Hello Nathan! Thank you for sharing this. I enjoy your content a lot. I would like to know if saints are in Hades or Heaven. And how you would explain cases like Moses and Elijah in the transfiguration of Jesus or when Jesus said God is the God of the living, where were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob living before Christ descent, were they in living in Hades? Is that possible?
Hi Adrian, to answer your question, we would need to look at the how the Eastern Church fathers treat Heaven, Hell, and Hades. They do not understand the biblical imagery in a purely literal way. Hades, for example, is sometimes a subterranean region in the belly of the earth and at other times a sentient monster that swallows men and holds them within his belly. Notice also that they understand the Paradise promised to the thief to be in Hades (i.e., the realm of the dead) because he would be with Christ, who transforms that realm into Paradise with his presence. I speak at greater length on this particular topic in my podcast, which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheNathanJacobsPodcast
Great read! Thanks
Hello Nathan! Thank you for sharing this. I enjoy your content a lot. I would like to know if saints are in Hades or Heaven. And how you would explain cases like Moses and Elijah in the transfiguration of Jesus or when Jesus said God is the God of the living, where were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob living before Christ descent, were they in living in Hades? Is that possible?
Hi Adrian, to answer your question, we would need to look at the how the Eastern Church fathers treat Heaven, Hell, and Hades. They do not understand the biblical imagery in a purely literal way. Hades, for example, is sometimes a subterranean region in the belly of the earth and at other times a sentient monster that swallows men and holds them within his belly. Notice also that they understand the Paradise promised to the thief to be in Hades (i.e., the realm of the dead) because he would be with Christ, who transforms that realm into Paradise with his presence. I speak at greater length on this particular topic in my podcast, which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheNathanJacobsPodcast
The particular episode where I discuss this issue can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHsIfDtmjXI
I hope that helps!
English is not my first language so I am sorry if I didn’t explain myself correctly