Christ on Hell - Gehenna Part 2

Part 2 - Christ on Hell


Before I show you ever place Christ used the word, Gehenna, you need to have some background on what exactly Gehenna is.


There are three or four words for hell - Sheol/ Hades, Gehenna and Tartaroo.


Hades was cast  into the lake of fire.


AD 70 was Gehenna representing the valley of Hinnom , Tophet. Read Jer . 19, Matt 5:22, and Isa 66:22-24.


Tartaroo was referenced by Peter who knew the Greek myth about Zeus locking up the titans in Tartaroo.  Peter corrected them  and said, it was actually Yahweh who locked up the real titans from Noah's day.


In Old Testament times, all the bad stuff and bad people, all the incense altars.. wicked Queens.. you name it, all bad  stuff were cast into the Kidron Valley or the Valley of Hinnom .... Kidron is adjacent to the Tophet and Valley of Hinnom ( Gehenna).


In addition,  in Hinnom, wicked folks sacrificed their sons and daughters to Molech, something that God forbade them to do.   (2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chrons. 23:3; 33:6). 


Jeremiah prophesied that Gehenna or Tophet would be the place of Jerusalem’s destruction.


"So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. "[Jer 7:32]


‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. [Jer. 19:11]


Thus I will do to this place,” says the Lord, “and to its inhabitants, and make this city like Tophet. [Jer 19:12]


Then Jeremiah came from Tophet, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord’s house and said to all the people,  15 “Thus says the Lord  of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will bring on this city and on  all her towns all the doom that I have pronounced against it, because  they have stiffened their necks that they might not hear My words.’” [Jer 19:14-15]


However Jeremiah says Jerusalem would be made worse that Tophet.  Can you imagine that?   Even Christ said Jerusalem would be worse, than everyone else.


This is what Jesus was referring to when he spoke about Gehenna.  It was the day when God says He would SMASH the City, Jerusalem.


“But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.  23 And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you  had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.  24 But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.” [Matt 11:22-24]


When was the day of judgment?  When did Jerusalem receive eternal fire like Sodom?  When Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple mount burned with fire in AD 70.  For more read Destruction of Jerusalem - Destroyed by Fire.


Yet, the amazing thing is, in spite of all of this bad stuff in these bad places, when the dead valleys have served its purpose, when Gehenna or Hell has served it’s purpose, it would one day be holy to the Lord.... hmmmm (double hmmmmmm)


Jeremiah 31:40 NKJV

"And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord . It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.”


ShoULD I say it again?  Even if you think Gehenna is hell, Jeremiah said Hell or Gehenna will be holy to the Lord.


So once again, Gehenna (literal): Valley of Tophet, or Hinnom, was where  tens of thousands, some say a million Jews bodies were dumped and burned  like common criminals outside Jerusalem. Judgment in AD 70. 


This is why in Luke 12:49 - Christ wished to bring fire on that earth or the land, and  he knew that the wicked servants, will be beaten with many blows, and  assigned a place with the unbelievers. That is why it was more bearable  for Sodom, Tyre and Sidon than for Jerusalem. Jerusalem suffered the  most.


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