What is the difference between the following terms: Hades, Hell, Bottomless pit, Lake of Fire?
a. Hades designates the realm of the dead, sometimes without any distinction of whether it is heaven or hell. E.g. Acts 2:31 “He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell [hades], neither his flesh did see corruption.” It also used to designate the place of eternal torment (i.e. Gehenna) where unsaved sinners go to immediately after death Luke 16:23 “And in hell (Hades) he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.” b. Hell (Gehenna) designates a place of fiery torment. E.g. Mark 9:43,44 “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” (cf. Isaiah 66:24). c. Bottomless Pit (abyss) designates a holding place for the plague of locusts that were released in the fifth trumpet judgment. It also seems to be the abod
