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Christ in Hell Part 3 of 9
By Bro. Cheek | October 8, 2007
Table of contents for Christ in Hell
Christ in Hell
Part Three
Where is Hell?
By Pastor Robert L. Cheek Jr.
Victory Baptist Church
If there is such a place as hell, where is it? Several verses indicate the location of hell, beginning with the first occurrence of the word hell in the O.T.
Deuteronomy 32:22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
According to this verse, hell is somewhere near the foundations of the mountains. The base of the mountains are the continents. Hell is somewhere at the base of the continents. Let’s see some other verses. Hell is sometimes spoken of as opposite to heaven.
Job 11:8 It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?
Psalms 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
Hell is always spoken of as being beneath, below, or down from our point of view and from God’s point of view.
Psalms 55:15 Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.
Proverbs 15:24 The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.
Isaiah 5:14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
Isaiah 14:9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
Isaiah 14:15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Amos 9:2 Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:
Amos 9:3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:
Matthew 11:23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
All these verses show us that hell is beneath us. There is only one place that is down from every location on earth. That would be the center of the earth beneath the mountains and the continents. Hell is clearly in the center of the earth. This is exactly where Jesus said it was.
Matthew 12:39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
Matthew 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Jesus Christ claimed hell was in the heart of the earth. Some teach that hell is the grave. There are several reasons why this cannot be true.
1. First of all, the tomb where Jesus’ body was could hardly be called the heart of the earth.
Jesus said he spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Graves used to be six feet deep. I understand now that they don’t even bury people that deep anymore. I’m not sure how deep graves are today, but I can assure you that no grave is deep enough to be considered the heart of the earth.
2. Another reason that the grave could not be Hell is the fact that there is fire and torment in hell.
When was the last time you saw fire and torment in a grave? Hell is repeatedly seen as a place of fire and torment in the Bible.
Mark 9:47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
Luke 16:24 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.
3. Another reason the grave could not be considered hell is because there is conversation in hell.
The rich man spoke to Abraham from hell. Abraham spoke to the rich man from paradise. There are no conversations in the grave even if two bodies are buried together.
4. Jesus taught precepts about escaping hell that prove hell is not the grave.
Matthew 18:8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.
Matthew 18:9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
If hell is the grave, how can plucking out our eyes keep us from going to the grave? How can cutting off hands and feet keep us from the grave? We will still be buried on that day.
5. If hell was the grave, there would not be a single person that would escape hell unless they were not buried.
We are all going to die one day. Most of us will be buried in the ground. Hell could not possibly be the grave. The saints of God may die and be buried, but they will never go to hell. Therefore, the grave could not be hell.
6. Another reason hell is not the grave is that Jesus taught that only God could put someone in hell.
Luke 12:4 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
If hell is the grave, they could certainly cast you into hell. But the grave is not hell.
Luke 12:5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.
Only God can cast a person into hell. These are just a few reasons why hell could not possibly be the grave. Rather, hell is in the center of the earth. That would place it at the base of the mountains, below the continents and the oceans. Perhaps that is why John wrote the way he did in Revelation 20:13.
Revelation 20:13 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.
If hell is beneath the oceans, the sea would appear to give up the dead in them, because they would be ascending up from hell beneath the sea and beneath the ground. Hell is down. No matter where you are on planet earth, hell is always down. It is in the lowest parts of the earth as Ephesians 4:9 states.
Ephesians 4:9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
So we see that hell is not only a real place, but we know where it is. It is in the center of the earth. In the next chapter we will consider the reason why God created hell.
Topics: Studies |