Hell

Part 11
We have been discussing the place called Hades in the Greek and Sheol in the Hebrew, the intermediate regions of those who’s bodies are separated from their souls/spirits before the coming of Jesus Christ and His death on Calvary’s tree. We have found that when the soul/spirit of Christ was separated from the body in which He housed Himself, He went to this place because He took upon Himself the sins of all mankind. “Because Thou wilt not leave My soul in Hades, Neither wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see corruption.” Acts 2:27 This is a quote from Psalms 16:10 where Sheol is the term used in Hebrew. Notice there is a difference between the WHERE the soul went and where the body went!! The Jehovah’s Witnesses like to counter with a little of their wisdom and tell you that both words mean a common grave, a condition where the dead and buried ones are unseen, like Jonah in the belly of the whale. The only problem with this “wisdom from Brooklyn” (the headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses) is that somebody needs to tell them that Jonah wasn’t dead while he was in the belly of the whale!! The soul of Jesus was in Hades, His body was in the borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arimathea! Jonah never resurrected, he was vomited from the whale’s belly!!
As discussed last week, when Jesus resurrected from the grave, He was in complete control of Hades. This was even BEFORE He went back to the Father!! In Revelation 1:18 John wrote “I Am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” Jesus has control of these realms-NOW-He is the only one who can open and shut those realms. When He returns as judge, He will again open these realms and allow them to view the glory of His Bride as she receives His welcome into the eternal Kingdom!! No Pentecostal preacher can raise one soul from Hades, CHRIST opens and none can shut, He shuts and none can open, He is the Lord of Hades for He vanquished Satan when He went there to re-claim those who were His but separated from Him because of sin! “And the sea gave up the dead that was in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:13-14 Most of my brethren miss the WHEN of this event. They tell us this will happen at the second coming. They don’t keep this in context with the rest of the chapter or BOOK! First, we know who the “dead” are that are mentioned—they are those who had a part in the first resurrection over which the second death has no power!! There is a first resurrection and there is a general resurrection. Those of us in the first resurrection are saints of God that first had to be buried with Christ in baptism. The saints in Colossians 3:1-3 had been raised with Christ, and the saints in Romans 6:3-5 had been raised in the likeness of Christ’s resurrection. They lived with Christ, they had become priest and kings with Christ while on the earth, Revelations 5:10 There are two places to serve in the New Tabernacle of God: the holy and the Most holy places. Christ serves in the Most Holy (Heaven) as our High Priest WHILE we serve as Priest is the holy place (the Church of Christ) while on the earth!! Hebrews 9:24-28 Therefore, those priests and kings mentioned in Revelation 20 HAD TO BE in the church on earth; otherwise, they could not have served as a “Kingdom of Priests”!! They became the church when they were washed in the blood of the Lamb (Acts 20:28). They became kings and priests when they were washed in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 1:5). WHEN they were made kings and priests, (Revelation 20:6), the realm in which they were kept was irrevocable altered, all that were left it were judged, eternally!

 

Part 12
The term Tartarus many times is also translated Hell. It is found only one time in the New Testament. It is in 2 Peter 2:4, in the verbal form tartaroo. This is the place of the subterranean region, doleful and dark, regarded by the ancient Greeks as the abode of the wicked dead, where they suffer for their evil deeds. The argument that this place is for the “angels who sinned” mentioned here and not for mankind destroys Peter’s argument. This is a comparison for the sinful angels and sinful man. The unrighteous will suffer the same as the angels and will be kept “under punishment unto the day of judgment.” They (I hope not any of us) will remain conscious of their pain, separation, un-redeemable condition until the blowing of the final trump as Christ calls His church up to be with Him. The ungodly will be consigned to the “blackness of darkness,” just like the angels that were “committed to pits of darkness.” If the angels continued in a conscious existence in their chains of darkness then we must conclude that the humans so consigned continue in a conscious existence, and under punishment!!
Gehenna is another word, of all those we can study that can rightly be translated Hell in our modern sense of eternal punishment. It is used eleven times by Jesus and once by James. It has a literal origin and describes a situation many resist. The valley of the sons of Hinnom was a ravine south of Jerusalem. In the gospels it is the place of punishment in the next life. The first mention of it is found in Joshua 15:8. It was a pleasant valley; it became later a place of pagan sacrifices. The pagan god Moloch was erected there to which children were placed in the fires of the idol in sacrifice. “Moreover, he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom , and burnt his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom Jehovah cast out before the children of Israel.” 2 Chronicles 28:3
The term TOPHETH means “abomination, detestation” and comes from a word meaning “to vomit with loathing.” It is a detestable place. The burning of children in the fires of Moloch of itself was detestable. It was also a place of debacle in what it became. After king Josiah defiled the valley by filling it with the “blood of the innocent”, making it a place unfit in which man could habitat , a place of corruption, it became what God prophesied it would be. It became the garbage dump of the city of Jerusalem. The stench was terrible; animals and worms fed on the garbage thrown there. It is said that fires were kept burning there to control the refuse, and that some criminals were sometimes thrown there after being put to death. But the imagery of the place, from the burning fire of Moloch to the detestable nature of the garbage dump is carried into the portrayal of Hell. Like the word Paradise, of Persian origin, used in the New Testament to characterize Heaven, the word Hinnom became figuratively a reference to eternal punishment. “And if thy hand or thy foot causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee; it is good for thee to enter into life maimed or halt, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire. And if thine eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is good for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire.” Matthew 18:8-9 Notice the “eternal fire” of verse 8 is the same as the “hell (Gehenna) of fire” of verse 9!! Mark 9:43 says it “into unquenchable fire.” The punishment last as long as the fire, punishment is not punishment unless it is experienced!! Thayer says this is the definition of “where the worm dieth not”. The term WORM stands for the conscious, continuous punishment experienced. This type of worm preys upon dead bodies in Hell!!

 

Part 13
Tophet was an area in the valley of Hinnom where human sacrifices were made to Moloch. Jeremiah 7:31, 2 Kings 23:10 It is first mentioned by Isaiah who declared that a Topheth, a place of burning, was prepared by the Lord for the king of Assyria. Isaiah 30:33 Josiah defiled this place so that it no longer could be used for idolatrous practices. 2 Kings 23:10 The allegorical name of Topheth used in the Old Testament was the place where the sons of Hinnom had a ravine south of Jerusalem. It was thought by those in Jerusalem to be the place of the Last Judgment of God. This place was used by name in the preamble called by the name Gehenna. First mentioned in Joshua 15:8, it was described as the outer boundary of Judah. The pagan god Moloch was erected there. Children were placed in the fires of the idol in sacrifice. It was a place repugnant to God. Jeremiah 7:31-33 declares; “And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded not, neither came it into My mind. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place to bury. And the dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall frighten them away.” Isaiah adds: “For Topheth is prepared of old; yea, for the king it is made ready; he hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.” Isaiah 30:33 It became a reference to what God had in store for the disobedient, a place of corruption that no man would want to enter. From the imagery of the place, from the burning fire of Moloch to the detestable nature of the garbage dump, it becomes a portrayal of Hell.
Gehenna and unquenchable fire became a parallel. The fire spoken of is eternal and unquenchable, and for that matter, the punishment in which they continue became, by usage, the same. To attempt to take the concept of eternal punishment out of God’s Word mocks His intent and warning to those who would disobey His Law. To take the punishment out of Hell, one takes the fear, dread, and contempt from the sinner. If a punishment is not severe, the offender will never fear the Law. How could there be weeping and gnashing of teeth unless there is conscious punishment? Keep in mind that ALL the words used to speak of the punishment of the wicked, every word, and every picture: all the statements presented in the scriptures picture one fact—the eternal conscious punishment of the unredeemable, they sinned away their salvation!!
In Matthew 25:46 Jesus uses another Greek word we need to be familiar with and that is the Greek word kolasis. It is defined as correction, punishment; penalty…brings with it or has connected with it the thought of punishment, (definition Thayer, page 353). It is found in two passages, 1 John 4:18 and Matthew 25:46. “And these shall go away into eternal punishment (kolasis)”. Matthew 25:46 Naturally, those who want to teach the doctrine of annihilation or extinction want to take the “punch” out of this word. The utter repudiation of the New World Translation were it translates kolasis “cutting off” is unconscionable.
Finally, there is one more Greek word used many times referencing Hell, that is the Greek word basanizo. Thayer defines it as “to test, to question by applying torture, to vex with grievous pains (of body and mind), to torment, to be distressed”.