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Jesus in Hell
He Descended into Hell?
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Following
his death for sin, Jesus journeys to Hades, to the City of Death, and rips its
gates off the hinges - He liberates Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, John the
Baptist, and the rest of the Old Testament faithful, ransoming them from the
power of Sheol. After his resurrection, Jesus ascends to heaven and brings the
ransomed dead with him, so that now paradise is no longer down near the place
of torment, but is up in heaven where God dwells
Article
by Joe Rigney
Professor,
Bethlehem College & Seminary
“You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or
let your holy one see corruption.” - Psalm 16:10
Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him
down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut
out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. (Mark 15:46)
We all know that
Jesus died. “‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ And having said
this he breathed his last” (Luke 23:46).
But what happened after he died? We know that
his body was laid in Joseph’s tomb, but what about his human soul?
Reflecting on this question not only sheds
light on the Bible’s teaching about death and the afterlife, but it also is a
great encouragement to us, who must face death and seek to do so without fear.
What Is Death?
First of all, what exactly is death?
Death is separation, a dividing of things
that ought to be united.
Fundamentally, it is separation from God.
Paul suggests as much
in Ephesians 2:1–2, “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you
once walked.”
To walk in sin is to be dead, to be enslaved
to dark powers, to be separated from God, to be children of his wrath.
This type of separation is an estrangement, a
hostility, an alienation from the life and hope of the living God.
In this sense, all of us, by nature, are born
dead, and it is this death that Jesus endured in his suffering on the cross.
But of course, death is more than just
separation from God. Death also marks the separation of the soul from the body.
God made human beings to be embodied souls
and ensouled bodies, and death rips this union asunder.
But what happens to these two parts after
they’re separated?
Psalm 16:10 gives us a window into the
biblical teaching.
“You will not abandon
my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.”
This passage directs us to the normal account
of what happened when a human being died prior to the death and resurrection of
Jesus.
The soul was abandoned “to Sheol,” and
the body saw corruption or decayed.
In Acts 2:29–31,
Peter tells us that David, in writing this psalm, foresaw the resurrection of
Christ, “that he was not abandoned to Hades [that is, his soul wasn’t], nor
did his flesh see corruption” (notice that Peter reads the second line as a
reference to Jesus’s body or flesh).
Thus, prior to Jesus, at death, souls
normally went to Sheol (or Hades), and bodies (flesh) decayed.
We’re all familiar with the latter, but the
former is more opaque.
A quick Bible study will show us why Peter
thinks that David’s prophecy in Psalm 16 is such good news.
What Is Sheol?
In the Old Testament, Sheol is the place of
the souls of the dead, both the righteous (like Jacob, Genesis 37:35, and Samuel, 1
Samuel 28:13–14)
and the wicked (Psalm
31:17).
In the New Testament, the Hebrew word Sheol
is translated as Hades, and the description of Sheol in the Old and New
Testaments bears some resemblance to the Hades of Greek mythology.
It is under the earth (Numbers 16:30–33), and it is like a
city with gates (Isaiah
38:10)
and bars (Job
17:16).
It is a land of darkness — a place where
shades, the shadowy souls of men, dwell (Isaiah 14:9; 26:14).
It is the land of forgetfulness (Psalm 88:12), where no work is
done and no wisdom exists (Ecclesiastes
9:10).
Most significantly, Sheol is a place where no
one praises God (Psalm
6:5; 88:10–11; 115:17; Isaiah 38:18).
In the New Testament, the most extended depiction
of the afterlife is found in Luke 16:19–31.
There we learn that, like the Hades of Greek
mythology, the biblical Sheol has two compartments: Hades proper (where the rich man is
sent, Luke 16:23) and
“Abraham’s bosom” (where
the angels carry Lazarus, Luke 16:22).
Hades proper is a place of torment, where
fire causes anguish to the souls imprisoned there.
Abraham’s bosom, on the other hand, while
within shouting distance of Hades, is separated from it by “a great chasm”
(Luke
16:26)
and is, like the Greek Elysium, a place of comfort and rest.
While much mystery remains, the picture
begins to take shape.
All dead souls go down to Sheol/Hades, but
Sheol is divided into two distinct sides, one for the righteous and one for the
wicked.
The righteous who died prior to Christ dwelt
in Sheol with Abraham, and though they were cut off from the land of the living
(and therefore from the worship of Yahweh on earth), they were not tormented as
the wicked were.
Where Did Jesus Go When He Died?
What, then, does this tell us about where
Jesus was on Holy Saturday?
Based on Jesus’s words to the thief on the
cross in Luke 23:43, some Christians believe, that after his death, Jesus’s
soul went to heaven to be in the presence of the Father.
But Luke 23:43
doesn’t say that Jesus would be in the presence of God; it says he would be in
the presence of the thief (“Today you will be with me in paradise”)
And based on the Old Testament and Luke 16,
it seems likely that the now-repentant thief would be at Abraham’s side, a
place of comfort and rest for the righteous dead, which Jesus here calls “paradise.”
Following his death
for sin, then, Jesus journeys to Hades, to the City of Death, and rips its
gates off the hinges.
He liberates Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, David, John the Baptist, and the rest of the Old Testament
faithful, ransoming them from the power of Sheol (Psalm 49:15; 86:13; 89:48).
They had waited there
for so long, not having received what was promised, so that their spirits would
be made perfect along with the saints of the new covenant (Hebrews 11:39–40; 12:23).
After his
resurrection, Jesus ascends to heaven and brings the ransomed dead with him, so
that now paradise is no longer down near the place of torment, but is up in the
third heaven, the highest heaven, where God dwells (2 Corinthians 12:2–4).
Now, in the church age, when the righteous
die, they aren’t merely carried by angels to Abraham’s bosom; they depart to be
with Christ, which is far better (Philippians 1:23).
The wicked, however, remain in Hades in
torment, until the final judgment, when Hades gives up the dead who dwell
there, and they are judged according to their deeds, and then Death and Hades
are thrown into hell, into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:13–15).
Good News for Us
What implications does this have for Holy
Week? Christ’s journey to Hades demonstrates that he was indeed made like us in
every way.
Not only did he bear the wrath of God on our
behalf; he endured death, the separation of his soul from his body.
His body was in
Joseph’s tomb (Luke
23:50–53),
and his soul was three days in Sheol, “in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40).
But as Psalm 16 makes
clear, Jesus is not only like us, but different. Jesus’ body was buried, like
ours, but it did not decay.
Jesus’s soul went to
Hades, like the Old Testament saints’, but wasn’t abandoned there.
God raised him from
the dead, reunited his soul with a now-glorified body, so that he is the
firstfruits of the resurrection harvest.
And this is good news for us, because those
in Christ now bypass the land of forgetfulness, where no one praises God.
Instead, when we die, we join with the
angelic choir and the saints of old to sing praises to the Lamb who was slain
for us and our salvation.
The Lord is risen. The Lord is risen indeed.
Your Sorrow Will Turn to Joy
Joe
Rigney
(@joe_rigney) is assistant professor of theology and literature at Bethlehem
College & Seminary and author of The Things of Earth: Treasuring God by
Enjoying His Gifts. He is a pastor at Cities Church.
