When you run across words in the bible like: "SHEOL" and "HELL" and "HADES" and "THE PIT" and other similar words, do you just read right over them and forget about them? Have you ever looked those words up while studying and not gain any new insights? I must have passed right over them dozens of times without a second thought. It's only when someone mentions them in conversation or in a bible study that you realize you are not exactly sure what Sheol is or where on earth or heaven it is located.

Another question: Why was the rich man able to see Lazarus in Abraham's bosom while he himself was in torment? And how was it that they were both in Hades? What about the thief on the cross, how is it that Jesus said "today I will be with you in Paradise" when He was to be in the grave 3 days. Well, we will try to answer these questions and more, and see how all these terms - these locations - relate to one another.

First we will look at Sheol and Hades. They are the Old and New Testament words, respectively, that are used to describe the same place: The realm of departed spirits.

This is the most important Hebrew word in the Old Testament that speaks of the afterlife. It has been inconsistently translated as "hell, "grave", and "the pit" which leads to confusion regarding what it really means. However, though it was used to describe those places, it is clearly distinguished from hell (Tophet in Hebrew) and it does not refer only to the physical grave. Though it does include the concept of it, Sheol never means just the grave.

The Grave (mnemeion in Greek) is where our bodies go when we die. This can be 6 feet under or even above ground. But Sheol was where the soul and spirit of the dead went between the death and resurrection of the body. People did not go directly to heaven to be with God or directly to hell at death. They went to Sheol. It was considered to be farther down under the grave in a hollow part of the earth.

It is a place of activity. See Isaiah 14:9-10. It is also spoken of as a shadowy place of darkness, not a part of this existence. After death, one can be united with his ancestors in Sheol. Gen. 49:33 says that Jacob went down into Sheol and was gathered to his people.

It is clear that there are two different regions in Sheol because there are two different kinds of inhabitants. For some that entered it was a place of gloom and torment, and for the rest it was a place where they would dwell with God. I have not seen biblical proof that God ever entered Sheol to be with the saved but that is what the people of Old Testament times were thought to have believed.

This is the Greek translation of its Hebrew counterpart. Just like Sheol it referred to the realm of the departed spirits. They are one and the same. But here in the New Testament, we see into Hades more clearly.

The best teaching on the subject of the twofold compartments of Hades is found in Luke 16:19-31. To me, this is one of the most informative passages taught by Jesus. A lot of different things can be learned from these few verses. Here we see that Lazarus was carried to Abraham's bosom or the blissful region while the rich man was taken to the side of torment.

There are four things worth mentioning about this story as it pertains to what Hades is like. First, the man in Hades was fully conscious immediately after death experiencing a variety of things. Some of which were memories, pain, and he spoke…his thirst was not satisfied. (Verse 24). He was conscious and well aware of what was going on. This should expel any ideas that the soul sleeps at death until Jesus comes a second time.

Second, the eternal destiny of this man was irrevocably fixed, verse 26. The chasm was un-passable. Only one way and that was in. At least until "Judgment".

Third, the man knew well enough that what he was experiencing was fair and just. His presence there heightened his self-awareness rather than diminished it. He complains about the pain but not about it being unjust.

Fourth, let us not forget that the rich man was in Hades not in Hell. Hell was yet to come. The rich man is there waiting for the final judgment of the Lake of Fire to come. And to this day he is still waiting for a drop of water.

Other important aspects about Hades are that it has gates and keys. (See Matt. 16:18 and Rev. 1:18.) How did Jesus get these keys? (See Eph. 4:9.) I do not know how He got them but He had to descend into Hades to get them. We have further proof He visited Hades because of what we find in Luke 23:24. Paradise was in Christ's day part of Hades. He went there but was not to remain there nor was His body to see corruption in the grave. (See Ps.16:10) He had to come back and when He did He did not come alone.

He seized the keys and opened the gates of the Paradise section of Hades. When the curtain in the temple was rent, signifying the way into the Holy of Holy's had been open, they were allowed immediate access into God's presence. And so it was with Hades. He emptied it of its captives and took them to the Paradise section of the Third Heaven. Those who were sent to Abraham's bosom now no longer occupy that part of Hades. It is occupied only by those who have died in their sins and await the Great White Throne Judgment. Why were the believers not taken to the Third Heaven immediately? Because Christ had not yet died to pay the penalty for their sin, they were not yet able to go directly into the presence of God. Also, the wicked dead in Hades will not be transferred to Hell until the Judgment.

There are two more aspects of the underworld that need to be looked at before we go on. The first is The Great Gulf. This is the chasm that separates the two compartments of Hades and is completely impassable. But it apparently was not so wide that you could not see across it or even communicate across it. This bears out in the text. It does not say how this is possible but the rich man saw and spoke to Abraham from across the gulf.

This gulf also seems to be the entrance to the bottomless pit. This place, like paradise, has keys to its gate. (See Rev. 9:1-2)

The area just below the Gulf is The Abyss. This bottomless pit is called "Abbadon" in Hebrew and "Apoleia" in Greek. This is the prison house of the demons and where Satan is to be bound for 1000 years. (Rev. 20:1-3,7-8). The word "bottomless" is translated "Abussos" in Greek. This bottomless pit has a king named "Abbadon" in Hebrew and "Apollyon" in Greek after the words that mean "destruction". This does not mean extinction but ruin and loss, not of being but of well being. This teaches us that the soul and body are not completely destroyed at or after death. This is a false doctrine known as "Annihilationism", bases it's teaching on a wrong view of death and a wrong view of the word "destruction". It is the place into which the demons besought Christ not to send them (Luke 8:31). It is the holding place for demons until they are finally consigned to the "Lake of Fire" to spend eternity with Satan. Hades will also be thrown into the Lake of Fire.

Tartarus is not a Hebrew conception but Greek. In Greek mythology Tartarus was the lowest hell; it was as far beneath Hades as the heaven is high above the Earth. Literally the word is not a noun but a verb. God "tartarized" the angels; that is, he cast them into Tartarus. We find information on its existence in a couple of areas, the first of which is in 2Peter 2:4 and then in Jude 6. This is a special place of confinement and punishment reserved for the angels of Genesis 6:4 whose sin was cohabitation with women. They are believed to be angels because the phrase "sons of God" is used to describe them. This description is almost exclusively used of angels in the Old Testament It is also believed by some that their destructive involvement with humanity was partly to blame for the flood. Regardless of whether or not you accept this interpretation, it is clear that certain angels fell and were subsequently placed in confinement not only awaiting their final day of judgment but to keep them from continuing their corrupting work until that day arrives. They will remain there until the "Great White Throne Judgment".

Finally we will look at the place of eternal judgment, Hell or The Lake of Fire. This is in Greek Gehenna, Tophet in Hebrew. This is the final hell where Satan and his angels, the Beast, the False Prophet, the angels in Tartarus, the wicked not found in the book of life, and Hades will end up. It is equivalent to and identified with the second death in Rev. 20:14. Jesus spoke more about hell than He did about heaven. Jesus uses hell in the gospels 11 times. He used words like "fiery" to describe what it was like there.

Through out time a lot has been said and speculated about hell. And it seems that in our age not enough is said about it. I once heard it stated on an episode of "Unshackled" that if we could see a half second of heaven and a half second of hell, we would not be able to get on our knees fast enough to repent and ask forgiveness. One might think this is true but then again, maybe not. But one thing is for sure; what is taught in the bible ought to be enough to convince anybody that it is real and it is serious. Lets look at the entomology of the word "hell".

On the south side of Jerusalem was the "Valley of Hinnom". At a high place in this valley called "Tophet," in the times of Isaiah and Jeremiah, infants were sacrificed to Molech by "passing them through the fire". See 2Kings 23:10, Is.30: 33, Lev.18: 21, and 2Kings 16:3. This fire was kindled with brimstone. The locality later became a place for the burning of garbage from the city. The fires were kept up perpetually, and the decaying trash not yet consumed by the fire breed worms (probably maggots). This picture of an unclean dump where fires and worms never die became to the Jewish mind an appropriate description of the ultimate fall of all idolaters. Thus the word became applied to the ultimate Gehenna where the wicked would suffer forever. Jesus referred to this place in Mark 9:43-48.

With all this information given in the bible about Hell, why do people have such varied views about it or, worse yet, deny it' existence entirely? It is often neglected or rejected because it is difficult to reconcile hell with the love of God. That millions of people will be in conscious torment forever is beyond the grasp of the human mind. You may have heard people say they do not want to be in heaven with a God who sends people to hell. Their preference is to be in hell so that they could live in defiance of God! What ever gave them the idea they deserved heaven in the first place is beyond my understanding.

The Heavens

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