What the Hell (or Sheol, or Hades)?

Dirt and Stone for Flesh and Bone - Part 4

Thanks for reading the YESTERDAY section of my Substack, where I share Sunday’s sermon notes on Monday, which I adapt slightly for better reading. Your comments are coveted.

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39 “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. Luke 24:39–40 (LSB)

That verse, and the revelation it presents, kicked off the series Dirt and Stone for Flesh and Bone: A Study on Heaven, where we are learning that the Bible gives a lot of information on what Eternity will be like, and it’s not what we’ve traditionally thought or been taught. First and foremost, we know from this text and the writings of Paul that Jesus’ resurrection body and our future resurrection bodies are physical, made of flesh and bone.

Next, we came to terms with our term and saw that even though we know heaven as the dwelling place of God—a spiritual dimension we cannot see—that can’t be where we end up because what sense would it make for physical bodies to dwell in a spiritual dimension? Flesh and bone are meant for dirt and stone. So, we must make room for a more nuanced view of the afterlife. That requires distinguishing between the present heaven (an intermediate state) and future heaven (the final, eternal destination of believers as described by John in the book of Revelation).

This idea of present heaven possibly hides in a story Jesus tells in Luke 16, known as the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. In it, it’s almost as if Jesus talks about the afterlife as a place with two chambers, one for the righteous dead and another for the unrighteous, connected by an unpassable chasm. Could Jesus be describing a temporary holding place for the dead until the Last Day?

I think it’s very possible, and the key is found in verses 22-23.

22 “Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 “And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. Luke 16:22–23 (LSB)

This story appears to confirm that when people die, the unjust immediately go to a place of torment and the just go to a place of blessedness, which sounds like what we know to be true. But it can’t be the New Heaven and Earth and Lake of Fire described by John in Revelation because the Last Day hasn’t arrived yet. And it’s weird and offsetting if this is how things work for eternity. It just doesn’t fit.

I believe Jesus describes the afterlife in terms of a temporary existence that stays in effect until he returns at the end of the age. Note how the parable presents the opposing experiences: Abraham’s bosom and Hades. Could they have something to do with the present heaven? Let me briefly (and probably inadequately) show you the Bible supports this. First, think about Jesus’ audience, the ones who stood there listening to the story as it was told: Jews. It made perfect sense to them because it fit into their understanding of what happened when you died from a first-century Jew’s perspective. For them, when you died, you went to a place called Sheol, sometimes translated as the grave.

Sheol, simply put, is the abode of the dead. You should know that Sheol in the OT is a bit nebulous, referring to the place all go when they die or the place wicked go when they die and sometimes even the personification of the grave or death. You come across it for the first time in the book of Genesis. Joseph had been sold into slavery by his brothers, who told their father, Jacob, that he’d been eaten by an animal.

34 Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. Genesis 37:34–35 (ESV)

Sheol is found about 65 other times in the OT, and all are associated with death. Note that in the KJV, Sheol is often translated as hell. That’s unfortunate because it takes an NT concept and projects it backward on the OT. Most folks don’t realize the OT idea of the afterlife was underdeveloped (try forming your idea of it solely on Gen-Malachi!). Jews more or less thought of death in terms of going to the grave, going to Sheol, the abode of the dead, and that was it. But by the time of Jesus, that concept had evolved much more.

Believe it or not, the Jews’ idea of the hereafter in Jesus’ day was influenced by the Greek understanding of the same. In Greek mythology, Hades is the prince of the netherworld, and the dead reside in his kingdom called the “house of Hades.” One scholar explains, “Originally the Greeks thought of Hades as simply the grave, a shadowy, ghostlike existence that happened to all who died, good and evil alike. Gradually they and the Romans came to see it as a place of reward and punishment, an elaborately organized and guarded realm where the good were rewarded in the Elysian Fields and the evil were punished.”¹ Does that sound familiar?

Wait a minute, are you saying the Jews’ understanding of the afterlife in Jesus’ day lined up with the Greeks’? Isn’t it dangerous to associate the teachings of Scripture with the myths of pagans?

They say all myths—if you trace them back far enough—contain a kernel of truth. It’s fascinating that almost all cultures, modern and ancient, have some concept of the abode of the dead. It’s almost as if in ancient history past, mankind was all together and then later scattered, taking with them a shared concept of the afterlife, but that’s another story.

A piece of this puzzle is found in the LXX (Septuagint). It was a translation of the Hebrew Bible into the Greek language that came into heavy use by the time of Jesus. It was so popular that NT writers such as Matthew, Luke, John, Paul, and Peter quoted from it regularly in their writings. In fact, some scholars say two-thirds of the 300 OT quotes in the NT come from the LXX translation.

We learn much about how the Jews of Jesus’ day interpreted the OT scriptures by looking at the LXX. When they were translating texts such as Gen. 37:35, guess what Greek word they consistently chose for the Hebrew word Sheol? Hades. Jesus and the NT writers carried over the idea of OT Sheol using the Greek term Hades. That’s neither an accident nor a coincidence. That doesn’t mean the Greek mythology was right, just that the idea worked into their understanding of the afterlife. They appropriated it. For example,

23 “And Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Matthew 11:23 (LSB)

18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Matthew 16:18 (LSB)

14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. Revelation 20:14 (LSB)

Pastor, I appreciate you, really I do, but Hades in the NT is just another word for hell. The KJV even translates all the instances of Hades as hell.

Is it, though?

Jesus and the NT writers also referred to a place related to the afterlife called Gehenna (always translated as hell), which seems to be distinct in some way from Hades. Here are some examples.

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. Matthew 5:22 (ESV)

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. Matthew 5:29 (ESV)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. Matthew 23:15 (ESV)

But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Luke 12:5 (ESV)

Gehenna actually refers to a literal place, the Valley of Hinnom, which was just outside the city of Jerusalem. At the time of Christ, it was used as a garbage dump. The methane gas that goes with rotting refuse had caught fire and been burning for there for years. It was also the place in Israelite history where great wickedness occurred, such as the sacrificing of children.

Of all the instances of Gehenna save one, Jesus spoke of it in the context of judgment, compared to the instances of Hades where the context is death only (Luke 16 and the parable of Lazarus and the rich man is the exception). Because of this, some conclude that hell and Hades are not synonymous. Hell, or Gehenna, is the as-yet unpopulated eternal fate of the wicked called the Lake of Fire in Revelation. Hades is the temporary abode of the dead in general. One Bible scholar explains it this way, “Where Hades denotes the abode of all the dead, it is described as a temporary holding place until the resurrection, when Hades gives up its dead (Rev 20:13). This is further underscored by the demarcation between Hades and GEHENNA, which is used to describe the eschatological hell of fire where the ungodly will be punished after death (Matt 5:22).”²

There isn’t enough evidence in the Bible to definitively prove this, but it does make sense of what happens when people die before the Last Day since the Lake of Fire and the New Heaven and Earth aren’t populated yet.

Study the extra-biblical Jewish writings and teachings of ancient Rabbis, and you discover the Jews of Jesus’ day saw Sheol as the abode of the dead containing two compartments: one for the righteous dead and one for the unrighteous. The righteous dead went to the compartment called Paradise; its gates were guarded by none other than Abraham (also sound familiar?). The unrighteous dead went to a place of torment.

What I’m trying to say is, maybe that’s how it works. That’s what happens when we die leading up to the Last Day. It gives new meaning to the words of Christ to the thief on the cross as well.

And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43 (ESV)

Before we close, let me clarify a few things.

Again, I must caution you that this is an interpretation of Scripture regarding heaven, not the interpretation. But it does square nicely with the Last Day problem. This does NOT mean that we won’t be with Jesus when we die and go to the present heaven. Yes, Jesus and God now live in heaven in the traditional sense, but Jesus told the thief he would be with him in Paradise that day. Paul made it clear that when we die we enter into Jesus’ presence.

6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:6–8 (ESV)

Note also what David said about God’s presence.

If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! Psalm 139:8 (ESV)

If the story of the rich man and Lazarus gives us a description of what happens when people die before the Last Day — and I believe it does — it points us to the possibility that the dead don’t go to “heaven” or “hell” as we’ve generally understood it, but to a temporary place for the righteous and unrighteous. One is a place of bliss—paradise—and the other a place of torment. On the Last Day, Jesus will gather everyone in Paradise and give them their resurrection bodies. Then those who are alive and remain will get theirs. And they all will live forever with the Lord in the New Heaven Earth.

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 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. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 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. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 (LSB)

We notice something incredible here. What’s a prime vacation destination? Exotic islands with an ocean breeze and a beautiful view. What do we call that? Paradise. Yet Paradise in God’s plan is just a layover. I can’t imagine how incredible the new Heaven and Earth must be.

Next week, we go back to the beginning to understand the end. You’ll be amazed at what the first few chapters of Genesis teach us about future heaven.

1. Davids, P. H. (1988). Hades. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 1, p. 912). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

2. Lewis, T. J. (1992). Dead, Abode of the. In D. N. Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (Vol. 2, pp. 104–105). New York: Doubleday.