I have all these assumptions about Heaven and Hell… I used to think that Heaven was for good people and Hell was for bad people.
In fact, most Christians would be hesitant to name more than a half-dozen folks who are in Hell – people like Hitler who are the ’worst of the worst’. But after reading the New Testament I quickly realized that wasn’t true since we all deserve Hell and can only avoid it by Jesus’ atonement.
What about people becoming Angels when they go to Heaven? And Satan controlling Hell for eternal punishment? And do we go to our eternal destination (heaven or hell) as soon as we die?
My interest in this was piqued after losing my son, Henry. I want to know where he is, and if I will see him again. My goal here is just to understand what the Bible says on these matters, rather than what society (or the church for that matter) has taught me about it.
We will start our investigation with Hell.
Understanding “Hell” is complicated by the fact that different version of the Bible have been inconsistent in when and where words are translated to mean Hell. Therefore, we will go back to the original Hebrew/Greek in order to develop a good understanding of the original intention.
The Old Testament (OT) mentions ‘Sheol‘ (translated to Hades in Greek) or ‘bowr’ (commonly “The Pit”). In the New Testament, there are three words used for Hell – Hades (the same as Sheol – not the same as in Greek mythology though), Tartarus (only used once and appears to be a particular part of Hades – explained later), and gehenna or “lake of fire”. Gehenna was an actual place that symbolized death and decay to the Jews, and required constant fires to breakdown the filth, which is also called the lake of fire in Revelation.
Revelation 20:13-15 clearly shows that Sheol/Hades is a temporary place (the place of the dead), not an eternal Hell, which the lake of fire would better describe.
“And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
The first mention of Sheol was in Genesis 37:35, where Jacob, who was viewed as righteous by God, expected to join his son upon his death. The rest of the OT includes similar language about all people going to Sheol, including by King David and Job. But there are two separate sections of Sheol for OT saints and heathens. That’s why Luke 16 (the parable of a rich man and Lazarus) shows the difference.
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Ever heard that Jesus went to Hell to get the keys after he died (as in the Apostles Creed)? He actually went to the OT saints side (the good side) of Sheol/Hades, and brought the OT saints to Heaven with him (see 1 Corinthians 15:20-23, Ephesians 4:8, and 1 Peter 3:18-20).
Quick aside: Satan does not control either Sheol/Hades or Hell. The Bible never says anything about Satan having control or torturing souls – in fact 2 Peter 4 shows he was sent to Sheol/Hades in chains, and Revelation 20:10 shows that he will be thrown into Hell to be tormented upon Christ’ return.
I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention that some people believe that The Bible has been misinterpreted and that Hell is not really eternal or ever-lasting, suggesting that the greek wording only implied “age-lasting”. I do not find the evidence for this to be convincing. Here’s a great video on it -
And from the use of Hades in the New Testament (especially Revelation quoted above), we know that nonbelievers souls still go to Sheol/Hades to await Christ’ return and judgment (what about believers? Keep reading…). We know that OT saints could not go to Heaven before Christ because in John 3:13 Jesus said
“And no man hath ascended up to Heaven, but he that came down from Heaven, even the Son of Man which is in Heaven.”
PS: For those paying close attention, what about Elijah who was taken “up to Heaven by a whirlwind” (2 Kings 2)? Scripture actually mentions three heavens – the first Heaven is the Sky, the second Heaven is outer space, and third Heaven is what Christ called His “father’s house”. Elijah went to the first Heaven – the sky, since that’s the only place that a whirlwind could exist.
Now that believers have the forgiveness given us by Jesus’ blood, do we bypass Sheol/Hades and go straight to Heaven?
Luke 23:42-43 seems to say so, as Jesus said to the thief beside him on the cross
“I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
but yet John 20:17 seems to contradict it… because 3 days after Jesus died on the cross, he told Mary
““Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Whoa! So if Jesus didn’t go to Heaven the day He died (He went to Sheol, remember?) where did the thief go?
There are two different ways that I see to interpret this:
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The way Luke 23 was originally written did not include punctuation, so the comma after “you” was added by translators. If you move the comma to after “today” it suddenly reads much differently – “I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise.” And of course ‘Paradise’ doesn’t necessarily mean Heaven, and could be the good side of Sheol/Hades.
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While Jesus’ body went to Sheol/Hades, his Spirit could have gone to Heaven immediately. On the cross, Jesus says ‘Father into your hands I commit My Spirit” in Luke 23:46 and 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 (“caught up to third Heaven… caught up to Paradise”) seems to define paradise as Heaven
So which is right? I can’t find a single verse that definitively shows that we go straight to Heaven. And the more I look into it what Scripture says, I’m not so sure that believers “go to Heaven” at all… Here’s what I mean:
John 6:40 shows that Jesus will resurrect us on the last day.
“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
So what happens when God resurrects us? Is that when we ascend to Heaven? And what will Heaven be like, anyway? Do we grow wings and play harps all day?
Here’s a teaser – Matthew 5:5 says
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth“
And Daniel 7:14
“And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”
We can’t stop there. Revelation 21:1-4
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
So what does it all mean???
- It is upon Christ’ judgment, and not before, that nonbelievers will go to Hell, and believers will become rulers of the world.
What happens to believers until then? Our spirit could go straight to Heaven to be with God when we die, and then be reunited with our body for the resurrection, at which point we shall be rulers. Or we could all go to Sheol/Hades to await Jesus’ return. The Bible doesn’t directly address this.
From what I can gather, the early church taught that we do not go straight to Heaven, but await Christ’ return and our resurrection, which is where the Catholic church got Purgatory from. Most protestant churches teach that the soul goes straight to Heaven, but Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation, actually did not believe that. It seems that the idea was a Puritan teaching to combat Catholic teachings on Purgatory, which has heavily influenced American Protestantism.
So what do I believe? I am inclined to believe, intellectually, that we do not go straight to Heaven, and that I will see my son Henry again in Sheol/Hades, until we are both resurrected upon Jesus’ return. This makes sense to me logically, and is the conclusion I come to when reviewing Scripture without preconceived biases.
But EMOTIONALLY – I still like to think of Henry as an angel next to Jesus’ side right now.
Note: Since Scripture is not authoritative on this, neither am I.
