A
question was presented today this morning concerning Jesus’ Spirit while His body
was in the grave. Just what occurred? The person who had asked this question
had never been given an understandable answer. I can understand this because I
have asked many times in the long past the same question to only received nebulous
replies. Through the years I believe
that an answer can be given with the caution that regardless if accepted or not
it has no relation to one’s salvation keeping in mind Paul’s words to Titus and
Timothy and subsequently to all believers,
“But avoid foolish controversies and
genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable
and worthless.” (Titus 3:9); “But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit
only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of
godliness;” (1Timothy 4:7); “Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge
them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and
leads to the ruin of the hearers” (2 Timothy 2:14).
The
question then is where did Jesus go during the time His body was in the grave,
before the resurrection? Let’s start very briefly with what Scripture has to
say so we’ll look at 1 Peter 3:18-22 which directly addresses the event:
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the
righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death
in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to
the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s
patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, . . . .”
Evidently, Jesus was alive but not out of the
grave, and used this time to proclaim His victory, this is where some “controversy”
begins, in the heart of Satan’s domain, being Hell or is it in Hades which held
both those who were awaiting final sentencing to Hell and those, who were
awaiting, (in Abraham’s bosom), the death of Jesus the Messiah who would then open
the gates of heaven and allow them in. This just mentioned is the Roman
Catholic, and the Lutheran church hold a similar view that Christ from the time
of His death to the resurrection went to Hades and brought out those who were waiting
in Paradise.
In Matthew
12:28-40 Jesus in replying to those who were asking Him for a sign to prove His
Messiah-ship were told:
“An
evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be
given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas
was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man
be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Paul
in his letter to the Ephesians writes:
"Wherefore he saith, When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, And gave gifts unto men. (Now this, He ascended, what is it but that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)" (Ephesians 4:8-10)
“Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My
flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
[Hades]; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay,” (Psalm 16:9-10).
At this point it could be said it is
conjecture to say that Jesus descended to Hades and there are many theologians
who hold a contrary view. That is fine, but here let’s look in Matthew’s
account of the crucifixion. Chapter 27: 45-54 reads as follows:
“Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was
darkness over all the land. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is, “My
God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Some of those who stood
there, when they heard that, said, “This Man is calling for Elijah!”
Immediately on of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put
it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink. The rest said, “Let Him
alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.”
“And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice,
and yielded up His spirit.
Then, behold, the veil of the temple
was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen
asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection,
they went into the holy city and
appeared to many. So when the centurion
and those with him who were guarding
Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared
greatly, saying. “Truly this was the
Son of God!” (Matt 27:45-54).
Mark
and Luke both write the same except do not mention the bodies of some of the
dead coming out of the grave. Some theologians say that this occurred at a
later time. Taking the written word of the Gospel as the inspired word of God,
if this event did not happen at the moment or moments immediately following the
death of Jesus on the cross, why should I then believe that the shroud at the
Temple was torn in two?
The
point being made is that because some translations use the word Hell / Gehenna instead of Sheol/Hades and in that Jesus
atoned for all sin on the cross; He therefore could not have descended to Hell. But on the other hand, all those who died
before the atoning work of Jesus and trusted God were waiting in Sheol / Hades, the section that was
Paradise, (Abraham’s bosom), because they still could not enter into the presence
of the Lord God. Read Luke 16: 19-31. Those who lived trusting God before the
atoning death of Jesus could not enter into the presence of God, so Jesus upon
His death descend as he said to the heart of the earth and led those that had
trusted in God, but were still in a sense captive because of the separation,
into the presence of God.
The
bottom line and my conviction is that the time period beginning when Jesus left His earthly
body to the morning of His resurrection, He took with Him the thief that asked Him to be taken to the Kingdom and, to keep it simple, got everybody else that was in Sheol,
and took them all to Heaven to be with the Father to await the
first resurrection. Why not? Do you believe what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians
4: 16-17:
“Then
we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. For the
Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”
Everybody, well almost everybody, says yes and amen to this verse, so why not believe the same for those that speak of what happened those three days. The only other option is that He stayed sleeping inside His body, but that would be "soul sleep" and Christians don't believe in that, only certain "Christian cults". I
pray that this is clear. If not, ask again.
Shema Yisreal Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai
Echad.
