I. Hell

    A. Hades

        1. Hades is translated as Hell in the King James Bible, but that obscures the fact that Jesus used the term to refer to a place other than that of eternal punishment

        2. it is, however, a place of serious penalty for the unfaithful dead, but at the same time, Hades is a bicameral estate, having also a section devoted to rewarding the faithful dead as they await the day of final judgment (Luke 16:19-31)

            a. Hades then is the location of temporary torment and the bosom of Abraham, two divergent experiences separated only by a great, fixed gulf so that none can cross from one side to the other

            b. Hades is where life’s injustices begin to be sorted out

        3. Jesus seldom speaks of the pleasanter side of Hades, but upon the cross, he does seem to make reference to it (Luke 23:39-43)

            a. the bosom of Abraham is a paradise of relief and rest

            b. it is to here that the spirit of Jesus would go upon his death, but as he predicted, the gates of Hades could not hold him or prevent him from establishing his resurrection kingdom (see Matthew 16:18, Acts 2:27-31)

        4. Jesus describes hades as a warning and a byword to the unrepentant (Matthew 11:20-24)

        5. Hades is as temporary as the grave, whose victory over life is but brief when the last trumpet sounds and the dead rise to judgment (Revelation 20:11-15; see also First Corinthians 15:55)


    B. Tartarus

        1. Tartarus is also translated Hell in the King James rendering of Second Peter, but again, there is a distinction between this place and the one of eternal torment

        2. Tartarus is simply the name for the part of Hades where the rich man and the unrepentant criminal went upon death, along with many others (Second Peter 2:4, 9-10)

            a. Tartarus is a place where the unrighteous are kept under punishment until the day of judgment when their final sentences are pronounced

            b. Tartarus is temporary, but the penalty is sealed; it is no Purgatory where wickedness can be canceled out by difficult tasks or charity back on Earth


    C. Gehenna

        1. it is the word Gehenna that is most associated with permanent punishment – the actual Hell from which no one departs

            a. Gehenna was a smoldering garbage dump outside of Jerusalem, where the citizens disposed of their waste and dead animals and where the government sent the corpses of criminals

            b. it was vile and contaminated and its fires were never allowed to die out

        2. it was this garbage dump that Jesus pointed to when he talked about eternal punishment

            a. this Hell was the expected sentence of that brood of vipers, the scribes and Pharisees who polluted religion with their self-serving traditions (see Matthew 23:15, 33)

            b. Gehenna was a terrible physical place for the dead, but Hell is an even more miserable spiritual place for the conscious dead (Mark 9:43-48)

            c. Gehenna is a sentence to dread and avoid: “fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him” (Luke 12:5)!

            d. Jesus repeatedly draws a picture of a place of fire, yet in outer darkness, where “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12; see also Matthew 13:42, 13:50, 22:13, 24:51, 25:30)

        3. it is here that we are reminded that our God is a consuming fire and that it is a fearful thing to fall into his living hands (Hebrews 12:28, 10:31)

        4. Hell is not the kingdom of Satan where demons spend eternity torturing fallen humans, but a place of universal punishment, where even the tempter and minions are under penalty


II. Getting There

    A. Not Worthy of the Kingdom

        1. getting there is not half the fun; it is all the fun and the fun is short-lived and shortsighted

        2. Hell is to die for and then death is the eternal mood for those who proved themselves unworthy of the kingdom of Heaven (Romans 1:28-32)

        3. they were unworthy of victory because, in the battle between the spirit and the flesh, they chose surrender instead, indulging their baser appetites just as the rich man did when he ignored the plight of Lazarus begging at his gate (Galatians 5:17-21)


    B. Ignorant or Disobedient

        1. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and his invitation to redemption and reformation is universally extended, so that ignorance ceases to be a viable excuse for iniquity

        2. some, however, will feign ignorance, choose to be oblivious to the gospel, or just reject it without shame, perhaps even mocking those who believe (Second Thessalonians 1:5-12)

            a. those who do not know God

            b. those who perhaps know of him, but refuse to obey the gospel

                1. men like the Jerusalem authorities (John 12:42-43)

                2. and the Pharisees and lawyers (Luke 7:29-30)

        3. so often, the missing ingredient is a love for truth that exceeds a need for safety, security, acceptance and tradition (Second Thessalonians 2:9-12)

            a. God responds, not by compelling the unwilling, but by accepting their free will choice

            b. he gives them over to the iniquity they love more than him


    C. Unrepentant

        1. Hell is the subconscious choice of those who know of the gospel, but are not moved to repent, misinterpreting the patience of God as evidence of an unwillingness to act or punish or condemn (Romans 2:1-11)

        2. the patience of God is wonderful, so magnificent that David remarked, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17).

        3. the truly penitent make righteous use of God’s patience, while the hypocrite simply takes advantage, hoping to bask in sin until the last possible moment, and then jump on the believer’s bandwagon just in time for the ride home to heaven

        4. God is not mocked by the hypocrite and his patience is not inexhaustible and he does have the will to punish those who trample upon his son (Second Peter 3:11-15a)


Conclusion

Hell is no place for you but it is a real spiritual place, a destination that is avoidable for the soft of heart and firm of mind.


Questions For Review

  1. 1.What is Hades?

  2. 2.What is Tartarus?

  3. 3.What is Paradise?

  4. 4.What was Gehenna?

  5. 5.What is said of those who would not confess or be baptized?

  6. 6.How do some abuse the patience of God?

  7. 7.What sort of persons ought we to be in light of Judgment Day?

© 2009, Jeff S. Smith. Outlines and recordings may be used for teaching programs, individual study and review, but are copyrighted and may not be republished, especially for profit, without the author's express consent. Click here to email the author.