Hades: The conscious realm of the dead!
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Important introductory comments:
Hades is a Greek word used in the New Testament to denote the realm of conscious departed spirits and never refers to the grave. Sheol is a Hebrew word in the Old Testament that is generally equivalent to Hades.
Even Samuele Bacchiocchi (an Neo-Sadduceeian who denies conscious life after death) admits the word HADES means punishment and not the grave in Luke 16: "The word hades also occurs in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, but with a different meaning. While in the 10 references we have just examined hades refers to the grave or the realm of the dead, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus it denotes the place of punishment for the ungodly (Luke 16:23). The reason for this exceptional use will be explained shortly. Obviously, dualists make great use of this parable to support the notion of the conscious existence of disembodied souls during the intermediate state." (Immortality or Resurrection?, Samuele Bacchiocchi, Seventh-day Adventist, Ch 5: State of the Dead) When a man like Bacchiocchi (whom many Arians look to for help with their false doctrines) admits that the word hades INDEED means a place of torture and punishment, we feel progress is being made! Thanks Sam! You made our point!
The first step in understanding any ancient or foreign word is to check the lexicons, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc., which deal with that language. Brown, Driver and Briggs based their A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (p. 982) on the work of Genesius, one of the greatest Hebrew scholars who ever lived. They define Sheol as: "The underworld... whither man descends at death" They trace the origin of Sheol to either sha-al, which means the spirit world to which mediums directed their questions to the departed, or Sha-al, which refers to the hollow place in the earth where the souls of men went at death. Langenscheidt's Hebrew/English Dictionary to the Old Testament (p.337) defines Sheol as: "netherworld, realm of the dead, Hades." The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia in volume IV, p.2761, defines Sheol as: "the unseen world, the state or abode of the dead, and is the equivalent of the Greek: Hades." Keil and Delitzsch state that "Sheol denotes the place where departed souls are gathered after death; it is an infinitive form from sha-al, to demand, the demanding, applied to the place where inexorably summons all men into its shade." [Commentaries On the Old Testament, Vol. l, p. 338] The lexicographical evidence is so clear that the great Princeton scholar, B.B. Warfield, stated that with modern Hebrew scholars, there is no "hesitation to allow with all heartiness that Israel from the beginning of its recorded history cherished the most settled conviction of the persistence of the soul in life after death....The body is laid in the grave and the soul departs to Sheol. [Selected Shorter Writings of Beniamin B. Warfield, pp. 339,345] (Death and The Afterlife, Robert Morey, Dualist, p.72,73)
Sheol is a shadowy place or a place of darkness (Job 10:21,22; Ps. 143:3). Evidently it is another dimension which is not exposed to the rays of the sun. It is viewed as being "down," "beneath the earth," or in "the lower parts of the earth" (Job 11:8; Isa. 44:23; 57:9; Ezek. 26:20; Amos 9:2). These figures of speech should not be literalized into an absurd cosmology. They merely indicate that Sheol is not a part of this world but has an existence of its own in another dimension. (Death and The Afterlife, Robert Morey, p. 78-80)
The KJV and the NIV mistranslate Hades as Hell. Hades and hell are two different places at two different times. Hades is the temporary realm of both good and evil departed spirits before the second coming. Hell is the final eternal abode of the wicked after judgement. No one is in Hell (gehenna) now.
Hades/Sheol is pictured as having two compartments in both the Old and New Testaments. These compartments are best illustrated in Lk 16 where the rich man went to the "torment" compartment and the poor man went to the "comfort" compartment. Between these two compartments is an "impassable gulf".
It seems that Sheol has different sections. There is the contrast between the "lowest part" and the "highest part" of Sheol (Deut. 32:22). This figurative language implies that there are divisions or distinctions within Sheol. Perhaps the Old Testament's emphatic distinction between the righteous and the wicked in this life indicates that this distinction continues on in the afterlife. Thus the wicked are said to be in the "lowest part," while the righteous are in the "higher part" of Sheol. While this is not clearly (repeated from the previous section): stated in the Old Testament, there seems to be some kind of distinction within Sheol. Later rabbinic writers clearly taught that Sheol had two sections. The righteous were in bliss in one section while the wicked were in torment in the other. (Death and The Afterlife, Robert Morey, p. 78-80)
In the Old Testament, the two expressions "lowest Sheol" and "pit" [Heb: bowr] always denotes the compartment where the wicked go and are punished, like the rich man in Lk 16. Therefore "lowest Sheol" and "pit" are exclusively used to denote where the wicked go after death awaiting resurrection and judgement.
The righteous are never thrown into the pit. [Heb: bowr] If the pit is merely another word for the grave, then both the wicked and righteous should go there.
While Hades never refers the grave, on very rare occasions Sheol seems refer to the grave. There are separate Greek and Hebrew words for grave. (GRAVE: Greek: mneema; Hebrew: kever) Although the body is pictured as returning from the grave (mneema or kever) the body is never pictured as returning from Sheol/Hades. Conversely, although the soul is pictured as returning from Sheol/Hades, the soul is never pictured as returning from the grave (mneema or kever). Finally, there is no passage where a "body" is specifically said to go to Sheol! This is an important dichotomy that refutes the Neo-Sadduceeian concept of the dead being extinct and unconscious because if Sheol and Hades are nothing more than the literal grave, then physical bodies should be seen coming out of the grave.
This distinction is between "Sheol" and "Kever" is maintained in the Septuagint as well. (The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament.) This proves that the distinction was well understood 2000 years ago.
Just as the word "spirit" sometimes denotes breath or wind, the vast majority of the places where "spirit" is used cannot refer merely to breath or wind. God is a Spirit! Likewise Hebrew word "Sheol" sometimes refers merely to a literal physical grave "6 feet under". However the vast majority of usages of Sheol, it cannot refer merely the grave but the conscious realm of the dead. When an Neo-Sadduceeian attempts to prove that man has no spirit or soul by refering to a passage where spirit means "breath" or soul refers to a dead body of a man, we quickly agree replying, "Yes "spirit" in Gen 2:7, but God is a Spirit! Is he just breath? Likewise when Arians point to the few rare places where Sheol refers to the literal grave, we quickly agree, then point them to the vast majority of usages where a physical grave cannot fit the context.
There are many passages that directly teach that there is consciousness, emotion and communication in Hades/Sheol.
One of the clearest proofs of consciousness in Sheol or Hades, is the fact that Jonah was pictured as being conscious in the belly of the sea monster for 3 days. The text, Jonah 2:2, says that Jonah was in Sheol. Jesus said "just as Jonah was in the belly of the sea monster for three days, so also the son of man will be." Of course Arians make a double mistake of arguing that Jesus (God the Son) ceased to exist and became extinct for the three days He was in Hades.
"Sheol Fire", "Hades fire"
is found in these verses: Lk 16:24 "I am in agony in this flame."; Deut 32:22 "For a fire is kindled in My anger, And burns to the lowest part of Sheol, And consumes the earth with its yield, And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains."; Rev 9:1-2 "And he opened the bottomless pit; and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit."
What is important about comparative studies is that they place biblical words in their historical context. The word Sheol should thus be understood in terms of what it meant in the Hebrew language and by its parallel in the other languages of that time. Why? When God wanted Israel to believe something which was unique and contrary to what the surrounding cultures believed, He always clearly condemned and forbade the pagan beliefs and then stressed the uniqueness of the new concept. For example, in order to establish monotheism, God repeatedly and clearly condemned the pagan concept of polytheism and stressed monotheism. While God clearly condemned polytheism in the Old Testament, at no time did He ever condemn belief in a conscious afterlife. At no time did God ever put forth the concept of annihilation or nonexistence as the fate of man's soul at death. Also, when Israel had a unique and contrary belief, the pagan societies around Israel would use this belief as the grounds to persecute the Jews. Thus the Jews were persecuted for rejecting polytheism and believing in monotheism. Daniel's three friends who were thrown into a fiery furnace are an excellent example of such persecution. Yet, where in recorded history did pagan religions or societies persecute the Jews because they denied a conscious afterlife? To think that the Jews could go against the universally held concept of a conscious afterlife and that the pagans would not seize upon this as a pretense for persecution is absurd. Since the universality of belief in a conscious afterlife is irrefutable, and there is no evidence that Israel deviated from this belief, we must assume that the Old Testament taught a conscious afterlife in Sheol as the fate of man's soul or spirit. It is universally recognized by modern Talmudic scholars that Sheol never meant the grave or unconsciousness in rabbinic literature. Ginzburg states that in rabbinic writings one finds a consistent conviction that "there exists after this world a condition of happiness or unhappiness for an individual." Guttman adds, "The Talmud, like the Apocryphal literature, knows of a kind of intermediate state of the soul between death and resurrection; true retribution will be dispensed only after the resurrection of the body. But along with this, we also find the fate in a retribution coming immediately after death and in a life of blessedness for the soul in the beyond." The rabbinic tradition before, during and after the time of Christ describes the soul departing the body and descending into Sheol at death. The rabbis consistently pictured both the righteous and the wicked as conscious after death. The evidence is so overwhelming that the classic Princeton theologian, Charles Hodge, stated, "That the Jews believed in a conscious life after death is beyond dispute." The annihilationists have never discovered any evidence that the majority of Jews believed that the soul was extinguished at death. There is no conflict in the rabbinic literature over this issue. (Death and The Afterlife, Robert Morey, Dualist, p. 74)
Not once is Hades the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word for grave (kever). Not once does it mean nonexistence or unconsciousness. The times it is used for words other than Sheol, it clearly means the world of spirits. There is, therefore, no way to escape the conclusion that the translators of the Septuagint clearly understood that Hades referred to the realm of disembodied souls or spirits; and, we must also emphasize, that the translators of the Septuagint did not obtain this concept from Platonic Greek thought but from the Hebrew concept of Sheol itself. (Death and The Afterlife, Robert Morey, Dualist, p. 82)
While bodies are unconscious in the grave, those in Sheol are viewed as being conscious (Isa 14:4-7; 44:23; Ezek. 31:16; 32:21). (Death and The Afterlife, Robert Morey, p. 78-80)
Those in Sheol are pictured as conversing with each other and even making moral judgements on the lifestyle of new arrivals (Isa. 14:9-20; 44:23; Ezek. 32:21). They are thus conscious entities while in Sheol. (Death and The Afterlife, Robert Morey, p. 78-80)
Once in Sheol, all experiences related exclusively to physical life are no longer possible. Those in Sheol do no marry and procreate children because they do not have bodies. Neither do they plan and execute business transactions. Once in Sheol, they cannot attend public worship in the temple and give sacrifices and praise. There are no bodily pleasures such as eating or drinking. Those in Sheol do not have any wisdom or knowledge about what is happening in the land of the living. They are cut off from the living. They have entered a new dimension of reality with its own kind of existence (Ps. 6:5; Eccl. 9:10, etc.). (Death and The Afterlife, Robert Morey, p. 78-80)
Rick man and Lazarus: Luke 16:19-31
Neo-Sadduceeism given a knock out punch!
Irrefutable proof that there is conscious life after death:
Luke 16:19-31
 
G. Consciousness in Sheol/Hades
False teachers explain away these obvious proof texts of consciousness after death, by calling them "poetic" or "personification". It is interesting that all Arians use the "personification" argument to deny simple Bible truths:
Arians teach the Holy Spirit, the Devil, a demon is not a person and that when scripture indicates they are persons, it is merely "personification".
Notice the argument: "Although individuals are sometimes pictured as carrying on conversations in Sheol or engaging in other such lifelike pursuits (Isa. 14:9-18), they are not whole persons but mere Shades, personified for dramatic purposes." (The Fire That Consumes, Edward W. Fudge, Annihilationist, p. 83,84)
Ps 18:5
The cords [Heb: chebel = sorrows, see: 2 Sam. 22:6; Ps. 116:3] of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple, And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.
David is symbolically praying from the place of the dead. Something that annihilationists view as impossible.
Ps 30:3
O Lord, Thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol; Thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
Was pictured as being alive in Sheol. Something that annihilationists view as impossible.
Amos 9:2
"Though they dig into Sheol, From there shall My hand take them; And though they ascend to heaven, From there will I bring them down.
These two parallel verses use figurative language. Just as a man cannot ascent to Heaven, he cannot dig to Sheol. If annihilationists take Sheol here to be the literal grave, then they must admit that a man, on his own power can ascend to heaven too!
Ps 139:8
If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there.
Isa 14:9-15
"Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come; It arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth; It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. "They will all respond and say to you, 'Even you have been made weak as we, You have become like us. 'Your pomp and the music of your harps Have been brought down to Sheol; ... I will make myself like the Most High.' "Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.
One of 4 main proof texts that picture actual consciousness after death. Let annihilationists read this passage closely. This verse is equal in power to Luke 16 (parable of rich man and Lazarus) The passage is often misapplied to the devil.
Ezek 32:21
"The strong among the mighty ones shall speak of him and his helpers from the midst of Sheol, 'They have gone down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.'"
 Both consciousness and communication are pictured in Sheol.
Jonah 2:2
Jonah said, "I called out of my distress to the Lord, And He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; Thou didst hear my voice."
Jonah in the sea monster, was symbolically typified as being in Sheol and consciously praying to God. Jesus was also conscious when died and went to Hades for three days.
H. Conscious Emotions in Sheol
God's judgement on the wicked does not cease when the wicked die in their sins. Thus some of the spirits in Sheol experience the following
God's anger (Deut. 32:22): According to Moses, the wicked experience the fire of YHWH's anger in the "lowest parts of Sheol." This passage would make no sense if the wicked are nonexistent and Sheol is the grave.
Distress (Ps. 116:3): The Hebrew word matzar refers to the distress that is felt when in the straits of a difficulty. It is found in this sense in Ps. 118:5. Also, the word chevel, which is the poetic parallel for matzar, means "cords of distress" (2 Sam. 22:6; Ps. 18:6).
Writhing in pain (Job 26:5): The Hebrew word chool means to twist and turn in pain like a woman giving birth.
It is obvious that nonexistence can hardly experience anger, distress or pain. Thus, there are hints in the above passages that not everyone experiences blessedness in the afterlife. Beyond these three passages, the Old Testament does not speak of torment in the intermediate state. While it speaks of the "everlasting humiliation and contempt" which awaits the wicked after the resurrection (Dan. 12:2), the Old Testament tells us very little about the intermediate suffering of the wicked in Sheol. (Death and The Afterlife, Robert Morey, p. 78-80)
Job 26:5-6
"The departed spirits tremble Under the waters and their inhabitants. "Naked is Sheol before Him. And Abaddon has no covering.
pain
The spirits of the dead are twisting and turning in pain. Exactly like Luke 16 and the rich man
Ps 116:3
The cords [Heb: chebel = sorrows, see: 2 Sam. 22:6; Ps. 18:6] of death encompassed me, And the terrors [Heb: matzar, see: Ps 118:5] of Sheol came upon me; I found distress and sorrow.
sorrow and terror
These three verses are the living projecting themselves into sheol with the corresponding feelings. Such conscious activity is therefore possible.
2 Samuel 22:6 5
"For the waves of death encompassed me; The torrents of destruction overwhelmed me; The cords [Heb: chebel = sorrows, see: Ps 18:5; Ps. 116:3] of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.
Ps 18:5
The cords [Heb: chebel = sorrows, see: 2 Sam. 22:6; Ps. 116:3] of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple, And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.
I. Interesting verses that use Sheol
1 Sam 2:6
"The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
Only God, not man, can bring a soul from sheol. Man is never said to bring anything from sheol
Job 7:9
"When a cloud vanishes, it is gone, So he who goes down to Sheol does not come up."
If Sheol is merely the grave, it makes no sense for such a verse would make exhuming a body impossible. It is the soul that cannot be brought back!
Ps 16:10
For Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol; Neither wilt Thou allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay
Passages applied to Jesus in Acts 2:27. Notice the dichotomy in that the soul is in sheol and the body undergoes decay
Ps 141:7
As when one plows and breaks open the earth, Our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
Notice that the body is not in Sheol, but at the entrance of Sheol!
J. Only the soul, never the body, is brought back from Sheol
Ps 49:14-15 As sheep they are appointed for Sheol; Death shall be their shepherd; And the upright shall rule over them in the morning; And their form shall be for Sheol to consume, So that they have no habitation. But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol; For He will receive me..
Ps 86:13 For Thy lovingkindness toward me is great, And Thou hast delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
Ps 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol
Ps 89:48 What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?
Hosea 13:14 Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? O Death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting?
K. Partitions in Sheol indicated in the Old Testament Hebrew
(Only the wicked go to the lowest Sheol, like the Rich man in Luke 16 was punished and suffering)
The argument rests solely on the Hebrew word "tachtiy" which means lowest, lower etc.
To argue that Sheol merely means the grave, one would be forced interpret these verses as meaning, graves deep within the earth
"Lowest earth" is equivalent to "Lowest Sheol" whenever death is in the context. For example, "lowest earth" is used in some contexts that are speaking of the literal low places of the earth in contrast to the highest mountains. Here is an example: Isaiah 44:23 "Shout for joy, O heavens, for the Lord has done it! Shout joyfully, you lower parts [Heb: "tachtiy": lowest] of the earth; Break forth into a shout of joy, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it; For the Lord has redeemed Jacob And in Israel He shows forth His glory."
In Luke 16 we learn that "lowest Sheol" or "lowest earth" corresponds to the place where the wicked rich man resided.
This exhaustive study shows that whenever the Hebrew word "tachtiy" is used, only the wicked are viewed as going there. The only exception is when the living righteous liken their sufferings and persecutions to the actual suffering that wicked experience in Sheol after they die. This is doubly powerful, for according to those who teach man is extinct after they die, the wicked do not suffer at all!
L. Some verses picture only the wicked going to Sheol
Notice "lowest part" clearly pictures "different parts" of Sheol. This exactly parallels what we see in the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Lk 16.
Deut 32:22 For a fire is kindled in My anger, And burns to the lowest part of Sheol, And consumes the earth with its yield, And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
Ps 9:17 The wicked will return to Sheol, Even all the nations who forget God.
Ps 31:17 Let me not be put to shame, O Lord, for I call upon Thee; Let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol.
Ps 55:15 Let death come deceitfully upon them; Let them go down alive to Sheol, For evil is in their dwelling, in their midst.
Prov 1:12 Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, as those who go down to the pit
Prov 5:5 Her feet go down to death, Her steps lay hold of Sheol.
Prov 7:27 Her house is the way to Sheol, Descending to the chambers of death.
Prov 9:18 But he does not know that the dead are there, That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
Prov 15:24 The path of life leads upward for the wise, That he may keep away from Sheol below.
Prov 23:14 You shall beat him with the rod, And deliver his soul from Sheol.
M. Lowest Sheol/earth/pit is where only the wicked go
Dt 32:22 For a fire is kindled in My anger, And burns to the lowest [Heb: "tachtiy": lowest] part of Sheol, And consumes the earth with its yield, And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
Psalm 63:9 But those who seek my life, to destroy it, Will go into the depths [Heb: "tachtiy": lowest] of the earth.
Ezekiel 26:20 then I shall bring you down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of old, and I shall make you dwell in the lower parts [Heb: "tachtiy": lowest] of the earth, like the ancient waste places, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I shall set glory in the land of the living.
Ezekiel 31:14 in order that all the trees by the waters may not be exalted in their stature, nor set their top among the clouds, nor their well-watered mighty ones stand erect in their height. For they have all been given over to death, to the earth beneath [Heb: "tachtiy": lowest], among the sons of men, with those who go down to the pit."
Ezekiel 31:16 "I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall when I made it go down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit; and all the well-watered trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, were comforted in the earth beneath [Heb: "tachtiy": lowest].
Ezekiel 31:18 "To which among the trees of Eden are you thus equal in glory and greatness? Yet you will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth beneath [Heb: "tachtiy": lowest]; you will lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who were slain by the sword. So is Pharaoh and all his multitude!'" declares the Lord God."
Ezekiel 32:18 "Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and bring it down, her and the daughters of the powerful nations, to the nether world [Heb: "tachtiy": lowest], with those who go down to the pit;
Ezek 32:18-23,27  "Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and bring it down, her and the daughters of the powerful nations, to the nether world [Heb: "tachtiy": lowest], with those who go down to the pit; 'Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down and make your bed with the uncircumcised.' "They shall fall in the midst of those who are slain by the sword. She is given over to the sword; they have drawn her and all her multitudes away. "The strong among the mighty ones shall speak of him and his helpers from the midst of Sheol, 'They have gone down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.' "Assyria is there and all her company; her graves are round about her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, whose graves are set in the remotest parts of the pit, and her company is round about her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, who spread terror in the land of the living. "Elam is there and all her multitude around her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised to the lower parts [Heb: "tachtiy": lowest] of the earth, who instilled their terror in the land of the living, and bore their disgrace with those who went down to the pit... 27 "Nor do they lie beside the fallen heroes of the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, and whose swords were laid under their heads; but the punishment for their iniquity rested on their bones, though the terror of these heroes was once in the land of the living.
The living righteous experiencing persecution is likened to the suffering in Sheol that the wicked dead will experience in the pit
Psalm 86:13 For Thy lovingkindness toward me is great, And Thou hast delivered my soul from the depths [Heb: "tachtiy": lowest] of Sheol. O God, arrogant men have risen up against me, And a band of violent men have sought my life, And they have not set Thee before them.
Psalm 88:6 Thou hast put me in the lowest [Heb: "tachtiy": lowest] pit, In dark places, in the depths. Thy wrath has rested upon me, And Thou hast afflicted me with all Thy waves.
Lam 3:55 I called on Thy name, O Lord, Out of the lowest [Heb: "tachtiy": lowest] pit.
N. The Pit is where the wicked dead go:
The word pit [Heb: bowr] was a literal prison men were thrown into like a jail:
Joseph was thrown into the Pit, by his brothers as a place of punishment: Gen 37:22
"For I (Joseph) was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon." Gen 40:15; 41:14
Ex 12:29 Now it came about at midnight that the Lord struck all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of cattle.
Described as a prison: 1 Pe 3:19
Bottomless pits of darkness 2 Pe 2:4 (Note: tartarus is used, not Hades or gehenna); Lk 8:31
"brought down to" Lk 10:15
The Abyss (bottomless pit) Rev 20:1-2
Only the wicked dead go to the pit:
[pit = Heb: bowr]
Ps 28:1,3 To Thee, O Lord, I call; My rock, do not be deaf to me, Lest, if Thou be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit. ... Do not drag me away with the wicked And with those who work iniquity
Isaiah 14:15 "Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.
Psalm 88:4,6 I am reckoned among those who go down to the pit; I have become like a man without strength ... Thou hast put me in the lowest pit, In dark places, in the depths.
Isaiah 14:19 "But you have been cast out of your tomb Like a rejected branch, Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword, Who go down to the stones of the pit, Like a trampled corpse.
Isaiah 38:16-19 O restore me to health, and let me live! "Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness; It is Thou who hast kept my soul from the pit of destruction, For Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back. "For Sheol cannot thank Thee, Death cannot praise Thee; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Thy faithfulness. "It is the living who give thanks to Thee, as I do today. [Some misuse this verse to teach that man goes into extinction at death. They argue, "there is no hope or giving of thanks in the pit". We agree, the wicked have no hope and therefore only curse God.]
Ezekiel 26:20 then I shall bring you down with those who go down to the pit, to the people of old, and I shall make you dwell in the lower parts of the earth, like the ancient waste places, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited; but I shall set glory in the land of the living.
Ezekiel 31:14 in order that all the trees by the waters may not be exalted in their stature, nor set their top among the clouds, nor their well-watered mighty ones stand erect in their height. For they have all been given over to death, to the earth beneath, among the sons of men, with those who go down to the pit."
Ezekiel 31:16 "I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall when I made it go down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit; and all the well-watered trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, were comforted in the earth beneath.
Ezek 32:18,21,23,24,25,29,30 "Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and bring it down, her and the daughters of the powerful nations, to the nether world, with those who go down to the pit ... 21 "The strong among the mighty ones shall speak of him and his helpers from the midst of Sheol, 'They have gone down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.'
Jonah 2:2,6 "I called out of my distress to the Lord, And He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; Thou didst hear my voice." ... "I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, But Thou hast brought up my life from the pit. (Jonah was a disobedient prophet who was thrown into the pit symbolically.)
The pit is where the living are destined to go unless they repent
Both of these Psalms were written by men who had sinned and begged God's forgiveness so they WOULD NOT go to the pit. Obviously the righteous do not go to the pit when they die!
Ps 30:3,6,9 O Lord, Thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol; Thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. ... Thou didst hide Thy face, I was dismayed. ... What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise Thee? Will it declare Thy faithfulness?
God was angry with David and David repented and cried out to God. He was destined for the pit, or the place of the wicked where no one praises God but only curses.
Psalm 143:7 Answer me quickly, O Lord, my spirit fails; Do not hide Thy face from me, Lest I become like those who go down to the pit. Proverbs 1:12 Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, as those who go down to the pit;
Again God was angry and demanded repentance. Notice v5 "And they are cut off from Thy hand." and v7 "Thy wrath has rested upon me"
 O. Key proof texts of Conscious life after death
2 Peter 2:9
, the condition of the ungodly between death and resurrection is described in virtually the same terms as Peter used in verse 4 to describe the condition of the angels in tartarus. The ungodly are kept for the day of judgment while being consciously tormented. The punishment is not future but a present experience of the ungodly while they await their final sentence. This has been pointed out, by such commentators as Alford, A.T. Robertson and Vincent as the only grammatical interpretation possible. The classic Lutheran commentator, R.H. Lenski, states that the ungodly are held for Judgment day while they are being punished. lTerein] markedly repeats the [Teroumenos] used in v. 4 and refers to keeping them in hell as the added participle shows: "while being punished" ("under punishment," RV.; not final; "to be punished" A.V.). Peter is obviously drawing a parallel between the torment of angels and the torment of sinners as they await the day of judgment. Having already mentioned the murky darkness of tartarus in 2:4, Peter in 2:17 speaks of the unrighteous as sharing in the same fate as the angels. Thus he speaks of "the darkness" which had already been mentioned in 2:4 : " These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved." What is important for us to note is that the wicked will be cast into "the murky netherworld of deep darkness." They are pictured as dwelling in murky tartarus where their lot is torment. (Death and The Afterlife, Robert Morey, p. 138,139)
Philippians 1:21-23
: This is the clearest passage in the New Testament which speaks of the believer going to be with Christ in heaven after death. This context deals with Paul's desire to depart this earthly life for a heavenly life with Christ. There is no mention or allusion to the resurrection in this passage. The tense Paul uses in verse 21 when speaking of death "denotes not the act of dying but the consequence of dying, the state after death." Notice Paul's use of the pronoun "I". Paul's ego, self, or soul, dwells in his body while alive, departs from it at death, and immediately after death is in the presence of Christ in heaven. As Lange put it: Unless Paul believed that the death which released him from the trials of this life was to introduce him at once to the presence of Christ and a state of blessedness, we see no adequate reason for the struggle between his desire to depart and be with Christ and his anxiety to labor still for the advancement of the Redeemer's Kingdom on earth. If he believed that he was to remain for an indefinite time without consciousness in the grave his zeal for men's salvation and his contempt of personal dangers and trials in the pursuit of that object, would lead him to desire to live as long as possible, on account of the importance of his ministry to mankind. On the other hand, if we suppose him to have regarded his attainment of the joys and rewards of heaven as simultaneous with his departure from this world, we have then an adequate explanation of this perplexity. Given the context and the grammatical construction of the passage, there is no legitimate way to escape the truth that Paul desired to depart this life and to be with Christ. (Death and The Afterlife, Robert Morey, p. 211, 212)
Hebrews 12:22-24
: In verse 22, he uses the perfect tense to indicate that the believers had been ushered into citizenship in and fellowship with the heavenly Jerusalem. The perfect tense indicates that it was at conversion that these saints were ushered into citizenship. This grammatical observation refutes the erroneous argument of the annihilationists who state that this passage concerns a future scene after the resurrection. As F. F. Bruce has pointed out, there is no reference whatsoever to the resurrection in this passage. He goes on to say: "No distinction in meaning can be pressed between 'spirits' here and 'souls' there....lt is plain that, for him, the souls of believers do not need to wait until the resurrection to be perfected. They are perfected already in the sense that they are with God in heavenly Jerusalem." In this glorious picture described by the author, the earthly saints join in the worship which resounds from myriads of angels and disembodied spirits of fellow saints who have departed this life. These saints were justified through faith while on earth and are now perfected and completed in heaven. That the author is describing the blest condition of departed saints who now worship God before the throne is so clear that we must agree with the commentators that it cannot be questioned or doubted. As Alford stated, this passage is indisputable proof that the souls of departed believers "are not sleeping, they are not unconscious, they are not absent from us: they are perfected, lacking nothing...but waiting only for bodily perfection." The Annihilationists have never adequately dealt with the grammar and syntax of this passage, because the "spirits of justified men now perfected" who are worshiping at God's throne are obviously the conscious souls of believers during the intermediate state. The fact that they would merely wave it aside as a future event despite the grammar of the Greek text is an indication of their inability to grapple with this passage. (Death and The Afterlife, Robert Morey, p. 212, 213)
 O. Verses where extinction seems to be indicated
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