Hell and Hades

Hell (Gehenna) is the Lake of Fire where the lost spend eternity. Hades (Sheol in the Old Testament) is in the center of the earth—the temporary holding place of souls awaiting resurrection and judgment. Hades is divided into three sections: Paradise (now empty), Torments (where the unsaved await the Last Judgment), and Tartarus (the prison of certain fallen angels).

Hell — The Lake of Fire

HELL is from the Greek GEHENNA. This was a place outside Jerusalem where children were burned as offerings to Molech—a huge idol with outstretched paws on which children were tied before being burned to death.

2 Chronicles 33:6 — "And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger."

Jeremiah 7:31 — "And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart."

Hell is the same as the Lake of Fire where the lost spend eternity.

Revelation 19:20 — "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone."

Revelation 20:10 — "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."

Hades — The Temporary Holding Place

Hades (Greek) in the New Testament is often translated "hell." Sheol (Hebrew) is the Old Testament equivalent. Hades and Sheol are in the center of the earth.

Matthew 12:40 — "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

1 Samuel 28:7-15 — The story of Saul, Samuel (from Paradise), and the Witch of Endor shows that the dead were in the heart of the earth.

Hades is the place of the souls and spirits of people who died while awaiting the resurrection. Hades is also the place of imprisonment of a certain group of angels—TARTARUS.

The Three Sections of Hades

Hades is divided into three sections, one section divided from the other two by a "great gulf fixed."

Luke 16:19-26 — The story of the rich man and Lazarus is a true account (not a parable) because it mentions proper names and a geographical location—Hades. "And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom... And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence."

1. Abraham's Bosom or Paradise — Now Empty

This was the abode of the saved until the ascension of Jesus Christ.

Luke 23:43 — "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise."

Since the ascension of Christ, Paradise has been empty. The saved were transferred to the Third Heaven.

Ephesians 4:8-10 — "Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)"

2 Corinthians 12:2-4 — "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven... How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words."

2. Torments — The Unsaved Await Judgment

This is the abode of the unsaved, reserved until the Last Judgment at the end of the millennium. This is a place of great sorrow and suffering.

Luke 16:23-24 — "And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame."

Revelation 20:13 — "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works."

3. Tartarus — Prison of Fallen Angels

This is the prison of fallen angels who kept not their first estate. These are fallen angels from Genesis 6.

2 Peter 2:4 — "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment."

Genesis 6:1-4 — "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose... There were giants in the earth in those days."

Where Believers Go Now

Those who die now as believers go directly to the Third Heaven ("at home with the Lord"), with soul and spirit but no resurrection body.

2 Corinthians 5:8 — "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord."

Philippians 1:23 — "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better."

The Last Judgment — Hades Emptied into the Lake of Fire

Those in Hades (Torments) will be brought before the Great White Throne, after which they will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.

Revelation 20:13-15 — "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

No Degrees of Punishment in the Lake of Fire

There are no degrees of punishment in the Lake of Fire:

  • Degrees of punishment deny the literal lake of fire. Nothing indicates the temperature varies.
  • Degrees of punishment contradict unlimited atonement. Christ died for every sin. Man is judged on the basis of human good, not sins (Revelation 20:11-15).
  • Degrees of punishment destroy the principle of salvation. All who reject grace are equally condemned—not for their sins (paid for by Christ), but for rejecting the Savior.

The issue is not how bad your sins were, but whether you accepted or rejected Christ. All who reject Him face the same eternal fate—the Lake of Fire.