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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
16, we have in Luke chapter 15, you have the
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
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
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
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
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
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
so you can stay connected with everything happening
through Kingdom Family Ministries. Until next
time, live love, live free, and live from the
life of the kingdom.