Shades Of Heaven And Hell

SHADES OF HEAVEN AND HELL

A man in Africa was telling me of a spot in the Bible where it is written that Christ was in hell, and not able to recollect where that was, for I never remembered seeing it written, I asked him where, and he told me where in Acts to find it, and it gave me inspiration to write this new study. “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” (2 Cor. 12:2-4) Well, now, that’s an interesting passage of Scripture; “third heaven”? So there’s more than one heaven? Yes, there is, according to the Bible. In this case, this is the third heaven, paradise, Where God sits on the throne. It is the invisible heaven, the one only a small chosen number have ever had a glimpse of before dying. So what about the other two? Which are they?

“And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear:’ and it was so.” (Gen. 1:7-9) Now this makes it apparent that this is the first heaven, the one we can see with our naked eye, what we call the sky, what the Bible also calls the firmament. Now we need to see an example of that second heaven which Paul mentioned there were three of…

“Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou swarest by Thine own self, and saidst unto them, ‘I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.’” (Exod. 32:13) Can you see stars during the day? You cannot, because the first heaven is lit, and the only star you can see is the sun. But at night, you can see the second heaven, where the stars and comets and other heavenly bodies can be seen outside our atmosphere, which is the first heaven. This is why the things above the first heaven are called “heavenly bodies”.

So in knowing now there are three heavens, does that mean there are perhaps more than one hell? “Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit.” (Ezek. 32:18) This is the hell called the grave. The Bible says Jesus was in hell, and indeed, He was in the grave for three days, as we know. “He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see corruption.” (Acts 2:31) This is the physical hell, the one where, as we know, if our body is in a grave for even a short time, it begins to decay, or corrupt. “Jesus said, ‘Take ye away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto Him, ‘Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.’” (John 11:39) Lazarus was in the grave four days, and Martha expected he would have a stench, typical of the corrupting of the body in the grave.

Now let’s look at the spiritual hell, the one where souls are tormented. “Hell is naked before Him, and destruction hath no covering.” (Job 26:6) The grave hell is not naked, it is covered with dirt, isn’t it? The grave is covered, but the hell for lost souls, it has no covering, else how could it burn with unquenchable fire? Let’s get a clearer picture of the hell for lost souls from Jesus Himself! “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.’” (Luke 16:22 - 26)

Is there yet another hell? Or perhaps, something worse than hell? Consider this Bible passage: “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Rev. 20:13 - 15) “Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire”. If all the lost, including Satan’s angels, are in hell, and the lake of fire is big enough to contain hell and the entirety of the unsaved, this is certainly the way it is written worse than hell. After all, it’s a lake of fire! Now there is no further mention of the lost, so as it is written “This is the second death”, I don’t see any reason for debating whether the souls are destroyed or not. Some people will say it means the souls are destroyed and you are no more, while others will say you have a resurrection body that doesn’t get destroyed, you just get eternally burned in the lake of fire without death. Well, it says second death, and since they are not mentioned hereafter, what’s the use of debate?

So here we have three shades of heaven, and at least two, debatably three shades of hell, the last not named hell, but it is written that hell is thrown in it. Both are lost soul burners. May God bless all whom He will with faith in Christ Jesus, that they only taste the grave, except that they taste the joy of His second coming before tasting death!