Sheol

[Jennifer Johnson]

This video resembles things I have learned (from the exegesis of Bible teachers) about life in Sheol, Heaven, and Gehenna…….except for the Jonah in the whale part. (I haven’t come across that before. 🙂 )

[fvplayer src="http://youtube.com/watch?v=yvfv0uF4Db0"]

Things I’ve considered lately:

1. Jesus did say that, after he died, he would be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth. This is interesting considering he didn’t rise out of an actual dug grave, but rather out of an above ground tomb. This, of course, could just be a metaphor.

2. There does seem to be some place under the earth where demonic spirits are kept and they know of that place: Luke 8:31, “And they were entreating him not to command them to depart into the abyss” (the abusso). Interestingly the abusso (“bottomless pit”) is the placed talked about in the book of Revelation from which both demons and the antichrist come out of.  And the abusso is the placed that Satan is bound for 1,000 years.

Some consider that the abusso is equivalent to Tartarus and is a deep, dark place for only demonic spirits. So, I suppose the abusso could be an actual physical place with spirits, while Sheol may not be.

As a side note to demons dwelling under the earth, I was considering what it means for demons to dwell in humans. It would seem that there is a part of us that is separate from our body because, when a demon takes possession of a person’s body, the demon overrides that person’s consciousness. Therefore, do we have a part of us that, if disembodied, would be just like a demonic or angelic spirit?

3. There are times in the Bible where Sheol is also described as “the pit.”  I don’t mean that Sheol is translated “pit.” I mean Sheol is mentioned along with a parallel phrase that uses a word that means “pit”…..e.g. Hebrew “bowr” (Psalm 30:3, 88:4, Proverbs 1:12, Isaiah 38:18). This word is like talking about a cistern, so I suppose it could refer to a more grave-like situation. Yet men, like Abraham, weren’t buried in actual graves so a cistern-like description seems odd to describe all men being in Sheol.

*These are ideas I’ve thought about as I’ve been researching this topic. And I share the video so you can have a better understanding of what I’ve believed. I will say that Revelation 20:13 does give me some pause. If every soul goes to Sheol, then why does the sea give up it’s dead, too? That’s a good question. I have considered that perhaps the sea also provides access to a very deep pit where the spirits of the unbelieving (who have died at sea) still reside…….a real life Davy Jones’ Locker. ;p………That might be stretching things out a bit. 😉

 

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