Hell: Why? Who? For how long?
1) Creation
Genesis 1 - Created in "His Image"
Genesis 3:1-8 - Sin and death enter and so a new Image.
2) Accounting for Sin & Death
Genesis 15 - Abrahamic Covenent
Exodus 24 - Moses is given the Law
Exodus 30:10 - Yearly blood sacrifices
3) Where to put the dead?
a) Abraham’s Bosom/Paradise
b) Hell
c) No third option!
The Four Main Biblical Terms for Hell
1. Sheol (Hebrew)
• Used in the Old Testament to mean the realm of the dead, covering both righteous and unrighteous.
• Often translated as grave, pit, or hell depending on the Bible version.
• Appears 65 times in the NASB.
2. Hades (Greek)
• New Testament equivalent of Sheol.
• Describes the intermediate place of the dead, including a place of torment (e.g., the rich man in Luke 16).
3. Gehenna (Greek)
• Used 12 times in the New Testament, 11 by Jesus.
• Refers to the final place of punishment, symbolized by the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem.
4. Tartarus (Greek)
• Appears once (2 Peter 2:4).
• Describes a place of punishment for fallen angels.
Additional but Related Term
Lake of Fire
• Mentioned in Revelation as the final destination for the wicked, Death, and Hades.
• Not exactly the same as “hell,” but closely associated with final judgment.
4) Death
Luke 16:19-31
19 “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. 20 And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, 21 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. 22 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. 23 In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 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.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 And [a]besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham *said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ 31 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.’”
a) Not justified by being poor!
b) Not condemned for being rich! (greedy)
c) Where they went: Hell or Paradise
d) His senses were/are functioning
: tormented
: sight
: mentally recognized people
: Knew his wants/ needs
: Discomfort
: Family (remembered)
: understood the power of the Prophets/Gods word
5) Resurrected Body
a) Eph.4:8… captive’s freed from paradise
b) Resurrected body or Glorified body?
6) Judgement/White Throne
a) Lake of Fire: weeping and gnashing of teeth
b) “their” worm never dies.
Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stated:
“There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.”
“I can discover facts, Watson, but I cannot change them.”
