Hell: αδη – Hadés
And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
(Luke 16:23) KJV
We (that’s me and the Holy spirit) made an extensive survey of the ways in which the interior of the Earth is described in Old Testament Hebrew, but how’s it described in New Testament Greek?
The doctrine isn’t as well developed but it’s the same: it overlaps harmoniously. The fact is that the internal structure of the Earth has been described so extensively in the Old Testament that it’s sufficient for the New Testament to refer to it. We’ll take a look at the main references.
We all have the same evidence. Our choice of paradigm determines what we think it’s evidence of.
– Matty’s Razor
The most recognizable word for hell in the new Testament is hades, well known in popular culture as the underworld realm of the dead. What we find, though, is that it’s used in a very similar way to how sheol is used in the Old Testament: it can be modified by other words or its context to refer to all parts of the interior of the earth, or the interior of the earth in general.
Faith is believing in something that you can’t see, because of evidence.
– Faith, definition
CRUST & MANTLE
He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
(Acts 2:31) KJV
If Christ was resurrected and not left in hell, then this is the part of hell which we have identified as the crust and mantle. Ezekiel was the one who laid out for us that we can come back from the grave (mantle) but not from the pit (core).
(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
(Ephesians 4:9-10) KJV
We saw very clearly that the lower parts of the earth are referring to the mantle. This is where Jonah saw the pillars of the earth (Jonah 2:6). This is where Abraham and Lazarus spoke with the rich man (Luke 16:19-26). This was where Jesus preached to the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:18-19).
Salvation
- Call upon the name of Jesus Christ,
- believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
- confess your sin.
GREAT GULF
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.
(Luke 16:26) KJV
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus is poorly understood. Most people assume that Lazarus is with Abraham in heaven, the rich man is in hell, and the whole thing is allegorical. The problem with this is that the story is told before the crucifixion. That means that the sacrifice has not been made which pays the price for our redemption. The blood of Christ is not yet available for the purification of our sin. There’s no possible way that Lazarus and Abraham can be in heaven. However, it fits the context of the passage if they are in a chamber in the lower mantle which overlooks hell – across the great gulf.
The reason for creation is the manifestation of sentient life with free will.
– The Reason for Creation
CORE
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.
(2 Peter 2:4) KJV
We have seen that there is no return from the pit, it’s what faith in Jesus Christ delivers us from. The grave is death, we come back from that. If you go into the pit there’s no coming back until the final judgement. At that time the damned will be cast into the lake of fire in outer darkness. The pit of the Old Testament is here referred to as tartarus: the lowest hell – the core of the earth.
Gravity is the key. Faith in Jesus Christ is what allows our souls to escape the gravity of the core of the earth. Peter very eloquently describes this as chains of darkness. Peter is the one who describes the final conflagration of the earth as we know it. His grasp of physics is eerily accurate and beautifully poetic.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
(2 Peter 3:10) KJV
The purpose of creation is to bring about the permanent physical separation of light from darkness, day from night, good from evil.
– The Purpose of Creation
Gehenna
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
(Matthew 5:22) KJV
The last thing to tie a bow on is hell fire – gehenna pyros. This confuses practically all modern students of the Bible. This is a reference to burning trash and dead bodies in the Vale of Hinnom as a picture of what the fire of hell is like.
Jesus used burning of trash in the Vale of Hinnom to picture the continual fire of hell, the molten core of the Earth. Most modern theology is skewed to the belief that because gehenna is the Vale of Hinnom, that there’s no hell.
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. 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.
(Revelation 9:1-2) KJV
What could be more bottomless than the core of the earth? A line drawn from the crust to the core (a radius) would pass through the core and back to the crust (a diameter). Bottomless. This is clearly harmonious with the pit, the pit of corruption and the lowest hell. The use of the word bottomless is intended to indicate the permanent nature of it. As we have seen, you can come back from the grave, you can’t come back from the pit.
Read through the Bible in a year
| Reading plan | March 29 | |
| Linear | 2 Samuel 24 1 Kings 1-2 | |
| Chronological | Joshua 22-24 |
Matty's Paradigm 