CHAPTER 3 THE GATES OF HADES

CHAPTER 3 THE GATES OF HADES

Read Ma3hew 16: 13-20 The Gates of Hades where Jesus said these words is just as important as the words themselves.

In Jesus' <me a temple stood in front of a cave. In the cave or the gro?o was a very deep pool that they never could measure (according to Josephus) and a powerful stream of water flowed. The cave was believed to be the gates to Hades. Several other shrines and temples stood here including one to Caesar. The niches in the wall held images of the gods Pan, Echo and Hermes.

A sign at this site reads: THE GROTTO OF THE GOD PAN: This cave is the nucleus beside which the sacred sanctuary was built. In this 'abode of the shepherd god,' pagan cult began as early as the 3rd century BCE. The ritual sacrifices were cast into a natural abyss reaching the underground waters at the back of the cave. If the vic<ms disappeared in the water this was a sign that the god had accepted the offering. If, however, signs of blood appeared in the nearby springs the sacrifice had been rejected.

For Greeks, the awerlife was known as Hades and was a grey world ruled by the Lord of the Dead, also known as Hades. Within this misty realm, however, were different planes of existence the dead could inhabit. If they had lived a good life and were remembered by the living they could enjoy the sunny pleasures of Elysium; if they were wicked then they fell into the darker pits of Tartarus while, if they were forgo?en, they wandered eternally in the bleakness of the land of Hades.

The tradi<onal biblical interpreta<ons explain that Sheol is a grim and desolated land below, occupied by the dead who con<nue their colorless existence irrespec<ve of their earthly conduct. What do you think hell is like?

The Pharisees also maintained that an awer-life existed and that God punished the wicked and rewarded the righteous in the world to come. The Sadducees did not believe in an awer life, since it is not men<oned in the Torah. There were to major schools of thought in Jesus day, the School of Hillel and the School of Shammai.

Ge Hinnom was used by the Rabbis of Jesus' day to reference the awerlife of sinners. Shammai and Hillel both used Ge Hinnom to speak metaphorically of a place of purifica<on of the soul for those who were not righteous enough to directly enter Ga Eden which was a metaphor for heaven. Shammai believed that only the extremely righteous went to Ga Eden when they died; everyone else went to Ge Hinnom. Most would rise to Ga Eden awer being purified, having their sins burnt up - similar to the Catholic concept of Purgatory.

Hillel taught that only the wicked went to Gehenna. Both Shammai and Hillel taught that the longest most people would stay in Gehenna was 11 months, and only the most wicked evil person would stay longer, possibly as much as 12 months. Nothing is said of eternal punishment.

When Jesus talks about hell, He uses Gehenna which is translated as hell and is confusing to us. He uses the term 11 <mes. Gehenna is a completely different concept than the neutral hell of Hades. Read Mark 9:43

So how do you explain the two different hells, the waipng place of Hades and the punishment place of Gehenna? Did hell just change?

Is the soul immortal? Read Ma3hew 10:28 No where in the Bible does it say that the soul is immortal and here we see that the soul can be destroyed. The Jews of Jesus day would have understood what he meant by Gehenna and fire and burning bodies,

Read RevelaPon 20:10-15 Here we see, among other things, Hades destroyed in the fire. This lake of fire sounds a lot like what Jesus was calling Gehenna. The fire burns eternally, but things thrown in there are destroyed.

The Gospels were wri?en in Greek so the words Gehenna and Hades would have been used and that s what early Chris<ans would have been familiar with. They would have understood about the term Gehenna and its origin. In the late 4 th century when the La<n vulgate transla<on was wri?en the two terms were there also.

When the first major English transla<on of the Bible, Wycliffe Bible, appeared in the late 1300 s the two words Hades and Gehenna both appeared as hell. Remember that this transla<on is wri?en almost 100 years axer Dante s Inferno (Inferno is Italian for hell) is wri?en. Dante s inferno was representa<ve of the medieval concept of hell and consisted of a lot of suffering. So this begins the meshing of two concepts of hell, Hades and Gehenna, into a single concept of hell with suffering.

Since the Protestant Reforma<on didn t occur un<l 1517, the Catholic Church had a large influence on the thinking of the period before that. It appears that Dante s Inferno had a very posi<ve impact on the number of converts to Catholicism. So if fear sells why not con<nue to use it. The 16 th century Tyndale transla<on and the 17 th century King James transla<on both follow the trend of transla<ng Hades and Gehenna as Hell.

New 20 th century transla<ons such as the NIV and Living Bible only use hell for Gehenna and go back to using the word Hades. This is a complete switch from the way hell was understood in the days of Christ. One has to ques<on as to why did we move away from the somewhat neutral concept of Hades / Sheol abode of the dead of the <me of Christ to the more suffering concept of Gehenna today. Makes one wonder what really happens to the soul awer death. Did hell change? Fear is a great mo<vator to accept Christ, but I don t think it is the right one.

We say that God is all loving, so what makes more sense to have people punished for an eternity for their sins or to just to have the soul die when the physical body dies?

What is the symbolic purpose of the gates of hell? Read Luke 23:40-43 Read Ephesians 4:8-10

Read Exodus 20:3 The author says that some<mes the people of Israel wanted to hedge their bets in the event that the Lord did not come through for them. What gods do people today somepmes put ahead of God?

Against the backdrop of idol worship, promiscuity, and Caesar s power, Jesus asks His followers about His own iden<ty. He sets himself up against the religious and government powers of the world. How do you see followers of Jesus clashing with the governments and religions of the world today?

Read Ma3hew 16:16-18 What/Who is the rock on which Jesus will build His church? Peter s name was Simon. Peter is a play on words as Petra is the Greek word for rock

Let s understand the Greek words being used here. You are Peter (petros) and upon this rock (petra) I will build My church... " In Greek nouns have gender. It is similar to the English words actor and actress. The first is masculine, and the second is feminine. Likewise, the Greek word "petros" is masculine; "petra" is feminine. Peter, the man, is appropriately referred to as Petros. But Jesus said that the rock he would build his church on was not the masculine "petros" but the feminine "petra."

Petros is a stone while Petra is a mass of rock. A stone is movable, unstable; and this is exactly what we see with Peter, who doubted when he walked on water, who denied Jesus, and who was rebuked by Paul at An<och. Jesus, who knew the heart of Peter, was not saying that Peter, the movable and unstable stone, would be the immovable rock upon which the Church would be built. Rather, it would be built upon the truth that Peter had affirmed what he said to Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Do you find it unusual that Jesus used the word church especially since He is talking to Jews, not trying to start a new religion. We have transla<ons going from Aramaic (Jesus language) to Greek to English. The word church derives from the Greek word ecclesia. Ecclesia means The called out ones under authority.

The author says that Hades is symbolic of placing people in a holding pa?ern by keeping them locked in apathy and indecision. What are some of the ways that churches can become apathepc, jaded and frustrated where they just mark Pme without ever going anywhere?

The author says that if there is mist in the pulpit there will be fog in the pew meaning preaching with out convic<on results in people without direc<on. Have you ever found this to be true?

The author says what Jesus is saying is that truth liberates what apathy limits. What do you understand this to mean? How do you decide what is the truth. How can two people red the same Bible and come up with completely different truths?

The author says that the answer to apathy in oyur own walk with God is not to become busier with church ma?ers. It s not more tasks, mee<ngs or programs. The answer to church malaise is not harder work, it s deeper worship. Do you spend too much Pme in acpvity and meepngs and too li3le Pme in wonder? Where is apathy limipng your personal faith?

The author says that there are always forces trying to limit the truth and keep it gated in Hades keep it mired in uncertainty, murkiness, and apathy.. Those a?empts are never ending, and they can come from inside or outside the church. How do a3empts come from outside the church? How do a3empts come from jnside the church?

The author says that millennials believe that all truth is rela<ve and modern Chris<anity makes a cri<cal mistake if it holds up decisive truth claims. What is the difference between relapve and absolute truth?

The definipon of RelaPve truth- Truth that is true at only one <me and at one place. It's true to some people and not to others. It's true now but it may not have been true in the past and it may not be again in the future, it's always subject to change. It is also subject to perspec<ve of people. The definipon of absolute truth-whatever is true at one <me and at one place is true at all <me's and at all places. What is true for one person is true for all person's. Truth is true whether we believe it or not. Truth is discovered or it is revealed, it is not invented by a culture or by religious men.

Give and example of an absolute truth. 7 is always greater than 6. God exists or God does not exist one or the other is an absolute truth. Just because a person beleives one wy or the other does not make it true. Do you agree or disagree with this last statement?

Give an example of an relapve truth. A person with $5,000 in savings is poor. Belief in Jesus is the only way to have eternal life, is that a relapve or absolute truth?