A common belief among some Christians is that the Old Testament saints went to a place in the regions of Hell, a placed reserved for the righteous after they died. I recently came across a video that was promoting this view. The person who had made the video said, “according to the Old Testament, everyone who died whether they were righteous or not went to Sheol, a place of darkness and stillness.”

Is this correct? No it is not!

According to the scriptures, Enoch was translated by God because he walked with God and pleased God, and Elijah (who did not die) was taken up into Heaven by a chariot of fire in a whirlwind ~ 2 Kings 2:11. When Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah appeared together and talked with him regarding his crucifixion that was soon approaching.

And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias: Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. ~ Luke 9:30-31

If we know that Elijah went to Heaven, and we do because the scriptures tell us so, it ought not be hard to understand that Moses also went to Heaven because Moses walked with God and was the one through whom God gave the law. Moses did not go back to the dark regions of the underworld after appearing with Elijah and talking with Jesus, because Moses was never there! Instead, Moses remained in the presence of God in Heaven, where he had been since his death. Moses was often in the presence of God while on earth, how much more was he after his death!

When Jesus gave the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man was taken to hell and Lazarus was taken to Abraham’s bosom where he was comforted. Abraham was not in the torment, or flames, or darkness.

When Jesus was challenged by the Sadducees, who didn’t believe in the resurrection, Jesus told them, “as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” ~ Matthew 22:31-32

This infers that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all alive in the presence of God and not in some dark place in the underworld. When Abraham died, the Bible says Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people. ~ Genesis 25:8

When Isaac died, the Bible says, Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. ~! Genesis ~ 35:29

When Jacob died, the Bible says, when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people. ~ Genesis 49:33

There is no evidence anywhere in scripture that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were somewhere in the dark abode of the underworld from the time of their death until after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are always spoken of in view of God’s Kingdom and God’s covenant after their deaths. In response to the centurion’s faith in Matthew 8, Jesus declared that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. ~ v. 11

It makes no sense to think that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were in the dark regions of the underworld while their memory was being honored by Jesus and God. If Elijah made it into Heaven (and he did), we can be assured Abraham did as well, and so did Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and all the saints that walked with God under the Old Testament.

We also have further evidence in the New Testament when the writer of Hebrews speaks of the faith of the Old Testament saints and refers to them as a great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 12:1. In chapter 11, the writer of Hebrews expounds on the faith of the Old Testament saints. Consider the following from Hebrews 11:

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. ~ Hebrews 11:8-16

Blessings…