Jesus, after His resurrection, didn’t return with horror stories about the afterlife. He didn’t traffic in fear; He opened understanding.
Luke 24:27 says, “Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.”
The Greek verb diermēneuō means “to translate through”: He was translating Scripture through Himself. The Aramaic sense amplifies this: Christ becomes the peshar (interpretation) of Scripture. He didn’t bring new terror; He revealed the true meaning already present.
After the resurrection, His message wasn’t “Beware of flames.” It was, “Peace be unto you” (John 20:19). The risen Christ breathes peace, not panic. The Hebrew letters symbol sense of shalom (שָׁלוֹם) carries the strokes of completeness (ש shin = fire of Spirit), guidance (ל lamed = shepherd’s staff), and oneness (ם mem = flow of union). Peace means the consuming fire that now shepherds humanity into divine union.
In Hebrew, resurrection connects to qum (קום) : to rise, stand, awaken.
Qof (ק) depicts the sun at the horizon= illumination from beyond the seen world.
Vav (ו) signifies connection or bridge between heaven and earth.
Mem (ם) symbolizes water, the inner flow of life.
Resurrection, therefore, is not about returning from a pit to issue warnings; it’s about the dawn of new perception where heaven and earth are joined in one flow of divine life. The message from resurrection is union, not retribution.
Jesus’ few references to “hell” use the word Gehenna: a physical valley outside Jerusalem where refuse burned. It was a metaphor for wasted potential, not a cosmic torture chamber. In Aramaic culture, Gehenna represented the destruction of corruption and idolatry, not eternal conscious torment.
When later “hell testimonies” speak of preachers tormented for clothing choices, they project cultural moralism onto an image Jesus used to illustrate purification and repentance, not post-mortem horror tourism.
The fuller meaning of resurrection is the unveiling of divine consciousness within humanity. In Ephesians 2:6, Paul interprets resurrection mystically: “He raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” The “third day” becomes a metaphor for the unveiling of divine completeness, three symbolizing fullness, Spirit, and manifestation.
If the risen Christ now lives in us, the message from the grave is not condemnation but inclusion: “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor 15:54). The deeper meaning reveals that resurrection itself is God’s refusal to let fear define reality.
The resurrection wasn’t meant to satisfy curiosity about the afterlife; it was meant to unveil that life is eternal now. Christ’s silence about hell is itself revelation: His focus was awakening consciousness to the indwelling Kingdom (Luke 17:21).
“Another gospel,” as Paul warned in Galatians 1:6-9, is any message that re-centers fear instead of Christ. The mystical heart of the gospel is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col 1:27) not Christ outside you, dangling threats of flames.
The gospel’s purpose is to reveal divine likeness, not to frighten humanity into submission.
Fear-based testimonies weaponize imagination; they reconstruct hell as control. The early Church’s proclamation, “He is risen,” was not a horror story, it was liberation from superstition.
In Acts 1:3, Luke writes that Jesus “showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” Notice, no mention of ‘the underworld’, only Kingdom consciousness.
If resurrection life is within, then the only edifying word is the unveiling of Christ within the human spirit. As 2 Cor 4:6 says, “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts.” The resurrection was that inner sunrise.
Any “message from hell” seeks to reignite darkness Christ already illuminated out of existence. The risen Christ never authorized fear as pedagogy; He authorized love as revelation.
The Risen One teaches through Scripture, not superstition. His message isn’t “Beware the flames” but “Behold the Face.” The only true post-death testimony is resurrection life already pulsing in us. To preach Christ is to preach the end of all “hell narratives.”
Our task is clear: don’t echo the valley of Gehenna, echo the empty tomb- HE IS RISEN!! The return of Christ to the Father is the return of humanity.
Selah
By Anthony Osuya (Saint Anthony)