9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he
also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
Here we have a clear enough statement that Christ entered
Hell at His crucifixion but those who assert that He suffered in Hell in our
place are wrong as He went there to preach to the captives.
1 Peter 3:18 ¶ For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in
the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 19
By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once
the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a
preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
There is a physical Hell, a place of suffering and torment,
that is, in type, a jail or prison, a holding place until the end when all of
those who have rejected Christ’s free offer of salvation spend their time after
death until death and Hell itself are thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:13 And
the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the
dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their
works.
14 And death and hell
were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
But Christ has the keys to both.
Revelation 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and,
behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
There are those that say that there was a Paradise, a place
of rest, next to Hell, until Christ set the occupants free and took them to
Heaven. They refer to these verses before the Crucifixion.
Luke 16:19 ¶ There was a certain rich man, which was
clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus,
which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21
And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s
table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and
was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was
buried; 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. 27 Then
he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my
father’s house: 28 For I have five
brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of
torment. 29 Abraham saith unto him, They
have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one
went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses
and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the
dead.
(As an aside, notice the condition of the man in Hell. He
asks for mercy but does not repent of his wickedness. He still believes the
poor Lazarus is his inferior and should serve him. He does not beg to be freed
from his prison but only to be comforted. He doesn’t want his brothers to come
there. Why, because he is compassionate and doesn’t want them to suffer as he
is? Or with his lack of repentance and arrogance could there be some other
reason? Perhaps a dread of being faced with what they probably have against
someone as wicked as himself? Those in Hell know that it is a just punishment.
Their true nature comes out, their bitterness, their wrath, their arrogance, and
their lack of repentance and their rejection of salvation even though, “one,”
that is Christ, arose from the dead.)
In spite of the statement that there is a, “great gulf,”
between Paradise and Hell, these authorities claim that they were next to each
other.
There are also these statements on the Cross.
Luke 23:42 And he said
unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto
thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Based on these verses the authorities mentioned claim that
Jesus took Paradise to Heaven with Him, as Paul and John both attest that this
is now where the Paradise of God is.
2Corinthians 12:4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and
heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
Revelation 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of
the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Hell is referred to as a prison and here Satan is released
from this prison for a time before being cast into the Lake of Fire.
Revelation 20:1 ¶ And I saw an angel come down from heaven,
having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old
serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and
shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no
more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be
loosed a little season. 4 And I saw thrones,
and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls
of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God,
and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received
his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned
with Christ a thousand years. 5 But the
rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This
is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and
holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death
hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign
with him a thousand years. 7 And when the thousand years are expired,
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8
And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters
of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of
whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 And
they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints
about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and
devoured them. 10 And the devil that
deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and
the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
There are several places in the book of Isaiah where the prison
is mentioned as well, which could be a prophetic reference to Hell.
Isaiahs 42:7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the
prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison
house.
Isaiah 49:9 That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go
forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the
ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.
Isaiah 61:1 ¶ The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me;
because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath
sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
Regardless of any distinctions between Hell before Christ’s
Crucifixion or after, Hell is a real place. It is referred to as not only a
prison, but a bottomless pit.
First, for Satan’s destination;
Isaiah 14:15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to
the sides of the pit.
And for the unsaved Gentiles of the Old Testament;
Ezekiel 32:21 The strong among the mighty shall speak to
him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they
lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword. 22
Asshur is there and all her company: his graves are about him: all of
them slain, fallen by the sword:23 Whose
graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company is round about her
grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land
of the living.
And in the Tribulation to come;
Revelation 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star
fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless
pit 2 And he opened the bottomless pit;
and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and
the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit….11 And they had a king over them, which is the
angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in
the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
Revelation 11:7 And when they shall have finished their
testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war
against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Revelation 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not;
and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that
dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of
life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and
is not, and yet is.
Revelation 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven,
having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand….3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and
shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no
more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be
loosed a little season.
What is a pit without a bottom that has sides? It would
appear to be a circle, which is what the center of the earth, or the heart of
the earth would be. Hell, then, is far beneath our feet but we would not see it
with our eyes if we could drill that far and probably not hear it with our
ears, as it is not physical things bound there but souls of men, awaiting
judgment.
The Hebrew word, Sheol, is translated as both grave (31
times) and Hell (31 times) and the pit (3 times). There are those who play the
Hebrew game like those who play the Greek game who insist that it should always
be translated as, “the grave,” rendering verses like the following totally gibberish.
Deuteronomy 32:22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and
shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase,
and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
A fire in the lowest grave? What in the world would that
mean?
Psalm 18:5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the
snares of death prevented me.
What pain is there in the grave, if you’re dead and your
bodily sensations have ceased?
Psalm 116:3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the
pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
Those who play the Greek game would not translate Hades, the
Greek word, as Hell, because to the Greeks, Hades was the place of the dead
spirits, not necessarily a place of punishment as it is said to be over and
over again in the Bible. Jesus Himself likened it to a place of burning as in
the place outside of Jerusalem where trash was burned and there was a continual
fire. There are several dozen references made by Jesus to fire and everlasting
fire and unquenchable fire in the gospels as the destination of many.But you
will find that Bible commentators and philosophers who are going to Hell often
try to air condition it first.
Hell is real. The Lake of Fire unquenchable for eternity is
real. It is the natural destination of all human beings. But, there is hope.
Trust, believe in, and believe the Lord Jesus Christ.
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