Yes, hellfire will be very real, however the word "quenched" is a verb. it means to "deliberately put out", see Hebrews 11:34, &c.
No one will be able to deliberately put out the fire that will destroy utterly. The fire itself will do its work of consuming until all is consumed and destroyed into ashes and smoke.
Twisting scripture. The text does not say No one will be able to deliberately put out the fire or that it will destroy utterly. The fire in the burning bush did not destroy utterly, neither did the fire in the furnace in Daniel.
Hebrews 11:34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
What is your point?
God is a consuming fire [Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 12:29], even as it is written, along with definition, as to what it means:
Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee. Deuteronomy 9:3
God defeating Israels enemies in this world.
As it was in the days of Lot:
And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. Genesis 19:5
And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. Genesis 19:7
Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; Luke 17:28
But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Luke 17:29
More out-of-context proof texts. Will the people of Sodom and Gomorrah be resurrected to face judgment? If so, destruction here does not mean cease to exist forever,
Now see Revelation 20:
And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. Revelation 20:9
"...and there was found no place for them." Revelation 20:11
Evil Gog and Magog attacking the saints being killed in this world.
Look how the word is used over and over again, in regards to the wicked:
And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. Exodus 15:7
For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed. Deuteronomy 2:15
Israels enemies being destroyed in this world but will still face the judgment.
Hellfire indeed runs out of fuel, for this heavens and this earth will be burned up, and the wicked, being raised upon this earth, will be "consumed" together, annihilated, and gone forever, no more sin.
If God decrees hellfire does not run out of fuel. That is if God is omnipotent.
Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD. Psalms 104:35
This is a prayer not what did or will actually happen.
And the destruction [ שֶׁבֶר] of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed. [כָּלָה] Isaiah 1:28
For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, . [כָּלָה] and all that watch for iniquity are cut off: Isaiah 29:20
They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed [סוּף] together, saith the LORD. Isaiah 66:17
שֵׁבֶר שֶׁבֶר sheber shêber
sheh'-ber, shay'-ber
From H7665; a fracture, figuratively ruin; specifically a solution (of a dream): - affliction, breach, breaking, broken [-footed, -handed], bruise, crashing, destruction, hurt, interpretation, vexation.
כָּלָה kâlâh kaw-law'
A primitive root; to end, whether intransitively (to cease, be finished, perish) or transitively (to complete, prepare, consume): - accomplish, cease, consume (away), determine, destroy (utterly), be (when . . . were) done, (be an) end (of), expire, (cause to) fail, faint, finish, fulfil, X fully, X have, leave (off), long, bring to pass, wholly reap, make clean riddance, spend, quite take away, waste.
סוּף sûph soof
A primitive root; to snatch away, that is, terminate: - consume, have an end, perish, X be utterly.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 2 Peter 3:10
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 2 Peter 3:12
These verses say nothing about the fate of people.
Just consider all of the passages with the word "consumed" using a concordance.
I just did. The words dont necessarily mean what you want them to.
Please re-read the definition of the verb "quench":
to deliberately put out, extinguish. Read the prophetic fulillments of where God said that the fire that would destroy and raze Jerusalem to the ground would be unquenchable. It burned until the work it had to do was over and then went out, but none put it out, none quenched it. Those gates are not still burning, neither in Jerusalem, nor the plains of Sodom & Gomorrah.
The fire will burn and burn until it has nothing more to burn, and then goes out into smoke, nothing left bu ashes, but no one will extinguish it. None of the wicked will able to deliver themselves from the power of this flame, it is the fire of God.
Here is what the Jews of Jesus day believed about the unquenchable fire.
When Nebuchadnezzar descended into hell, [Sheol] all its inhabitants were afraid that he was coming to rule over them (Shab. 149a; comp. Isa. xiv. 9-10). The Book of Enoch also says that it is chiefly the heathen who are to be cast into the fiery pool on the Day of Judgment (x. 6, xci. 9, et al). "The Lord, the Almighty, will punish them on the Day of Judgment by putting fire and worms into their flesh, so that they cry out with pain unto all eternity" (Judith xvi. 17). The sinners in Gehenna will be filled with pain when God puts back the souls into the dead bodies on the Day of Judgment, according to Isa. xxxiii. 11 (Sanh. 108b).
And Jesus did not contradict them.
"Eternal punishment, Mt 25:46"
"the fire of hell where the fire is not quenched and the worm does not die, Mk 9:43-48" and
"cast into a fiery furnace where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth, Mt 13:42, 50
better for him [a person who offends a little one] that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Mt 18:6[ a fate worse than death]
it had been good for him [the one who betrays Jesus] if he had not been born. Mat 26:24[a fate worse than death]
Notice the end of them was given in the pattern of the Sanctuary:
Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God? Psalms 77:13
Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Psalms 73:17
Says nothing about destruction.
But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away. Psalms 37:20
Psalm 37 Israels enemies killed in this world. cut down like grass, v. 2,evildoesrs shall be cut off, v.9the wicked have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow, v. 14their sword shall enter their own heart, v. 15, the arms of the wicked shall be broken, v. 17. None of this means eternal destruction.
Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. Isaiah 47:14
A verse here and a verse there and anyone can prove almost anything. This says nothing about destruction.
Isaiah 66:24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. Isaiah 34:10
See quote from Jewish Encyclopedia above how the Jews understood these verses.
For [it is] the day of the LORD'S vengeance, [and] the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. Isaiah 34:8
And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. Isaiah 34:9
Says nothing about destruction.
See:
And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Revelation 14:11
You omitted the preceding verse.
Rev 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
If those being tormented are destroyed the smoke is no longer theirs. That the torment continues for eternity is further emphasized by the phrase
they have no rest day nor night 10[sup]100[/sup] eons times 10[sup]100[/sup] eons from now Gods unchanging word will still say
the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night.
See also:
And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Revelation 18:9
And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. Revelation 18:14
And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What [city is] like unto this great city! Revelation 18:18
And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast [it] into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. Revelation 18:21
And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft [he be], shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; Revelation 18:22
And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. Revelation 18:23
And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. Revelation 19:3
None of these verses say anything about people being destroyed.
We may also directly compare to Sodom and Gomorrah, which are set forth as an example of what comes in the end, total destruction, leaving nothing, but ashes and smoke rising into the sky...:
Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Jude 1:7
Sodom and Gomorrah [peoples and citizens, items, animals, etc] are not still burning, nor even still smoking, they are ashes and dust, and no more for they were punished with the fire of God completely destroying them.
And all the citizens, although they have been destroyed, will be resurrected to be judged.
For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up [like] the lifting up of smoke. Isaiah 9:18
Says nothing about people being destroyed.
We may also compare to the smoke upon Mt. Sinai, where God Himself descended and touched that mountain with His own feet:
And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. Exodus 19:18
Says nothing about people being destroyed.
σβέννυμι A prolonged form of an apparently primary verb; to extinguish
