Hell In The Bible

Introduction

We've been looking at the book of Jonah over the last several messages and last Sunday evening I mentioned the definition of the word hell here in our text. What I want to do tonight, with the help of the Lord, is to not necessarily look at Jonah, but to look at Hell in the Bible.

First, though, I want to recap where we are and add some things to what we looked at last week...

The purpose of trouble is not to get us to cry against the Lord, but to the Lord. Out of the fish’s belly, Jonah voices up his prayer to the Lord.

God brought Jonah to a point where he could do nothing else but pray. Jonah doesn’t waste any time. He gets down to business immediately.

You know? This is the way people usually pray in a crisis.

Let me just state the obvious here, “Don’t wait until you are in a crisis to do your serious praying.”

Jonah tells us why he is crying to the Lord. It was his affliction or chastisement from the Lord that motivated him. Affliction was used to open the mouth that stubbornness and sin had shut.

Proverbs 3:11–12 KJV 1900

11 My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; Neither be weary of his correction: 12 For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; Even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

Not everyone responds properly to the chastening of the Lord…Some people stomp off into the corner and pout like a spoiled child, but we know according to the Bible that Jonah responded correctly...

We know that chastisement doesn’t always follow sin. As I spoke of last week, Paul had a thorn in the flesh that was given to keep him humble...

Chastisement is usually applied to bring the sinner to a right state of mind like it did in Jonah’s life. Chastisement gives us time to think. Jonah, on an impulse, fled to Joppa to get on a boat. Now he has time to think about his sin and God’s mercy.

It’s important to understand that in our chastisement, God is still near us. We know that Jonah felt he was not beyond God’s help because he cried out to the Lord even when logically speaking, all hope was gone...

Jonah says, “…Out of the belly of hell cried I...”

Jonah exclaims, “I cried and He heard me!” Jonah describes the personal concern of the Lord. We are known individually by the Lord and we are special to Him.

Out of the belly of Hell Jonah cried and God heard his voice.

I want to focus on the word hell in this context and talk about the word Hell in the Bible tonight...

In the English language, we see only “Hell,” but in the Hebrew/Greek, there are four different words with four different meanings.

The first word for hell that I want to consider is right here in Jonah chapter 2.

It is:

Sheol

This word is used often in the Old Testament, in 63 verses. This word is translated hell, pit or grave in those 63 verses.

The afflictions of the belly of hell are synonymous descriptions of his location in the stomach of the fish.

Jonah described his condition as being in the depths of sheol. Unless he encounters a miracle, the belly of the great fish would be his grave, his sheol.

Secondly, we have the word:

Gehenna

Matthew 10:28 KJV 1900

28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

This word is used 12 times in the New Testament. The word Gehenna is derived from the word that speaks of a deep, narrow, valley south of Jerusalem called the Valley of Hinnom.

The valley of Hinnom was the city dump of Jerusalem where trash and filth burned constantly. The shadow of smoke hovered over the area like a wet blanket. The carcasses of dead animals and executed criminals were burned in this valley that was filled with the stench of death and decay.

It was a breeding ground for a loathsome worm that was difficult to kill.

Mark 9:44 KJV 1900

44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

Gehenna became the symbolic, future abode of the wicked.

We find the beginning of Gehenna in 2 Chronicles…King Ahaz who rejected the Lord and served a false god named Molech…King Ahaz even sacrificed his own children in the fires and burnt offerings to this idol.

2 Chronicles 28:1–4 KJV 1900

1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord, like David his father: 2 For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim. 3 Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. 4 He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

It’s interesting how all this goes together...The area in the valley of Hinnom was called Tophet...

Jeremiah 7:31–33 KJV 1900

31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart. 32 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place. 33 And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.

Tophet was most likely the point south of Jerusalem where the three valleys, the Hinnom, the Tyropoeon, and the Kidron converged.

The field of Akeldama was located in this place - This was the name given to the field purchased with the “blood money” Judas accepted to betray Jesus...Judas also hanged himself here.

Acts 1:17–19 KJV 1900

17 For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. 18 Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood.

The Arabs call this lower end of the Hinnom Valley, where it meets the Kidron, the Tophet, the Valley of Hell. This is where the garbage dump was located. It is also the place where 600,000 dead Jews were placed after they were slaughtered by the Romans in 70 A.D.

The third word I want to look at tonight is:

Tartarus

This word is used one time in the Bible…in:

2 Peter 2:4 (KJV 1900)

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

Tartarus is the present place of angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation…The book of Jude tells us about this:

Jude 6 KJV 1900

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.

The word habitation in Jude means “a dwelling place, habitation of the body as a dwelling place for the spirit.”

Tartarus then is the place where the fallen angels are sent to be punished…It describes the act of holding a prisoner in a cell.

The last word we find is:

Hades

This word appears in eleven verses.

It means “invisible or unseen” and refers to the place where the spirits of the dead reside. Hades was divided into two areas as far as we can possibly tell. The righteous dead went to Paradise or Abraham’s bosom, and the wicked went to the place of fire and torment.

Those who were tormented by fire could see those who were righteous, but they could not touch them for there was a great valley or gulf that separated the two regions.

Luke 16:23–26 KJV 1900

23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

This is the same place that Jesus referred to when He told the thief on the cross:

Luke 23:43 KJV 1900

43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Why did this man go to Paradise? Because Jesus hadn’t died yet…When Christ died on the cross, He went to Paradise and emptied this place when He arose and took the righteous to Heaven…The Bible tells us He led captivity captive...

Jesus triumphed in battle over sin and Satan. He carried the war into the enemy’s domains and led forth from the lower regions a multitude of captives...

Ephesians 4:8 KJV 1900

8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

Today when a believer dies, we are not told that we go to paradise, but rather, that he who is absent from the body is present with the Lord...

2 Corinthians 5:8 KJV 1900

8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Conclusion

Hell is a controversial subject...

People reject the doctrine of Hell because they reject the existence of God. The cults have at least one common ground. They do not believe there is a Hell.

The Christian Science church defines hell as error of mortal mind.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that the wicked will simply be annihilated.

The Mormons believe in hell, but not as an endless existence. Those who are in hell will be eventually saved and not suffer eternal punishment.

The Seventh-Day Adventist claim that God will someday blot out all sin and sinners and will establish a clean universe again.

God makes it very clear, however, that Hell is forever. Satan, the Anti-Christ, the False Prophet, Fallen Angels, and all unsaved people will spend eternity in hell.

Revelation 21:8 KJV 1900

8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Our curiosity about the abode of the dead is not completely satisfied by biblical terms or verses, but what we do know is this...

Either eternal torment in hell or eternal joy in heaven awaits all people after death, based on whether they trust in Christ’s payment for sin or reject Christ.