Scriptures and Doctrine :: Gehenna and Hades

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Scriptures and Doctrine :: Gehenna and Hades"

Berenice Terry
5 years ago
Views:

1 Gehenna and Hades - posted by sermonindex (), on: 2005/11/11 12:24 Gehenna is the lake of fire, the place of eternal punishment after the resurrection. Hades is the intermediate place where souls await the resurrection. -David Bercot "And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." -Revelation 20:14 "And death and Hades were sent into the lake of fire, the second death," Now this is what is called Gehenna, which the Lord called "eternal fire". -Ireneaeus (180AD) "An ever-burning Gehenna will burn up the condemned -a punishment that devours with living flames. Nor will there be a ny means by which at any time they can have either rest of an end to their torments. Souls with their bodies will be reser ved in infinite tortures for suffering... This is in accord with the truth of Holy Scripture, which says, "Their worm will not di e and their fire will not be quenched."... The pain of punishment will then be without the fruit of penitence. Weeping will be useless and prayer ineffectual. Too late, they will believe in eternal punishment who would not believe in eternal life." -Cyprian (250AD) Re: Gehenna and Hades - posted by RobertW (), on: 2005/11/11 13:37 I have mentioned this before, but thought I would again. It is interesting how as philologos says, words in the bible have 'histories.' And that being, Genenna has its roots in a place in the Old Testament called Tophet. Tophet I suppose would be the root of the word for hell in the bible. Tophet was a place where babies would be placed on the outstretched arms of a metal idol that had a fire lit inside. Pari s Reidhead said there was a different way also in which a hot fire was made to burn in a 'throttling' furnace and the first born sons were tossed into the center of that raging and breath taking heat. People sacrificed their first born children (no t always a male) to this false god in this way to gain 'ascendancy' among their peers. We learn from scholars that the horrific deeds of the children of Israel who would place their children on the red hot arms were not enough to fully smother their conscience to the screams of those children as they went into the flames; hence, t he screams had to be drowned out. The Hebrew word "Tophet" signifies the beating of drums. These drums would beat and the screams could not be heard. What a horrific sight! Yet, this is the first real picture we have of hell. A place of fire and screams and drum beating to gr ound out that reality. As I recall it was Josiah who cleaned this area up and made it a trash dump. You may know it as the valley of Hinnom- o r Gehenna in Greek. A place that burned with trash outside the city continually. Drums, drums, the sound of beating drums. I have preached this many times and asked, "what are the 'drums' in your lif e?" What are you using to cancel out the horrors of hell and distance your conscious mind from that reality? The things t hat distract us from the reality and finality of hell are those drums. What a picture? That God had showed from the begin ning what man would do with this place called hell; he would spend his days drowning out the screams. Page 1/5

2 Re: - posted by sermonindex (), on: 2005/11/11 14:34 The Hebrew word "Tophet" signifies the beating of drums. These drums would beat and the screams could not be heard. What a ho rrific sight! Yet, this is the first real picture we have of hell. A place of fire and screams and drum beating to ground out that reality. Brother that is very intense. Oh what a sobering reality truth can be to the soul. I am praying it will not only be knoweldge but truly will effect my inmost being and allow me to respond in warning men of the wrath of God. Re: - posted by PreachParsly (), on: 2005/11/11 16:13 Did you say Paris Reidhead mentioned that in a sermon? Which sermon? Do you, Robert, have a sermon on here mentioning it? Re: - posted by JFEdgar (), on: 2005/11/22 19:40 It is in "The Dangers of Third Generation Religion" by Reidhead Re: Gehenna and Hades - posted by worzle, on: 2005/11/23 13:40 David Pawson mentioned this in one of his tape sermons. He was speaking about the other guy on the cross to whom J esus said; "today you will be with me in paradise". Apparently, paradise means "palace gardens", and if that is where th ose who trust and obey God go when they die and before judgement day; then is there an alternative 'waiting room' (?) ( before the second coming and judgement day) for those who did not trust and obey God (presumably 'Hades')? Re: Gehenna and Hades - posted by Truthstands, on: 2005/12/3 12:37 Hi, I am new member to this discussion. I browsed around and found very interesting topics to read about. The below links have more information on this topic. There is also the audio of the message. ( Outer Darkness_1 ( Outer Darkness_2 ( Outer Darkness_3 Re: - posted by Agent001 (), on: 2005/12/5 11:37 David Pawson mentioned this in one of his tape sermons. He was speaking about the other guy on the cross to whom Jesus said; "t oday you will be with me in paradise". Apparently, paradise means "palace gardens", and if that is where those who trust and obey God go when they die and before judgement day; then is there an alternative 'waiting room' (?) (before the second coming and judgement day) for those who did not trust and obey God (presumably 'Hades')? The OT term Sheol is the equivalent of the Septuagint/NT term Hades. In the OT, Sheol is the intermediate place of the dead for both the people of God and other peoples. In the intertestamental period, some Jewish writings distinguish two regions within Hades, one is the abode of the dead r ighteous, the other is the abode of the evil. The lines are not as clear-cut in the OT and NT, although it can discerned in certain passages (e.g. Luke 16). Nevertheless, in the OT, the righteous in Hades have the promise of being delivered from the place, subsequently under stood as the general resurrection of the righteous. The NT data is complicated by the reference to "paradise" in Luke 23:43, to the "bosom of Abraham" in Luke 16:23 and Page 2/5

3 other references to the dead believers being with Christ and God immediately after death (e.g 2 Cor 5:6-8; Phil 1:23; Re v 6:9). On the basis of Acts 2:31 (an allusion to Ps. 16:10) where it says, "David by foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his body experience decay," I think even the Lord had to go through the place of the dead designated Hade (if indeed the reference to Hades here is literal, not figurative), but he came out victorious. If that is so, everyone goes to Hades after death, awaiting our resurrection to glory or for the unbelievers, to the lake of f ire. But it would appear that the people of God experience the bliss of the presence of the Lord even during the intermed iate state. Re: Gehenna and Hades - posted by JakeforJesus (), on: 2005/12/6 10:10 Scripture Gehenna is the lake of fire, the place of eternal punishment after the resurrection. Hades is the intermediate place where souls awai t resurrection. Indeed, Scripture does distinguish 2 places: (1) "Hell" (Hebrew "sheol"; Greek "hades"): a place for confinememt for departed souls, prior to resurrection and judgment (see Luke 16:23). (2) "Gehenna" or "the lake of fire": a place of final, unendng punishment for the wicked, after resurrection and judgment (see Revelation 20:12-15). Now turn in your Bible to Revelation 21:8. In Revelation 21:8 we are told that eight different kinds of people will go into the lake of fire: (1) The fearful (2) The unbelieving (3) the abominable (4) murders (5) whore mongers (6) sorcerers (7) Idolaters (8) All liars Notice the first 2 classes of the condemned listed in that passage are: the "fearful" and the "unbelieving." Now ask yourself many "religious" people are included? Page 3/5

4 Re: Gehenna and Hades - posted by Manfred, on: 2005/12/6 11:25 It should be noted that the word "hell" is totally foreign to the original Scriptures. The word was supplied by the translator s of the KJV, and thus the word became accepted by all. This is at best a misrepresentation. The fact is that the word "hell" is common and accepted in English because of the KJV. But in other languages, for exam ple French, this word is not found in ANY of the various French translations. The translators have kept the originals "she ol", "gehenna" and "hades"; often supplying a explanatory footnote. Manfred Re:Hell is misrepresentation? - posted by JakeforJesus (), on: 2005/12/6 12:17 Whether you want to call it "hell" or "sheol" or "hades" or whatever? What would it matter? In fact, in Jesus' day, if someone were to have called Him, Jesus. Nobody would have even known who they were even t alking about. Re: - posted by RobertW (), on: 2005/12/6 12:57 "Gehenna" or "the lake of fire": Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter. (Jeremiah 19:6) Tophet, as I referred to in an earlier post was synonomous with 'Hinnom' (Hebrew) which came to be known as Gehenn a (Greek). As Ron Bailey would say, Bible words have histories. There is a post somewhere in these forums way back th at traces some of the elements of Hell based upon the various facets of the development of the word 'Gehenna'. Horrible and sobering picture it is. Re: - posted by Agent001 (), on: 2005/12/8 12:52 Whether you want to call it "hell" or "sheol" or "hades" or whatever? What would it matter? It matters because the popular conception of "hell" is the place where eternal perdition takes place. But "Sheol" and "Hades" refer to the intermediate place of the dead. If we use "hell" for it, it confuses the distinction betw een Hades/Sheol and Gehenna/Lake of Fire. Re: If we use "hell" for it, it confuses the distinction... - posted by JakeforJesus (), on: 2005/12/8 13:05 If we use (the word) hell.. it confuses the distinction... Without proper explanation I agree. See the very first post I made on this topic and see if you agree with it? Page 4/5

5 Re: - posted by Agent001 (), on: 2005/12/9 13:43 See the very first post I made on this topic and see if you agree with it? Yes, I basically agree. I want to clarify that the scriptures did not directly link Gehenna with the Lake of Fire, although they do seem to be implic itly the same. Also, unlike the connection between Sheol and Hades, "Gehenna" in the OT is a literal place, "Valley of the son of Hinno m", where: (1) Human sacrifices were offered by worshipers of Molech (2 Ch 28:3, 33:6); (2) King Josiah defiled the place on account of these practices (2 Kings 23:10); and, (3) Associated in prophecy with God's judgment, presumably based on (1) and (2) (Jer 7:32) Gehenna in NT passages however seem to be generally in connection to the final judgment; a connection not wihtin Jew ish thinking Extrabiblical writings though do use "Gehenna" to refer to a place of eternal punishment; Assumption of Moses 10:10; 2 Esdras 7:36. The imagery of fire to express divine judgment is well known in the OT, e.g. Dt. 32:22. Just some more info. Page 5/5

HELL THE ETERNAL ABODE OF THE UNSAVED

HELL THE ETERNAL ABODE OF THE UNSAVED 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