What Happens When You Die, Part 2

In Part 1, we discussed the root word of hell and grave, "Sheol", and how "hell" and "grave" have the exact same meaning.  We also discussed several scriptures that discussed death, and all described death as being asleep.  In the New Testament, the discussion of the root Greek words of hell get a little trickier, as there are three Greek words used to translate into hell, whereas in the Old Testament there was only one.  However, the second half of the part 2 study, where we look for scriptures that again discuss death as being asleep, we shall find the exact same correlation.  Let's begin with the uses of the word hell.

The three Greek words used to translate into the word hell in the New Testament are Gehenna, Hades, and Tartaroo.  Gehenna, as in "The Valley of Gehenna", was a literal place where they burned their trash.  Hades you will recognize from Greek mythology as the underworld, or "the place of departed souls".  Lastly, Tartaroo, used one time, is "The deepest abyss of Hades".  We will examine several of these scriptures.

First off, we must discuss one thing clearly, and that is speaking in "parables".

Matthew 13:10 - "And they disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? (:11) He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given... (:16)  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. (:17) For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them."

Why do we bring this up?  It must be understood that not everyone understands what Jesus is saying at first glance because he is not speaking literally; he is speaking in parables, or symbolically.  Some of the scriptures that we read at first glance will sound very much like he is referring to an eternal place of torture, when in reality he is simply discussing an undesired and disappointing outcome.  Hopefully, it will be clear upon our conclusion.

Word 1, Hades.
Hades is used nine times in the New Testament to translate into "hell", and one time to translate into "grave".  What is interesting about the one time it is used to translate into "grave" is that it is a quote from the old testament.
I Cor. 15:55 - "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"  This is considered to be a quote from Hosea 13:14, in which the word Sheol is used.  Therefore, according to the Apostle Paul, who wrote the letter to the Corinthians, "Hades" would have to be the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew word "Sheol".  Therefore, whatever the word Sheol means, Hades means.  If Sheol is simply referring to the grave, then Hades must be doing the same thing.

Here are all of the verses that have translated the word "Hades" into "hell":
Matt. 11:23, 16:18
Luke 10:15, 16:23
Acts 2:27, 2:31
Rev. 1:18, 6:8, 20:13-14

Again we will point the reader to examine the scriptures on their own as opposed to writing them out.  One will note that none of these particular scriptures describe "Hades" as a torturous place.  One scripture I always find interesting to note is Rev. 20:14, where it states that "...death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire..."  Revelation is a book written completely in symbolic language.  However, we can determine that Hades, whatever it is, is at some point destroyed and will cease to exist.  Therefore, we know that Hades cannot be an eternal place itself.  We will suggest that because of the correlation between Hades and Sheol, that Hades is simply the grave.  If one uses the word grave in place of the word hell for all of the uses of the word Hades, it seems to be fitting in every case.  Therefore, we can confidently say that this is congruent with the idea that when one dies, they simply go to sleep.

Word 2, Gehenna
The word Gehenna is used thirteen times in the New Testament, and is largely where we get the picture of an eternal and fiery hellish place where the wicked are tortured evermore.  However, after a careful review of the meaning of the word, and then a careful examination of its use in symbolism, it is clear that the scriptures are not teaching that such a place exists, but rather that a strict punishment of some kind awaits some.

In the Valley of Gehenna, where they burned their trash and refuse, the idea is that this is where you put things to be destroyed.  As we well know, if you were to take your trash and place it into your fireplace, it would burn up and be gone.  There would be ash left in its place, a smell, etc., but the object itself would be burned up and gone.  Keep this thought in mind when reading these scriptures.

Here are all of the scriptures that translate the word "Gehenna" into "hell":
Matt. 5:22, 5:29, 5:30, 10:28, 18:9, 23:15, 23:33
Mark 9:43, 9:45, 9:47
Luke 12:5
James 3:6

Because of the nature in which this is used, we will examine a few of them.

Matt. 10:28 - "And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
Two things: one, we could just insert "The Valley of Gehenna" in the place of hell, and it would work just fine.  Two, notice the word "destroy"; this is not a picture of an eternal, fiery sentence of being tormented. The sentence seems to be destruction, not torture.  The same thought can be said with sleep. For example: "...fear Him who is able to destroy both the soul and body in the grave, and take away your opportunity to exist."  It's a punishment, but its not torture, and it does not mention the punishment being eternal.
(*we should note that there is in fact an eternal punishment at some point, but one must understand the subject thoroughly to see when that punishment is handed out.  Initially, man dies until the resurrection, and the rest shall be discussed in part 3.)

Mark 9:43 - "And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than have your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire."
This is much like the Matt. 10:28 scripture in which someone could easily, at first glance, use this as an evidence for a fiery place or torture.  However, note again that there is no mention of anything stating "if you sin, you shall be burned forever."  Nope. What it does say is there is an "unquenchable fire", as it well should; the Valley of Gehenna, from our understanding, burned 24 hours a day.  This scripture is simply stating once again, clean yourself of all impurities so that you avoid permanent destruction.

James 3:6 - "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell."
The idea is that the tongue can pollute the whole body. In fact, it is so powerful, that the one little body part can send the whole body into the destruction of the fire of Gehenna.  So, we see that with Gehenna there is definitely a punishment.  Does a literal fire seem to be the actual punishment?  No.  Can the punishment itself be sleep?  Yes. A state of non-existence is indeed a punishment, as spoken of simply in Romans 6:23 - "The wages of sin is death."  Life is the gift, death is the punishment.

Word 3, Tartaroo
2 Peter 2:4 - "For if God did not spare Angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment..."
This scripture is no different.  It does not prove in any way that there is a place of eternal torment. Also, it should be added that the Lord does not discuss in depth how he deals with angels, and therefore there is no problem with leaving some of the interpretation up for debate as to what exactly occurs in the heavenly realm.

Now that we have tackled some of the scriptures associated with hell in the New Testament, and have explained that they do not discuss a fiery place of torture, let us continue on, as we did in part 1 of the study, to discuss scriptures in the New Testament that again prove man simply "falls asleep" upon death.

Both the Old and New Testament discuss the falling asleep of man upon death, and that man does not ascend up or down.  (Ecc. 3:19-21)

John 3:13 - "No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man."
If nobody has ascended to heaven, then it really defeats the belief of heaven vs. hell up to this point. It would not make much sense to say that God, for four thousand years, sent the bad people to hell, and the good people to... who knows.  It is much more reasonable to suggest that nobody has yet ascended to heaven because upon death, man simply returns to his former state of non-existence until the resurrection.


John 11:11 - "...Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep."


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Now these were before the death of Jesus.  We know that Jesus opened up the way for us to go into heaven, but when?  After the death of Jesus, do things change immediately?  The following scriptures discuss death after the sacrifice and resurrection of our Lord.
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Acts 7:60 - "And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them!' and having said this, he fell asleep."
(Stephen, the first martyr of Christ, also fell asleep.)

I Cor. 15:6 - "After that he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep."

I Cor. 15:18 - "Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished."

I Cor. 15:20 - "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep."

2 Pet. 3:4 - "And saying, 'where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.'"

I Thes. 4:13 - But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. (:14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. (:15) For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep."

It is absolutely clear, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that mankind falls asleep upon death.  The idea that we go straight to heaven or hell is more of a folk-lore than a reality.  I Thes. 4:15 clearly states that those who are asleep, those who died, will remain dead and asleep until Christ returns.  They clearly do not ascend up into heaven right upon death, as some have lead us to believe.

Both objectives, to show that the use of hell does not mean a fiery place of torture, and to show that death is most closely described as sleeping until the resurrection, have been met.  It is up to the reader to continue their own personal study of the scriptures that we have pointed out to understand it further.  Following this will be Part 3, in which we shall discuss how this all ties together, and how it ties into the plan of God at large.