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And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the abyss . . . (NASB) Rev. 20:2-3 That is the same message of Isa. 14:15 which tells us that Satan will
be imprisoned there some day.
Nevertheless you [Satan] will be thrust down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit. (NASB) Isa 14:15 This implies that Abaddon is a fiery place deep within Sheol.
For a fire is kindled in My anger, and burns to the lowest part of Sheol, and consumes the earth with its yield, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains. (NASB) Deut. 32:22 Heaven. As we have seen, Sheol refers
to the grave where man’s flesh and bones return to dust. Where
did a righteous man’s spirit go? The answer is heaven. Heaven is
pictured as being above while Sheol was below. In 2 Kings 2:11, God took
the prophet Elijah up to heaven in a fiery chariot to be with Him forever.
Scripture also says that God took Enoch up to heaven (Gen. 5:24; Heb.
11:5). What is “up”? King David gives us the answer when
he says that heaven is above and Sheol is below.
If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there. (NASB) Ps. 139:8 Sheol has no holding power over the spirit of a righteous person. The
scriptures say the bodies of the righteous may die and return to dust,
but their spirits go “up to heaven” to be with God,
The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. (NASB) 1 Samuel 2:6 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol; for He will receive me. Selah. (NASB) Ps. 49:15 For Thy lovingkindness toward me is great, and Thou hast delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. (NASB) Ps. 86:13 What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah. (NASB) Ps. 89:48 God is not the God of the dead but those who live with Him according
to Matt. 22:32.
New Testament. The New Testament uses different
terms to talk about the same places. These terms are very familiar to
us - terms such as hell and Hades.
Hades is Sheol. Hades is the New Testament
parallel to Sheol. The English form of the Greek word is HADES. The Septuagint,
a Greek translation of the Old Testament, substituted the Greek word
HADES at least one hundred times in the Old Testament for the Hebrew
word Sheol. This means the Hebrew word SHEOL and the Greek word for HADES
are interchangeable. Hades refers to the grave and is a temporary place
of punishment for the wicked. Just like Sheol, Hades represents death.
Hades is the New Testament term for the place where our bodies return
to dust. This is evident from this passage,
. . . he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY. (NASB) Acts 2:31 The passage simply says that Jesus was not abandoned to Hades nor did
He undergo decay. Jesus assumes this is true when He tells Peter that
Hades will not conquer the church (compare Matt. 16:18 to Isaiah 38:10).
In other words, the church will not die.
Hell and Gehenna. In the parable of
Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:23-31), Jesus reveals an important
fact when He says the rich man was in Hades and Lazarus was in the bosom
of Abraham (v. 22). HADES or SHEOL are the same name for the place where
the spirits of the wicked dead will live until the last judgment. The
spirits of the righteous do not live there - only their bodies. However,
the spirits of the unrighteous dead live in Hades.
And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. (NASB) Matt. 11:23 Just as the pit was within SHEOL in the Old Testament, Gehenna appears
to be within HADES.
And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (NASB) Matt. 10:28 The word for hell is Gehenna. The spirits of the unrighteous dead live
in GEHENNA.
GEHENNA is also a place of horrible suffering (Mark 9:43,
48). It is a fiery place (Matt. 5:22; 18:9; Mark 9:43; James 3:6). GEHENNA
(Hell) is a place of judgment (Matt. 5:29, 30; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:45,
47; Luke 12:5). According to Jesus, GEHENNA (Hell) is where both the
body and soul are destroyed (Matt. 10:28). But Gehenna is not where the
unrighteous dead will spend eternity. That place is called the Lake of
Fire.
Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire is not
Hades, since God says that Hades will end up there.
And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. (NASB) Rev. 20:14 The Lake of Fire is where Satan and all who reject Jesus Christ in this
life will spend eternity. It is a place of constant fire and suffering.
This will not be a fun place.
Tartarus. The New Testament also teaches
that some angels who sinned were sent to Tartarus.
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell [Tartarus], putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment. (NIV) 2 Peter 2:4 Tartarus is the New Testament name for Abaddon. It is there that Satan
will be bound for 1,000 years before he ends up in the Lake of Fire (Rev.
20:1-2).
Paradise. What does scripture mean by
the phrase “bosom of Abraham” in the parable of Lazarus and
the rich man? It appears that the answer is Paradise since the Holy Spirit
tells us that Paradise is either in heaven or is heaven (2 Cor. 12:2-4),
I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago - whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows - such a man was caught up to the third heaven. And I know how such a man - whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows - was caught up into Paradise, and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak. (NASB) 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 Paradise is in the third heaven. The first heaven is our
atmosphere; the second heaven is our universe and the third heaven is
where God lives. The third heaven is a spiritual realm. This is where
Jesus promised the thief on the cross he would go. The thief believed
in Jesus, and as a result, the thief did not have to do anything.
And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” (NASB) Luke 23:43 |
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| Sheol, Hades, Hell, Paradise, & Heaven | |||||
