March 27, 2012

Where Did Jesus Go When He Died?

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. ~Matthew 12:40

Upon death, the Lord Jesus separated from His body and descended into Hell (at the heart of the earth) for three days and three nights. Read Luke 16:19-31 and, if you look it up, you will find that the Greek word for Hell is "Hades." This is where the saved (Old Testament saints) and the lost (sinners) both went since the time of Abel (the first man who died) until the time of Christ's ascension to Heaven. (And, since the time of Christ's ascension Hell has been a place where all the lost souls go upon death, whereas the saved started to go home directly to Heaven upon death).

Hades was composed of Paradise or "Abraham's Bosom" (Luk. 16:22) for the saved (Old Testament saints), and Torment for the lost (Luk.16:23). A gigantic gulf separated the two places, so that one could not pass over to the other side (Luk. 16:26). This was located in the center of the Earth as Matt. 12:40 states.

Luke 23:43 tells us that this is where Christ went upon His death. "And the thief said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom."

The Lord answered him by saying, "...Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise."

Furthermore, the old Apostle's Creed (Traditional English Version) has these words, "...suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into HELL..." Jesus really went to Hell to taste death for every man (Heb. 2:9) and to confirmed to the Old Testament people (both to the saints and the lost) that He is indeed the promised Redeemer (Job 19:25; 1 Pet. 3:19). When Jesus arose from the dead He defeated Hell and Death and become the mighty Savior to everyone who believes in Him (Acts 2:27, 31; Heb. 2:14; John 5:24; Heb. 7:25).

At Christ's resurrection, the Bible tells us farther that "many bodies of the [Old Testament] saints" also resurrected and went out from their graves, walked again upon this earth (Matt. 27:52-53) and eventually went to Heaven together with all the saints as Jesus transferred them from Hades to Heaven (Acts 1:11; Eph. 4:8-10).

After the Lord's Resurrection, He remained on Earth for forty days, showing Himself in His resurrected body. When He ascended back to Heaven (Acts 1:11), He emptied the Paradise in Hades, taking all the saved (Old Testament saints) back with Him to Glory. Eph. 4:8-9 gives the record,

"Now that he (Christ) ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth...Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he (Christ) lead captivity captive (those in Paradise to Heaven), and gave gifts unto men." 

In 2Co. 12:2-4 we are told that Paradise is now in Heaven.

"I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."

In addition, let me share the answer of this question, "Why the souls of Old Testament saints did not go directly to Heaven when they died" (John 3:13)? The answer is this: Heaven is a place for holy and perfect people. Even they were righteous but they still needed to be perfect in the sight of God. So, they must wait for God's perfect sin offering to thoroughly cleanse them from all their sins to make them perfect, holy and complete in God's sight which is only through the substitutionary death and atoning sacrifice of Jesus in Calvary (Heb. 10:10, 14). Every man who enters Heaven must be washed by the blood of Jesus (the Lamb of God) and must be clothed with His righteousness (Col. 1:22; Rev. 1:5; Rom. 10:4) to become holy, perfect and complete in God's sight.

Today, when a Christian dies, they go immediately to Paradise to be with the Lord in Heaven. As apostle Paul said, "we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." (2Co. 5:8). At death, the Christian only changes his location. Therefore, leaving his body behind, he (his soul and spirit—the real "you") enters the glories of Heaven! Indeed, for true Christians, to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Phil. 1:21). Hallelujah!

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lovely work! I'm definitely going to visit the blog frequently.
1995 Land Rover Range Rover AC Compressor

Dr. Gary said...

Hi!
In the paragraph talking about the "Apostles Creed," why 2508did you not explain that "Hell" there means Hades, which in Greek means Grave? There are those that think Jesus went to hell to suffer in fire. Also, why would He need to do that when He took care of everythng on the cross forever?
Thanks and God Bless! Dr. Gary

Anonymous said...

Jesus went to Hades.To show death that it was powerless over him.

Anonymous said...

All well and good but I am a young Christian and there are no such scriptures actually saying that Jesus went to hades... or hell

The scriptures you provided say nothing of the sort...

Sure you quoted "the heart of the earth" but that could be translated as simply 'buried in the ground' (like when people usually die)

Unknown said...

I believe the Seventh Day Adventist teaching here. Jesus was telling this allegory to Jewish Leaders who believed they were automatically part of the kingdom. Abraham's bosom speaks of inheritance, not a place. Jesus was using the allegory to point out the kingdom will be taken from them and given to the Gentiles. I believe Soul Sleep is taught all through the Bible. When Lazarus died, he was dead for four days and knew nothing. We do not receive eternal life until we are raised at Jesus' Second Coming, not at some Secret Rapture the Bible does not back up.

Ooko said...

i also believe the sda teaching on this.You should not mention the chief on the cross because you know as well as everyone who reads the scripture that Christ was not with the thief that day he died because after His resurrection He was still on earth for 40 days

Anonymous said...

i always bealive that if the bible is silence about sumthing we should also

Unknown said...

adi means hell but its not the heart of the earth which is the tomb, the English version apostles creed is false

Anonymous said...

Certainly this issue is NOT everlasting gospel as some are trying to make (eg.Seventh Day Adventist ) and we are at liberty to disagree. I personally believe scripture "to live is Christ, to die is gain!" Thank you for putting all this together. God bless you!

Unknown said...

What do you mean by this :

Jesus really went to Hell to taste death for every man (Heb. 2:9) and to confirmed to the Old Testament people (both to the saints and the lost) that He is indeed the promised Redeemer (Job 19:25; 1 Pet. 3:19).

Unknown said...

Again , when Jesus went to Hades and was resurrected , were all the people in Hell( the lost ) forgiven of their sins ?

Unknown said...

Would like to share ..A Detached Account of the Jesus Descent http://www.jesus-passion.com/THE_PASSION6.htm#CHAPTER LIX

Anonymous said...

In 1 Peter we read that Christ continued to save souls--even after his death.

For Christ also died for sins once for all, 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; 19 in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. (1 Peter 3:18–21)

According to this passage, after he died, Christ went to those who died in the flood judgment.

Unknown said...

Paradise was still not transferred to heaven, it was still in hell where Jesus was to be right after his death with the thief and the saints who needed to be perfected before entering the kingdom of God where only the perfected through Jesus Victory can enter, but he meanted for the thief to be in heaven for paradise was to be transferred to heaven with the thief in it, but he was with him in paradise that very day in hades and forever in heaven after being transferred, so the thief went to paradise in hell with Jesus Christ and transferred to heaven with all the old testament justs or Saints...So yes he was with him in paradise that time exactly as HE Said...Now we are to strive for perfection through this life so that he can perfect us after death cuz we can't go to a paradise in hades anymore and be transfered from there as Job and the before Christ Justs, so yes it must be after we die for life became the only chance to get that eternal reward, there is no longer waiting time after death, for paradise is now in heaven, and not down there...Yes perfection must be attempted during life and he must perfect us right after it or else we are going down apart from God the Father whom only the Saints and or the perfect shall see.

Unknown said...

Paradise was still not transferred to heaven, it was still in hell where Jesus was to be right after his death with the thief and the saints who needed to be perfected before entering the kingdom of God where only the perfected through Jesus Victory can enter, but he meanted for the thief to be in heaven for paradise was to be transferred to heaven with the thief in it, but he was with him in paradise that very day in hades and forever in heaven after being transferred, so the thief went to paradise in hell with Jesus Christ and transferred to heaven with all the old testament justs or Saints...So yes he was with him in paradise that time exactly as HE Said...Now we are to strive for perfection through this life so that he can perfect us after death cuz we can't go to a paradise in hades anymore and be transfered from there as Job and the before Christ Justs, so yes it must be after we die for life became the only chance to get that eternal reward, there is no longer waiting time after death, for paradise is now in heaven, and not down there...Yes perfection must be attempted during life and he must perfect us right after it or else we are going down apart from God the Father whom only the Saints and or the perfect shall see.

Unknown said...

No only the old testament just and good people cuz they were only just and good, not PERFECT but weren't in hell but in paradise in hell, they couldn't be in heaven with God before being perfected by Jesus, now they are in paradise in heaven...and hell is now paradiseless for They got perfected and able to enter heaven...where only the perfect can be. The evil ones were never awaiting perfection in paradise in hell, only the just who deserved paradise but not heaven because for that only Jesus' perfected can enter.

Unknown said...

Paradise was still not transferred to heaven, it was still in hell where Jesus was to be right after his death with the thief and the saints who needed to be perfected before entering the kingdom of God where only the perfected through Jesus Victory can enter, but he meanted for the thief to be in heaven for paradise was to be transferred to heaven with the thief in it, but he was with him in paradise that very day in hades and forever in heaven after being transferred, so the thief went to paradise in hell with Jesus Christ and transferred to heaven with all the old testament justs or Saints...So yes he was with him in paradise that time exactly as HE Said...Now we are to strive for perfection through this life so that he can perfect us after death cuz we can't go to a paradise in hades anymore and be transfered from there as Job and the before Christ Justs, so yes it must be after we die for life became the only chance to get that eternal reward, there is no longer waiting time after death, for paradise is now in heaven, and not down there...Yes perfection must be attempted during life and he must perfect us right after it or else we are going down apart from God the Father whom only the Saints and or the perfect shall see.

Anonymous said...

is anyone else here for school work xD

FollowingWord said...

Let's all close our eyes and our ears so that we can see and hear what The Word says we are to do. Obey God. Do this and live in Light. The darkness and confusions among us are distracting. Obey God.