Understanding HELLFIRE
Translators of the
King James and other English versions used the single word "hell" to
translate various Hebrew and Greek words that are not synonymous. Partly
because of this error, universal confusion exists over the state of the dead.
Now you can understand the truth about hell and know what really happens when
we die. Several hundred years ago the belief in hell as a place of ever-burning
torture and torment was almost universal throughout all Christendom. Today,
there is much less teaching about "hellfire and brimstone" than in
the past. Yet Christianity still either implicitly or explicitly maintains that
upon death the good go to heaven while the souls of the unsaved go immediately
to "hell."
___________________________________________________________
There
amid scorching heat and sulfurous smoke the damned writhe in anguish for an
eternity. With deafening screeches and haunting wails, these pathetic wretches
agonize over their past sins, having no hope for relief from their pain, let
alone redemption.
Among Roman Catholics, the teaching is that many will
go to purgatory, to be purified of their sins first, before passing on to
heaven.
Hellfire and brimstone sermons of many years past have
dangled unsaved sinners over the eternal fires of hell, even as they were
implored to "come up front and be saved." If sinners did not take
immediate steps to get "saved," they may never have another
opportunity to get to heaven. The procrastinator was warned that he might miss
out.
But Are We Immortal?
Any
examination of the traditional heaven-hell concept must first establish whether
we humans have souls that continue on living after out physical bodies die. If
not, then the point about going to either heaven or hell right after death is
moot.
The teaching that the "saved" go to heaven
while those who are not saved go to hell (or purgatory) at death is based on
the concept of an immortal soul. It is rooted in what Satan told Eve, that
contrary to what Yahweh had warned, she would not surely die if she partook of
the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:3-4). Thus the first-ever lie, told by Satan
himself, has been embellished by pagan beliefs and customs and preserved to our
day through traditional teachings.
Nowhere is this more evident than in our doctrine of
eternal hell fire as the immediate and everlasting fate of the wicked at death.
Satan’s tale is embraced, while what Yahweh had said – that all life stops at
death – is ignored. Satan is therefore called a liar and murderer from the
beginning, John 8:44.
Rather than accept death as the cessation of life,
people choose to believe that a part of our being, known as the soul (conceived
as the real "us"), leaves the body, goes to heaven or hell, and
becomes more alive than ever. They believe that this conscious, immortal soul
is like a spirit and can move around freely outside the body, completely
unhindered by physical limitations.
How this soul-spirit can suffer agony in a physical
hell fire is not explained. Obviously it would first have to be reunited with a
physical body in order to experience pain in fiery flames. And if physical, it
would almost instantly be destroyed in those flames, not continue to exist
forever.
The word "immortal" occurs only once in the
Bible, 1 Timothy
The Spirit (Breath) in Man
The
Bible does teach, however that we are a fleshly, living body. We have a spirit
within us. In the Hebrew this spirit is called the ruach or neshamah, meaning breath of life. It is the life-force that brings us life and makes us
who we are. The spirit relates to our mind, our attitude, our thinking, our
ambitions, our inclinations, and our hopes. Our attitude determines whether we
are "low in spirit" or "high spirited."
In death this spirit or life-force goes back to
Yahweh. "Then shall the dust [the physical body] return to earth as it
was; and the spirit [ruach] shall
return unto Elohim who gave it," Ecclesiastes 12:7.
The corresponding Greek word for spirit in the New
Testament is pneuma, from which we
get words like "pneumatic" and "pneumonia," relating to air
or breath.
Notice what The New Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of
the New Testament says about pneuma or spirit in the New Testament (Strong’s
Exhaustive Concordance No. 4151): "A movement of air, (gentle) blast; the
vital principle by which the body is animated. To breathe out the spirit, to
expire" (p. 520).
New Testament usages of pneuma (spirit) include references to Elohim (John
Soul Means Basic Life Itself
Aside
from the body and spirit, Scripture also talks about soul. "And the very Elohim of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray
Elohim your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the
coming of our Sovereign Yahshua the Messiah" (1 Thess.
The word "soul" is nephesh in the Hebrew [Strong’s Concordance No. 5315], properly
meaning an air-breathing creature. It includes the animals. Nephesh is better understood as life and
should be so translated. Nowhere does the Bible say a soul is immortal; nowhere
do we find that the soul is a separate entity that continues to live forever
either separated from or as another being inside a person, an animal or an
insect. Neither do we find that the soul cannot die. In fact just the opposite
is true, a soul (life) can indeed die or cease to exist. Notice:
"Behold,
all souls [nephesh] are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of
the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die" (Ezek. 18:4)
Nowhere does the Bible say a soul is immortal; nowhere
do we find that the soul is a separate entity that continues to live forever.
Notice also verse 20: "The soul [nephesh] that sins, it shall die. The son shall not
bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of
the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the
wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him" (Ezek.
The Savior Yahshua expounded further, showing that the
same life that animates the body can be restored again: "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 [gehenna] (Matt.
Even in our English the noun "soul" is used
for life, not a separately existing life entity. Soul is defined by The New
Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenuis in these ways: "That which breathes, the
breathing substance or being; the nephesh becomes a living being; a living being whose life resides in the blood; the nephesh as the essential of man
stands for the man himself," pp. 659-660.
Yahweh can put life into a dead body, as He did with
Adam, forcing air (spirit) into his lungs (neshamah,
No. 5397, breath of life; vital breath), and raise dead bodies from the grave.
Thus, He will restore life at Yahshua’s return.
If He does not raise the dead, and they continue to
remain in the grave, they are considered destroyed and deceased. Therefore the
sentient being, the life (the nephesh –
air-breathing creature) is destroyed.
The distinction between soul and spirit is brought out
in Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words: "Generally
speaking the spirit is the higher, the soul is the lower element. The spirit
may be recognized as the life principle bestowed on man by [Yahweh], the soul
as the resulting life constituted in the individual, the body being the material
organism animated by the soul and spirit…" (p. 54, "Psuche").
Hell: It Means to Cover, Conceal
The
Bible clearly teaches the existence of hell both in the Old and New Testaments.
We cannot deny that hell exists, but we intend to give the proper, Scriptural
understanding of what Yahweh’s Word has to say about hell.
Because of traditional teaching, as well as myths and
legends, many have the gross misconception that hell is a place of eternal
torture of humans, a place where Satan reigns supreme. Yet nowhere does the
Bible teach such a thing, or even that Satan lives in hell
At the root of the confusion about the nature of hell
is how some English versions render the concept. Translators chose the single
word "hell" to translate no fewer than four Hebrew and Greek words
with different meanings: the Hebrew sheol and the Greek hades, gehenna, and tartaroo. Because of this deficiency by
the translators, confusion and false ideas about hell prevail to this day.
In Old English usage, hell meant primarily to hide,
conceal, to cover. Thus, hell is a hidden, concealed or covered place. Old
English literature describes the "helling" of potatoes, which meant
putting potatoes into pits in the ground; or the "helling" of a
house, meaning to cover or thatch it.
The English word hell was properly translated from the
Hebrew sheol and Greek hades as a grave or pit, signifying the
secret or hidden condition of a dead person.
The Hebrew sheol occurs 65 times in the Old Testament. The King James translates it hell 31
times; grave 31 times; and pit three times. Yet it is the same Hebrew word and
means "the grave"
Hades is the exact Greek counterpart to the Hebrew sheol. Hades also signifies the grave.
Worldly Notions of Hell
Erroneous
notions about the Biblical hell have made their way into dictionaries and other
references. Yet we can see the proper meaning come through in the root words
themselves.
The American Heritage Dictionary renders the following
under hell:
A.
The abode of condemned souls and devils in some
religions; the place of eternal punishment for the wicked after death, presided
over by Satan.
B.
A state of
separation from G-d.
C.
The abode of the dead, identified with the Hebrew sheol and the Greek hades; the underworld. [Christian Science] Mortal belief, sin or error.
Interestingly, this dictionary also gives the root
word of hell as Kel, meaning to
cover, conceal, save: From Kel comes Hel; from Old Norse Hel, the underworld, goddess of death. From Germanic *haljo, the underworld, concealed
place."
Smith’s Bible Dictionary agrees with many others in
stating of hell: "This is the word generally and unfortunately used by our
translators to render the Hebrew Sheol. It would perhaps have been better to retain the Hebrew word Sheol, or else
render it always by ‘the grave’ or ‘the pit.’"
Sheol and Hades
The
only Old Testament Hebrew word translated hell is sheol (Strong’s No. 7585), which corresponds to the New Testament
Greek hades. Both simply mean
"the unseen state." The King James Bible translates sheol as hell 31 times; grave 31 times
and pit 3 times.
The marginal reading of hell in many Bibles often
reads, "or, the grave." This can be seen in the following: Psalm
49:15; 55:15; 86:13; Isaiah 14:9; John 2:2; 1Cor.
Strong’s Concordance No. 7585 says of sheol: "from No. 7592; hades or the
world of the dead (as a subterranean retreat), include its accessories and
inmates:-grave, hell, pit."
Two other Hebrew words, qeber (or keber, Strong’s
No. 6913) and qebuwrah, qeburah (Strong’s No. 6900) designate
ones’ earthly burying place. These are translated as "grave" 39
times, as "sepulchre" 31 times; 7 times as "burying place,"
and 4 times as "burial"
The New Testament equivalent of the Hebrew sheol is hades, No 7592, the abode of the dead before Judgement Day. Hades is translated 10 times as hell,
and grave once.
Hebrew is rich in figurative words and metaphors. Both sheol and hades are examples. Sheol and hades are to the unseen world what qeber (the grave) is to the corpse, seen
by the living.
Biblical Hell a Place of Silence
The
Bible nowhere describes hell as a place of living beings in torturous fire.
Neither is Satan said to be there with his red body suit and pitchfork! Such
concepts came from Greek paganism and particularly 13th century poet
Dante Alighieri’s epic poem, The Divine Comedy. In this work is a section
called The Inferno, in which Dante gives his own ideas of hell, graphically
portraying the sufferings of the damned.
Hell as a place of endless suffering was adopted by
Christianity in the Dark Ages. It was used to strike fear in the hearts of
people, and helped give the Roman Church more power and influence over the
masses.
The Bible’s teachings about hell and the state of the
dead are considerably different from the common ideas. Notice what Ecclesiastes
Death obviously is not a place of continued existence
in another form. We are not aware of anything in the grave. That is why death
is compared to sleep, where all conscious of the world around us ceases and we
are in effect dead to anything happening around us.
Notice what the prophet Isaiah reveals about death
(the grave): "For the grave [sheol]
cannot praise you, death cannot celebrate you…" (Isa. 38:18). Once we
die, all conscious awareness stops. The Bible says "the dead know not anything" (Eccl. 9:5), and "the dead praise not Yahweh, neither
any that go down into silence" (Ps. 115:17).
Neither are patriarchs and peoples of old living in
and watching from heaven: "though
Abraham be ignorant of us, and
Notice what Peter tells us about King David: "Men and brethren, let me freely speak
unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his
sepluchre is with us unto this day…For David is not ascended into the
heavens…" (Acts
Notice the following Scriptures describing what
happens to human beings when they die:
"Will
you show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise you?" (Psalm 88:10)
"His
breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; in that very day his THOUGHTS
PERISH." (Psalm 146:4)
"And
many of them that SLEEP in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to
everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." (Dan. 12:2)
Both Good and Bad Go to Hell (Sheol,
Hades)
The
Bible says "the dead know not
anything" and "the dead
praise not Yahweh." Upon death everyone goes to sheol [hell], according to the Bible, both the good and the bad.
Jacob knew that he would go to "sheol" mourning for his son: "And all his
sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be
comforted; and he said, For I will do down into the grave [sheol] unto my son
mourning…" (Gen, 37:35b). "It
shall come to pass, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die:
and your servants shall bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with
sorrow to the grave" [sheol]
(Gen. 44:31).
The Psalmist says the wicked go to THE GRAVE at death,
not to hell fire: "Let me not be
ashamed, O Yahweh; for I have called upon you: let the wicked be ashamed, and
let them be silent in the grave" [sheol]
(Ps. 31:17).
Examples of Resurrection from the Grave
David
knew where he was at death, and it was not heaven. Notice: "Nevertheless man being in honour abides not: he is like the
beasts that perish…like sheep they are laid in the grave [sheol]…and their
beauty shall consume in the grave [sheol]…But Elohim will redeem my soul
[David] from the power of the grave [sheol]…" (Ps. 49:12-15).
Yahweh promises that Ephraim (
The Savior Himself tells of the coming resurrection,
both those who have done good and those who have done evil. Notice, He speaks
of those who are buried and in their graves here on earth. There is no hint of
any who are in heaven returning to get into their resurrected, glorified
bodies:
"Marvel
not at this: for the hour in coming, in the which all that are in the graves
shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of
damnation" (John 5:28-29).
Yahshua plainly says it is those IN THE GRAVES who
"hear His voice," who shall come forth, He does not call them from
heaven or even hell. The bodies are in the grave, remaining there until the
resurrection at the return of Yahshua when they are given the breath of life or ruach and come up out of the graves.
In the Book of Revelation we learn that one group (the
saints) will be resurrected when Yahshua returns, and still another
resurrection will take place a thousand years later:
"But the
rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This
is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first
resurrection: on such a second death has no power, but they shall be priests of
Yahweh and of Messiah, and shall reign with him a thousand years" Revelation 20:5-6.
Yahshua resurrected Lazarus from the grave. Lazarus
came forth from the grave, not down from heaven: "And when He thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus,
come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with
graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Yahshua said unto
them, Loose him, and let him go" (John
The Old
Testament says David is in the grave asleep in death with his fathers:
"And when your days be fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers…” (2Sam.
David prayed for Yahshua’s return when his soul (life)
would be delivered at the resurrection: "Return,
O Yahweh, deliver my soul: O, save me for your mercies sake. For in death there
is no remembrance of you: in the grave who shall give you thanks?" (Ps. 6:4-5).
Job knew that he would remain in the grave until the
time of Yahshua’s presence, when Yahweh will destroy those who destroy the
earth. Then comes the resurrection when Job (along with the saints) will be
changed and only then made immortal:
"O that
you would hide me in the grave (sheol), that you would keep me secret, until
your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a
man die, shall he live [again]? All the days of my appointed time will I wait,
till my change come. You shall call, and I will answer you: you will have a
desire to the work of your hands." (Job 14:13-15)
Both the wicked and the saints go to the grave at
death. Both are buried and unconscious until the resurrection. The Bible calls
it a sleep of death. Man does not have an immortal soul: "The wicked shall be turned into hell (sheol), and all the nations
that forget Elohim" (Ps.
The Dead – Good and Bad – Are Asleep
The
Bible does not differentiate between the righteous and wicked at death, for
both are asleep and buried as we see from both the Old and New Testaments: "Saying,
Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all
things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation" (2
Pet. 3:4).
"Now the
rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned,
are they not written in the book of chronicles of the kings of
Yahshua referred to the death of Lazarus as a sleep: "These things said he: and after that
he said unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps; but I go, that I may awake him
out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Master, if he sleep, he shall do well.
Howbeit Yahshua spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of
taking of rest in sleep. Then said Yahshua unto them plainly, Lazarus is
dead" (John
The Apostle Paul spoke of the dead as those who are
asleep: "But I would not have you be ignorant, brethren, concerning them
which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others have no hope. For if we
believe that Yahshua died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in
Yahshua will Elohim bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of
Yahweh, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of Yahshua shall
not prevent them which are asleep. For Yahshua himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of
Elohim: and the dead in Messiah shall rise first" 1Thessalonians
Paul says that as certain as Yahshua arose from the
dead, so will those believers asleep in Him be resurrected: "for if the dead rise not, then is not
Messiah raised: And if Messiah be not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet
in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Messiah are
perished" (1Cor.
Because of King Josiah’s goodness, Yahweh’s wrath is
withheld until after Josiah dies. From THE GRAVE he will not be aware of what
Yahweh’s wrath brings upon the people: "Behold
therefore, I will gather you unto your fathers, and you shall be gathered into
your grave [sheol] in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the evil which I
will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again" (2Kings
Yahweh redeems the dead from the power of the grave
(by raising them from the dead). He does not deliver them from eternal torture
or everlasting punishing. In the grave there is no activity. The life (soul) is
in the sleep of death to be awakened by Yahshua’s return.
Bodies Decay in Hell
Isaiah
says Yahshua "poured out His soul
unto death," 53:10-12. But His soul (His life, His being) was not left
in hell: "For you will not leave my soul in hell; neither will you suffer
you Holy One to see corruption" (Ps.
Before decay could set in, Yahshua was resurrected on
the third day and came forth with a changed spirit body whereby He could become
flesh and bone at will, or become spirit and be invisible. This glorified body
is also promised to us, 1Corinthians
Webster’s New Twentieth Century Dictionary Unabridged under
"Hell" says: "from helan, to cover, conceal." Our word hell
simply meant to hide or to cover – helling potatoes did not mean to roast them,
but to put them in a pit! The word hell was therefore properly used as the
secret or hidden condition of death, and has no reference whatever to a place
of torture until that meaning was applied to it by misguided theologians of the
Dark Ages. The translators were influenced by the pagan concept that a soul was
immortal and hell was a place of ongoing, continuous, burning agony and
torture.
According to the Bible, hell (sheol and hades) means
the unconscious, oblivious condition of death, where all souls, both good and
bad, go upon dying. Only the awakening or resurrection by Yahweh from death can
result in everlasting life.
Adam was told by Yahweh that the penalty of his sin
was "you shall surely die [cease to
live]." Adam was told that because he had eaten the forbidden fruit
that he would live forever in the torture of hell fire. (The Hebrew reads, "dying, you shall die," meaning the process of death would begin.)
If the penalty for the sin of Adam and his race had
been eternal torment in an ever-burning hell, Yahshua would have had to suffer
an eternity of torture to pay the penalty for our sin. But the Bible says, “the wages of sin is death" (Rom.
Dante’s Delusions
In
his epic poem, The Divine Comedy,
medieval Italian poet Dante Aligheri gave his view of hell. Influenced by Greek
and pagan mysticism, Dante’s unscriptural notions of Satan, eternal hellfire,
and everlasting suffering are the basis for popular beliefs today.
Heathen, Fanciful Notions of Hell
As
we have seen, the Hebrew sheol simply
means "the unseen state" applied to the dead. The word
"hell" in the Old Testament is translated from the Hebrew sheol. All who die in the Old Testament
go to sheol, whether or not their
remains are interred in a keber or keburah (also qeber or qeburah),
meaning grave.
The New Testament Greek has three words translated
"hell": hades, gehenna, and tartaroo. The latter tartaroo, deals with the spirit realm,
and appears only in Peter’s writings, which we will examine later.
When it comes to popular notions, the Encyclopedia
Americana gives us some intriguing insight: "While there are many and
significant variations of detail, the main features of hell as conceived by
Hindu, Persian, Egyptian, Grecian, Hebrew and Christian theologians are
essentially the same." The Grolier Universal Encyclopedia (1965 ed., Vol
5, p. 205) notes, "Hindus and Buddhists regard hell as a place of spiritual
cleansing and final restoration. Islamic tradition considers it a place of
everlasting punishment.
Their concepts conditioned by pagan teachings, both
Dante in his epic poem, The Divine Comedy, and Milton in Paradise Lost
influenced the translators’ perception of sheol,
hades, and gehenna. Those
translating the Bible into English mistook Yahshua’s words as describing
horrors found in pagan lore and myth. The Bible nowhere projects an image of sheol, or hades as a place of burning fire. Nor are Satan and his demons
pictured as having their abode in either sheol or hades. Such is mere human
superstition.
The translators of the New Testament did not
differentiate between the Greek words hades and gehenna, which brings confusion. Hades is the Greek counterpart of the Hebrew sheol and is used in the New Testament quotations of the Hebrew sheol. In the Koine (common) Greek we are told it means "the
underworld" or the "unseen world."
Notions Of Hell: A Mishmash Of Myth
"When
Christianity spread over
"Not only were the old pagan feasts changed into
Christian festivals; the Yuletide became Christmas and the Ostara [Easter]
feast in the spring was celebrated in commemoration of [Messiah’s]
resurrection; but the individual features of the evil powers of the North were
also transferred to Satan and his host.
"…Teutonic legends and fairy tales frequently
mention the Devil, there he possesses many features that remind us of Loki
[evil god of fire]. In addition, the ice giants of the Norsemen, the Nifelheim
of the Saxons, the Nether-world of the Irish, all contributed their share to
the popular notions of the Christian demonology of the Middle Ages. The very
name ‘hell’ is a Teutonic word which originally signified a hollow space or a
cave underground and denotes the realm of Hel, Loki’s daughter.
"Dr. Ernst Krause…has undertaken the work of
proving the Northern influence upon Southern fairy tales and legends.
"Dr. Krause proceeds to prove that that the
conception of hell as depicted in Dante’s Divina Comedia, which may be regarded
as the classical conception of Roman Catholic Christianity, is in all essential
elements the product of a Northern imagination.
"Dante followed closely Teutonic traditions,
which in his time had become a common possession in the Christian world through
the writings of Saxo Grammaticus. Beda Venerabilis, Albericus, Caedmon,
Caesarius of Heisterbach, and others. It is especially noteworthy that the
deepest hell of Dante’s Inferno is not…a burning sulphur lake, but the wintry
desolation of an ice-palace."
"Dante’s vision is by no means the product of his
own imagination. It embodies a great number of old traditions." From The History of the Devil and the Idea of
Evil, by Paul Carus, pp. 245-248.
Hades: Where We Cease to Be
In
the New Testament hades is translated
"hell" ten times. It is also translated "grave" in
1Corinthians
Below we list each time the Greek hades appears in the New Testament. Note that the meaning of hades is to come to an end, to cease, to
exist no more. It refers specifically to the grave:
"And
you,
Because the people of
"And I
say also unto you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
assembly; and the gates of hell [hades] shall not prevail against it" (Matt.
Yahshua trained 12 disciples to carry out the Great
Commission in Matthew 28:19-20. They established assemblies that multiplied and
now encircle the world. The truth of His Word is still being preached. At the
root of that truth is that all the Commandments are to be proclaimed, including
the Sabbaths and the sacred Name.
The gates of the grave have not swallowed up or
stopped Yahweh’s Assembly In Yahshua from preaching truth. We may have a little
flock (Luke
"And
you,
"And in
hell [hades] he lifts up his eyes, being in torments, and sees Abraham afar
off, and Lazarus in his bosom" (Luke
This parable refers to the rich man being resurrected
in the second resurrection and sees the glory of Abraham and the saints, afar
off, and he is crestfallen and morbid because he did not have his house in
order and was not in the first resurrection.
"Because
you will not leave my soul in hell [hades], neither will you suffer you Holy
One to see corruption" (Acts
"He
seeing this before spake of this resurrection of Messiah, that his soul was not
left in hell [hades], neither his flesh did see corruption" (Acts
Both of these verses quoted by Peter refer to the
Savior’s being brought back to life from the grave by the Father.
"I am he
that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have
the keys of hell [hades] and of death" (Rev. 1:18). This refers to Yahshua Who is "the Way, the Truth,
and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by Him," John 14:6. Through Him
we are called from the grave and aroused from the sleep of death.
"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" (Rev. 6:8).
The rider of the pale horse apparently signifies
pestilence and disease. The people die, and the people make their abode in the
grave. Hades simply means they are
buried, interred.
"And the
sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell [hades] delivered up
the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their
works" (Rev. 20:13).
This is generally known as "The White Throne Judgment,"
when all the spiritually ignorant who lived and died upon earth will be
resurrected and taught Yahweh’s way and then judged to determine their destiny.
"And
death and hell [hades] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second
death" (Rev. 20:14).
There is coming a time when death will be abolished.
In Yahweh’s grand plan, righteousness will reign supreme. There will be no more
dying, no more graves. Paul wrote in 1Corinthians
It is plain to see from the above Scriptures that the
words sheol and hades mean the grave, the interment of the dead. All human life is
destined to die in due time. The present society will be replaced by a right
and proper civilization – with Yahweh in full control.
Gehenna and the
But
what about the "burning" Yahshua spoke of? Did He not warn of burning
fire? Let us examine the meaning of the Greek word gehenna, mistranslated "hell" in its 12 appearances. We
should first, however, understand the Savior’s references to a "consuming
fire." For that we must go back into history.
Strong’s Concordance gives gehenna as No. 1067: "Of Hebrew origin (1516 and 2100); valley
of (the son of) Hinnom; gehenna (or
Ge-hinnom), a
Just why the translators chose to translate the Greek
"gehenna" as hell is
interesting. A better word to convey the sense and meaning would be
DESTRUCTION. That is because gehenna was in the area of Topheth, in the
The history of this place goes back to 2Kings 22-23,
where righteous King Josiah restored True Worship in
Heathen worship of Moloch, god of the Ammonites and
Pheonicians, included child sacrifice in the
Josiah desecrated the area of Topheth in the
Gehenna is translated "hell fire," but Yahshua
referred to its burning as a destructive cleansing. In each case where the word Gehenna appears the meaning points to
a complete consuming in a fiery garbage dump. Notice the 12 references to the
burning destruction of gehenna:
n
"But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with
his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement: and whosoever
shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of hell [gehenna] fire" (Matt. 5:22).
We
are not to be angry with our fellow man, but are to treat others as we expect
to be treated. We are to exhibit love to others who are also created in the
image of Elohim.
n
"And if your right eye offend you, pluck it out,
and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members
should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell
[gehenna]" (Matt.
We
must eliminate any bad habit that is contrary to Yahweh’s Word and that may
cause us to stumble. Our desire should be to Yahweh and not to earthly pursuits
or obsessions, which deter us from doing Yahweh’s will.
n
"And if your right hand offend you, cut it off,
and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members
should perish, and not your whole body should be cast into hell [gehenna]" (Matt. 5:30).
"Gehenna"
pictures complete destruction of the wicked, just as the refuse thrown into the
burning garbage dump was destroyed in flames.
n
"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 [gehenna]" (Matt.
The
burning fires of the garbage dump consumed the trash and garbage, where even
dead bodies of animals and criminals were consumed. The fires burned completely
and were not quenched or put out.
n
"And if your eye should offend you, pluck it out,
and cast it from you: it is better for you to enter into life with one eye,
rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell [gehenna] fire" (Matt. 18:9).
Yahshua
is here again speaking of entering the coming Kingdom. He means we must be
willing to sacrifice and get our priorities straight. We are better off to
discipline ourselves now to enter the Kingdom than to miss out entirely.
n
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you
make him twofold more the child of hell [gehenna] than yourselves" (Matt.
Yahshua
condemns the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. Broadening the borders of their
garments; wearing phylacteries; paying too much attention to trifles and
flaunting their "righteous" acts and deeds before the public – all
these and more become their obsession. Their desire to impress mankind made
them candidates for destruction.
n
"You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can
you escape the damnation of hell [gehenna]?" (Matt. 23:33).
Matthew’s
23rd chapter is a scathing rebuke of the selfish, ostentatious
attitude of the hypocritical Pharisees and Scribes who sought the praise and
adulation of men.
n
"And if your hand offend you, cut if off: it is
better for you to enter in to life maimed, than having two hands to go into
hell [gehenna], into the fire that never shall be quenched" (Mark 9:43).
The
term "never shall be quenched" simply means it will not be
prematurely put out, but will keep burning until it consumes everything. The
next verses repeat the same rebuke as in Matthew’s account:
n
"And if your foot offend you, cut if off: it is
better for you to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into
hell, into the fire [gehenna] that never shall be quenched" (Mark 9:45).
n
"And if your eye offend you, pluck it out: it is
better for you to enter into the kingdom of Elohim with one eye, than having
two eyes to be cast into hell [gehenna] fire" (Mark 9:47).
n
"But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear:
Fear him, which after he has killed has power to cast into hell [gehenna]; yea,
say I unto you, Fear him" (Luke 12:5).
Luke
is calling attention to Yahweh’s omnipotence, that we should strive to be aware
of Yahweh’s awesome power to resurrect and destroy and not be concerned about
impressing mankind.
n
"And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity:
so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and
setting on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell
[gehenna]" (James 3:6).
James
the brother of Yahshua, warns of a biting, lying, gossiping tongue. We should
consider and choose our words carefully lest the following applies to us:
n
"For there is no faithfulness in their mouth;
their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they
flatter with their tongue" (Psalm 5:9). ).
Notice that the Greek word gehenna carries the concept of destruction, getting rid of that which interferes with our right relationship to Yahweh. We are to turn from that which will lead us down the wrong path, and away from H