20.1 Biblical Hades
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
So many who have embraced the understanding that the “everlasting hellfire” concept in Nicene Christianity is not Biblical focus their ministry, then, on teaching how something that does not exist does not exist. Who cares? I want to know what IS, not what is NOT! This is why Jesus commanded us NOT to be concerned about pulling out the tares, but rather with nurturing the wheat.
Hades holds a central place in the Pro-Thesis of God; I want to know what that place is. Yet we are most certainly in line to know God as He is once we rid ourselves of Jerome’s deceit. Thus, we are finally also able to consider Hades as it is.
Hades Is Temporary
The first obvious truth about Hades is that it is temporary, a condition of reality that covers only set ages of time. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14). Notice that Death and Hades are always together and are eliminated at the same time. Revelation Chapter 20 shows us that, whatever this “lake of fire” might be, it is clearly a FUTURE condition that is not being experienced inside the present age.
And second, we can now accept that Jesus actually did state that He intends to send His church to “Hell.” “The gates of Hades shall not hold against My church.”
Purpose
We cannot arrive at knowing anything, however, unless God’s purpose for all things is ever present in our eyes. Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28).
God’s purpose is clear and absolute. Jesus proves Himself faithful and true by bringing ALL of creation back to the Father that God might be ALL in ALL. Pas, panta, all. The Greek word pas, central to Paul’s gospel, has a very distinct and peculiar meaning. Are you ready? Pas means ALL.
ALL in ALL
This word of purpose is Christ; it is absolute; it rules over everything else including ALL of the vague and badly miss-interpreted symbols and idioms in John’s cryptic vision.
We know what God means by a “lake of fire” only THROUGH 1 Corinthians 15:28 – that God might be all in all. “Lake of fire” can mean nothing other than God all in all. The lake of fire must be our Father – for our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).
Most Christian theology assumes that sin is greater than God, that God is limited and bound by sin in His creation. He Himself is (always now) the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole cosmos (1 John 2:2).
Hades Is a Story
What is Hades? First, we are well rid of all attempts to geographize reality. Hades is NOT a place. Hades is a condition of soul. Hades is the story people tell themselves about themselves inside their own minds.
By that I do not mean to suggest that Hades is “unreal” in a “Christian Science” sort of way. Hades is very, very real, including for all Christians caught in it whether in the physical body or separate from the physical. Hades is living in accusation and it’s counterpart, arrogance.
Two Sets of Faces
Accusation and arrogance are the same face; guilt and perversity are the same face. These two sets of faces are always together. Hades is living in accusation and arrogance, guilt and perversity as the story of self.
A Christian who lives in accusation and guilt, in total disobedience to the gospel, also lives in arrogance and perversity. It’s not possible to have one set without the other. Now, Christ lives all who belong to Him through such agony of darkness, but other than persuading them to abandon such claims to self and call Him the only self they are, such living in Hades has no other purpose.
The Claims of Self
Hades is the claim of a self separate from Jesus. And yes, living in such Hell is Hades. It matters not whether the claims of “self” exist before or after the grave, it is Hades. Hades is living with one’s back turned to the good speaking of Christ. To repent is to stop living in Hell.
And just because a born-again and filled-with-the-Spirit Christian dies, does not mean that they are catapulted out of a life of accusation and guilt, of legalism and self-righteousness. They will continue living in the only story in which they wish to live, even without the body, that is, Hades. Can a dead Christian spend time in Hades? I suspect most do. The idea that death changes a person is neither Biblical nor reasonable.
In Christ in Hades?
Please understand. A living Christian, carried utterly inside of Christ, living in accusation and guilt, is living in Hades even though that Christian is in Christ, though they know it not. So how does losing the physical body change anything? God does not rapture. Every step in God is a step of faith.
Now a Christian is better off continuing on in Hades than a non-Christian, most certainly. But God gives people ONLY what they want, and you know as well as I do that most Christians DO NOT want to give up their own self story and their own self-righteousness. They will fight you, they will fight God, to keep both.
Purgatory
Here is the funny thing. I was told when I was young (probably by the Baptists), that “The Bible” taught eternal hellfire, but the Roman Catholics added “purgatory,” something not found in the Bible. I now know this to be the exact opposite. The early church understood Hades to be the waiting time after death during which individual people would come to the end of holding onto their claim to self. They saw Hades as continuing for a season until it had served God’s purpose; they saw it as a time of purification. It was the Roman Catholics who added a non-Biblical Hell, the only story that can arise out of unresolved guilt.
Waking Up
Purgatory, a time of purifying, can be a way to describe what the Bible calls Hades, but only with a strict definition applied. Nothing anyone does or does not do can add to or take away from the one death of Christ by which all sins are forever atoned. One sacrifice for sins forever. If “purgatory” means “being cleaned up,” then it is false. But if “purgatory” means “waking up” to all the good speaking of Christ, to Christ your only life, then it is true.
This waking up is a work of Christ continuing on among those who are dead, a work that, to some measure, is waiting on us.
Only One Place
There is only one place, heaven/earth. We humans were made to live in both parts all the time now and forever. And right now we do live fully in both, but since our heaven eyes are blinded, we do not see the obvious, though we are far more accustomed to heaven than we realize. Everyone who dies continues on in this same heaven/earth; there is no other “place” to be.
So, yes, all humans who die are IN heaven. That does not mean that they are not in hades in heaven. You can see that I have been capitalizing “H”ades because that’s how it’s done, but since hades is not a place, I will stop capitalizing it.
Only Ten Times
The Greek word, hades, meaning, literally, the unseen realm, is found ONLY ten times in the entire New Testament. Matthew used the word two times. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to hades (Matthew 11:23). – … on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).
Luke used the word four times, once the same as Matthew 11:23, then also in the story of Lazarus. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom (Luke 16:22-23).
The Gates of Hades
Now, Jesus put into the mouth of Abraham in this story these words: And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us. It is quite clear from Matthew’s gospel that Jesus busted through this great “gulf,” the “gates” of hades, bringing many out of hades, and that He intends His church to do the same.
Luke recorded “hades” twice more in Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 in which Peter quoted David. You will not leave my soul in hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. Then John used the word four times, but only in his vision and always paired with death: death and hades.
A Pagan Goddess
Hades is found nowhere in Paul’s or John’s or Peter’s renditions of the gospel of Jesus Christ and both Matthew and Luke used it in an extremely limited way, totally different from the imagery created by the demonic whisperings of guilt over the centuries.
Tell me, why does it figure so strongly in the church today? The answer is – first Jerome and second the King James Bible. The King James translators found every possible way to increase the frequency of “hell” in the Bible.
Hell was of vital importance to the Germanic superstitions of both Luther and the King James translators; Hell, after all, was a pagan Saxon goddess.
No Clear Definition
It is clear to me now that NO adequate definition of “hades” can be arrived at from the context of these ten verses. Thus we face the same problem with hades as we do with “heaven,” for in like manner, there is no ability to arrive at any satisfactory definition of “heaven” from Bible verses. But it is also clear that the concept of “hell” held by most Christians cannot come from these ten verses in the New Testament. It must come from somewhere else, that is, from pagan imaginations arising out of unresolved guilt.
I arrive at what I teach about hades entirely from my present knowledge of the Father, of human beings, and of Salvation.
Return from Tomorrow
Now, for full disclosure of my thinking, I want you to read a book titled Return from Tomorrow by George Ritchie. I am convinced that reading this book is important to you in your knowledge of reality.
George Ritchie endured a time of death during which the Lord showed him the experiences of those who are dead. Ritchie saw that the biggest question ruling the dead, where they go and what they do, is – What do you want?
I accept Ritchie’s account because it agrees with my own understanding of Biblical reality and because after his return, Ritchie’s ministry was marked by gentle love, no condemnation, and the belief that Jesus wins.
Sheol
It is evident that the Hebrew word sheol, the word David used in the Psalm that Peter quoted, is much more fully developed as a concept than the New Testament hades. Thus we can understand hades by understanding sheol. The Hebrews knew nothing ever about everlasting damnation. Old Testament thinking saw sheol only as a time of waiting.
The Hebrew word sheol occurs 66 times in the Old Testament. Here is the most telling line. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in sheol, behold, You are there (Psalm 139:7-8).
King James Deceit
Check out the page listing all the occurrences of the word sheol. http://biblehub.com/hebrew/strongs_7585.htm. You will see the clear deceit of the King James’ translators. To the Hebrews the grave and sheol were synonymous, but the KJV translators used “grave” when they wanted you to think it was a different word, and “hell” wherever they could drive “hell” into the reader. The King James is one of the most incorrect translations in history. Sheol in English is the only proper translation of sheol.
Now, I have written this lesson in a way that could lead you to think I don’t really know what hades/sheol is. If you arrived at that conclusion, you are certainly correct.
Burning
Let me reiterate how I understand the existence of those who have lost their physical bodies.
People who are not born again do not have spirits capable of functioning in the heavens. When they lose their physical bodies, they are nothing more than a soul, a shadow in the dark. Thus such people are “in torment.” That is, they are filled with all the desires they cultivated while in the body, but they have no ability to meet those desires. Thus Jesus called their state “burning.” The fires are entirely inside of them, inside their own self-story. There are no sulphurous flames outwardly burning them. Thus they pursue their desires, but with NO fulfillment.
God Now
Now, a dead Christian has a spirit capable of functioning in the heavens. But they have no body. So, the same desires cultivated in the body continue on with no ability to satisfy those desires. But God will NEVER force Christians out of their false stories. They apprehend from God only what they want from Him.
Jesus and all the fullness of God are fully available to us, with whom to walk in all knowledge and experience right now. So, if Christians are uninterested in either Jesus or Father now, what makes anyone think that losing their bodies will change their minds? I am convinced it will not.
Today Must Be Believed
Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you (Joshua 3:1). This concept, best expressed by Joshua, is found all through the Bible, including Jesus’ statement, “He who has will be given more, and he who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
God allows people to attempt to seize exactly what they want, after they have lost their physical bodies just as much as now.
Hades is entirely a personal choice. But for a Christian, living or dead, hades is an expression of complete unbelief. Someday becomes Today only when we believe it is.
Letting Go of Self-Story
You and I are not the least bit concerned should we lose our physical bodies before they are swallowed up by life. As we walk every step now IN the love of God for us, knowing that God and us are making all things difficult into utter goodness, so shall we continue to do if we die. But that is because we are busy putting the Lord Jesus Christ upon our entire beings, as our only Self.
It’s a simple thing, really. Hades is holding onto one’s own self-story, refusing to let it go. Salvation is living inside of Jesus’ self-story, calling Him our very and only life: you in Me and I in you.