Some people believe that there is no life after death. They believe that when you die it is all over - no heaven, no hell, and no judgment. Others believe that there is a final judgment where believers will go to heaven and receive a reward and unbelievers will be sentenced to an eternity of torment in hell.

Our goal in this study is to determine, from the divinely-inspired words of Scripture, what God has revealed concerning life after death, concerning any judgment that may await us, and concerning how to prepare for that coming judgment. Knowledge is power. An understanding of what, if anything, awaits us after we die will help to equip us to be prepared for it.

With this knowledge, this understanding of what awaits us after death, we will be given the opportunity to be prepared for the coming judgment and to confront it with boldness and confidence. This coming judgment need not be a time of fear and dread. In this study, we shall see that if we are properly prepared, this coming judgment will be a time of rejoicing!

The place commonly referred to as “hell” seems central to any concept of life after death and any coming judgment. Therefore, we will begin our study by attempting to get a better understanding of what is meant by this word “hell.” Using Strong’s Concordance we find that the word “hell” appears 23 times in the King James Version of the New Testament. However, these 23 passages have translated three different Greek words into the one English word “hell.”

“Hades” is translated as hell 10 times, “Gehenna” is translated as hell 12 times, and “Tartarus” once. This has resulted in a great deal of confusion about hell. To clear up some of this confusion, we need to understand what is meant by each of these three Greek words that have been translated as hell.

We will begin by using the New American Standard Bible (NASB) to examine how the word “Hades” is used in Scripture. In Acts 2:27 Peter quotes King David’s prophecy that God will not leave the soul of Jesus in Hades saying, “You will not abandon my soul to Hades.” David’s words here are taken directly from Psalm 16:10 where it says, “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol.” Here the Hebrew word translated as “hell” in the King James Version of the Bible is actually “Sheol.”

This passage proves that Sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek are names for the same place. Secondly, this passage states that Hades or Sheol is the place where the souls of people go when their body dies, just as it was prophesied about Jesus’ soul.

Some people believe that when a Christian dies, that person then goes immediately to heaven to be with the Lord forever. They use the verse in Philippians 1:23 where Paul says that he has the “desire to depart and be with Christ.” This sounds appealing, no accountability, no judgment, just go directly to heaven - but it is not consistent with what the Scriptures teach.

First of all, to go to be with the Lord does not necessarily mean to go to heaven. Psalm 139:7-8 says, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.”

Secondly, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 says, “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

This passage clearly states that those Christians that have died, fallen asleep, before Christ’s return, have not gone up to heaven. Rather, it says that Christ will descend from heaven with a shout and with the trumpet of God, and that these dead in Christ will rise to meet Him first, then those Christians that are still alive at His coming will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.

When believers die their souls go down to Hades, just as Jesus’ did. They do not rise until Christ’s return. When Jesus returns, the souls of the believers will rise to meet the Lord in the air, first the dead in Christ, then those who are still alive at His coming.

In Luke 16:19-31 Jesus says, “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried.

“In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that in your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ And he said, ‘I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house–for I have five brothers–in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

“But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

There is a third thing that we need to see about Hades. Jesus tells us about the rich man and Lazarus the beggar, and how they both died and went to Hades. However, we see from the passage above that, according to Jesus, they had very different experiences there. The rich man was in torment, while Lazarus was resting peacefully in Abraham’s bosom. Here we see that Hades has two distinct separate parts.

The rich man looked up and saw Lazarus afar off. The upper part of Hades, referred to in Scripture as paradise, is where the souls of the righteous go and are comforted after the death of their physical bodies. In Luke 23:42-43 the thief on the cross saw that Jesus was undeserving of death, and confessed Him as King, as Lord, saying, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” Jesus told the repentant thief, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

The lower part of Hades is where the souls of the unrighteous go and are tormented after the death of their physical bodies. It is not possible to cross over from one part of Hades to the other part of Hades. For the unrighteous, Jesus says that Hades is an inescapable place of torment. Abraham reminded the rich man that he had received his good things during his lifetime and Lazarus had received bad things, but now in Hades, Lazarus is comforted, and the rich man is in agony.

Jesus also tells us how Lazarus was left at the rich man’s gate hungry and longing to be fed but received nothing. This should cause us to pause and reflect on how we are living our lives in relation to the poor and needy around us. It is not enough just to claim to be a believer; we must demonstrate our faith by how we treat others.

Finally, in Revelation 20:13-14, we see that Hades is just a temporary holding place for the souls of the dead. “Death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.”

Hades is a very real place where the souls of the dead are held awaiting final judgment. Hades is a temporary place of torment for the unrighteous, and a temporary place of comfort for the righteous. At the judgment seat, Hades is emptied and then it is thrown into the lake of fire. Its usefulness has been completed.

Writings By Jon von Ernst

The Lord of All Things Series - A Trilogy of Truth 
Books in this series:
Book 1 - The Gospel of the Kingdom
Book 2- The Victorious Christian
Book 3 - Walking in the Light  -  Following in His Steps

*- Audio of these books are available free of charge at thepureword.net.