Topic(s):  Eternity & Judgment

Bob Prichard

The idea that the righteous go directly to heaven, and the wicked go directly to hell is a popular idea. The scriptures, however, teach that there is an intermediate state, called Hades, to which all men go. One reason that there must be an intermediate state is the fact that there must be a great general judgment day, when all men shall be judged. There would be no need for such a judgment day if all men went directly to heaven or hell. Among the basic principles of the gospel listed in Hebrews 6 is “eternal judgment.” Matthew describes the vision of the Son of man, sitting upon the throne of glory. “And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:32). Jesus warned the men of his day, “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it” (Matthew 12:41). Thus both the good and the bad, and men of all generations will be present at the judgment.

Where then do the dead go, between death and the judgment? They go to “Hades,” the abode, or place of departed spirits. The Greek word Hades, meaning the unseen world, or world of departed spirits, has no exact English equivalent. Hades includes two parts: Paradise, also called Abraham’s bosom, where the good go, and Tartarus, where the wicked go. Jesus promised the penitent thief on the cross, “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Jesus, when resurrected, told Mary, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father” (John 20:17). Thus Jesus had been in Paradise, the abode of the dead, in the time between His death and His resurrection. He had not yet gone to heaven, to be in the presence of the Father. The word “Paradise,” a Persian word meaning “pleasure garden,” is also describes heaven, the final resting place for the righteous, when used as a general term.
Luke 16 describes the suffering of the rich man in torment, while Lazarus was in Paradise, here called “Abraham’s bosom.” There was a “great gulf fixed” (verse 26) between them, so that neither Lazarus nor the rich man could pass between the two sections. The rich man was in Tartarus, and Lazarus was in Paradise, but according to the text, they are both described as being in Hades. 2 Peter 2:4 tells of angels that sinned, that God cast down to “hell,” delivered in to chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. Actually the King James (as well as ASV and NIV) rendering of hell in this passage is incorrect, and the actual Greek word is “Tartarus.” These wicked angels are reserved with all the wicked dead until the judgment. These distinctions are not generally understood because the King James translation (and several others as well) renders as “hell” three different Greek words: Hades, the realm of the unseen, or dead; Tartarus, the division of Hades reserved for the wicked; and Gehenna, properly rendered “Hell,” the final destination of the wicked. [Purgatory is not the same thing as Hades. There is no scriptural basis for the doctrine of purgatory.]