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Emeka Collins
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Hi, guys —
- Were some people in Hell fire (the place of the damned)
before Christ came?
We normally say that the unjust and unrighteous souls, who died before Christ, went to Sheol.
I don't understand!
- Did Jesus also rescue the unrighteous souls in Sheol after His Death or were those souls were already doomed?
Emeka
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{
Did Jesus rescue the unrighteous souls in Sheol after His Death or were they already doomed? }
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Paul replied:
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Emeka —
Jesus rescued the righteous souls in Sheol, but not the unrighteous.
If they had rejected God, they could not go to Heaven.
Paul
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Emeka replied:
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Uhmm . . .
Thanks but you didn't answer this:
- Were there souls in Hell fire (the state of the damned) before Christ came?
- Also, if the unrighteous souls in Sheol did not go to Heaven, why then did Jesus preach to them after his death. (1 Peter 3:19-20)
- Lastly, we believe in what we call the Particular Judgment which we say happens immediately after death. Doesn't it mean that Lazarus underwent the Particular Judgment after his death before Jesus brought him back to life (in John 11:38-44) which would be absurd to say?
Emeka
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Paul replied:
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Emeka,
Please remember to always hit Reply All whenever you correspond with us.
There are generally two kinds of questions that reason leads us to:
- those with definitive answers, and
- those on which we can only speculate in this life and give our reasoned opinions.
Having said that, I will opine on your latest three inquiries.
- Were there souls in Hell fire (the state of the damned) before Christ came?
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We don't know exactly the state of Sheol before Christ opened Heaven's gates. Many believe there was separation from God but no Hell fire. The eternal suffering of Hell fire is for those who had the opportunity to know, and reject, God, in Christ.
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- Also, if the unrighteous souls in Sheol did not go to Heaven, why then did Jesus preach to them after his death. (1 Peter 3:19-20)
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Perhaps Jesus preached to all souls in Sheol in order for them to make an informed choice, or give them all one last opportunity. But once Christ is definitely rejected, souls cannot go to Heaven.
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- Lastly, we believe in what we call the Particular Judgment which we say happens immediately after death. Doesn't it mean that Lazarus underwent the Particular Judgment after his death before Jesus brought him back to life (in John 11:38-44) which would be absurd to say?
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It depends on how you define death. If Lazarus' soul was indeed separated from his body, I would guess he may have had a Sheol-type disembodied spiritual experience.
Particular judgment is taught as occurring only after the sacrifice of Christ and the New Covenant were established. Lazarus died before that.
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Peace,
Paul
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Mike replied:
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Hi Emeka!
Mike here. I'm not sure if you are aware of all the features of our site but a popular time saver is our knowledge base search engine. In the past 25 years, we have answered over 5,000 questions (5,747) about the faith; questions like the ones you are asking.
If you want a quick way to find answers to your questions, try our Search Engine. Just scroll down a bit on the page link here past the AAC shortcuts and you will see a search box where you can type in an array of keywords like:
Here are the search results using the keyword Sheol:
Also, you said:
- Lastly, we believe in what we call the Particular Judgment which we say happens immediately after death. Doesn't it mean that Lazarus underwent the Particular Judgment after his death before Jesus brought him back to life (in John 11:38-44) which would be absurd to say?
Jesus did not rise from the dead in the same way as He raised Lazarus from the dead.
Jesus resuscitated Lazarus, who was raised to die again, but Jesus Himself was resurrected into a new and eternal existence called Risen Life with a glorified body. That said, Lazarus did have a Particular Judgment, but it was later when he finally passed from this Earthly life to the new Eternal life awaiting all of us, good souls and bad ones.
This article from Second Exodus should give you some good insight to answering your questions on Sheol:
I hope this helps,
Mike
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