We have been discussing the place called Hades in the Greek and Sheol in the Hebrew, the intermediate regions of those who’s bodies are separated from their souls/spirits before the coming of Jesus Christ and His death on Calvary’s tree. We have found that when the soul/spirit of Christ was separated from the body in which He housed Himself, He went to this place because He took upon Himself the sins of all mankind. “Because Thou wilt not leave My soul in Hades, Neither wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see corruption.” Acts 2:27 This is a quote from Psalms 16:10 where Sheol is the term used in Hebrew. Notice there is a difference between the WHERE the soul went and where the body went!! The Jehovah’s Witnesses like to counter with a little of their wisdom and tell you that both words mean a common grave, a condition where the dead and buried ones are unseen, like Jonah in the belly of the whale. The only problem with this “wisdom from Brooklyn” (the headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses) is that somebody needs to tell them that Jonah wasn’t dead while he was in the belly of the whale!! The soul of Jesus was in Hades, His body was in the borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arimathea! Jonah never resurrected, he was vomited from the whale’s belly!!
As discussed last week, when Jesus resurrected from the grave, He was in complete control of Hades. This was even BEFORE He went back to the Father!! In Revelation 1:18 John wrote “I Am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” Jesus has control of these realms-NOW-He is the only one who can open and shut those realms. When He returns as judge, He will again open these realms and allow them to view the glory of His Bride as she receives His welcome into the eternal Kingdom!! No Pentecostal preacher can raise one soul from Hades, CHRIST opens and none can shut, He shuts and none can open, He is the Lord of Hades for He vanquished Satan when He went there to re-claim those who were His but separated from Him because of sin! “And the sea gave up the dead that was in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:13-14 Most of my brethren miss the WHEN of this event. They tell us this will happen at the second coming. They don’t keep this in context with the rest of the chapter or BOOK! First, we know who the “dead” are that are mentioned—they are those who had a part in the first resurrection over which the second death has no power!! There is a first resurrection and there is a general resurrection. Those of us in the first resurrection are saints of God that first had to be buried with Christ in baptism. The saints in Colossians 3:1-3 had been raised with Christ, and the saints in Romans 6:3-5 had been raised in the likeness of Christ’s resurrection. They lived with Christ, they had become priest and kings with Christ while on the earth, Revelations 5:10 There are two places to serve in the New Tabernacle of God: the holy and the Most holy places. Christ serves in the Most Holy (Heaven) as our High Priest WHILE we serve as Priest is the holy place (the Church of Christ) while on the earth!! Hebrews 9:24-28 Therefore, those priests and kings mentioned in Revelation 20 HAD TO BE in the church on earth; otherwise, they could not have served as a “Kingdom of Priests”!! They became the church when they were washed in the blood of the Lamb (Acts 20:28). They became kings and priests when they were washed in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 1:5). WHEN they were made kings and priests, (Revelation 20:6), the realm in which they were kept was irrevocable altered, all that were left it were judged, eternally!
