JESUS IN HELL - He Descended into Hell? - 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 - “You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” 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. We all know that Jesus died. “‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ And having said this he breathed his last.” But what happened after he died? 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. Death is separation, a dividing of things that ought to be united. Death 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.

..............................................................................................................................................................

Jesus in Hell

He Descended into Hell?

.

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.

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/he-descended-into-hell

DO YOU LOOK BEYOND THIS BRIEF EARTHLY LIFE? - The Lord Jesus warned that if we fail to place our faith in Him “you will die in your sins” If you remember someone who has died, you know that that person will face God in judgment and presently is alienated from Him. This friend of yours is in torment, anguish, and in agony. Now consider where you are – now be aware of your own lost condition and your desperate need of a Savior! Jesus Christ has come into the world to “save sinners” — and this includes you and me. Let us remember our Lord’s hopeful words: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believe in Me will never die” Now is the time to come to Jesus and find true life — a life that will last forever in the blessed presence of God - If you are like me, you are very concerned about the death of people you have known. It may be a person you knew in school, or a friend you had on a previous job, or a neighbor that you used to have. You may also remember certain government figures you have known in the past, certain educators you have had, or movie stars or musicians you knew about, or certain other public figures. But now they are gone. Maybe this was five or ten years ago or. But now they are no more. We tend to think of these figures from time to time, maybe when we see an older, faded photograph. Whatever the remembrance, they are now gone.

................................................................................................................................................................

Do You Look Beyond this Brief Earthly Life?

.

The Lord Jesus warned that if we fail to place our faith in Him “you will die in your sins” If you remember someone who has died, you know that that person will face God in judgment and presently is alienated from Him. This friend of yours is in torment, anguish, and in agony. Now consider where you are – now be aware of your own lost condition and your desperate need of a Savior! Jesus Christ has come into the world to “save sinners” — and this includes you and me. Let us remember our Lord’s hopeful words: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believe in Me will never die” Now is the time to come to Jesus and find true life — a life that will last forever in the blessed presence of God

Richard Hollerman

Truedisipleship

If you are like me, you are very concerned about the death of people you have known.

It may be a person you knew in school, or a friend you had on a previous job, or a neighbor that you used to have.

You may also remember certain government figures you have known in the past, certain educators you have had, or movie stars or musicians you knew about, or certain other public figures.

But now they are gone. Maybe this was five or ten years ago or, if you are older you may recall these people from long ago. But now they are no more.

We tend to think of these figures from time to time, maybe when we see an older, faded photograph, or when we remember some feat they performed or statement that they have made, or you may remember times that you spent with such a person.

Whatever the remembrance, they are now gone.

They may have been gone thirty or fifty years ago — but you can no longer have contact with such a person.

If the person was a singer, you may remember a song they sung many years ago — but that melody is long gone and you can barely remember the lyrics.

Whatever the person and whatever the circumstances, you sometimes recall the person and this brings a note of nostalgia to your remembrance.

Sometimes this happens to me. I may look the person up on the internet and quickly read of their demise, along with the physical problems and social interactions they had before death.

All of this brings an inner wistfulness about the past and we wonder…

We know, deep in our heart, that we can’t resurrect the past and live life over, but they are gone and this can’t be changed.

There is something about this that needs to be refined and we can only do this with the truth of Scripture before us.

I suggest that we read Luke 16:19-31 and the account of the rich man and Lazarus, both of whom died.

I doubt that this is a parable since in other cases we clearly have this sort of “story” identified as a parable.

But in this case, it is different. Jesus tells this account and we must have an actual series of events and words.

At least, it is something that could have happened.

When we read this account, we learn that “poor” Lazarus was covered with sores and without sufficient food.

But this man died and on “the other side” he enjoyed “good things” and was “comforted” (verse 25).

On the other hand, the rich man also died and went to Hades (verse 23).

There he was in “torment” and in “agony” (verses 23, 24).

In this place, he received “bad things” when he was in a state of “agony” (verse 25).

There was a “great chasm” that was fixed which prevented anyone from going from the place of pleasure to the place of pain and anguish (verse 26).

Jesus describes this location as a “place of torment” (verse 28).

I think that this very brief description should help us to see the general aspects of these two places and what the experience of these two men was.

Both of them died. But their destiny were entirely different.

The one was in agony and torment. The other was in a place of comfort.

Perhaps we could say that there were two destinies — one was a place of unutterable pain, suffering, and anguish.

The other was a place of relief, comfort, and fulfillment.

While some would brush this account off as a fictitious story that has no bearing on us today, we should take it as absolute history or fact, or at least something that could happen.

Of course, it occurred before Jesus’ own death in Jerusalem and whether things are any different today (after His resurrection), we just don’t know.

But we doubt that things could be any better. Perhaps we would need to clarify one thing.

Today, when an unbeliever or sinner dies, he awaits the judgment after which he will be thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15; 21:8).

Further, when one dies in the grace of God with a cleansed heart and life, he goes to Paradise (Luke 23:43) awaiting the judgment after which he will partake of “a new heavens and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1-2).

Besides these bare facts, we know little more about the conditions after the resurrection of the body and the Great Judgment.

What we do know is that for the unbeliever who is yet in his sins, such a place will be unutterably horrific!

Language is unable to really adequately describe the horror of this place — whether it be between death and before the resurrection or whether it be after the resurrection and the judgment.

We need not go further into the Biblical description of this terrible place and state.

All we wish to present before you (and me) is that we seldom remember where a lost person — whether a man or a woman — is right now “on the other side” of death!

The question for us to ponder relates to this destiny of others.

Most (nearly all) people are lost, I believe that you will agree. Unless, that is, you are a pluralist or an inclusivist. 

As you know, this is a growing false teaching that seems to be attractive to many people in this liberal age that denies the absolute truth of Scripture and the absolute essentiality of Jesus Christ and His atonement.

We hope that you will be more inclined to accept the truth of God’s Word.

Since most (nearly all) are lost, this means that they are alienated from God.

Death will only perpetuate this terrible condition!

To continue, this dreadful condition is even now experienced by the vast majority of humankind.

This is why Jesus our Lord says that the “many” enter the wide gate and walk the wide way that “leads to destruction” (Matthew 7:13-14).

Do we believe Him?

If we believe Him to save us from eternal condemnation, we must believe Him when He tells us about the condition people experience in the afterlife.

These lost ones will be thrown into “the furnace of fire” (Matthew 13:50), will experience “eternal punishment” (Matthew 25:46), will experience “retribution” (2 Thessalonians 18), will “pay the penalty of eternal destruction” (verse 9), will experience “the wrath of God” (Revelation 14:10-11), and after the judgment will have their part “in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

This shows us that immediately at death, the lost person will be in “agony” (Luke 16:24, 25) in the “place of torment” (verse 28).

After the coming judgment, a whole range of descriptive terms are applicable to him or her.

How horrible! How unbelievable — if Jesus Himself had not told us this truth.

Since Jesus our Lord is on the “other side” of death (having been resurrected and gone back to God the Father in heaven), He is absolutely qualified to inform us about what will be experienced by the unbeliever, the person who is lost!

We can see why our Lord warned us in sobering words, that if we fail to place our faith in Him (with all that this means), “you will die in your sins” (John 8:24, cf. v. 21).

Now let’s return to where we began our few words to you.

When you think of those government figures, those teachers, those movie stars, and those musicians, do we only lament that we no longer see them in “the land of the living”?

Do we only recall how the deceased person was years ago?

If the person was a neighbor, a school friend, or a family member, do you merely recall what he or she was like in the past when the person was young and in health?

When we read of someone’s death (by newspaper, radio, or TV), do we only remember what you found significant about him or her years ago?

Do we only remember these past persons as ones who used to walk on the earth like us and fail to keep constantly aware of where they went at the moment of their death?

When you go to a funeral (which may happen 3, 4, 5, or even 7 days after death), and view the body of your loved one, what do you really think of when you see the corpse?

Do you merely notice how well the undertaker prepared the body?

Are you only concerned with what he or she is wearing and then what the speaker, preacher, minister, or priest says?

Or perhaps is your great concern that of consoling family members who are remaining?

Do we really bear in mind, not what the person was like five years, twenty years, or even seventy years ago, but where the person is presently?

As you can see, we are urging you (and me, as well) to look at things realistically.

If you happen to be an atheist, an agnostic, or the like, perhaps you can claim that the person just died and is gone.

Yet, deep down we know that you realize that God exists (Romans 1:18-23) and that eternity is real (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

If you are remembering someone who has died, you know in your heart, that that person actually will face God in judgment and presently is in a state of alienation from Him.

This friend of yours is in torment, anguish, and in agony (Luke 16).

As hard as this truth is to accept, we must really understand it and be willing to acknowledge it.

We now urge you, our reader, to consider where you are.

Not only be aware of the sad and eternal condition of your lost friend who has died, but be aware of your own lost condition and your desperate need of a Savior!

Jesus Christ has come into the world to “save sinners” — and this includes you and me (1 Timothy 1:15).

Let us remember our Lord’s hopeful words: “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believe in Me will never die” (John 11:25-26a).

Now is the time to come to Jesus and find true life — a life that will last forever in the blessed presence of God!

Welcome to the new Truedisipleship website. We are glad you stopped by.  Please feel free to leave your comments, suggestions or just say hello. We have worked long and hard to bring this site to you and hope you enjoy it for many years to come.

https://truediscipleship.com/do-you-look-beyond-this-brief-earthly-life/