Hades, not to be confused with the pagan concept of “Hell,” was the place in the Old Covenant period where all souls went upon death. It was neither a place of reward nor of punishment. It may be likened to “Death's prison” where the souls both of the just and of sinners were confined. While Christ’s body rested in the tomb on the Sabbath (the day after the Crucifixion), His soul descended into Hades. When Christ died, Death claimed His soul for Hades, but Hades received more than it expected; it received the Giver of Life who destroyed the power of Hades from the inside out. The notion of “Hell” as a place of “everlasting punishment” is not biblical, but pagan. What people generally mean today when they use the word “Hell” is something not taught in the Bible, but is in fact taught by ancient Egyptians and other paganized cultures. Hebrew Scripture speaks of Sheol and Greek Scripture speaks of Hades, Gehenna and Tartarus, none of which can be equated to what most people mean today when speaking of “Hell.” Replacing the meaning of these biblical terms with the popular but pagan concept of “Hell” heretically perverts the Gospel. Kingdomculturally speaking, Hades is not an eternal warehouse for evil, but a place whose gates shall not prevail as Jesus builds His Church (Matt. 16:18). Therefore, Basileia as a specific expression of the Church, symbolized by a logo of four gateways that shall prevail, is a kingdomcultural alternative to Hades’ gates, which shall not prevail.
Also see Gateway, Icon of the Resurrection, and Logo.