I think without any argument, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single most important topic in all human history. Could we name any other single person or event that affects the life and thinking of every person that has ever been born, past, present, or future?
The way to consider the effect of Jesus on our world is to try to imagine a day without Jesus Christ. Try to think about a world without the influence of the life of Jesus. Consider all the ramifications of a world without the death of Jesus. Now try to see a world without the resurrection of Jesus. A world without direction, compassion, and hope.
But, fortunately for us, God did have a plan that Jesus would come into the world and give us direction, compassion, hope, and much more. Part of that plan was that Jesus would not only come into the world but also die and be resurrected. Here are a couple of Old Testament prophecies regarding the death and resurrection of the Savior of the world; Psalm 16:10 and Isaiah 53:9-10.
What happened to the body of Jesus after his death and before his resurrection?
Being Friday, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph from Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin and a secret disciple of Jesus, asked Pilate for the body. Pilate confirmed with a Centurion that Jesus was dead and let Joseph take the body. Nicodemus helped Joseph prepare the body with spices and perfume and wrap it in a linen shroud. Then they placed it in a tomb and had a stone rolled over the entrance. At the same time, the chief priests and Pharisees went to Pilate and requested a Roman guard be placed at the entrance of the tomb to prevent his disciples from stealing the body and saying he rose from the dead after three days. Pilate assigned a Roman guard to the Priests and Pharisees and told them to secure the tomb. The Roman Security Guard was a sixteen-man unit with a commander. They would stand four-man shifts around the clock. Each guard was responsible for six feet around them. They couldn’t sit down or lean against anything while on duty. If they fell asleep the punishment was execution. (Mark 15:42-46, Matthew 27:57-66, Luke 23:50-55, and John 19:38-42)
OK, so we know where the body of Christ is, but what about his Spirit? Matthew 27:50 says at the end of his suffering on the cross, he cried out in a loud voice and gave up his Spirit. Where did his Spirit go?
This question has caused a lot of confusion over the centuries. A reason for the confusion is what is known as the Apostles’ Creed.
Because church leaders were trying to create a standardized statement of faith in early church history, they came up with what is called the Apostles’ Creed. Even though no “Apostles” were involved in writing it. The Creed says;
“I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell. On the third day, he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.” This creed was written in 500 AD. Because of this statement in the Apostles’ Creed that Jesus went to “Hell” after he died, many believed the Spirit of Jesus went to Hell.
But there was an {Original Creed} which said, “I believe in the Father almighty, and in Jesus Christ, our Savior, and the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, in the holy church, and the remission of sins.” This creed was written in 180 AD.
Which of these statements is correct? Did Jesus go to “Hell” after his death or not? Some of this confusion can be attributed to a misinterpretation of something Peter said in Acts 2:29-31.
Acts chapter 2 is when the Holy Spirit was given to the disciples on the day of Pentecost. This was 50 days from the Passover when Jesus was arrested. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and he gave a sermon to those in Jerusalem about the Messiah promised to Israel, Jesus Christ.
The KJV incorrectly translates “realm of the dead” as “hell“. But the Greek word in the passage is “Hades” and not “Gehenna”.
In the Old Testament when someone died, they went to {Sheol}
Up until 500 BC in Judaism, the grave was considered a place where both the righteous and unrighteous went. It was a place of sleep or rest. But from 500 BC (the 2nd Temple period) the grave became a place with two compartments; 1 for the righteous and, the other for the unrighteous. When the Greeks made the Greek translations of the Old Testament, they used Hades for Sheol.
Hades is the grave.
The Sadducees, who didn’t believe in a resurrection, saw Sheol as a place of sleep for everyone. The Pharisees, who did believe in a resurrection, saw Sheol as a place of sleep until the resurrection when the righteous and unrighteous would be separated in judgment.
Gehenna is hell.
In Hebrew, Hinnom comes from the valley of Hinnom where children were burned as a sacrifice to the Ammonite god Moloch. The Israelites practiced this from Solomon (900 BC) until the Babylonian captivity in 586 BC. The imagery of burning humans (hellfire). At the time of Christ, the valley was where garbage was burned.
Jesus clears the concept of Sheol, Hades, and Hell up for us in the parable he told in Luke 16:19-31.
A note about this story for us to remember is that the Pharisees and Sadducees believed poverty and illness meant you were a sinner and wealth and success meant you were righteous. I’m sure no one still believes that today.
Lazarus went to “Abraham’s Side” or Paradise.
Paradeisos; an enclosed garden usually attached to a mansion or palace. Only mentioned 3 times in the Bible, all in the New Testament (Luke 23:43, 2 Corinthians 12:4, and Revelation 2:7)
The rich man was buried and also went to Hades, but he was in torment or basanos;
Basanos is a touchstone to test gold and silver. Gold and silver were tried by the touchstone. So the word came to mean to be tried and eventually to mean to torture to get a confession.
So we see the poor man in Paradise and the rich man in Torment. Two sections of Hades.
To answer the question, “Where did the Spirit of Jesus go when he died?” we can turn to Luke 23:41-43.
Jesus and the thief were going to “Hades”, but they were going to one of two sections of “Hades” which was “Paradise”. The other section of “Hades” was the place of “torments” where the rich man was.
Where did the Body of Jesus go after he died? To the tomb where it was secured by a Roman security guard?
Where did the Spirit of Jesus go when he died? Jesus went to Paradise, not hell.is to Paradise.
What happened when Jesus was resurrected? In Part 2 we will answer that question and also, 1) what happened to everyone in Hades? 2) what happens to those who die since the resurrection of Jesus? And 3) what will happen at the final judgment.
