What is Hades? The Truth about Hades! Konrad Stauffer

It's good to see y'all. Welcome to the visitors. It's so nice to see y'all here. As David mentioned, I'll be continuing on in my study in the book of 1 Peter 3:18-22. I think this is the first time that I did a book study where I did three messages out of one chapter, but Peter has so much stuff in this third chapter and in all the book that it's really hard to break it down in one message. So I left this last part of the chapter until today because I knew it was just going to be too long, and I feel like it needs a little bit of history and stuff. So it maybe helps clarify for those of you who maybe aren't familiar with it what the early Christians thought about death and Hades, or death and hell as we call it in English.

We'll get into that. First of all, I'm going to read in the read our passage for today, and then we'll talk a little bit about some of the history and stuff like that to help us get our minds around it. 1 Peter 3:18-22: "For Christ also hath once suffered for us for sins, but just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometimes were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of no, while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water.

The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him."

The first question that may come to our minds today as we approach this passage is, why is this passage so important to us as Christians today? It seems at least to me like it's very important. I think it's something so easy to overlook.

So why is it so important to us today?

Before I get into the actual passage today, I think it is important that we all know what the Jews and the early Christians believed about what happens after we die, after death. Now, most of you may already believe these things or at least know what the early Christians taught about this subject, but I think our passage today will make a lot more sense to us if we give a little bit of history, at least as the early Christians would have understood it. I felt like it cleared a lot of things up for me, and I'm hoping it'll do the same for you.

I'm going to pause here to say that I feel like I'm way out of my depth this morning with this. I would have rather just switch places and ask David to come up here and do his message on what the early Christians believed about life after death, but I'm just going to do a real quick summary here of some of the things they believed, and then we'll go from there.

The other thing I believe is really important that we understand when we read the word hell in our English Bibles, there are at least three different words in the Greek from which the English translator simply wrote hell. And in all fairness, from what I understand and from what I looked up, the old English word hell was not just that the hell of destruction as we think of like the lake of fire, but for the old English word would have been more of the idea to cover, or it could even meant a cave or something like that. So that's something to keep in mind. It's possible when the English translators used this word that they may have been thinking something just a little different than what we think when we look at the word hell.

So we're going to talk about that here. So that word hell has three, at least in the New Testament, there's at least three different words in Greek where the English translators took it and condensed it into one word called hell.

I think it's important that we talk about these words and what their actual meanings may be before we dive into our topic today because I believe it will be a real game changer for you to grasp these concepts. I believe it will enable you to understand a little better what really happened when Jesus died for mankind.

The first word that I have here is Gehenna. It's a Hebrew origin. Valley of the Son of Hinnom is what it means. And as near as I can tell, it seems like from what I read looking history is that Gehenna or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom was a place where the Jews from Judah and from Israel would have, when they were worshiping these idols, especially Moloch, they would sacrifice children, burn children on altars in this valley. And this valley became an accursed place. Some say that it even became like a garbage heap kind of where people were burning garbage and there was this continual burning of garbage. So when Jesus used this word Gehenna, however they used it, people knew what he was talking about.

And this definition is the definition of hell that we think about most times as we think about fire and destruction and corruption is what we think about when we think about hell. So we have that word. And this word is in accordance with our traditional understanding in many ways.

The next one we have here is the word we're going to be looking at most today is the word Hades, the place of the departed souls, the grave. And you'll see these are all from the Strong's Concordance, so they're all going to say hell at the end. That's the way they translated it. And I'm not going to take a lot of time to try to correct that or try to untangle all that. So just look at some of the other definitions they have on there. The place or the state of the departed souls, that's the part I'm really looking at today.

The other one, the third one word we have is Tartarus. I'm not sure how it's pronounced, but on the top there it says Tartaro or whatever. And this is the translators here call, or the way that they find it in the Strong's is the deepest abyss of Hades. And that's also debatable because it seems like from what I read in some other places, they don't consider this a part of Hades. This is a place set apart for fallen angels. I put that in parentheses at the last part there, solitary confinement for fallen angels only.

I'm not saying that's all perfectly true, but that's from what I understood from what scripture, the scriptures I've read about, it's always in reference to the fallen angels.

So where and how were these words used in scripture? And I went through the New Testament and picked out some of the passages where the writer would have used one of the three Greek words that we're looking at. We're looking mostly at Hades today, but I want to look at these just to show how they were used.

The first one is in Matthew 23:15, "Will unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites, for ye can pass land and sea to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell." And Jesus used the word Gehenna than yourselves. So he's literally talking about that place of destruction. It's like you make these people so that they're just full of corrupt. They're basically just like you are. You're hellbent, like we say in our day.

Just remember the definition for that word. The other place that I read this word is in James 3:6, "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body and seteth on fire the course of nature. And it is set on fire of hell or Gehenna." So the next time you feel tempted to utter word of complaint or feel tempted to defame someone, remember where James says much of this inspiration comes from. It comes from the pit of hell, as we say.

Those are two places in the New Testament where the word Gehenna is actually used. The next one is this word Hades. Matthew 16:18, "And I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell or Hades shall not prevail against it."

I think I changed my view just a little bit on this verse when I realized that that word that they used here is actually Hades, not Gehenna. And I'll just give my little thought on this, and you can take it or leave it. Jesus is saying that it's death, that death or that place of the dead shall have no power over the church. The church should not fear death, should not have death or that thought of death holding power over them. The church has triumphed over death because of Christ and his death.

I don't know if that changes something for you or not, but for me, that's really special.

The other place where we read this, "And thou Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell or Hades. For if the mighty works which had been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day."

So just thinking about that a little bit. In other words, if we ignore Jesus, his teachings, and his life, it will be sure death to our race. And that's what he's saying to them. He's saying, "It's going to be death to you all because you ignored me. You ignored my teachings."

Another place here is in Acts 2:25-28, "For David speaketh concerning him, 'I saw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand. I should not be moved, that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad. Moreover, also my flesh shall rest in hope because thou will not leave my soul in hell or Hades.

Neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.'" This prophecy is a direct prophecy about Jesus, and it was quoted in Acts, but it comes from the book of the Psalms.

And just notice how it says there, Hades. It doesn't say Gehenna. And unfortunately, through history, sometimes people have gotten it confused when Jesus went down into hell because of the English language and how it's been translated. People tend to think that he went down into Gehenna or into the lake of fire.

There's a whole nother set of theology that goes along with that, but we're not going to get into that today. But scripture does not say he went down into Gehenna. He went down into Hades, which is the place of the dead.

We'll talk some more about that then. But this passage here has to do directly with our passage for today.

2 Peter 2:4, "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell or Tartarus and delivered them into the chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment." This is the verse that gives me the sense that Tartarus is not the ultimate lake of fire. It's not Gehenna where all of Satan and his followers are going to end up in the end, but it's a place of solitary confinement. For whatever reason, God did not want these angels with the other people in the bad side of Hades, you could say. He has a special place for them where he's keeping them for judgment.

And there's only one other place that I know of in the Bible. David might be able to tell me if there's another place. My wife informed me there's a place in the Septuagint in Job, book of Job, where this word Tartarus is used. I never saw that. I didn't have an interlinear Greek Bible for the Septuagint, so I wasn't able to find it.

Okay.

While our passage for today centers more on the word Hades, I would like to read an early Christian document written by Irenaeus, which I believe kind of encapsulates what most of the early Christians believed in regard to hell or Hades.

There may be some slight variations in the order or the location of some of these different places or compartments of Hades. Some Christians had a little bit of a different way they divided it up, but I felt like this was the closest to the most central passage, you could say, in some ways. David might know more. Jason, actually, I want to thank Jason because he sent me this document, and I'm really thankful for it today because I read this document, I don't know how many times, and I feel it's the clearest I've found yet.

But I would also like to mention that the Jews also believed these same things. So as I'm reading this, please don't just say, "Well, the early Christians just sucked that out of their thumb." They didn't. The Jews also believed this. You can go study it up in Josephus. Josephus talks about it as well. I do not have the documents for that. That's something you might have to do some research to find. But the Jews, this is also a Jewish belief. So let's read this. "Now we must speak of Hades in which the souls of both the righteous and the unrighteous are detained. Hades is a place in the created system, a location beneath the earth in which the light of the world does not shine.

And since the sun does not shine in this place, there is necessarily perpetual darkness there. This place has been destined to be, as it were, a guardhouse for souls. The angels are stationed there on guard, distributing temporary punishments to people according to each one's deeds." You see where the Catholics may have gotten their idea of purgatory, but you'll see that there's something a little bit different here. It's not the same thing.

"And in this locality, there is a certain place set apart by itself, a lake of unquenchable fire into which we suppose no one has yet been cast." Keep that thought. I think that's important.

"But the righteous who will obtain the incorruptible and unfading kingdom are indeed presently detained in Hades, but not in the same place with the unrighteous. For this place of Hades, there is one descent that leads to a gate. We believe at the gate, an archangel is stationed with an army.

There are angels who are appointed to each soul as they pass through the gates of Hades. But when souls do enter through the gates, they do not all proceed down one and the same path. Rather, the righteous are conducted in light toward the right and being hymned by the angels stationed at the place. They are brought to a place full of light. This is the place where the righteous from the beginning of time dwell." I love that. They're hymned by the angels to their place.

"There the righteous are not ruled by any necessity. Rather, they perpetually enjoy the contemplation of the blessings that are in their view. Also, they delight themselves with the expectation of other blessings ever new.

And that place brings no labors for them. There is neither fierce heat, cold, nor thorns, but the faces of the fathers and the righteous are seen to be always smiling as they wait for the rest and the eternal revival in heaven that follow this location. And we call this place by the name of Abraham's bosom." And I'll pause here to say this is also known as paradise.

So the word paradise doesn't necessarily mean heaven. It's this place of rest where the saints are waiting. So when Jesus said to the thief on the cross, "Today you'll be with me in paradise," he was talking about him coming and joining him in this place where the righteous are waiting for the final judgment.

"However, the unrighteous are dragged toward the left by angels who are ministers of punishment." Sometimes I feel bad that I was born left-handed, but it's just the way it is. I can't help it.

"These souls no longer go of their own accord. Rather, they are dragged as prisoners by force. And the angels appointed over them hurry them along, reproaching them and threatening them with an eye of terror, forcing them down into the lower parts.

And when the souls are brought there, the angels drag them onto the vicinity of Gehenna." That's close by Gehenna. "And those who are so near to Gehenna hear incessantly its agitation, and they can feel the hot smoke. And when that vision is so near, they see the terrible and excessively glowing spectacle of the fire. They shudder in horror at the expectation of the future judgment, already feeling the power of their punishment.

And again, when they see the place of the fathers and the righteous, they also suffer punishment merely from seeing this. For a deep and vast abyss is set there in the midst so that neither can any of the righteous in sympathy think to cross it, nor do any of the unrighteous dare to cross it."

Irenaeus.

I don't mean this in an arrogant way. I thought about taking this out of my notes, but this is what I will say. I know this document may be a little bit stretching for some of us. It was stretching for me the first time I read it.

But I would remind us that this was the early Christian belief in the first centuries, and it was also the Jewish belief about Hades. So we can take it or leave it just so we accept what Christ did for us and understand the message today. That's the most important part.

I'd like to read a passage here in Luke 16:19-24. "There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.

And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also was died and was buried. And in hell or Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I'm tormented in this flame.'

But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime received the good things. And likewise, Lazarus, evil things. But now he is comforted and thou art tormented. 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.'" Doesn't that passage make sense in the early Christian view as you think about what Irenaeus said about the two parts and the righteous or the ones that are in the left side of Hades looking over and seeing the beauty of what the righteous are enjoying, and they feel tormented by it? This passage resonated with the early Christians.

And I believe when he said it, when he talked about this to the Jews, they understood perfectly what he was saying.

I just want us to keep that in our minds today.

We could say Jesus was speaking allegorically, but we cannot ignore that he uses the Greek word Hades, not Gehenna, when he speaks of the plight of the rich man. And yet the rich man is in torment because of the heat of hell or Gehenna. And Lazarus is at rest and at peace in the bosom of Abraham. And yet neither one of these has yet come to his full eternal reward so that they are both awaiting the judgment day, the one at rest and at peace, the other in torment and regret.

Please consider this passage in this light and see if it doesn't make sense to you given the Greek word that's used there. All right. Now we're finally getting down to our passage for the day. 1 Peter 3:18. "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit."

Our first point for today is the just for the unjust. I think we all understand that no one, even of all the godly people of the past, were in any condition to undertake the position that Jesus took. In comparison with the purity of Christ and his character, all of mankind were unclean, unprepared, dead going to death. Jesus, in his absolute purity, having been tried as a man in all points like as we are, was perfectly fitted to enter that place of death called Hades. It is a sure thing none of us merits the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf, but he did it willingly.

So it was the just for the unjust in many ways. And we'll see how deep that goes as we look further on in this passage. Our second point for today is that he might bring us to God. This is the point. This is why Jesus did what he did, that he might bring us to God. It's a reconciliation.

This is all done that he might create that door of opportunity between these two very opposite kingdoms, the kingdom of death unto eternal death, to the kingdom of life unto eternal life. Personally, I think that all those who died before the time of our Lord Jesus died in hope of that eternal life. I'm referring to those who sought the Lord in truth. And these also would have been powerless and without hope of that resurrection if it had not been for our Lord's victory over death, sin, and the grave.

I'm saying that even those in the past have had no hope, would have had no hope without the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we'll see again how important that is as we go on here. Third point, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.

The death of any other man on the behalf of others would have been admirable, very noble, but it would have been a death without power. I have a little illustration here. I don't know. This illustration breaks down, but it's the best I can do, so you'll have to bear with me a bit. What if I, in my concern for the North Koreans who are in prison, who've never seen the outside world, would decide that I'm going to go to North Korea and allow them to imprison me or do something to get imprisoned with the hope that maybe I can set some of them free?

Do you think that Kim Jong-un would have any mercy on me at all if I were to go there, no matter how good my desire is to help those people? All that would happen is I'd end up being another person in prison in North Korea.

And I feel like this would have been that would have been the case with almost any other man who would have tried to undertake what Jesus did. They would have died and gone down into Hades and been in that prison or that place of Hades, stuck there.

I don't know what would have happened. We're thankful that we don't have to even think about that because Jesus took care of it. He was the one person that was able to do something about it. Satan really did not understand the kind of spirit Christ had dwelling in him or what would happen if a righteous man who had not become his, that is Satan's property, that God's ownership of that man would prevail.

See, Jesus never surrendered himself to Satan's rule over his life in any way. So Satan had nothing in him, no ownership. Once again, let's say that I did end up in the prison in North Korea, and let's just say that I'm not just a US citizen, but the son of the president of the United States.

And I would go to that prison, and because my dad is the president, because my dad has all the powers at his fingertips, and I ended up in the prison in North Korea, they would invade the prisons or whatever, or at least invade that prison. I could get out, and I could probably get a whole bunch of people out with me in that way.

But that's because of who my dad is. That's because of who the king is and everything. Well, that's a little bit the way it was with Christ. Christ belonged to the Father, and he went in his power with the king with him and was able to go there and actually do that.

There again, illustration breaks down in some ways, so please forgive me on that. It's the best I could find. John 14:27-29, actually to 31. "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, 'I go away and come again unto you.' If you love me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I go unto the Father, for my Father is greater than I.' And now I have told you before it come to pass that when it come to pass, you might believe.

Hereafter, I will not talk much with you, for the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me, but that the world may know that I love the Father. And as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence." In other words, Jesus says, "Come, let's go meet the enemy. I'm ready to take him on. I'm ready to go."

I'd like to say thank Brother Bill for pointing this verse out to me. I don't know how many times I read this verse, but I never caught that phrase in there. He has nothing in me. The prince of this world is coming. He has nothing in me. He has no power over me.

This is beautiful. Please pay special attention to that phrase.

Jesus came to earth as a man in full human flesh. And even though Satan tempted and tried him, Satan never gained any foothold or power over him, no matter what. Jesus always obeyed the Father. His true character remained intact. So when he surrendered his flesh in death, this only served to release that character, that power that was vested in him. No man, no human being could have done this.

Or any of us, none of us could have done this.

Matthew 16:18. "And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell or Hades shall not prevail against it." I just had to put that in there.

The gates of death have no power over the church because of Jesus.

Back to our passage, verse 19 and 20, "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometimes were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water."

Our fourth point for the day. "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison." Jesus does something here that's never been done before in all of history. And what he does and accomplishes is something so deep, so powerful, and so beautiful.

You don't want to miss how important this is. Jesus goes and preaches to the souls imprisoned and awaiting judgment in Hades. And just from reading this, I may be wrong on this, but this is what strikes me, is that Jesus not only went into the paradise or into the part of Hades where the righteous are waiting, but he went also and went over into that uncomfortable part of Hades so he could speak to those people who were over there.

So the sacrifice Jesus made was not only for those of his time or for those in the future, but Jesus reaches into the high past and touches those souls who were awaiting judgment. Let's go just a little deeper with this.

Fifth point, which sometime were disobedient. Has it ever troubled you to think of all the people who were drowned in the flood in Noah's time? That maybe some of those people really did not understand how important it was for them to repent and to turn to God. Maybe they hardly even knew what that was with what all that was going on with them. Peter says that God was long suffering. He waited as long as he possibly could, but the point and time came in which he could wait no longer.

And that was so he might save a godly seed for the hope of future generations. God never does something like that unless he does it with some hope of redemption.

From what I read here, God was still not done with these people. Jesus goes and preaches to them in prison, in their prison. The sacrifice Jesus made for all mankind is complete. It is perfect. It is lacking in nothing.

So doesn't it make even more Jesus' sacrifice seem even more complete and more full when you think about it, that it wasn't just for those who are alive today and for those in the future, but Jesus also died for those people in the past?

That's amazing to me. God doesn't leave anything undone.

1 Peter 3:21. "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Let's break this verse down a little bit here.

Our sixth point, the like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us. Peter now goes on into speaking about the types and shadows of how Noah's ark is like unto Christian baptism. And you might ask how. First of all, the water destroys all that it was sin and unrighteousness, thus paving the way for mankind in the future to live a righteous life unto God. Whereas before the flood, more and more people were succumbing to the pressures of the society around them. So the water means death to all sin, but salvation and life to all righteousness. The ark-like baptism was a means given by God through which mankind must pass through death and destruction and be saved for a new life, a better future, and an eternal future.

I wish I had more time for this subject because this is really important. But I will pause to say that baptism is not just important. It's essential. Unfortunately, in our modern Christianity today, they downplay baptism as something that is only symbolic. It is not symbolic. It is essential. It is a part of our it's an integral part of our salvation.

So please remember this. Seventh point for today and our last point, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The resurrection is the one single strongest indicator of that power our Lord had or has over death and how he triumphed over the grave.

I often think of how empty our message of Christ's death for all mankind and his suffering would seem if there had been no resurrection. Jesus went down to the very bowels of the earth or the very bowels of Hades, of death. He went into all of Hades, something with which no other could have done. His presence in that region of death was so strong that even some of those who were there came back to life.

And I have scripture to back that up. And we're seen again on this earth as witnesses of his power. Not only did he set the prisoners free, he himself came back to life in the fullness of life.

Let's read this passage, Matthew 27:50-53. "Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent. And the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."

I'd just like to stop and ask, why do you think that happened?

Doesn't it help to have some eyewitnesses of what happened in Hades? These people saw it happen, and they were able to tell somebody about it. Maybe Jesus told his apostles what took place while he was down in Hades. And then again, I can just imagine Peter going and seeking out those saints who had come back to life and asking them, "How did you get back here? What happened down in Hades when Jesus, our Messiah, arrived there?" I can just see him just seeking out these people and talking to them and writing down this stuff. And then when he goes to write this passage that we're reading today, he's thinking about this, all of this stuff.

It's beautiful.

Revelations 1:17-18. "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, 'Fear not. I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.'" And John, listen, I have the keys of hell or Hades and of death. I didn't just go and break open the doors and release prisoners and whatever, but I got the keys now.

"I took possession of Hades, John. You don't need to fear death anymore."

Revelations 20:13-14. "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and the death and hell or Hades delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every man according to their works. And death and hell or Hades were cast into the lake of fire." This is the second death.

Did you catch that? It says that death and hell or Hades were cast into the lake of fire. So finally, when it's all done and judgment is passed, this intermediate place which is called Hades is going to be done away with. It's going to be put into Gehenna. It's going to be burned up in Gehenna.

This is the second death.

1 Corinthians 15:24-27. "Then come at the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom of God, even the Father, when he shall put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, 'All things are put under him,' it is manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him." So it's like a trading of power, you could say. Jesus did this. He turns the kingdom over to God, and then God gives him something back. It's hard to follow the thought in some ways, but I'd encourage you to study it.

And then our last verse for today. I'm not going to make much comment on this because I feel like it explains itself. "Who is gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him."

All I can say to that is Jesus, our King, reigns. Hallelujah.