The Word ‘Hell’ Isn’t in the Bible the Way You Think

Welcome to the Kingdom Family Podcast, where

we rediscover our identity as sons and daughters

of Yahweh and learn to live the life of the kingdom.

Let's jump in to today's episode. OK, guys, we

are back season four and we are going to kick

this season off with rethinking hell. Yes, I

am going to wrestle that topic to kick off this

season. We ended season three with rethinking

the end times and I hope that was life -changing.

I hope that gave you a more hopeful outlook to

life. And so we're going to do the same thing

here. We're going to rethink hell together. And

the same thing is true as with rethinking the

end times. My aim of this is not to get you to

agree with where I have landed. Quite frankly,

if I'm being completely honest, I don't know

yet where I have landed on the topic of hell.

I just don't believe it is what we have been

taught, especially in the Western world. So we're

going to kick this off with this title being

that the word hell isn't in the Bible the way

that you think. We're going to begin this series,

and I understand that people have strong opinions

over this topic, but quite frankly, I know very

few people who have studied it and not simply

regurgitated information. My fear, and I speak

as one who has done this before, is I feel like

there are many times that we just simply regurgitate

information that we have heard. Over the years

instead of actually doing our own studying our

own research into topics and into things and

really Allowing Holy Spirit to be our teacher

I'll never forget one of the things Lance Johnson

told me several years ago He said the Holy Spirit

will be the greatest teacher you've ever had

and that statement has proven to be true. Not

sure that he realized what he was saying to me

but that statement I have held near and dear

to my heart and I would encourage that to everyone.

The Holy Spirit will be, can be the greatest

teacher that you and I have. So I want you to

think about when you hear the word hell What

comes to your mind? Is it flames? Is it torment?

Is it punishment? Is it eternal suffering? But

this is the question I want us to wrestle with

tonight or today or whenever you're listening

to this. What if the picture that we were given

was not actually what scripture meant? And let

me say right off the bat, this is not about watering

down scripture, but it is about taking scripture

seriously enough to study what the words actually

meant to the people who first heard them. Again,

same as we did with rethinking the end times.

It's putting everything back into the original

context to help you and I gain a better understanding.

Many of us myself included inherited beliefs

not from Hebrew nor Greek but from tradition

and tradition if left unexamined can carry fear

that scripture never intended that quite frankly

Jesus never intended so Let me show you something

that probably most people have never been told

I don't know that until doing this study that

I picked up on this But the English word hail

that we have in our in our Bibles today, modern

day English Bibles, is not one original word.

It is actually four different words that was

translated into one English word. I want you

to think about that. Four words, four meanings,

four different contexts, but our English language

collapsed them into a single word. Now, those

words are Sheol, Hades, Gehenna and Tartarus

and we're going to briefly examine each of those

four in this episode and then over the next few

we're going to do a deep dive into each one of

those. But I want you to imagine for just a moment

if we took the words house, apartment, hotel

and barn and translated them all as building.

Technically, is that correct? I'm sure one could

argue that they are all buildings, but it is

incredibly misleading. So if I was to tell you

I want you to go to the building and what I meant

was go into the house and I tell the group of

people this and they all scatter some go to the

house, some go to the hotel, some go to the barn.

They all went to a building, but only a certain

few went to the house that I was actually referencing.

See what happens. This is exactly what happened

with the word hell. Why does this matter? Because

if we misunderstand the words, we misunderstand

the message. And if we misunderstand the message,

we misunderstand God's character. And that's

important for us to take hold of. So we're going

to kick this off with defining SHIO. So that's

the first one we're going to look at. Shio is

a Hebrew word that appears throughout the Old

Testament. Let me kick this off real quickly

here. Shio does not mean a torture chamber. Shio

referred to the realm of the dead. It referred

to the grave. It referred to the unseen place

of death. Psalm 6 and 5 says, In the darkness

of death, who remembers your name and worship?

How could I bring you praise if I'm buried in

a tomb? Again, the word used here for death is

the Hebrew word sheol. It's the realm of the

dead. This is the first Psalm here to mention

the grave or sheol. It is depicted in the poetic

literature of the Hebrew as a vast wasteland,

a stronghold of darkness and a beast of prey.

Notice that this verse has nothing to do with

torment. It is simply describing death. And if

you look at the Old Testament, both the righteous

and the wicked, both of them went to the place

called Sheol. Again, important for us to think

about. Then we have Ecclesiastes chapter 9 verse

Ecclesiastes 9:10

10. It says this whatever you do do well for

when you go to the grave Sheo, there will be

no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom Now

I'm curious as I'm looking at these Because I

am using just so, you know, I'm using the passion

translation and I'm also using the new living

Translation, but I wanted to take just a moment

because I didn't do this beforehand I'm gonna

pull this back up in the King James just to see

what the language is so if you look at Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 9:10

chapter 9 verse 10 and Okay, so it does use the

word grave there, so that's good I was just curious

to see that while I'm doing this recording sometimes

it's good for us to stop and do a little Looking

at it together So again for when you go to the

grave she all there will be no work or planning

or knowledge or wisdom So again here we have

not torture imagery. It's simply death imagery

Then we have Psalm chapter 16 verse 10. It says

Psalms 16:10

for you will not abandon me to the realm of death

Nor will you allow your faithful one to experience

corruption? The new King James would say for

you will not leave my soul in Sheol Now this

passage is an important one to remember because

in Acts chapter 2 verse 27 Peter quotes this

Acts 2:27

psalm and applies it to Jesus when he says no

wonder my heart is glad and my glory celebrates

my mouth is filled with his praises and I have

hope that my body will live because you will

not leave my soul among the dead nor will you

allow your sacred ones to experience decay so

Peter is quoting this in Acts chapter 2 when

Acts 2 · chapter mention

he's referencing Psalm 16 10. And it's just important

to remember that Jesus entered death, but he

was not left there. This was not about Jesus

escaping torture. This was about Jesus defeating

death itself. Important for us to grab hold of

and to remember. Alright, then we have the word

Hades. This would be the Greek equivalent to

the Hebrew word Sheol. You could say it's the

parallel meaning, essentially. Hades carries

the same general meaning. Again, it's the realm

of the dead. It's not eternal punishment. It's

not final judgment. In Jewish thought, actually,

Hades is a temporary shadowy realm often used

symbolically. Jesus, again, just as the rethinking

in times, Jesus is speaking their language. That's

important to remember. He's speaking to a group

of people that would have understood what he

was referencing and what he was stating. Luke

16 is where many people will point... to in scripture

as proof of torment. I've heard this argument

myself and it's the story of the rich man and

Lazarus. So I want you to understand though,

Jesus, the same as rethinking in times, Jesus

often used parables, okay, filled with imagery

and familiar to his Jewish audience. So we're

going to look at Luke chapter 16 and we're going

Luke 16 · chapter mention

to read verses 19 through 31. So just bear with

me, you can pause this, get your own Bible out,

run with it with me. We're going to start in

verse 19, Luke chapter 16 says, Jesus continued

Luke 16 · chapter mention

there once was a very rich man who had the finest

things imaginable living every day enjoying his

life of opulent luxury. Opulent simply means

lavishly abundant. Outside the gates of his mansion

was a poor beggar named Lazarus. He lay there

every day covered with boils and all the neighborhood

dogs would come and lick his open sores. The

only food he had to eat was the garbage that

the rich man threw away. One day poor Lazarus

died and the angels of God came and escorted

his spirit into paradise. The day came that the

rich man died. In hell, Hades He looked up from

his torment and saw Abraham in the distance,

and Lazarus was standing beside him in the glory.

The rich man shouted, Father Abraham, Father

Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus to dip

his finger in water and come to cool my tongue,

for I am in agony in these flames of fire. But

Abraham responded, My friend, don't you remember

while you were alive, you had all you desired.

You surround yourself in luxury. while Lazarus

had nothing. Now Lazarus dwells on the comforts

of paradise and you are in agony. Besides, between

us is a huge chasm that cannot be bridged, nor

can anyone cross from one realm to the other.

Even if he wanted, the rich man continued, then

let me ask you, Father Abraham, please send Lazarus

to my relatives. Hold on I've got I did not have

all my scriptures here. So let me pull this back

up real quick and get the last part of this Sometimes

it pays to go through your notes beforehand But

that's fine we can pick it up back where we left

off But Abraham responded okay we got through

that Abraham replied they've already had plenty

of warning. They have the teachings of Moses

and the revelation of the prophets Let them hear

them What if they're not listening the rich man

added if someone from the dead were to go and

warn them They would surely repent Abraham said

to him if they wouldn't listen to Moses and the

prophets Neither would they be convinced if someone

were raised from the dead? again important scripture

for us to wrestle with First thing I want you

to notice, it's a parable. If you follow what

is happening around this story in Luke chapter

Luke 16 · chapter mention

16, we have in Luke chapter 15, you have the

Luke 15 · chapter mention

story of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the

lost son, and then you have an unjust steward,

and then you have this story. So nowhere in this

does Jesus stop and tell the crowd, hey listen,

I'm stopping telling parables here, and now I'm

going to give you literal descriptions so again

it's one of these things don't check your brain

at the door and i want you to wrestle some hard

questions now you may read this and come up with

your own questions and questions are perfectly

okay take them to the father take him to papa

take him to holy spirit and wrestle these questions

but here's my first question if this is taken

literally how can a drop of water cool someone

in literal flames Think about that. How could

a drop of water cool someone who is in literal

flames? Let me tell you what a drop of water

would do for somebody You know, it's it's July.

Excuse me. It's August now where I'm at If you

consider this time of year where I am at when

you have 90 plus degree weather And it's a Saturday

and you are mowing your lawn outside It is very

hot Don't care what you say, especially in the

southern part of Virginia with the humidity and

everything else. It can be miserable at times

when you have to do this outside stuff. It'd

be nice, I would think, if you could mow in the

winter time instead. At least you can put articles

of clothing on versus the other option. Just

wrestling that out loud. But if you think about

this... That concept of it being a hundred degrees

outside or 90 degrees outside If someone were

to just bring you a drop of water, it would do

nothing but irritate you It's not going to give

you any sense of relief No, typically most people

they want a bottle of water. They want a cup

of water. Let me have some water because it is

hot and I am sweating more than I'm intaking.

So give me some water please. Give me a propel.

Give me some Gatorade. If you were just to give

me, go get a dropper and just drop some on my

tongue, that's going to do nothing but agitate

me. So I can't see him asking that. for the rich

man asking Lazarus to do that, that's going to

help him. That's not going to be beneficial for

anybody. The other question is this, how can

people in paradise watch and converse with those

being tormented? That to me sounds kind of sickening.

If you get pleasure out of watching someone else

suffer, I would question your heart in that moment

because that's... That's just, to me, it's inhumane.

The next question is this, do the redeemed spend

eternity observing the suffering? Again, kind

of like with the last question, I have a hard

time buying into that, if that's what we're going

to believe. So just understand this is not a

story of a travel brochure of heaven and hell.

It is a parable. It's a story. Luke 16, 14, Jesus

addressed the Pharisees of being lovers of money.

So this story is aimed directly at religious

leaders who believe that wealth equals God's

favor and that poverty equals God's disfavor.

And Jesus, in telling of this parable, is flipping

the entire framework, something Jesus was really

good at. This is the only parable where a character

is named and that also my friend is purposeful.

Lazarus means God is my help. The poor man in

this story is given a name. The rich man has

no name. He is defined only by his status. That

concept alone would have offended the Pharisees.

In their worldview, the rich man should be the

hero and the poor man should be cursed. Why?

Again, goes back to what I just said. They believe

that wealth equaled the favor of God and that

if you did not have wealth, so if you're in poverty,

then it was God's disfavor and Jesus is reversing

this mindset. Also, if you look at this story

and consider Abraham's bosom, it would symbolize

excuse me, it would symbolize honor, covenant,

covenant belonging, it would symbolize intimacy.

So Jesus is essentially saying the one that you

assumed was outside the covenant is actually

resting inside of it. Think about this, wrestle

with this thought, wrestle with this knowledge.

So then we have Hades, the realm of the dead,

not in eternal punishment and Jewish thought.

Again, I said this earlier. Hades is a temporary

shadowy realm often used symbolically. So Jesus

is talking to a group of people in a way that

they would understand what he's attempting to

communicate. Consider the torment now. Even in

torment, the rich man still calls Abraham father.

And he still treats Lazarus as a servant so that

he still never repents. He still centers himself.

Notice what it says, send Lazarus to serve me.

His torment also in the story is not caused by

the wrath of God. His torment is caused by an

unchanged heart that cannot receive mercy. And

my friend I will tell you up front, I have lived

that hell. I have walked through that hell before.

I have walked what I would believe you could

coin the dark night of the soul. I know what

that's like. To live with an unchanged heart

that cannot receive mercy and you're being exposed

to mercy. And then he's in the flame and the

flame often represents exposure, testing, refinement,

inner anguish. This is existential. Excuse me,

this is extensional torment, not God torturing

someone. Think about it like this, it's regret.

Realization, loss of illusion, the burning awareness

of what you missed. The fire simply reveals it

does not revenge. Think about John chapter 3

John 3:20

verses 20 and 21 It says so the wicked hate the

light and try to hide from it for the light fully

exposes their lives But those who loved the truth

will come into the light for the light will reveal

that that it was God who produced their fruitful

works So what does the light do? What does fire?

We're do it reveals it exposes It's important

for us to grab hold of Then we have the Great

Chasm. It's not a spatial gap. It's a relational

and perceptual divide. This cannot help you understand

that the Chasm already existed during lifetimes.

One lived closed off and self -sufficiency and

one lived open independence. That Chasm already

existed. And then you have... This toward the

end that says they have Moses and the prophets

let them hear them So essentially everything

you need to live differently was already in your

scriptures And then he says neither will they

be convinced if someone should rise from the

dead. Let me help you I did not grab hold of

this until this study think about this concept

Luke is writing his gospel after the resurrection

around 60 AD Remember Jesus Jesus would have

been crucified in about 33 AD. Luke is writing

his gospel around 60 AD. The resurrection has

already happened. Even resurrection won't convince

people who are committed to a system that protects

their privilege. So what this parable is actually

about? Not about an eternal conscience torment

in hell. It's about the danger of wealth plus

religion. It's about identity blindness. It's

about using God to justify indifference. It's

about missing the kingdom while quoting scripture.

This parable is about this age, not the next

one. Or not just the next one. Can you apply

stuff today? 100%. But the parable is about this

age. The current age that Luke was writing to.

The rich man is not in torment because God rejected

him. He's in torment because he never learned

how to receive mercy and death stripped away

the illusion that he never needed it. That's

important for us to remember. Let's look at Revelation

Revelation 1:17

chapter 1 verse 17 and 18. It says, When I saw

him I fell down at his feet as good as dead,

but he laid his right hand on me and I heard

his reassuring voice saying, Don't yield to fear.

I am the beginning and I am the end, the living

one. I was dead, but now look, I am alive forever

and ever. And I hold the keys that unlock death

and the unseen world, Hades." Now we'll read

a note here from this verse from Dr. Simmons.

It says, Through the victory of Christ's death

and resurrection, He now holds the keys of death

in the unseen world. There is nothing left to

fear, for He holds all authority. He holds all

authority. Now, let me put this in here, and

I'll probably mention this several more times

through this series, but it is something that

I want you to wrestle with. I have been taught

growing up that essentially hell was separation

from God. But if hell is a place that is separated

from God that means there is a place that can

exist outside of God and that place has now become

a God of its own. Think about that. Rewind that

if you need to hear that again. Think about this

concept. If hell is a place That God cannot be

That is separated from him then that place would

have to be able to exist outside of God Just

wrestle with that idea But again not saying I'm

right I'm just trying to give you a different

perspective and bring the questions that I myself

have wrestled before to currently wrestling This

is probably Within the past six months of wrestling

some of this All right, then we have Gehenna

it's the valley jesus referenced in uh When he

was speaking a lot of times so this is um This

word would have often most often translated as

hell in the words of jesus When he spoke had

been gehenna gehenna was a real valley outside

of jerusalem It was known as the Valley of Ben

Hinnom. Now, we'll do a deep dive into this one

next week, but we will take just a glimpse of

it tonight. Gehenna, I want you to understand

this. Gehenna had a very dark history. This would

have been a place of child sacrifices that would

have happened there. And we're going to read

Jeremiah chapter 7 verses 30 through 34. And

Jeremiah 7:30–34

it says this for Yahweh says the people of Judah

have done what is evil before my eyes. They have

defiled the house that bears my name by placing

their detestable idols inside of it. And in the

Hinnom Valley, they have built shrines of topeth

to sacrifice their sons and daughters in the

fire. Something now pay attention, something

I never commanded, nor did it ever enter my thoughts.

Therefore. The time is coming, says Yahweh, when

it will not be known as Tepeth or the Hinnom

Valley, but the Valley of Slaughter, for people

will bury their dead in Tepeth until no room

is left. Their corpses will be food for the birds

and wild animals, with no one to frighten them

away. I will silence the sounds of mirth and

gladness from the cities of Judah and the streets

of Jerusalem, the happy sounds of wedding feasts,

the voice of the bride and bridegroom, for the

land will become a wasteland. Because of this

history, It became a symbol of judgment and destruction.

Jesus would have warned in Matthew chapter 5

Matthew 5:29–30

verse 29 through 30, if your right eye seduces

you to fall into sin then go blind in your right

eye for you're better off losing sight in one

eye than to have your whole body thrown into

hell. And if your right hand entices you to sin,

let it go limp and useless for you're better

off losing a part of your body than to have it

all thrown into hell. And again, that word would

be translated from Gehenna. So Jesus, again,

is using imagery here not to describe eternity,

but to warn about consequences. Jesus is using

common Jewish teaching technique here to communicate

the seriousness of allowing sin to rule your

life. He's communicating the seriousness of allowing

that distorted identity to take hold over your

life. Understand that on the heels of Jesus saying

this, He says you have Excuse me. This is on

the heels of Jesus saying you have heard that

our ancestors were told You must not murder if

you commit murder you are subject to judgment

But I say if you were even angry with someone

you were subject to judgment if you call someone

an idiot you were in danger of being brought

before the court and if You curse someone you

are in danger of the fires of hell again Gehenna

So he's not he's not telling people to mutilate

themselves in this verse if we're to take the

Bible literally then why are there not more people

with only one eye or, quite frankly, no eyes

and no hands? Think about this. Wrestle this

out. He's moving the conversation from external

behavior to the condition of the heart. Remember

the term that I like to repeat a lot of times.

Behavior follows identity. He's telling these

people deal radically with whatever is leading

you away from life I would go as far to say realize

Jesus dealt radically with whatever is leading

you away from life and has made you and I a completely

new creation You just need to hear this truth

and allow truth to set you free from the bondage

of being ruled and led by sin a distorted identity

again Stop and wrestle with some of this. Allow

Holy Spirit to do the revealing in your own life.

Because this stuff is important when you begin

to start wrestling with it. Goodness. So when

you see hell, he's using the word Gehenna. That's

what the audience would have pictured instead

of some distant place of endless torture that

we've been taught. He's confronting a righteousness

based only on the outward rule keeping. The religious

leaders could say, uh, I've never committed adultery,

but Jesus says, let's talk about what is happening

in your heart, the place no one but you and I

can see. I want you to really wrestle with that

because you, you can, you might can say, Hey,

I've not murdered anybody. Okay. You might could

say that. But what about the hate that you hold

in your heart? Maybe you can control your actions,

but who's the one that can fix your heart issue?

And my friend, because I've tried in my life,

that answer is not you. The Holy Spirit is the

only one who can do the transformation inside

of the heart and mind of us as sons and daughters.

It's not you and I who can boast around saying,

look what I've done. The marriage that I have

today with my wife, the relationship that I have

now with my children that's ever so evolving

into a better relationship than it used to be,

is not because I did something right. The only

thing that I can give credit to is that I have

yielded more and more to the Lordship of Holy

Spirit and allowed Holy Spirit to do the transformational

work inside of my own life. I also think there's

another layer worth seeing here. Jesus is showing

that if righteousness depends on perfectly controlling

every desire, none of us can succeed. The Sermon

on the Mount steadily raises the standard. You've

got murder which is caused by anger, adultery

which is caused by lust, loving your neighbors,

loving your enemies. Finally, be perfect as your

father is perfect. If we read only as a new law,

my friend, we're crushed. But if we read it as

Jesus revealing the true depth of the human condition,

it prepares us for the good news that we need

a new heart, not merely better behavior. And

that fits with later promises like those in Ezekiel

36 where God says He will give His people a new

heart and a new spirit. You see, Jesus isn't

satisfied with people who merely avoid outward

sins. He's after hearts that have been transformed

because transformed hearts naturally produce

transformed lives. Man, this is good news. We

just have to wrestle with it. All right, then

we have the last word here, Tartarus. It's a

rare, but it's an important word. The Greek word

Tartarus appears once in the New Testament and

it's found in Second Peter chapter 2 verse 4

2 Peter 2:4

says now don't forget God had no pity for the

angels when they sinned but threw them into the

lowest darkest dungeons of Dungeon of gloom and

locked them in chains where they are firmly held

until the judgment of torment so this verse right

here refers to Rebellious spiritual beings not

human souls, which is another important distinction

so I'm going to start wrapping this up. This

will be one of the longer episodes for this series

at least. But many of us were taught to fear

hell before we were taught to understand scripture.

I would go as far to say before you were taught

that you can hear Holy Spirit to teach and speak

to you for yourself. And again, I don't say that

to say that leaders are not important, but you

can have a real relationship with Holy Spirit

yourself who can lead you into all truth. Our

leaders, our pastors, teachers, prophets, evangelists,

apostles important? Absolutely. Our fathers and

mothers important? Absolutely. But but you also

need to understand you can walk with the Holy

Spirit and you can have Holy Spirit teach you

just as much. Fear built on misunderstanding

is still fear. Truth does not remove reverence.

Truth removes terror. That was never meant to

define your relationship with God. I want you

to remember, 1 John 4 .18 would tell us that

perfect love Cast out all fear. The word perfect

love would be telios agape. I'm maybe butchering

that. If you can speak Greek, by all means have

at it. But this is the kind of love revealed

in the Father through the person of Christ. It's

a love that transforms the one who receives it

and overflows towards others including enemies.

It's a mature love, a complete love that Ekobalos

cast out, which is a forceful removal. It's casting

a net into a sea, throwing a stone, casting out

demons, throwing seed on the ground. It implies

movement from inside to outside. And then we

have a mature, complete love forcefully removes

phobos, which is fear, it describes an internal

response to something perceived as powerful or

significant. In a negative use, it refers to

fear that produces anxiety or avoidance. John

also includes the word kulesis, which means punishment,

correction, or penalty. So John is saying love

casts out the fear of punishment. His point is

if you've come to know the Father's mature love,

you no longer live in dread of His punishment.

Think about that. So my friend, this episode

was simply here to create a foundation for us

to build on moving forward. Again, when words

are misunderstood, Papa is misunderstood. When

Papa is misunderstood, fear replaces trust so

over the next several weeks we're going to walk

through these ideas carefully we're going to

walk through them biblically historically um

in my prayer is that by the end of this you won't

just rethink hell but you will rethink the character

of dad that's important too that's probably one

of the most important things is that you learn

to see the father correctly which only happens

through the holy spirit revealing christ to you

And my friend, that is all for week one, season

four. I'm excited to be back with you guys. Um,

share this episode. My email should be somewhere

there. Send me an email. Let me know that you're

listening. Um, what you would like to hear if

you disagree. I mean, I'm, I don't care the email

away. Um, share this episode, share this series,

share this podcast out. Let's get good news out

for the world to hear. My friend, be blessed.

Thanks for spending some time with me today on

the Kingdom Family Podcast. If this episode spoke

to you, take a moment to share it and help someone

else rediscover their identity as a son or daughter

of Yahweh. And don't forget, follow the podcast

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through Kingdom Family Ministries. Until next

time, live love, live free, and live from the

life of the kingdom.