Go, if you would, to Revelation 20, 14.
Here's the thing, death is a place.
There's a place called death.
And I'll tell you where that place is.
It's in the center of the earth.
It's called hell.
That place, but see, in the Bible,
it'll use the words death and hell synonymously
about that place.
Okay, that's why, and a place you can read up on this,
and I really wanted to cover it in this sermon,
but it would just take so long.
I wanted to go verse by verse
through the whole chapters of Ezekiel 31 and 32
and show you this.
Okay, how death and hell
and it's the lower parts of the earth and everything,
but it's a big, long, complicated passage,
really interesting.
I need to just give it its own sermon sometime
where I just teach through Ezekiel 31 and 32,
but in those chapters, God calls hell death.
Now, death is a place,
and here's the proof that death is a place.
First of all, in Revelation 2014 at the great wide throne,
it says in verse 13 actually,
"And the sea gave up the dead which were in it,"
which referring to bodies, watch this,
"and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them,
and they were judged every man according to the works."
So there are dead people that are in hell, right?
Dead people who are in a place called death,
because it says death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them.
And then it says in verse 14,
and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death and whosoever
was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire so this place
where unsaved souls are is known as death and hell those are two different aspects of
it and that's why it's used synonymously in Ezekiel 31 and 32 they're delivered under
death they're delivered under the pit they're delivered under the lower parts of the earth
They're delivered unto hell. It keeps repeating that. We don't have time.
Now go to Revelation 21 8. It says, "But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
So the lake of fire is the second death. The first death is the current hell that's in the center of the earth.
See, there's the current location of hell, right now it's in the lower parts of the earth,
but eventually when people are in their final doom as unsaved people, they're going to be in the lake
of fire, and what's the lake of fire known as? The second death. The lake itself is known as the
second death. So the reason I point all this out is that people, pay attention, people, I know I'm
going a little deep here, literally deep, into the earth, right? People who are in hell, this is the
whole point why I just explained that for the last several minutes. People who are in hell are dead.
They're dead. Now, they're conscious, they're feeling pain, they have memories, but they are
classified as dead. Does everybody understand that? People who are in heaven are alive. And even if
you believe in this doctrine that I don't believe in of paradise in the center of the earth or
Abraham's bosom, which both of those are ridiculous doctrines, I don't believe in them. But even if
you do believe in them, the people who were in those places were called alive. Everybody got that?
People who are in hell are dead people. People who are in heaven or paradise are alive. Okay? Look,
if you would, at verse 12 of Revelation 20. Look at Revelation 20-12 and see that I'm telling you
the truth here. "And I saw the dead." Are these people alive or dead? They're dead. "I saw the
dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened,
which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the
books according to their works." These are not saved people. These are dead people who've been
brought up out of hell. They've been brought up and placed before that great white throne of judgment
to be damned eternally. They are the dead. These are not the people who were already resurrected
in the first resurrection. Okay, these are dead people. They came from a place called death.
They're going to the second death. Okay, so here's the point. If Jesus was dead for three days and
three nights, then that means he was in hell, not in paradise. Because if he were in paradise,
that would mean he was alive for three days and three nights. But no, he was dead. And now he's
alive forevermore. And that's why he says in the next breath, I have the keys of hell and of death.
Why? Because that's where he came from. He went there. He conquered death and hell, which, you
know, why does he say it, death and hell, when we're talking about one place? You know, we don't
really necessarily understand all the mysteries of that place, hell. Thankfully, I don't really
want to be an expert on it. I'd rather just stay away from it and just go straight to heaven,
be an expert on that. Thankfully, I'm never going to have to go there and experience what it means
to be in a place known as death and hell, you know, or his name that sat on him was death and
hell followed with him. You know, the Bible's clear, though, that if you're in that place, you're dead.
And if you're in heaven or paradise, you're alive. Jesus was dead for three days and three nights.
He was in hell for three days and three nights. And then his soul was not left in hell. He rose.