Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 1

DeathDeathDeathDeathHell, Hades, Paradise, The Abyss,

The Pit, Gehenna, Tartarus, Sheol, Lake of

Fire

Hell, Hades, Paradise, The Abyss, The Pit,

Gehenna, Tartarus, Sheol, Lake of Fire

BEWARE THE LAMBBEWARE THE LAMB

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 2

Born Once, Die Twice;Born Twice, Die Once…

Death is not the cessation of life. It is separation !!

1st death – Physical deathSeparation of the Spirit from the Body - Temporary

2nd birth – Spiritual birthEternal Life

Ye mustmust be born again…John 3

2nd death – Spiritual death Separation of the Spirit from God - Eternal

1st birth – Physical birthPhysical, mortal life - Temporary

Happy Birthday to you…

• Death: Greek = "thanatos“, death in a double sense.

Literally: Physical and SpiritualGk: thanatos = death from any cause

• Death claims the body;Hades claims the soul.

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 3

What is …. ??? !!!

Hell: 3 Greek words, each referring to a different place, all of which are translated by the one word hell, causing considerable confusion.

Geenna Gehenna Hell – Eternal Lake of Fire…Gehenna refers to the final abode of the wicked dead, called The Lake of Fire in Rev 20:14-15

This is what most of us think about when the word Hell is used.

It is found in Mat 5:22,29,30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15,33; Mark 9:43,45,47; Luk 12:5; Jas 3:6.

Haides Hades Sheol in the OT TemporaryHades refers to the abode of all the dead before the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus. It is comprised of 2 ‘chambers’:

One part was and is reserved for the wicked dead and is usually just called Hades (Luk 16:23).

It is now still the temporary abode of the wicked dead awaiting the Great White Throne Judgment.

The other separate chamber was for the righteous dead and was called Abraham's Bosom (Luk 16:22), Paradise (Lk 23:43), and in some few references, Hades (Act 2:27,31)

Jesus emptied Paradise at His Ascension and now the righteous dead, those who have been ‘Born Again’ who are in Christ, go immediately to be with the Lord (Phillip 1:23; 2 Cor 5:8).

While they are with Him in spirit, at the Rapture their now dead physical bodies will be changed, transformed into spiritual bodies as will those believers who are alive when Jesus comes. 1 Cor 15:39-44 and 51-53,

Tartaroo Tartarus Pit in the OT The Temporary Demonic prison; The Depths…Tartarus is the word in 2 Pet 2:4 translated by the phrase "cast down to hell." The fallen angels were sent to their temporary prison house, Tartarus, until the Great White Throne judgment.

Make a study of these places where the word "hell" occurs, in the light of the distinctive Greek word found in each place, and see how much better you understand these passages.

Excerpted from Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament,

Copyright 1940-55 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.; Copyrights © renewed 1968-73 by Jeannette I. Wuest. All rights reserved.

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 4

Hades Sheol Paradise

2 chambered holding place of the spirits of dead men located in the ‘lower regions’ of the earth; the deep.

Prior to Jesus 1st coming:• The unrighteous were and are held in Sheol or

Hades, the lower chamber of Paradise• The ‘righteous’ were held in the upper chamber of

Paradise called the ‘bosom of Abraham’.

At his resurrection, Jesus emptied the upper chamber of Paradise leadng ‘captivity captive’.

Since Jesus resurrection:• The ‘righteous’ go immediately to be with the Lord

Jesus, the Christ.• The unrighteous continue to await final judgment and

sentencing to Hell

Tartarus The Abyss The Bottomless Pit

Holding place of demon spirits and fallen angels who left their ‘first estate’ and who

possessed or cohabited with men.

Located in the center of the earth.

GehennaThe Lake of FireHell

The place of Eternal Punishment located in the ‘outer darkness’

THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT

Paradise & The Abyss – EmptyHell - Occupied

Paradise – Half Occupied The Abyss – OccupiedHell - Empty

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 5

Paradise Luke 16:19-31Hades / Sheol / Bosom of Abraham

• The rich man in Hades was fully conscious- remembered, spoke, felt pain, expressed desires

• His eternal destiny was irrevocably fixed• He knew what he was experiencing was fair and just• He knew what his brother needed to avoid his fate:

To repent !!!He was NOT in Hell - yet ! - Only in Hades / Sheol. Hell is now empty !!

(Eph 4:8) Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

Jesus emptied the ‘Bosom of Abraham’ when He rose from the dead and ascended.

(2Co 5:8) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 6

G86: hadesIn Classic Greek:

1) Hades or Pluto, the god of the lower regions2) Orcus, the nether world, the realm of the dead

In Biblical Greek:3) The infernal regions, the underworld, a dark dismal place in the very depths of the earth4) In the OT, Sheol was used to describe this location

Hades / Sheol was the common ‘holding location’ of disembodied human spirits; the spirits of those who have physically died…

Part of Speech: noun proper locative

Idiomatically: a geocentric concept

Later, in common use, this word came to be synonymous with the grave, death, and/or hell. It was used by the translators often in error to refer to Hell, Ghenna and/or Tartarus

You must carefully study the translated passage in context to determine the proper idea when you come across the words Sheol and/or HadesSheol / Hades is a unique, specific place different from the grave or hell

See Luke 16:19-31

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 7

Sheol H7585Sheol is not the “grave”.

Grave is H6913: KEVER, QEBER Isa 14:19 and G3418/G3419: MNEEMA

The grave is the destination of our physical bodies.

In the LXX (Septuagint: the first Greek translation of the OT in use in Jesus day), Sheol is never translated MNEEMA (the Grave); it is always translated HADES.

Sheol is the location of departed souls; The conscious abode of the dead.

In Old Testament times Sheol referred to the abode of both the righteous and unrighteous spirits of the dead.

• Sheol is “under the earth”, “underworld”, “lower parts of the earth”

Graves were in Sepulchres – above the earth or in cavesPs 63:9; Isa 14:9; Ezek 26:20; Ezek 31:14, 16, 18: Ezek 32:28,24

• Sheol is never connected to burial as is Kever Ge 23:4, 6, 9, 19, 20; Ge 49:30-31; etc

You can purchase, own or sell a grave site; not Sheol Ge 23:4-20

• Bodies are unconscious and decay in Kever – the grave;

Those in Sheol are conscious Isa 14:4-7; Is 44:23; Ezek 31:16; Ezek 32:21; Luk 16:19>>

• Kever can be plural – there are many graves;

Sheol – the abode of the dead - is never used in the plural. It is a place.

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 8

Th

e U

nd

erw

orl

dHADES / SHEOL

Paradise: 2 chambers

Luke 16An

ImpassibleGulf

Place of Torment

Abraham’sBosom

Tartarus, Abyss,

BottomlessPit

The ‘holding cell’ of a group of ‘Fallen Angels’ and Demons who by their actions after the fall have been

confined – NOT Hades or Sheol

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 9

Before Jesus Death and Resurrection

Heaven (the Throne of God)

Paradise(the Bosom of Abraham)

Hades / Sheol

A Great Impassible Gulf - Luke 16:19-31

Tartarus: The Bottomless PitTartarus: The Bottomless Pit

RIP

Body Grave

Sp

irit

/ S

ou

l

Co

nsc

iou

sne

ss

Righteous

UnRighteous

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 10

RIP

Heaven (the Throne of God)

Present with the Lord

Eph 4:8>

Ascen

sion

Tartarus: The Bottomless PitTartarus: The Bottomless Pit

Since Jesus Death and Resurrection

2Co 5:6-8

Body Grave

Righteous

Paradise(the Bosom of Abraham)

Hades / Sheol

A Great Impassible Gulf - Luke 16:19-31

UnRighteous

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 11

RIP

Heaven (the Throne of God)

Present with the Lord

Paradise(the Bosom of Abraham)

Hades / Sheol

A Great Impassible Gulf - Luke 16:19-31

Eph 4:8>

Ascen

sion

2nd C

omin

g

Rapture

Satan Bound

Hell (Lake of Fire) Outer DarknessGhenna

Millenium

BeastFalse Prophet

SATANFollowers

Great White Throne Judgment

1Co 3:13-21

Judgment For Rewards

Marriage Supper of the Lamb

Satan Loosed

Tartarus: The Bottomless PitTartarus: The Bottomless Pit

RIP

2Co 5:6-8

Destiny

1Th 4:13 >>Rev 20:6

Rev 20-21Rev 20-21

1Cor 15:39-53

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 12

Hell; The Lake of Fire; Gehenna G1069/G1067

The Valley of Hinnon (Hinnom), is a deep, narrow ravine located south of Jerusalem, was where the filth, the city’s garbage, the bodies of executed criminals and the carcasses of dead animal.

It was at the HIGH PLACES of Baal, located in the valley of Hinnom, that parents sacrificed their children as a burnt offering to the pagan god Molech

2 Kg 23:10

Ahaz and Manasseh, Kings of Judah, were guilty of this wickedness 2 Chr 28:3; 33:6

King Josiah put an end to this Baal worship by destroying the pagan altars and defiling the valley so thoroughly it became unfit even for pagan worship

2 Kings 23:10

Jeremiah prophecied that God would judge this awful abomination of human sacrifice and would cause such a destruction that "the valley of the son of Hinnom" would become known as "the valley of slaughter“

Jer 7:31-32; 19:2,6; 32:35

As with any large compost pile, maggots filled and worked the filth which spontaneously ignited and burned. The fire never went out as more and more refuse was added to the pile. The place was also called “Tophet“ H8613 = “place of fire”

The smoke and stench never abated. At night wild dogs howled and gnashed their teeth as they fought over the garbage.

It is this comparison; a place of unextinguished burning and fire that became synonymous with Hell; The Lake of Fire. The ‘Lake of Fire’ or ‘Gehenna’ is the ultimate destiny of the unsaved unrighteous who are now temporarily held in Hades / Sheol. Hell is ‘God’s cosmic garbage dump...

Gehenna, The Lake of Fire – or Hell as we associate it – is in the ‘Outer Darkness’ Mat 8:12; Mat 22:13, Mat 25:30, being located at the opposite end of creation from Hades, ‘The lower parts, the depths of the earth…

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 13

Hell = The Lake of Fire = Gehenna

In Mark 9:46, 48, hell (gehenna) is described as a place where "their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched."

Repeatedly Jesus spoke of ‘outer darkness’ and a ‘furnace of fire’, where there will be wailing, weeping, and gnashing of teeth

Matt 8:12; 13:42,50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28

Used 12 times in the New Testament (11 times by Jesus and once by James),

each time it is translated in as "hell" Matt 5:22; Mark 9:43,45,47; Luke 12:5; James 3:6

The book of Revelation describes hell as "a lake of fire burning with brimstone"

Rev. 19:20; 20:10, 14-15; 21:8

• The beast and the false prophet will be thrown into hell Rev. 19:20• At the end of the age the devil himself will be thrown into hell• Death and hades (sheol) will be thrown into hell and • All whose names are not in the book of life will be thrown into hell.

"And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever" Rev. 20:10b

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 14

Heavens ‘Symbols’ crash…Some today doubt whether hell exists, whether it consists of an actual burning fire.They believe that since these things are described symbolically, that Hell must not exist.

But, think a minute…of course these descriptions are symbolic.

However, the symbols are used to describe real literal places and conditionsWe can’t understand or picture spiritual realities without the use of physical symbols.

Phrases like “Fire and Brimstone”, “Lake of Fire”, conditions in the Valley of Hinnon, etc are metaphors; descriptions using things we can understand to help us gain insight into things that we cannot.

Hell is a repugnant, disgusting place of suffering. It involves ultimate, eternal, and permanent alienation and separation from God.

Existing outside the boundaries of time and space - boundaries that currently limit our comprehension - we must use the metaphors to try to explain, describe and understand what Hell is really going to be like.

So, don’t get too comfortable with the thought that these descriptions are symbolic. Symbols are being used because literal descriptions are inadequate.

Hell will be far worse than any weak metaphor we can use to describe it.

Whether you are talking about Heaven or Hell, the reality is far, far greater than the symbols used to describe them.

Just as Hell is far worse than we can picture or imagine, Heaven is far better…

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 15

Lucifer > Satan > the Dragon > the Devil you say

When men multiplied on the earth - now in their sinful state - Satan did everything possible to corrupt men to the point God would have no use for them.

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, [2] That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. ... [4] There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

As these fallen heavenly 'sons of God' cohabited the now fallen human ‘daughters of men (also fallen ‘sons of God’, they bore offspring; a genetically polluted race of giants - demonic beings.

• The reason Noah was chosen is that he was ‘righteous in all his generations’• We believe the reason God had Israel completely wipe out some of the nations in Canaan and not others is that they had been ‘genetically’ polluted in this manner.• We believe this activity is the source of the many, many pagan myths about ‘the gods’ cohabiting with ‘mortals’ producing the legendary mythological characters - Hercules, etc.

A ’son of God’ is an exclusive term used in scripture for those beings who were the result of God’s direct creation. There are only four:

1] The angels created 2] Adam created 3] The Lord Jesus incarnation 4] The Church the ‘born again’ new creation

The fallen angels who participated in this action of possessing men and their offspring were condemned to a prison called – Tartarus GK: 5020

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

Jude 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 16

This is the pits…

The abyss was originally considered to be the place of imprisoned waters (the holding place of the primeval waters that covered the earth before God separated them from the firmament.

Genesis 1:1-7

[1] In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. [2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

[3] And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. [4] And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. [5] And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

[6] And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. [7] And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

It was thought to once have been a great subterranean sea.

Genesis 7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 17

Tartarus = ? The Pit ? = The ABYSS

Abyss: [Ah BISS] – GK:12 the bottomless pit or the chaotic deep.

Found 9x in the New Testament; 30x+ in the Septuagint.

Often referred to as the ‘deep’ or ‘darkness’Luke 8:31 And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. Romans 10:7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)

The temporary place of terrible punishment of disobedient spirit beings, the fallen angels, demons, and ultimately the beast and the false prophet.

Rev 9:11; Rev 11:7; Rev 20:1, 3

The Abyss or ‘bottomless pit’ became known as the place of confinement of God's greatest enemies harboring some of the most terrible of the fallen creatures which followed Lucifer in his rebellion.

"The Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high [that is, Satan's hosts], and the kings of the earth upon the earth. [For this earth is to be terribly judged, but God never forgets that behind the wicked of this earth there are the

wicked of the angelic hosts.] And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they

be visited" (Isa. 24:21-22)

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 18

This is THE pit…

The Abyss is a great chasm within the earth where the disobedient of heaven and disobedient of earths' rulers and the fallen spirits who cohabited with man were kept prisoner. (Although even there they were not beyond his power and authority)

Amos 9:3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:

Isa 51:9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?

Psalm 74:13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.

Lu 8:31 And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep.

What’s all this about dragons and serpents hid in the deep, the bottom of (beneath) the sea ???

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 19

Rev 9:1-3 The ABYSS…Smoke and Locusts ???

[1] And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. [2] And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. [3] And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

John is describing the opening of a place beyond the natural environment of man's normal existence. It is the loosing of evil demonic spirit beings upon natural man.

Satan's still controls a great army – some confined, some free and still roaming …

Ephes. 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

2 Cor. 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

Also see Mark 9:17-27

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Acts 17:11 1 Thes 5:21 20

Rev 9:2-3 Sorry, we don’t have a ‘No Smoking’ section …

[2] And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. [3] And there came out of the smoke, locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

The first time smoke is mentioned in scripture is at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorah; the smoke of judgment…

Genesis 19:28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.

Smoke was seen at the giving of the law on Sinai…

Exodus 19:18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

Out of the smoke of the abyss - billowing like smoke out of a furnace emerge wave after wave of hideous flying creatures like locusts swarming across the land.