‘God so loved the cosmos that He sent his only Son so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ John 3:16
Often rated the most famous verse in the Bible, these words of Jesus contain a hidden truth which will be fresh and surprising to many Christians.
The Greek word usually translated ‘world,’ is ‘cosmos.’ ‘Whoever’ applies to the whole cosmos. Whoever believes in Jesus, whoever comes to believe in Jesus, in whatever part of the cosmos, shall not perish but have eternal life.
What is the cosmos as John and his first readers understood it?
John and his first readers were, mostly, from a Jewish background. John wrote in Greek but his understanding was Jewish, formed not by Greek mythology but by the Old Testament.
Here is a diagram, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_cosmology, of the Old Testament cosmos:
In this cosmos, people who are alive are on the earth, people who are dead are in Sheol. This is the simple truth of the Jewish Scriptures, of the Old Testament. Everyone goes to Sheol when they die. For rich and poor, righteous and wicked, Sheol is their abode after this life.
Details about Sheol are patchy. Sheol is also known as the Pit, the Grave. Philip S Johnston wrote a book about Sheol: (‘Shades of Sheol Apollos IVP 2002.) ‘Descriptive details are very sparse, but suggest a somnolent, gloomy existence without meaningful activity or social distinction… There is certainly no elaborate journey through the gates or stages of the underworld, in Mesopotamian or Egyptian style… So the underworld in Israel’s canonical literature can be summarized as an infrequent theme and an unwelcome fate.’
In the New Testament, Sheol is translated into the Greek Hades. This is clear from Acts 2: where Peter quotes Psalm 16. The Hebrew is ‘You do not give me up to Sheol…’ The Greek is ‘You will not abandon my soul to Hades.’ Hades is the same place as Sheol. Whoever in Sheol (Hades) who believes in Jesus shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 says that whoever in the cosmos, whoever on the earth and whoever in Sheol (Hades), who believes in Jesus, shall have eternal life.
John 3:16 has been taken as giving hope and reason for evangelism across the whole of our world. John 3:16 also gives hope and reason for evangelism throughout Sheol (Hades.)
Are people in Sheol (Hades) for eternity?
No. Everyone in Sheol (Hades) leaves at the Final Judgement.
In Revelation John sees Death and Hades giving up the dead that were in them, and all being judged for what they had done. Rev. 20:13. Sheol (Hades) is a holding place until Final Judgement. We call a holding place before Final Judgement a remand prison. Sheol (Hades) is the remand prison for Final Judgement.
How can dead people come to believe in Jesus?
Because Jesus has been to Sheol (Hades) too and now has the keys of Sheol (Hades.)
In Acts 2 Peter explains that it is primarily Jesus whose soul was not abandoned to Hades. Peter says that Jesus was killed but God freed Jesus from death because it was impossible for Jesus to be held in death. Jesus was in the place of death, the place of all dead people, Sheol (Hades), but this place could not hold him. Sheol (Hades) holds everyone who dies, but it could not hold Jesus. Jesus has been into Sheol (Hades) and out again.
When John 3:16 says that God sent his Son, we think of Jesus being sent into the world. John thought of Jesus being sent into the cosmos, into the world of the living and into the world of the dead. God so loved the world that he sent his Son into Sheol (Hades) so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Jesus confirms this as he speaks to John in Revelation 1:17, 18: ‘Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last and the living one. I was dead, and, see, I am alive for ever and ever. And I have the keys of Death and Hades.’
Having keys means being able to enter and exit a place whenever we want with whoever we want. Jesus can enter and exit Sheol (Hades) whenever he wants with whoever he wants. Jesus can continue to be with those in Sheol (Hades), giving them the opportunity to believe in him so that they will not perish after Final Judgement but have eternal life.
Does any other part of the Bible teach this?
John 1:29 ‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the cosmos.’
John the Baptist points to Jesus as the one who takes away the sins of people in our world and in the world of the dead.
1 Peter 4:6 ‘For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does.’
Peter expresses a general truth, that the good news of Jesus was brought to people in the world of the dead, in Sheol (Hades.) Earlier Peter specifically mentions Jesus preaching to the generations before the flood. Here he widens it to simply ‘the dead.’
When Jesus first went to Sheol (Hades) he proclaimed good news of forgiveness to people there. Now Jesus has the ability to continue to go to Sheol (Hades,) to proclaim good news of forgiveness to people there.
(The NIV translation reads ‘the gospel was preached to those who are now dead.’ The word ‘now’ is in no Greek manuscripts. It has been inserted into the original text by the translators.)
Matthew 16:18 ‘You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not withstand it.’
All gates keep people out of a place and keep people in a place. The gates keeping people out of Sheol (Hades) and in Sheol (Hades) will not withstand the church. The church will be able to go into Sheol (Hades) and out of Sheol (Hades) just as Jesus is now able to in and out or Sheol (Hades.) The church assists the mission of Jesus not only in the world of the living but also in the world of the dead.
Matthew 12:32 ‘Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.’
Only speaking against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven beyond this life. Other sins will be forgiven beyond this life. Sheol (Hades) is part of the age to come, the age, the life, beyond this life, where nearly all sins will be forgiven.
Revelation 14:9-11 People are held, before Final Judgement. They are ‘in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.’ See Revelation 14:9-11: All About Hades | Rogerharper’s Blog (wordpress.com)
Psalm 16:10 ‘For you do not give mu up to Sheol, or let your faithful one see the Pit.’
Peter understood this as not only thanks for healing when facing possible death, but also thanks for God’s ability to bring people, firstly Jesus, out of Sheol.
Psalm 88:10-12 ‘Do you work wonders for the dead? Do the shades rise up to praise you?
Is your steadfast love declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?’
The question is asked in hope. Jesus gives the answer. ‘Yes!’
Psalm 139:8 ‘If I ascend to heaven you are there, if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.’
God’s comforting, light-giving presence, is known in dark Sheol. The presence of Jesus, God With Us, in Sheol, is, as always, a saving presence.
Proverbs 15:11 ‘Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD…’
Sheol (Hades) is definitely open to Jesus, because he now has the keys.
Proverbs 15:24 ‘For the wise the path of life leads upwards; in order to avoid Sheol below.’
An unusual verse indicating that the wise can go, after death, to an unspecified other place. Jesus, the most wise, went to Sheol, and came out. A more consistent understanding is that, like Jesus and because of Jesus and with Jesus, the wise, the ones who fear God and seek forgiveness, will leave Sheol for Paradise.
Jonah 2:2 & 6 ‘I called to the LORD out of my distress and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried and you heard my voice.’ ‘I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me for ever; yet you brought up my life from the Pit.’
Certain death in the great fish in the sea is the same as actual death in Sheol. God can save those in Sheol.
More detail is in my book: https://www.laddermedia.co.uk/lie-of-hell
Tags: Bible, Death not the final chance, Grace beyond the grave, Hades, Hell, John3:16, Post Mortem Opportunity, Sheol
Rogerharper's Blog 
Please comment: