|
Q&A Home > H > Hades > Sheol Can you explain Sheol to me? I am confused as to what exactly it is. I have read that it was once a waiting place for BOTH believers and nonbelievers, but after the resurrection, the doors of Sheol were ripped down and the believers were then taken to Paradise with Christ. So, now the once combined waiting place of both believers and nonbelievers is only for the nonbelievers.
This is correct. Sheol is another name for Hades. When the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross, He descended into Hades and released the righteous who had been held captive in Sheol since the exile of Adam and Eve. Thus, the priest prays during the Anaphora in the Divine Liturgy, "He descended into Hades through the cross... He rose from the dead on the third day." Now, the believers and the righteous wait in the Paradise of Joy, as the Lord promised Demas, the thief on the right (Luke 23:43), and as the souls of the martyrs beneath the altar were comforted (Revelation 6:9-11), but the wicked and unbelievers remain in Hades. All await Judgment Day.
|  |