The term “Hell” is used very loosely by Christians, and for that matter, we have developed a narrow thinking of it. But the Bible uses the Hebrew word “sheol” in the Old Testament, and the Greek words “hades” and “tartarus” in the New Testament.
The word “hell” does not appear in the Old Testament, even though the King James Version uses it. Instead, the Hebrew word “sheol” is used, which means “the grave,” or “the realm of the dead.” It does not mean “Hell” as in our modern concept of it, because the Jews in the Old Testament did not have a clear understanding about the afterlife. To them, life ended at the grave, and what came after that was largely speculation. So then, when we read of hell or “sheol” in the Old Testament, it has more to do with the grave than anything else, for it was not until much later that deeper truths were made known by the prophets of a continued existence after death.
It was the Lord Jesus who really made things clear about life and immortality. This is explained for us in 2 Timothy 1:10: But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: Jesus brought these truths to light by driving away the mists and doubts that surrounded them for so long. His teaching on these things and His resurrection from the dead is what settled the matter for all time.
The word “Gehenna” originates from the Valley of Hinnom (“Ge hinnom”) on the western side of Jerusalem. The Valley of Hinnom is also called “Tophet” in the Bible and was the refuse dump site of Jerusalem. It was also the place where the bodies of executed criminals and the bodies of dead beggars were taken to be burnt. Fires burned constantly at Tophet in the Valley of Hinnom, consuming the corpses and everything else that had been dumped at the site.
Tophet in the Valley of Hinnom became the refuse site of Jerusalem after it was deemed unfit as a place of true worship following King Josiah’s purging of all the false worship to Molech and of the child sacrifice that had happened there (2 Kings 23:10). It was Jesus who made mention of Gehenna in all the New Testament passages where the Greek word occurs, and said that it is the place where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:48), because more rubbish and more dead bodies were being added to it each day. Jesus was therefore likening the refuse site of Gehenna (translated as “hell” in the KJV) to the punishment and suffering that awaits the wicked.
Next, we read of Hades in the New Testament, which represents the realm of disembodied souls in the Region of the Lost. The Region of the Lost is a plane of existence in Hell (the fifth dimension) where the unsaved go to awaiting the Great White Throne of Judgment. So then, Sheol is the grave where all bodies end up, but Hades is where the disembodied souls of the unsaved end up. When Jesus told the story of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus, He used the word “hades” (Luke 16:23) to show that the soul of the rich man was in a disembodied (unclothed) state (2 Corinthians 5:4) in the Region of the Lost, whilst the soul of Lazarus was clothed in a theophany body in Paradise.
The Jewish-speaking audiences came to understand that the Hebrew word Gehenna, or the burning refuse site of Tophet in the Valley of Hinnom, was a reference to Hell, and the Greek-speaking audiences came to understand that the Greek word Hades also referred to Hell. What we have learned from all of this is that when we die, the body goes to Sheol (the grave), our spirit goes back to God (Ecclesiastes 12:7), and the soul goes to the Region of the Lost (Hades) if we rejected the Word, or it goes into the Region of the Blessed (the sixth dimension, which is connected with the presence of the Lord) if we received the Word for our day.
Lastly, we read of Tartarus in 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 1:6. Tartarus is a lower plane of existence in the fifth dimension of Hell, and is better known as the Region of Demons and the domain of Satan (it is also called the Bottomless Pit in Revelation 9:1-3). The angels that sinned (2 Peter 2:4) and lost their first estate (Jude 1:6) are spoken of in Revelation 12:7-9. They followed Lucifer in his rebellion against Michael (Christ) in Heaven, and were cast down into Hell which was specially created for the Devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). Lucifer and his angels then became deformed into hideous disembodied spirits that we call demons.
Satan and his devils in Tartarus (the Region of Demons), and the unsaved souls in Hades (the Region of the Lost) will eventually have their destruction in the Lake of Fire (Jude 1:6; Revelation 20:10; Revelation 20:15). So then, although Gehenna and Hades are the Hebrew and Greek words used to represent the fifth dimension of Hell, yet we have also come to understand that Tartarus (the Region of Demons) is a part of Hades too, but that it is a lower plane of existence belonging to the underworld of Hades.