11 - Hell
Hell
237. Since we have been learning something of what Heaven is to be, it may be interesting to inquire, also, what the Scriptures teach upon the subject of Hell.
238. What, then, do we understand by the word "Hell"? It is worth while just to ask ourselves the question, that we may know whether we have any definite idea at all. Do we imagine that it might be properly described as the prison in which the unsaved are confined after death; or, as the place which the saved escape, because they are saved? But, if these definitions were assumed to be correct, how could we explain Acts 2:31, for there the Lord Jesus is said to have been in Hell?
239. Let us look at a few passages in the Authorized Version of our New Testament:- In Acts 2:31 we read "Hell." In Luke 8:31 we read "the Deep." In Revelation 9:1-2 we read "the Bottomless Pit." In 2 Peter 2:4 we read " Hell." In Matthew 23:15 we read "Hell."
And, finally, in Revelation 20:14-15, "Hell" is said to be cast into "The Lake of Fire." Do all these words refer to the same place? And, if so, what are we to understand by the last passage, which, in that case, tells us that Hell is cast into Hell? This would scarcely be sense; but a little explanation will soon clear up the matter.
240. The fact is, that our Authorized Version is to some extent faulty and confusing. If the same passages be examined in the Revised Version, they will be found to be much clearer. For, in the original Greek, there are three principal words which indicate different places in the unseen world; and these are Hades, Gehenna, and Tartarus.
241. Hades is a place of departed spirits [souls],* in which, until the death of the Lord, all the dead, both good and bad, were detained. But, since His Resurrection, it would appear that the spirits [souls]* of the saved go to the celestial Paradise, where they remain until the time of resurrection.
[* That is, disembodied souls. (See Acts 2:27; Psalms 16:10. cf. John 3:13. Christ preached to the spirits in the underworld (Hades); but these creatures are described as “the Nephilim” or “Giants” (Genesis 6:4): the offspring (‘children’) of a sexual relationship between angels described as (‘sons of God’) and humans, described as ‘daughters of men’.]
242. Hence, in the previous Dispensation, Hades was divided into two parts, separated by a great gulf, in the one of which were the people of God, and in the other the children of Belial. In Luke 16:22, we read of the death of the rich man and of Lazarus. The rich man went to Hades, and there he opened his eyes and beheld Lazarus and Abraham on the other side of the great gulf; for, like himself, they, too, were in Hades, but in the other compartment. It was into Hades that our Saviour descended. In the Hebrew of the Old Testament, Sheol is the equivalent of Hades. So, in Genesis 37:35, Jacob says, "I will go down unto Sheol," that is, "unto Hades," not "into the grave," as the Authorized Version has it.
243. Some think that the better side of Hades was called Paradise; but that is a mistake.* The first Paradise was the Garden of Eden, into which men were not allowed to enter after the Fall. Nevertheless, it seems to have remained in sight until the Flood, when it disappeared, and passed out of existence.** But, in the time of the New Heavens and the New Earth, when God will make all things new, the terrestrial Paradise will be restored.
[* Note. How can it be ‘a mistake’ when the ‘Gates of Hades will not overcome it” (the ‘Church’ Matthew 16:18)? We read in Revelation 6:9-11 that the souls who were slain “because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained” were told “to wait [in Hades] a little longer, until the number of their fellow-servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed” (verse 11)? These souls, will be martyred during the Great Tribulation, and will be in Hades along with all the rest who previously were martyred; and John sees them all awaiting Resurrection, for the ‘First Resurrection’ has not, even at that time in the future taken place!
** Furthermore, the ‘Paradise’ in the underworld of Hades, is still in existence. It has not ‘passed out of existence’ as stated above. “Today you will be with me in Paradise,” said Jesus to “the other criminal” during the time of their crucifixion and shortly before both their deaths on that day: (Luke 23:40, Luke 23:43).]
244. In 2 Corinthians 12:2-4, Paul mentions a Paradise in connection with a Third Heaven. This must be a celestial Paradise now in existence; for Paul saw it. Now, the Third Heaven may, perhaps, be the great central Heaven, where the Throne of God is, and around which revolves, not only the First Heaven, which may be that of our solar system, but also the Heaven of the fixed stars, which is, possibly, the Second. Paul, then, speaks of the Paradise which he visited as being in or near the Third Heaven. And, if we investigate the earthly meaning of Paradise, which is a Persian word, we find that it was used of the great garden, or park, which surrounded the palace of the King of Persia, as well as the residences of his chief nobles. Hence the Heavenly Paradise may, possibly, be on the outskirts of the Third Heaven, where the Throne of the Most High God is set; and it is, probably, the place to which our Lord went when He ascended on high, leading the rescued captive of death with Him. It would seem to have been the place, also, in which He said that the crucified thief should be with Him, and which is now the abode of the spirits [souls] of the saved, as it will continue to be until the morning of the resurrection.* But, since our Lord did not rise until the third day after His promise to the thief, some may think that this fact does not agree with the word., "To-day shalt thou he with Me in Paradise." The sentence is, however, wrongly punctuated: the comma should be placed after "today." Then the meaning will be: -"I will not defer the consideration of your case until I come in My Kingdom, but will promise you to-day, or, at once, that, when I go to Paradise, you shall be with Me."
[*Note. The thief did not go to any heavenly Paradise on the day he died; he descended with Christ to the Paradise below on that day; that is, at the time of his death: "THIS day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise..." It is nowhere stated that ‘after My resurrection thou shalt be with me in a heavenly Paradise’. Punctuate the words as you wish, the scriptural proof states that the ‘Paradise’ below cannot be emptied until Resurrection: and Resurrection is the uniting of the soul in Hades to the decomposed body lying in the grave; and the “resurrection of the dead,” – those whose souls and bodies are now separated - has not yet taken place. All who teach the contrary are in error, (2 Timothy 2:18). Furthermore, we cannot go to be where Christ is at present until the time when He returns to earth: and that is at the time of the Resurrection of the dead, (1 Thessalonians 4:16) “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am:” (John 14:2,
245. The word Gehenna, which is the same as Tophet in the Hebrew of the Old Testament, stands for what we now call Hell, that is, the Lake of Fire and Brimstone. It is used in Matthew 23:15 and Matthew 23:33; Mark 9:43, Mark 9:45, and Mark 9:47; James 3:6, and in several other passages. It is, however, a great mistake to suppose, that at the moment of death a lost spirit speeds its way directly to the "Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." For it goes, as did the spirit [disembodied soul] of Dives, to Hades, or, in certain cases, possibly, to the Abyss; just as a man arrested for a crime upon earth is lodged in prison, and there detained to await the time of judgment, when he will he tried and receive his sentence.
[* Note. The ‘spirit’ which returns to God at the time of death is God’s animating spirit. “As the body without the spirit is dead…” (James 2:26). “Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up” (Luke 8:55). “The dust [of the decomposed body of the dead] returns to the ground it came from, and the [animating or life-giving] spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). “If it were His [God’s] intention and He withdrew His spirit and breath, all mankind would perish [die] together and man would return to the dust” (Job 34:14-15). “Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30). It is the soul which descends into Hades at the time of death: “You will not abandon me [Lit. “my soul,” See R. V. and Greek] to the grave [“Hades”] (Acts 2:27.) cf. Psalms 16:10 where “Sheol” = “Hades.” Today’s popular N.I.V. translation is as misleading here as the Authorised Version is throughout, where Hades – the place of the dead in the underworld – “in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40), the place where our Lord went immediately after His death, is described by several different words!]
246. From Isaiah 30:33, we learn that Tophet, or Gehenna, is prepared for the King, that is, as the context shows us, for the great Godless King, or Emperor, that is coming, that is, for the Antichrist; and that "the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it." But in all probability, it is not kindled as yet; for it is not yet needed. Two beings will, however, be cast into it before the Millennium, namely, the Antichrist, or Beast, for whom it was specially prepared, and the False Prophet. But, after the Post-millennial rebellion, the Devil himself will be cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, the judgment will follow, and then Death and Hades, and, finally, all those whose names are not found written in the Book of Life, will be doomed to the same place of torment (Revelation 20:10-15).
247. The third name, Tartarus, does not denote a prison for the confinement of human spirits, but a place of punishment for certain angels that were guilty of specially heinous sin. And, from what Peter (2 Peter 2:4) and Jude (Jude 1:6-7) tell us, there can be little doubt that they are those angels, or sons of God, of whom we read in Genesis 6:1-4, and who rebelliously left their own sphere, and intermingled and intermarried with the children of men (see "Earth’s Earliest Ages," PP. 205-13, 238-9). Thus they rendered themselves liable to special punishment, and were hurled down to Tartarus by God, and there cast into "pits of darkness" - such is, perhaps, the true reading of 2 Peter 2:4 - to be reserved for the dread judgment of the Great White Throne.
248. It may be that many believers, who love to think and talk of dear departed ones as being in Heaven, will be loath to admit that they are at present only in Paradise. But, while there can be no doubt that such is the case, there need be no feeling of disappointment; for, although the spirits [souls] of the Lord’s people are not yet in Heaven proper, they are, nevertheless, in bliss: they are free from sin and from all temptations to it, and are enjoying the spiritual presence of their Lord in such a way as we cannot now conceive. The intermediate state is better than the present life, or how could Paul have said, "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain"? But we must not forget, that the supremely blessed time, which we are exhorted to look and prepare for, is the morning of the Resurrection, when the living and the dead will be reunited, in order that they may ascend in one glorious body to meet their Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17), and to see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). For, if in the disembodied state they were already with Him in the sense in which they may hope to be when they have received bodies like unto His glorious body, what would be the object of the Resurrection out from among the dead?