JD: I think it would be very helpful to discuss the various places of punishment mentioned in the Bible both the Old and New Testaments so lets do that for a few moments.
DJ: Sheol is the place of the dead in the Old Testament mentioned sixty-five times in the Old Testament. It’s translated variously as hell some place. It is translated as Sheol in some places it’s translated as the pit and then other places that word is translated simply as the grave. So, the doctrine of hell in the Old Testament isn’t as detailed as it is in the New. In fact, Sheol being the place of the dead actually had two places within it one that would be known in the New Testament as Hades and the other part being paradise a place where the righteous went when they died.
Now, in the New Testament much more detailed the word Hades
in the Greek appears eleven times and we see this specifically for example in
Luke 16. A rich man was in Hades or in hell in a place of torment and he lifted
up his eyes and say Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham, which would have been the
paradise portion of Sheol.
Then there’s the word Tartarus which is found one time in the
scripture in II Peter 2:4 talking about the angels who sinned and I believe
those are the angels from Genesis 6 who sinned and were a contributing factor
in the flood and that God has casted them down to hell or Tartarus and delivered
them into chains of darkness. And then there is the pit that we find in the
book of Revelation. We see it for example, Revelation chapter 9 where the
angels given to the key to the bottomless pit and the smoke locus come out of that
pit. Also later in Revelation 20 we find that Satan is bound for a thousand
years in that bottomless pit. And then of course the lake of fire we read about
one time in Revelation 20 and that is where unbelievers of all history are
casted when they are judged guilty at the great white throne judgment. So,
that’s a quick overview.
JD:
We repot this information because
it is setting the stage for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.
David James gave us a brief
Biblical explanation of the places of punishment as laid out in the Bible. The
lake of fire is the eternal hell for lost people, people without Jesus Christ
as their Savior. That lake of fire is a place of torment, thirst, and thinking
that’s Luke chapter 16 which is the eternal abode for all lost people. I pray
that statement scares you to the point that you will admit you are a sinner
believe that Jesus Christ can give you eternal life and you will call upon
Jesus right now for him to save you.
