and foretaste of the punishment to come that God as the holy and righteous Judge over His creation has prepared to hold His rebel spirit creatures. Like the county jails of men, Hell confines human and fallen angelic spirits until the future day set by God to conduct their trial and pass His final sentence. Exceedingly worse than a prison of men, Hell offers no release (hence, no human ghosts roam the earth free), comfort or rest from the greatest torment human souls experience: guilt and regret for sin and chiefly, not having received the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Chained up fallen angels or demons do not have guilt or regret since they knew in advance there would be no opportunity of pardon if they sinned and chains if they crossed the boundaries God set for them. They are bitterly enraged in their confinement. This is why the popular notion Hell is Satan´s headquarters is false since he and those with him seek to retain their freedom in order to oppose God in the heavens and destroy men on the earth (Isaiah 14:12-14; Ephesians 6:12). When it is clear in a day very near that the time of his freedom is about to end, Satan also will be filled with "great wrath" (Revelation 12:7-12).
Satan and his demonic hordes will be bound in Hell for one thousand years at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Then he will be released temporarily to sow his seeds of deception and rebellion one last time. But God Almighty will stop him in the fire of His wrath (Ezekiel 38; Revelation 20:7-9). The devil will receive his final sentence and be cast eternally into the lake of fire as foretold by God (Ezekiel 28:11-19; Revelation 20:10). Condemned humanity will be raised from the dead and not possessing works of righteousness to save or eternal life, they are cast into the fire joining the devil, death and Hell (Matthew 5:22, 10:28, 18: 7-9, 23:27-33, 25:41-46; Revelation 20:11-15).
Someone will say as I recently heard, "A loving God would not put people in Hell. "He does not, our own choice to reject His grace in Christ does! Even men in human prisons in these last days are very blessed since there is the opportunity to repent and receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ that saves. While they still have breath, they have the chance to experience the incredible freedom of forgiveness, relationship with and life in God through the indwelling Holy Spirit! To them then, and all who will escape condemnation to Hell and the lake of fire, the Lord says, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation," (2 Corinthians 6:2b, NKJV).