The following is an excerpt from It Happened in Hell by Glenn Earls. It’s a featured Speakeasy selection, and there are still limited review copies available for qualified reviewers.
The Story Of Abraham’s Bosom
Imaginative Narrative – Part 1
This is an Imaginative Narrative of what Sheol/Hades may have been like and what happened when Jesus descended to the place we call Hell
I have always had a vivid imagination, and when I was in my early twenties, I began to picture what Sheol might have been like—the shadowy place beneath the earth where the Old Testa-ment saints waited. I was taught that this place, which Chris-tians called “Abraham’s bosom” was a waiting place where people went when they died.
I was familiar with the story of the rich man and Lazarus, as told by Jesus in Luke 16:19-31, where both the rich man and the beggar died.
Jesus said that when Lazarus the beggar died, he “was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom,” but the rich man, by contrast, was simply buried.
According to the story, Jesus described Hell as a place for both the saints, like the beggar, and a place for the non-saints, or the wicked, like the rich man. And it was not yet judgment.
It was a place of waiting.
A great chasm, or divide, separated the saints and the sinners.
Jesus said the dead saints in Abraham’s bosom were in a place of comfort. Both saints and sinners were aware of their surround-ings, could talk to each other, and see and hear those on the other side.
I thought of Abraham’s bosom as a vast underground cavern. I imagined it had an opening high in the stone wall where people entered when they died. From this entry point a long slope, which acted as a slide, descended down the cavern wall and continuing to the floor.
At this entrance, every spirit when they died, would come through and slide, or “descend” down the slope into this great cavern.
Here, the spirit person without a physical body would live.
The spirit person was conscious and aware, and their somewhat translucent spirit-body was clothed; it looked exactly like their physical body had in life.
The cavern was dark, but there was some light, much like the glow of a campfire at night, where you could see people dimly.
None came willingly into the realm of the dead.
All were drawn down—some screaming, arms flailing, others limp in resignation—pulled not by gravity as we know it, but by the sorrow of mortality and the fear of death.
The slide was not a fun, playful children’s slide. It was the curve of a broken world bending downward.
The First Arrivals
As they would arrive, the first few people, like Abel, Adam, Eve, and their descendants, didn’t know what was happening; they just slid down and ended up there.
They had never seen death before, and everyone who arrived was disoriented and confused.
As more people arrived, the reality became clearer: they were dead and were now with their ancestors in Sheol, which was deep “in the earth” below the surface.
They were conscious. Aware.
They could see one another, hear each other, sit together. And they could remember.
Over time, they began to talk.
They shared stories from the world above.
As the years passed and the numbers grew, there began to be excitement whenever a new spirit arrived. Each person carried with them stories—memories from the world above.
They discovered that the people arriving had information and knowledge of what was happening in the “above” world, so each time a new person “slid” into the room, people would rush to greet the disoriented newcomer, help them to their feet, tell them where they were, and wait for the fog of death to lift.
Then the questions would come.
“Who are you?”
“When did you die?”
“What’s happening up there?”
These weren’t just idle questions. Every new story connected them to their shared history. People would spend their time listening to their stories, hearing what was happening in the world.
Can you imagine the moment Noah arrived? He told of a world-wide flood, of God’s judgment, and of salvation in the ark, and how God spared only Noah and his family?
Then Abraham arrived, and he soke of how God called him out of Ur, led by faith into a land he’d never seen. A new land that God would give him and his descendants.
Then Isaac, Jacob, and his twelve sons arrive.
When Joseph arrives, he told how God had raised him to power in Egypt and how he had forgiven his brothers, and was reunited with his family. He meets his great-grandfather, Abraham.
On and on, each one comes through the opening, slides down, and tells the others who they are and what has happened during their lifetime.
Those in the cavern would all be captivated by the ongoing story of their people and how their descendants were getting along in the world.
There would be times when a crowd arrived at once, Joshua would turn to Abraham and say, “War must have broken out.”
David would sing his songs of deliverance, of lament, of the God who saves, and tell the story of how he defeated Goliath and became king.
With each person, the continuing saga of Israel and their history would be told. The stories became their comfort and hope that one day, when the Messiah came, they would see a resurrection.
Over time, many new arrivals who had not heard the stories from earlier would ask questions, and someone would eventu-ally turn to Eve.
They would say,
“Eve, tell us your story again, tell us about the promise. Tell us about the promised one who will come. Tell us about the seed that will crush the serpent’s head, defeat the evil, and bring us out of captivity.”
Eve would rise, Adam would join her side, and together, they would recount the days in the garden. They would speak of Father God, the creation, the garden, and how they walked with him. They would talk about how they were deceived into giving control and dominion over humanity to the serpent.
She would then come to the most important part of the story…
God made a promise—that a seed would come.
A son. A redeemer.
One who would crush the head of the serpent and bring them back to the place of life.
There would be a day when a son of Adam and Eve would defeat that serpent and set them all free.
Eve made sure to make a point that none of them were meant to live in this barren cavern, but they were destined to once again live in the garden with God.
This hope became their anchor. Their stories brought comfort.
The Growing Hope
As time passed, all the kings of Israel and Judah arrived; David, Solomon, Hezekiah, and Josiah.
Prophets arrived too—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, sharing their stories.
Each arrival brought new insight, new hope, and the cavern grew more crowded and more expectant.
Every new voice brought a new perspective, yet the question on everyone’s mind remained the same.
“Has Messiah come yet?”
“Have you seen the promised one who will crush the serpent?”
Thousands waited in expectation. Centuries passed. The cavern seemed to expand and grow as people filled it.
They waited, and waited, but no one could tell them whether the Messiah, the deliverer of Israel, had come.
Simeon and Anna
Then one day, after a very long time had passed, a man entered. He said his name was Simeon, and soon after, a prophetess named Anna also arrived.
When they asked Simeon about his life, he declared that the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ—the Messiah.
He shouted for all to hear;
“I have seen him! I have seen the Lord’s Christ!”
Everyone gathered around him.
He told how he spent time in the temple, and the parents had brought their infant child for dedication.
Simeon declared,
“He was just a baby. They brought him to the temple, and I held him in my arms. His name is Jesus.”
Then Anna confirmed that at the very moment she saw him, she knew who he was. She began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of this child named Jesus, to all those looking for Jerusalem’s redemption.
A great excitement began to stir, and everyone talked about this baby they called Jesus.
Could this be the one? Is he the one promised? Is he the deliverer?
Everyone was waiting with anticipation.
Over the next years, others came—men and women who had seen this Jesus, who spoke of his teachings, his miracles, his compassion. Every time someone new entered, the first question was always the same:
“Have you seen Jesus? Do you know him?”
About the Author
Glenn Earls’ story begins with a deep heritage of faith shaped by his father, who served for many years as a pastor in the Christian Church denomination before experiencing what he described as “A New and Living Way”—the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
From that turning point, his father launched a worldwide writing ministry devoted to teaching spiritual truth. Growing up in that environment, Glenn inherited his father’s passion for making complex ideas accessible and for sharing the gospel in a way that stirs both the heart and the mind.
Glenn came to Christ at the age of five during a backyard Vacation Bible School, was baptized in the Holy Spirit at fourteen, and preached his first sermon at sixteen. His formation continued through Christian High School and Bible College, followed by years of serving in many capacities—Worship Leader, Youth Pastor, Home Group Leader, Teacher, Elder, and Pastor.
Each role deepened his conviction that the finished work of Christ is not only a doctrine to be understood but a reality to be lived.
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