When physical death occurs, the soul and the spirit pass into an intermediate state. Just as death is a temporary condition for the body, so also is the condition of the spirit and the soul when disembodied. All who pass into this intermediate state will be brought out of it some day. This state has also been called, “the separate state,” or “the unclothed state” (2 Cor. 5:4).
The Grave (“Qeber” or “Mnemeion”)
The custodian of the body while the spirit and soul have been separated from it through death is the grave. Even though many bodies have never been properly buried (some have been eaten by animals, some have been burned, etc.), still, in Scripture, a dead body, in whatever state it may be, is seen as in the grave.
The word in the Old Testament Hebrew for the grave, or a sepulcher, is “Qeber.” It is a literal or physical place—an actual burial site. In the case of Abraham that burying place was “before Mamre” (Gen. 50:13). In the case of Saul and Jonathan it was “in Zelah, in the sepulcher of Kish” (2 Sam. 21:14). “Qeber,” is something that can be dug (Gen. 50:5), and a person’s body is said to go into it (1 Kings 13:30; 2 Kings 13:21; Jer. 26:23).
In the New Testament the word in the Greek for the grave is “Mnemeion.” It may be translated “tomb” (Matt. 27:60; Mark 6:29), or “sepulcher” (Matt. 23:29; John 19:41).
The grave is a temporary place for dead bodies, for the Lord said, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth” (John 5:28-29). More will be said on this when we consider resurrection.
“Sheol” or “Hades”
While the bodies of men who have died are in the grave, their disembodied spirits and souls pass into the world of unseen spirits. The Biblical name for this temporary condition of disembodied spirits and souls is “Sheol,” or “Hades.” As “Qeber” and “Mnemeion” are the Hebrew and Greek words for the grave or a sepulcher, “Sheol” and “Hades” are Hebrew and Greek words for the unseen world of disembodied souls and spirits—the disembodied state. They are simply two different words from two different languages describing one thing. This can be easily proved by comparing Psalm 16:10 with Acts 2:27. These two original language words have been adopted into the text in most English translations.
Unfortunately, the King James Version (KJV), which is usually a reliable translation, does not use “Sheol” and “Hades” in its text (as most other translations do), but translates the two words “hell,” the “grave,” or the “pit.” This has led to considerable confusion, for the grave is a temporary place of dead bodies and hell is the eternal abode of the lost, not the temporary condition of disembodied spirits. In the KJV translation of the Old Testament, “Sheol” has been wrongly translated “grave” (31 times), “hell” (31 times) and the “pit” (3 times). In the KJV translation of the New Testament, “Hades” has been erroneously translated “hell” in ten passages (Matt. 11:23; 16:18; Luke 10:15; 16:23; Acts 2:27, 31; 1 Cor. 15:55 – margin; Rev. 1:18; 6:8; 20:13-14). We would do well to go through our KJV New Testaments and mark these passages as “Hades,” rather than “hell,” to put an end to the confusion in our subsequent Bible studies.
“Sheol,” or “Hades,” is not a place, but a condition with two opposing states in it. It simply means, “the unseen world of disembodied spirits.” J. N. Darby’s Translation footnote in Matthew 11:23, gives a helpful explanation of this condition of the disembodied spirits and souls. He says, “‘Hades’ like ‘Sheol’ in the Old Testament (see note at Psa. 6:5) is a very vague expression used in general to designate the temporary state of departed spirits, the unseen or invisible world of spirits, upon which, till the coming of Christ, darkness and obscurity rested.”
Two States in “Sheol” or “Hades”
As mentioned, “Sheol,” or “Hades,” are general terms having to do with departed souls and spirits without describing their state. They are used in Scripture for the departed righteous (Gen. 37:35; Job 14:13; Acts 2:27; 1 Cor. 15:55 – the Greek text), and also for the departed wicked (Psa. 9:17; 31:17; Ezek. 31:16-17; Matt. 11:23; Luke 16:23).
With the coming of the Lord Jesus into this world, we have been privileged to know more than what was revealed in the Old Testament concerning the disembodied state. The Lord taught that there are two opposing states in the world of unseen, disembodied spirits. There is a state of bliss for the righteous in heaven and a state of torment for those who are lost.
The Lord’s description of “the rich man” and “Lazarus” indicates this (Luke 16:19-31). It is not exactly a parable, for it doesn’t bear the marks of His other parables. For instance, He never used names of people in His parables, but here He does. The story is, rather, an actual history of two persons. It is given in a Jewish setting, because that’s who His audience was, and much symbolism is used. If we take the story literally, we will come away with all sorts of mistaken ideas. For instance, we would think that people in a lost eternity can look up and see people in heaven, and that they can speak to each other.
An objector might tell us that if the eyes and the tongue of the rich man are symbolical, so must the torments and the flame be symbolical. And they are quite right. The physical torments described in this account are symbolic of spiritual torments that affect the soul and the spirit. They are anthropomorphisms—that is, the use of human features to symbolize certain real things. For instance, Scripture speaks of the “eye” of God, or the “hand” of God. God does not have a body with eyes and hands for He is a spirit (John 4:24). But human features, such as an eye, are used to symbolize the fact that God knows everything (His omniscience). His power is at work everywhere and is often used under the figure of a “hand” (His omnipotence). Similarly, the disembodied soul and spirit of the rich man in Hades did not have eyes and fingers, etc. Such anthropomorphisms are used to describe his torment in terms which we can understand.
Some have imagined that their departed loved ones in heaven are looking down at them as they live here on earth, but Scripture does not support this idea. The account of the rich man and Lazarus shows that people in the disembodied state are fully conscious, having memories and emotions, etc. However, they are not cognizant of things presently happening in this world since they are in another world. Job 14, which has been called “the great resurrection chapter of the Old Testament,” speaks of persons in the disembodied state having no knowledge of current things on earth. Verse 21 says, “His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.” Solomon also said, “The dead know not any thing” (Eccl. 9:5). That is, they don’t know anything that is happening on earth. When Samuel was brought up out of the world of the unseen departed spirits, he had to be informed of the present condition of Israel (1 Sam. 28:15-19). The same is said of Abraham (Isa. 63:16).
Others have mistakenly assumed that these verses we have just quoted are teaching that departed souls are asleep or unconscious—the so-called doctrine of “soul-sleep.” But they don’t mean that at all. Luke 16:19-31, shows conclusively that all souls are conscious after death. The Lord Himself said that all the dead “live unto Him” (Luke 20:38). The context of Ecclesiastes has to do with what is “under the sun” (Eccl. 1:3, etc.), which is an expression that refers to life in this world. Such verses as Ecclesiastes 9:5, must be taken in their context. Hence, the “dead know not any thing”—that is, in connection with what is going on in this world. Similarly, we do not know what is happening right now in Buckingham Palace because we are not there to take account of it, but that fact doesn’t mean that we are unconscious. We are simply not there to know.
As mentioned, there are two opposite conditions in the disembodied state. One is “paradise” (Luke 23:43) and the other is “prison” (1 Peter 3:19). The righteous—those who have died with faith—are in “paradise.” The unrighteous—those who have died without faith—are in “prison.”
An illustration the late Albert Hayhoe used is helpful in understanding this division in “Sheol” or “Hades.” He said that the assembly meeting room in the town where he lived was built in such a way that upon entering it, you were faced with a half flight of stairs to the upper floor, and a half flight of stairs down to the basement. He said that if we were to watch someone come down the street and go into that building, that person would disappear behind the doors (which he likened to death), and we wouldn’t know where he went; whether it was to the upper or the lower floor. The same takes place when a person passes through the article of death. His body goes into the grave, but his soul and spirit go into “Hades” (Sheol)—either to “paradise” or to “prison.”
Paradise
The righteous in “Sheol,” or “Hades,” are in “paradise” with Christ (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 12:1-4; Rev. 2:7). “Paradise” means “the garden of delights,” and describes the state of the righteous in heaven resting in bliss. The Apostle Paul equates it with “the third heaven,” which is the immediate presence of God (2 Cor. 12:1-4).
The righteous in “paradise” would include all those who have died in faith, and also those who died in infancy who were under the age of understanding (2 Sam. 12:23; 1 Kings 14:13). The Lord said, “In heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 18:10). He used the word “angels” for their disembodied spirits. It is also used so with Peter in Acts 12:15. While the souls and spirits of departed infants are in heaven (paradise), they are not part of the Church of God. Those who compose the Church have been sealed with the Spirit of God upon believing the gospel of their salvation (Eph. 1:13). This requires faith and some intelligence in the message of the gospel. Persons in this class of departed infants would be among those who are the friends of “the Bridegroom” (John 3:29). They will have a blessed portion with Christ in the resurrection and will reign with Him in the Millennium over the earth.
The saints who are in “paradise” are said to be “unclothed” (2 Cor. 5:4), and also said to be “with Christ; which is far better” (Phil. 1:23; Luke 23:43). They are in heaven, but not yet glorified. They are waiting (as we are waiting on earth) for the coming of the Lord. When He comes, He will effect the first resurrection, at which time they (and we) will be glorified. Both the saints alive on earth, and the saints who have departed are waiting—the difference is that the departed saints are in a brighter waiting room in heaven. More will be said on this when we consider resurrection.
The Jews believed that their departed forefather Abraham was in the highest place of happiness. Hence, when the Lord spoke of Lazarus being in “Abraham’s bosom” they clearly understood that He was referring to this state of bliss (Luke 16:22). This is a figurative term; there is no literal place in Abraham’s bosom for the blessed righteous.
As mentioned earlier, the gospel has shed much more light on the intermediate state than what the Old Testament saints had. We can now speak more definitively concerning the righteous in that condition. Hence, in the New Testament, the word “Hades” all but disappears in application to the righteous. It is only used twice in that way: in speaking of the Lord when He was in the disembodied state (Acts 2:27), and for the saints at the time of the first resurrection (1 Cor. 15:55 – the Greek text). The reason for this is that, since we know specifically of the condition of the saints as being in “paradise,” it is not necessary to use the vague and general term of “Hades.”
To illustrate this, we might speak of a person we know as having gone to Britain. But after learning of his exact whereabouts, we thereafter speak of him in the specific place to which he has gone. We don’t just say that the person is in Britain; we say that he is in London. Hence, with believers who have departed from this world through death; we don’t refer to them as being in “Hades,” though they are. Christian intelligence on this subject enables us to say that they are “with Christ” in heaven—in “paradise.”
Even though the departed righteous are in an intermediate state, being separated from their bodies, their souls and spirits are in a fixed condition of bliss in “paradise.” When they are raised and glorified at the first resurrection, they will continue for eternity in that state of bliss.
Prison
The unrighteous in “Hades” (Sheol) are in “prison” (1 Peter 3:19). It is a condition of torment (Luke 16:23). The “prison” is a “holding tank,” so to speak, of the disembodied wicked. While their condition in “prison” is temporary, their state of torment is eternal. It is a fixed condition. Once a person passes out of this world in his sins he is in a lost eternity, and no amount of prayer will avail a person then! Job said, “I know that Thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house of assemblage for all living. Indeed, no prayer [availeth] when He stretcheth out [His] hand: though they cry when He destroyeth” (Job 30:23-24 – J. N. Darby Trans.). The Lord Himself said that He only had power to forgive sins on earth (Matt. 9:6). Once a person draws his last breath and passes into a lost eternity the mighty power of Christ’s forgiveness cannot reach him there. How solemn!
Isaiah 24:21-22 says, “It shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.” The “host of the high ones that are on high” is Satan and his fallen angels. Just after the Appearing of Christ, they will be taken and cast into “the pit.” See also Revelation 20:1-3. The “kings upon the earth” are the armies of the nations that will be gathered in the land of Israel. They will be judged at that time. They will be killed, and their souls and spirits put in “prison.” They will be held there for “many days” (through the Millennium), and then “visited” by a further execution of judgment and then assigned to the lake of fire.
Since Acts 2:27 says that the Lord’s soul went into Hades after he died (but before He was raised), some have imagined that He went down into the “prison” and preached the gospel to the spirits of disembodied men there, giving them a second chance to get out of there. The verse used to support this idea is 1 Peter 3:18-20. It says, “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: by which also He went and preached unto the spirits [which are] in prison; which sometime [heretofore] were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”
This, however, is a twisted use of the Scriptures. It is wrongly assumed that Hades is exclusively a condition of suffering. And, on that false premise, people mistakenly conclude that after the Lord died, He went into that state where disembodied spirits of wicked men are and preached to them. That is not at all what the passage in 1 Peter 3 is teaching. Peter is speaking of the Lord’s resurrection, not His spirit in the disembodied state. He is referring to the work of the Holy Spirit, saying, “In which (the Spirit) ... He (the Lord Jesus) went and preached to the spirits [which are] in prison.” The point of the passage is that the same Spirit that raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead was also active in Noah’s day when he preached to that antediluvian world. Speaking to men on earth by the Holy Spirit was the way in which the Lord worked in Old Testament times. He warned, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man” (Gen. 6:3; Psa. 139:7). Peter affirms this in the first chapter of his epistle, telling us that “the Spirit of Christ” was the moving power in testimony throughout Old Testament times.
The “spirits” of those men that Noah preached to long ago are now in “prison” because they refused the message God gave to them when they were alive on earth (1 Peter 4:6). To make no mistake as to when Christ preached by the Spirit to those people, Peter adds, “Which sometime [heretofore] were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah.” This proves that it was in Noah's day, not when Christ was disembodied in the interval between His death and resurrection. There is not a word in the passage intimating that the Lord, in His disembodied state, went and preached in the “prison.” Neither does it say that these people were disembodied spirits when they were preached to; the preaching happened when they were alive on earth (in their bodies) back in the days of Noah.
Such an interpretation is irrational and raises more questions than it answers. It is absurd to think that when the Lord died, that of all the of people in “prison,” in Hades, He would single out that one generation of people—a relative few—and offer them a second chance. What about the people who lived during other Old Testament periods? Why wouldn’t the Lord give them a second chance too? And what about those who have died and have gone into the “prison” after the Lord rose from the dead—during this present Church period? Why wouldn’t He give them a second chance too? And how would they ever get such a chance if they died after He rose from the dead? The Lord would have to die again to go down into the “prison” in Hades to preach to them. This is absurd. If the doctrine of a second chance after death were true, then why would the Apostle Paul say, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation?” (2 Cor. 6:2) Why all the need for urgency in the gospel?
Scripture is clear that once a person dies and passes into that state of torment on account of their sins not being atoned for, the condition is “fixed.” They will come out of the prison when they are resurrected, but they will not come out of that state of torment. This is emphasized in the account of the rich man and Lazarus. “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” (Luke 16:26).
The Pit (Abyss)
The “pit,” or the “abyss” (same word in the Greek), is a temporary place of confinement for the wicked angelic spirits (Isa. 24:21-22; Rev. 9:1-2, 11; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1-3). It is translated “the deep” in Luke 8:31.
While angels do not die (Luke 20:35-36), those who are found to be wicked will be consigned to the “pit” when Christ sets up His Millennial kingdom (Isa. 24:21-22). Some wicked angels are in the “pit” now. The Apostle Peter said, “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [the deepest pit of gloom], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment” (2 Peter 2:4). The word wrongly translated “hell” here, in the KJV, is not “Ghenna” but “Tartarus” in the Greek. It should be translated, “the deepest pit of gloom” (J. N. Darby Translation). Apparently, this is a special place of solitary confinement in the “abyss” or “pit.”
Some of the fallen angels in the days of Noah sinned in such a corrupt way that God intervened in judgment and cast them into this “deepest pit of gloom.” Jude adds more light on it, saying, “The angels which kept not their first [original] estate, but left their own habitation [dwelling], He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” At the time of the flood, some of the angels who fell with Satan before the creation, chose to not keep their “original estate,” which was sexless (Matt. 22:30). They “left their own habitation [dwelling]” which was in the heavens, and then came down and got involved in the degenerated practice of co-habiting with “the daughters of men” (Gen. 6:4). Apparently, their design was to make a super-race of beings. We are told that there were “giants,” “mighty men [heroes],” and “men of renown” on the earth in those days (Gen. 6:4). Such a practice was so corrupt that God wiped them all out in the judgment of the flood—except for “eight” persons (1 Peter 3:20). The wicked angels involved in this practice were cast into “the deepest pit of gloom.” It is so defiling that God has drawn a covering over it and has told us very little in His Word.
The “pit” is a temporary place of judgment in which fallen angels are held until “the judgment of the great day,” which will be at the end of time (Rev. 20:10). While those wicked creatures are confined to the “pit” until that day, their wicked influences will be let loose on the earth once again during the Great Tribulation under the direction of the Antichrist (Rev. 9:1-11).
In Summary
In summary, there are three words used in Scripture to describe the temporary state of all God’s created beings in the world of unseen spirits. They all begin with the letter “P.”
“Paradise” for righteous men.
“Prison” for wicked men.
“Pit” for Satan and the wicked angels.