Psalm 6:5
     Hades
                             Hades is the Greek word in the New Testament for Sheol although the Greek idea of Hades with its ferryman and its different states, like the Elysian Fields, is not Biblical.  The Roman Catholic Church has taken this idea a step further by inventing purgatory – the place of spiritual cleansing that prepares a soul for the after-life.  The New Testament does not say much at all about an intermediate state; it emphasises the return of Christ, bodily resurrection, judgement and eternity with or without God.  However, there is a New Testament story that sheds a little bit of light on the matter. It’s a story that is not recorded as a parable and in it Jesus talks about someone called Lazarus - He did not use proper names in His parables.   The suggestion therefore, is that this is a true account of real events in a real place. Luke 16:19-31.   Here then is the account of a Rich Man and Lazarus, who was a beggar in his earthly life.  After his death the Rich Man ended up in Hades in torment and was able to see into a different place where Lazarus now lived, in the company of Abraham.  It is clear that the wicked and the righteous had been separated and between the two parties was a great chasm that was impassable from either side.   Both men had left their bodies behind on earth but their spirits lived on; the wicked man in a torment and the righteous beggar in a place of rest.  In this story told by Jesus, the spirits of the dead men converse and they recognise each other; there seems to be no doubt that they have some feelings, memories and intellect.  The Rich Man is distressed not only be the fire of Hades but also by his inability to warn his friends and family on earth of what lies ahead of them.

There seems to be good reason to believe that Jesus, after He died, descended into Hades. In fact the Apostles’ Creed, repeated so often in many churches says this:- “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead……”The place He descended into was Sheol or Hades.   Many believe that just as He had suffered the brutal and horrific torment of physical death, He also must suffer the torment of those whose souls awaited judgement – cut off from God.   1 Peter 3:18-20a describes this visit to Sheol and Peter discusses the same idea in his very first sermon on the Day of Pentecost with a quote from Psalm 16. [See Acts 2:25-28.]  Paul also mentions this descent into Sheol in Ephesians 4:7-10. 

After Jesus rose from the dead EVERYTHING CHANGED!!  Because Jesus covered our sins by His blood at the cross, because He performed the sacrifice that makes it possible for the righteous to enter God’s presence, because He conquered physical and spiritual death and because He rose from the dead, He made it possible for the spirits of the righteous to ascend immediately, at death, into paradise and into the presence of God.   As soon as the spirit of a believer is released by death from the body, it has direct access to the presence of God. YOU WILL NOT GO TO SHEOL!   Paul was so convinced of and so excited by this that he couldn’t decide whether it was better to stay here with his friends or to die and be with Christ!!  Read Philippians 1:21-26.

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