Hades
*Unless otherwise noted, all scripture references in this article are from the old King James translation. Using this translation best suits the purposes of this article.
The New Testament of the old King James Version (K.J.V.) translation translates three different Greek words as “hell.” These three words are hades, gehenna, and tartarus. These completely different Greek words being translated as the one English word “hell” has caused untold confusion. This study will identify and describe that place that is called hades.
Hades is the same place as sheol
The word hades occurs ten times in the New Testament’s original Greek. In each instance the K.J.V. translates the word as “hell.” The passages are: Matthew 11:23; 16:18; Luke 10:15; 16:23; Acts 2:27; 2:31; Revelation 1:18; 6:8; 20:13; and 20:14. Hades can be simply defined as being the general “realm of the dead.”
In the Hebrew language of the Old Testament, the word for this “realm of the dead” is sheol. The Hebrew word sheol and the Greek word hades refer to the exact same place. The Old Testament of the K.J.V. translates the word sheol as “hell” thirty one times, as “grave” thirty times, and as “pit” three times (Numbers 16:30; 16:33; Job 17:16). Every time the K.J.V. uses the word “hell” in the Old Testament it is the translation of the word sheol.
There are two sections to hades
In the Old Testament storyline, the soul of every deceased person goes to sheol (Job 17:16, “pit” translates sheol). This includes the souls of saved people such as Jacob (Genesis 44:31, “grave” translates sheol) and David (2nd Samuel 22:6, Psalm 18:4-5). It also includes the souls of lost people such as “the wicked” (Psalm 9:17). This hints at the fact that sheol (hades) has two sections to it. One section was for the souls of the saved while another section was for the souls of the lost.
Just as the Old Testament hints at this fact, the New Testament describes these two sections clearly and vividly. The text is Luke 16:19-31. The Greek word translated as “hell” in this passage is hades. One section of hades is pictured as being a place of torment, remembrance, regret, anguish, and flame. The fact of flames being in hades coincides with God’s words about sheol (Deuteronomy 32:22). On the other hand, another section of hades is pictured as being a place of comfort, rest, and bliss.
In the passage, the soul of the long-deceased Abraham occupies the section of bliss. The soul of Lazarus, the saved beggar, also occupies that section. The soul of the lost rich man, however, occupies the section of torment. According to the passage, the two sections of hades are separated by a great gulf, which ensures that no soul could ever visit the other section.
The torment section of hades is what most people typically have in mind when they think of hell. This thinking is correct in the sense that the soul of every lost person goes to this “hell.” If a lost person dies today, his or her soul will go to join the rich man’s soul, as well as multiplied millions of others, in this awful, gruesome place. Jesus described the fire of the torment section of hades as a place where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:12; 13:42; 13:50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28).
The bliss section of hades is sometimes called “Abraham’s bosom.” This term comes from Luke 16:23, which says of the rich man, “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.” This term is actually needless and unwarranted. The bliss section of hades is never given the official title “Abraham’s bosom.” The verse merely says that Lazarus was in Abraham’s bosom, meaning that Abraham was comforting Lazarus. (It is notable that a soul has a bosom!)
The bliss section of hades is also sometimes called “paradise.” This comes from Luke 23:43, which gives Christ’s words to the dying thief on the cross. The K.J.V. of that verse reads: “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Christ’s soul and the thief’s soul did indeed both go to the bliss section of hades (Acts 2:27; 2:31, “hell” translates hades in both verses). This makes it correct to refer to the bliss section of hades as “paradise.”
However, the New Testament has more to say about “paradise.” The word is used in two other passages. First, in 2nd Corinthians 12:4, the apostle Paul speaks of how he was caught up into “paradise.” He says that “paradise” is the third heaven. The first heaven is our blue sky, the second heaven is our black space, and the third heaven is the place where God dwells. Second, “paradise” is also mentioned in Revelation 2:7. Interpreting that verse through the light of Revelation 22:2, we see that “paradise” there refers to the future city of New Jerusalem.
So, which of these three different places should actually be called “paradise?” Is it the bliss section of hades, the heaven where God dwells, or the future city of New Jerusalem? The answer is that each of these dwelling places can be labeled as “paradise.” It all depends upon the time-period in question. “Paradise” to the saved souls who left this world before Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension was the bliss section of hades (sheol). “Paradise” to the saved souls who leave this world since Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension is the heaven where God dwells. “Paradise” for all of history’s saved will ultimately be the city of New Jerusalem.
Hades has gates
Interestingly, both the Old Testament and the New Testament speak of hades (sheol) as having gates. The K.J.V. of Job 17:16 says, “They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.” (As noted earlier, the word “pit” translates the word sheol.) Other translations (the New King James and the New International Version) use the word “gates” instead of “bars” in this verse. This lines up with the New Testament’s Matthew 16:18, which reads in the K.J.V.: “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell (hades) shall not prevail against it.”
Hades is located in the heart
of planet earth
Even more amazingly, the Bible teaches that hades (sheol) is located somewhere deep in the heart of planet earth. The place is always spoken of in terms of being “beneath” or “down” (Psalm 55:15; Proverbs 15:24; Isaiah 14:9; 14:15; Ezekiel 31:16-17; 32:27; Amos 9:2; Matthew 11:23; Luke 10:15; Ephesians 4:9). In one of the most amazing stories in all of the Old Testament, God allows Saul to use a medium to bring the soul of the deceased Samuel up from sheol (1 Samuel 28:3-20).
The bliss section of hades no longer holds the souls of the saved.
The New Testament’s Ephesians 4:7-10 teaches that Jesus descended into hades and transported the souls of the saved up to heaven. The actual transportation of those souls took place at Christ’s ascension, which occurred forty days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3). The Ephesians passage says that before Jesus ascended He first descended into the “lower parts of the earth” (see previous comments on the location of hades). He did this so that He could lead “captivity captive” when He “ascended up on high.” These words are a quote from Psalm 68:18, and the picture is that of a conquering king who triumphantly comes back home with captives in tow. The New International Version says: “When he ascended on high he led captives in his train.” These “captives” with whom Christ entered into heaven were the saved souls from the bliss section of hades. These souls could not officially go up into heaven until Jesus actually shed His blood in time and history. Hebrews chapters 9 and 10 describe how Jesus had to take His shed blood into heaven’s “holy of holies” and sprinkle it before and upon heaven’s “mercy seat.” His shed blood alone, sprinkled in the “holy of holies” of heaven’s tabernacle (Hebrews 8:1-2), took away the sins of the saved (John 1:29).
To rightly understand all of this, you must understand that the Israelite system of worship (the tabernacle, the adornments of the tabernacle, the altar, the holy of holies, the mercy seat, etc.) were only earthly “copies” of the genuine articles in heaven (Hebrews 8:1-5). The Old Testament earthly observances of the eventual heavenly scene of Christ sprinkling His blood before and on heaven’s mercy seat did not permanently deal with sins. Those earthly observances could not permanently deal with sin because the blood of animals could never do what Christ’s blood could do (Leviticus 16:1-19; Hebrews 9:11-28). However, once Christ’s shed blood was before and upon heaven’s mercy seat, the sins of the saved were eternally taken away. This meant that the souls of the saved could then officially go up to heaven.
Therefore, Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension ended the need for the bliss section of hades. When a saved person dies now, his or her soul goes immediately up to heaven to be in the presence of the Lord (2nd Corinthians 5:1-8). The death of Stephen is clear proof of this (Acts 7:54-60).
The torment section of hades will eventually also be emptied
The Bible gives a clear description of God’s program of unfulfilled prophecy. This program chronologically plays out as follows:
- the rapture of the church
(1 Corinthians 15:51-58; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) - the seven-year tribulation period upon this earth
(Revelation chapters 6 through 19) - the second coming of Christ to this earth
(Revelation 19:11-21) - the thousand-year reign of Christ upon this earth
(Revelation 20:1-6) - the last revolt of Satan
(Revelation 20:7-10) - the great white throne judgment
(Revelation 20:11-15) - the passing away of the current heaven and earth
(Revelation 21:1) - the appearance of a new heaven and a new earth
(Revelation 21:1) - the appearance of a new Jerusalem
(Revelation 21:2-27,22:1-5)
It is during the time of the great white throne judgment that the torment section of hades will be emptied of the souls of the lost.
Up until that day, however, the torment section of hades receives the soul of each and every lost person, just as it has done since Cain’s death. Proof of this is seen in the fact that Revelation 6:8, a verse that describes a time in the coming tribulation period, says: “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell (hades) followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” The meaning of the verse is that in those days death will receive the body and the torment section of hades will receive the soul.
The torment section of hades won’t stop receiving souls until the day of the great white throne judgment. On that day, Jesus, seated upon His great white throne, will bring the souls of the lost up out of hades (Revelation 20:11-16, “hell” translates hades). For this judgment, Jesus will also bring forth the bodies that those lost souls once inhabited. “Death” will deliver up the body and “hell” (hades) will deliver up the soul. The lost will then be cast body and soul into a place called “the lake of fire.” This lake of fire is actually the gehenna that the New Testament speaks of in various other places (Matthew 5:22; 5:29-30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15; 23:33; Mark 9:43; 9:45-47; Luke 12:5; James 3:6). The Bible doesn’t specify where the “lake of fire” is, but it seems that the place isn’t a part of this earth. Of course, the transferring of these souls from hades to gehenna proves that the flames of hades do not annihilate souls!