Did Jesus Really Go To Hell?
Good Morning Friends,
There’s a joke that says there’s no Heaven or Hell: we all go to the same place when we die, where Moses gives constant and everlasting classes on the Bible and King David sings psalms and Mary and Jesus tell stories. For the righteous this is eternal bliss, while for the wicked this is eternal suffering…living in hell. That of course is a joke. However the truth in it is that, on some level, we do indeed make our own heaven and hell. So with that in mind, we contemplate the mystery of how, by his saving death and his descent into hell, Jesus brought the Gospel and the Cross to the furthermost reaches of existence itself. And here we come face to face with what we actually profess and what we actually believe happens to us after death and… it is not so simple. Over the course of Holy History and even the course of our own lives, beliefs change at different times and places and all the varying thoughts we have had at one point or another really never get reconciled. Even today people in different cultures believe in different and often irreconcilable theories of what life is like after death. And one of the most confusing considerations is of Jesus himself. Many of us profess our belief in the Apostles’ Creed but do not understand what we are saying. Did Jesus Really Go To Hell?
Scripture: And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.
John 3:19-21 (NRSV)
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison,
1 Peter 3:18-19 (NRSV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
John 3:16 (NRSV)
The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side.
Luke 16:22-23 (NRSV)
He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Luke 23:43 (NRSV)
For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals; for all is vanity. All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knows whether the human spirit goes upward and the spirit of animals goes downward to the earth?
Ecclesiastes 3:19-21 (NRSV)
And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
Matthew 25:40-43 (NRSV)
If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
Psalm 139:8 (ESV)
Message: This week, as every week, uncountable millions of Christians attending church will profess that Jesus Christ “was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again from the dead…” So states the revered Apostles’ Creed. But when, in the Apostles’ Creed, we profess that Jesus descended into hell, it is unlikely that we understand the original meaning. Analysts have said the descent is the creed’s “most controversial” tenet, and that no other phrase in it “has caused so much difficulty” or provoked such “long-standing, lively, and ultimately inconclusive discussion.” Christians agree that that the creed teaches the reality of Jesus’ death but there is debate on whether descent means something more and should be taken literally not realizing that most likely the meaning of hell here does not refer to the hell of the damned or the lake of fire referenced in Revelation but most likely to the realm of the dead the Hebrew Scriptures call sheol. Here sheol simply means “the place of the dead” or “the place of departed souls/spirits.” The New Testament Greek equivalent to sheol is hades, which is also a general reference to “the place of the dead.” The Greek word gehenna is used in the New Testament for “hell” and is derived from the Hebrew word hinnom and is the place where the wicked go. Other Scriptures in the New Testament indicated that sheol/hades is a temporary place where souls are kept as they await the final resurrection or the final destruction. I believe that the souls of the righteous, at death, go directly into the presence of God—the part of sheol called “heaven,” “paradise,” or “Abraham’s bosom.” So given that Jesus was true to his word on the cross, that he was to be in Paradise, he would have been like Lazarus in the parable and the people on the other side would have been able to see him and the work he had done. Still on the cross it is fair to say that Jesus experienced hell. Still he knew that His death was imminent and believed that He would soon be in heaven with His Father. But what did Christ do then?
A traditional view says Christ descended as the triumphant king to preach to the righteous dead from Old Testament times about his saving victory for them over sin, death, and the devil. But
Presbyterian and Reformed Protestants, among others, generally agree that the descent was not literal, but rather expressed the depth of Jesus’ hellish sufferings and triumph through the reality of death. The Westminster Larger Catechism states that Jesus continued “in the state of the dead and under the power of death till the third day.” Modern Catholic theologians see a literal descent in which Jesus endured spiritual death in hell as well as during his crucifixion. Frankly I find it comforting that the words of the Gospel and of the Cross would reach the most distant generations of the past and future. I find comfort in a God who is, in the mystery of it all, both Holy and of love and omnipresent as well as omniscient. But his is hard to reconcile logically. So friends, perhaps it is best to believe that someday Christ will open up a new heaven and a new earth and perhaps a new hell. So have the heart to stay close to the door…close to God…but risk enough to help others…to love others into believing they too can be released from captivity.
Pray we store up treasure in heaven. Pray we delight in the Lord. Pray we ask Jesus to take our pride and sin away so that we all will live in the resurrected Christ in this world and the next. Pray we realize that we do not have to climb to heaven to recruit God… we do not have to go to hell to rescue Him. Pray we realize that God is right here with us now and forever. Pray we believe there is a heaven where we will belong, a city without pain, a city without sorrow, where we will be part of the family of God. Pray we grow into the purpose God has intended for us in our lives even as we are pulled by the hope in the future of heaven. Pray we realize that though there will be a great gulf between those who believe and those who do not, there is still a little bit of good in the worst of us. Pray therefor that we are not so heavenly minded that we are of no earthly good. Pray the good in us becomes as light and shines into eternity. Pray we do not believe in an afterlife because we believe our spirit in the Spirit will never die.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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