We finished our last post with this question; exactly what did Jesus do when He was in the heart of the earth? Maybe a bigger question is; what does this have to do with me today?
When considering the question of His activities in the heart of the earth (hell), the information from the Scriptures is very lean. There are only two passages that specifically address this; Ephesians 4:8-10 and 1 Peter 3:18-21.
Ephesians 4:8-10 says, “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)”
The pertinent message is that Jesus Christ led those old testament saints who were held captive out of paradise located in the lower parts of the earth. He took them into His own glorious captivity of righteousness and led them into the third heaven. Oh and by the way, while Jesus was doing that, He also gave spiritual gifts to us in our day. This was all done in VICTORY!
1 Peter 3:19-20 also addresses Jesus’ activity in hell; “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water”.
It is clear that Christ went to the spirits in prison and preached to them by the power of the Holy Spirit. Where the argument comes in is who did He preach to and where was He when preaching? The torment side of hell or Paradise? We get a clue from verse 20. These spirits were at one time disobedient. It is obvious to me that these spirits were not in Paradise. The faithful of the old testament, in paradise, were obedient to the message when they believed God’s Word given to them in their time. Also, Peter links these spirits to the days of Noah when he was preparing the ark.
So, who are these spirits? We are not told. What was the message? We are not told. All we know is that Christ preached to these spirits. A word of caution; it is tempting to go beyond the passage of scripture here and look to other sources. Whether it be traditions, scholarly conclusions… whatever it may be, we have to make conclusions based on the information given to us – in the scriptures themselves. That is our authority.
I believe the reason we have so little information about Christ’s visit to the underworld is because that is not the main point.
WHAT IS IMPORTANT?
The preaching of the CROSS. This is the Gospel of Christ (Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 1:18; 15:3-4). Regarding salvation, the Apostle Paul spoke of the blood of Christ (9x’s), His death (24x’s), and the cross (10x’s), but never hell. The Hebrew apostles in their epistles preached the blood, not fire (Heb. 9:22-28; 1 Pet. 1:19; 2:24; 3:18).
We need not focus on the activities of Christ when He descended into hell. But we focus on the CROSS by which all things are reconciled to God (Colossians 1:20). It is the cross that provides for the revelation of the wisdom of God, even the hidden wisdom. This included the grace of God being poured out onto the earth which provided the free gift of righteousness to all who will believe.
Up from the grave He arose! Jesus’ victory over sin and death was in His resurrection. He who descended into the lower parts of the earth, ASCENDED FAR ABOVE ALL PRINCIPALITY AND POWER THAT HE MIGHT BE ALL IN ALL… Ephesians 1:20-21.
Jesus declares from the cross that there is an end to sin when He cried out in John 19:30, “IT IS FINISHED!” Jesus has put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The propitiation is complete, and the work is finished. He then bows His head and dismisses His spirit.
Jesus voluntarily chose death by the most cruel method in history; the Cross. As Philippians 2:8 says, He was “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross”. He would “lay down” His life. Jesus was showing the world His faith in His Father’s plan. “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself”.
What is the end result? Jesus Christ gave His life for us, so that He could give His life to us when we trust Him, so that He might live His life through us as we daily walk by faith in an intelligent understanding of His Word to us.
The Resurrection is the most important event in history. Out of the death of the cross sprung life. Without it, our faith is in vain (meaningless, empty). Anyone can die for others, but can they be raised from the dead eternally? No! Only God can do this. Without the resurrection of Christ Jesus, then there is no resurrection for us, and we are still in our sins.
1 Corinthians 15:17-19 “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable”.
The cross and the resurrection go together; it is a package deal. Christ put away sin by becoming sin for us on the cross. The resurrection was the victory over death; the result of sin. If there is no resurrection, then we all have empty faith… are still in our sins… the dead believers will perish in hell… and we who have put our hope in Christ are most miserable because we have given ourselves to an empty religion like the rest of the world.
Notice verse 19 in the above passage, “If in this life we only have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable”. What this is saying is, if our hope is only in Christ in this life, we are most miserable. Hope in the Bible is always future – beyond this life. Our hope is our resurrection. The Apostle Paul is expressing that the resurrection of Christ gives to us our future resurrection in new sinless, incorruptible, and immortal bodies that can no longer be touched by sin and can never die. I encourage you to read the entire 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians. This is Paul’s treatise on the resurrection.
Our hope includes freedom from ALL sickness and disease, ALL tragedy, and ALL evil from a cursed world. Are you weary of the evil that touches our lives? There is so much pain! Life is very difficult at times in ALL areas.
All of this will be rectified and made right when the Lord Jesus Christ returns in great Glory to the earth and conquers His enemies. This includes Satan and his cohorts who will be cast into the Lake of Fire on the last day. He will create a New Heaven and a New Earth wherein righteousness shall dwell (Revelation 21).
This great day is for all those who believe!
I plan to be “in that number when the Saints Go Marching In”.
Amen!