Hades

“The temporary abode of the unbeliever after death. The word Hades occurs ten times in the New Testament (Matt. 11:23; 16:18; Luke 10:15; 16:23; Acts 2:27; 2:31; Rev. 1:18; 6:8; 20:13, 14). Hades is the abode of the wicked in the intermediate state, that is the time from which they die until the judgment at the Great White Throne (Rev. 20:11-15).” [1]

John F. Walvoord writes that the term Hades

— “in some instances refers to more than the grave and indicates the intermediate state, as Christ himself taught in Luke 16:19-31. In Revelation 6:8 the pale horse, representing death, is described: ‘Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.’ The reference may be to physical death and the grave, or it may in the context go beyond the grave to the intermediate state of suffering for the wicked. “Two of the most important references occur in Revelation. 20:13-14, where it is stated: ‘The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.’ John implies that the grave will some day give up the bodies of the wicked dead and that they will be resurrected in order to enter into the eternal punishment of the lake of fire. The fact that they are still in existence indicates that their existence was not terminated when they died physically, but they are still alive and suffering torment in hades, the intermediate state up to this point. This state is then emptied, however, and those who are in it are cast into the lake of fire, the second death; this action indicates eternal separation from God.”^[1]^

Notes

↑ John F. Walvoord, “The Literal View” in Four Views on Hell (Zondervan, 1992), p. 22.

References

William Crockett, ed. Four Views on Hell. Zondervan, 1992.

External links

Hades (basictheology.com)