What the Hell? Part 3

 

What the Hell? Part 3

In my two previous posts I argue that one should be discriminating when one read the word hell in the Bible. The word translates three different words and they are not the same. I have presented the Hades of the dead humans and the Tartaros of the horny angels of Gen 6. For simplicity, I grouped all these Hells as compartments into one Underworld. In addition there is a separate Abyss for the murderous angels to be released in the Trib period, a possible Place for the Nephilim and also identify two separate compartments for the dead- the Place of Torment (a temporary facility for unbelieving dead) and Abraham's Bosom (a temporary place for believing dead), otherwise known as Paradise. I posted previously that Jesus did descend into hell and that is what I will elaborate now.

When Jesus died, His physical body is deposited at Joseph of Arimathea's tomb for three days in accordance with the prophecy of Is 53 that He'll be buried in a rich man's tomb. Before He died, He committed His spirit to the Father, Lu 23:46, and I have no doubt God accepted His spirit. At the same time Jesus accompanied the believing thief to Paradise, Lu 23:43. He is also found though not abandoned in Hades, Acts 2:27, 31 and even preach to the spirits in prison, 1 Pt 3:19 which when compared to Jude 6 and 2 Pt 2:4 seems to imply that He went to Tartaros. That these are all connected can be seen in that all three (1 Pt 3:19; Jude 6 and 2 Pt 2:4) are connected somehow with the Flood. The only pre-Flood event that seems to tie them all are the horny angels of Gen 6 who cannot keep their pants on, I mean cannot keep their proper domain, and effed human females (no, seriously). Then in Eph 4:8-10, when He ascended, it means He descended into the lowest parts of the earth, and curiously is said to have taken captives and give gifts to men, a picture of a conquering Hero. So far from being in soul sleep, Jesus has a busy itinerary between His dismissal of His own spirit and His taking His life back again (the other two Persons of the Trinity are also involved in His resurrection, but that is another story). So how do we make sense of all of these?

I will present one possible story that in my mind fits all the details together. I will say at the outset that this will involved sanctified imagination and speculation because it isn't easy to fit the chronology. Theologians are divided over these and I don't think my post will settle this once and for all.

So let us start with Jesus' death. Just like any OT righetous He went to Hades (yup He lived under the Law, the OT economy). This is when He accompanied the believing thief into Paradise, the believing compartment of Hades. This is what the Apostle's Creed mean by He descended into hell. Some believe only His soul went to Hades and His spirit went directly to the Father but I am of the opinion that the two went together to Hades. His spirit along with His soul went to the Father later when He presented His finished work at the Cross (I don't think He was carrying a bowl of blood though He did carry Him with OT saints, 1 Pt 3:18). According to Acts 2:27, 31, He wasn't abandoned to Hades and He will not undergo corruption so this stay is not permanent. I believe this is the time when He gathered all the OT saints and release them from Hades to transfer them to Heaven (this explains why OT saints expect to descend to Hades, yet in 1 Cor 12:4, Paradise is in the third heavens. That means just as there are several Hells, there are also several Heavens). This transfer is the bringing of captives mentioned in Eph 4. That means that the Paradise portion of Hades is permanently closed, no believers were left and for all intent and purposes, while not the same Hades and the Place of Torment are synonymous. That makes Hades truly  Hell where unbelievers in OT still undergo torment, where unbelievers today will go when they die without believing in Christ, and will only be emptied in Rev 20 when Hades gave up its dead to be judged before the Great White Throne. At that point, the final decision for degrees of penalty will be given and the transfer from temporary place of torment to the final place of torment, Lake of Fire will happen. This LoF is the Gehenna  and the place for everlasting conscious torment. As a demonstration that there is no final release, Hades itself will burn there, the infernal equivalent of burning the bridge.

These OT believers you see cannot enter Heaven until the payment for sins are paid for. They are in a sense, saved on credit. They believe in the Second Person of the Trinity as He was revealed in their time, and were reckoned righteous. How could God do that when sin which separates man is still unpaid? God simply overlooked or forebear their sins and look forward at the future when His own Son will die for their sins, Rev 3:21-26. So God credited the benefits of the Cross to these OT believers because as far as God is concern, the sins are already as good as paid. They cannot enter Heaven yet though until the just Son of God brought the unjust before God, 1 Pt 3:18. So they stay in Abraham's bosom. That no man has entered heaven is seen in Jn 3:13. But now that Jesus died, sins were paid for, Christ is releasing them from Hades, capturing them, so to speak from Death. When He did, He took the keys of Death and Hades with Him so no one can ever place them back. He will lead these liberated captives to Heaven where the New Paradise will be located. So all believers now when they die no longer went to Abraham's bosom as OT saints did, but apart from the body, face to face with God. This is the procession of Eph 4 which seemed to happen during the ascension. (In Matt 28 some of these liberated saints seemed to reoccupy, that is resuscitated, their former bodies and appeared to the city as a testimony).

Not only that Jesus seemed to have a preaching tour according to 1 Pt 3:19. He isn't preaching the spirits in prison on how to be liberated from it. The exact opposite. See these horny angels infiltrated the earth in Gen 6 to corrupt mankind and prevent the Seed of the Woman from being born. But God judged them and throw them at Tartaros. Some will scoff how can a spirit being impregnate female humans. Those who did probably have to stop and think how the Holy Spirit did it? I won't speculate how the Spirit impregnate Mary without a human father (where did the 23 chromosomes needed to unite with Mary's 23 chromosomes to make a true human body, see Heb 10:5 came from for instance) since God is omnipotent and nothing is impossible for Him. Just remember that in the Bible when angels appear to earth as humans, able to sit, walk, eat, be washed, etc, so why not sex? It is also possible that they indwell humans and user their bodies to have sex with women. After all Satan seemed compatible with the serpent in Gen 3 and entered Judas in Jn 13, so that seemed to imply that angelic beings and human bodies are compatible. One objects that angels do not marry in Matt 24. It does not say they cannot have sex though and even now we have many men who wanted sex but not marriage. So sex and marriage are not the same. It could also mean that angels cannot marry and have sex with each other, especially since the Bible consistently used male genders (I did find reference to female demons 😂) not that they cannot do it with humans. Another possibility is the prohibition came after the Flood. This has precedence, prior to Mosaic Law incest is practiced and not a sin (Abraham married his sister). So it is possible that what is possible before is made impossible after the Flood.

So the point is these angels effed female humans and as punishment sent to Tartaros. Since then they have no idea what is going on. Did the infiltration succeed? Did Satan win and is now ruling above the stars and now sit like the Most High, (Is 14; Ezek 28), an ambition the man of sin inherited (2 Thess 2; Rev 13)? Well Jesus went to Tartaros and preached the good news. It is good news for humans but not for them. They failed! The word preach simply means proclaim and Jesus proclaimed that they failed and the evidence is He is standing before them (Thieme believed in resurrection body; Dean seemed to teach prior to resurrection), raiding Hades of its righteous inhabitants. This is how Jesus preached to the spirits in prison, the Tartaros Hell. To my knowledge He never visited Abyss. You see there are fallen angels in Tartaros; there are angels in Abyss and the demons that roam around are just a fraction of those that rebel against God. Satan's army is incomplete.

During the ascension He lead these OT saints to their new home in heaven. At this point according to Eph 4 Jesus also gave gifts which are gifted men to the Church. He did not give gifts; He gave men, some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists and some are pastoring teachers. This brought to my mind David's battle to avenge Ziklag. He captured back their families from Amalekites and gave gifts to their friends. Read the story in 1 Sam 30. (This battle effectively make David unable to come to the rescue of Saul and Jonathan who died in a separate battle against the Philistines but that is another story).

Next time I will share the third use of Hell- Gehenna.

(Kung gusto ninyo ng karagdagang impormasyon, bisitahin ninyo kami. May pagtitipon kami sa Dahat, kada Linggo, alas 8:30-10:30 am. Sa Amoguis, 1:00-3:00 pm. Sana manampalataya kayo at kita-kita tayo.)