The biblical usage of the Hebrew word Sheol and the Greek Hades, often misunderstood as a place where the spirits of the dead live on after death, actually refers to the grave or the pit, the place of burial. Every human who has died, with the exception of Jesus Christ, remains in their grave, whether it is in the earth or in the sea. Scripture explains that in death, life and consciousness are absent, as Solomon writes that the dead know nothing, and there is no work, device, knowledge, or wisdom in the grave where one is going. Thus, all the dead await the resurrection in the sleep of death, resting in their graves until they are called to rise.

The concept of Sheol, often translated as hell, is tied to the fate of the unsaved in the resurrection of judgment. In its original sense, hell was merely a dark and silent place, a grave or a hole in the ground, used for preservation. The Scriptures reveal that death and hell will deliver up the dead for judgment, as seen in Revelation 20:13-15, where death and hell are cast into the lake of fire, signifying the second death. This lake of fire represents eternal punishment, which is death for eternity, not eternal torment or living torture. The ultimate fate of the wicked is to be consumed, reduced to ashes, with no root or branch left, as described in Malachi 4:1-3, emphasizing complete destruction rather than ongoing suffering.

The concept of Sheol, as presented in the biblical references, is not akin to a mythical abode of the dead like Hades in Greek mythology, where spirits continue to exist and can be visited. Instead, Sheol is equated with the grave, a place of dust and decomposition. In Job 17:16, Sheol is paralleled with dust, indicating that it is simply another term for the grave or the pit, a place in the earth where the body returns after death. This understanding is reinforced in Isaiah 38, where Sheol is mentioned alongside the pit and the pit of corruption, all signifying the same concept of death and burial in the ground. Similarly, in Ezekiel 28:8, Sheol is linked with the pit and death, even equated with dying at sea, emphasizing that it represents the final resting place of the body as it disintegrates back to the dust of the earth. Thus, Sheol is consistently portrayed as the grave, a physical location of decay, rather than a realm of continued existence for the spirit.