Did Jesus descend to hell after His death on the cross? (5 commonly misunderstood verses explained)

Did Jesus descend to hell after His death on the cross?  (5 commonly misunderstood verses explained) ​

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Where Jesus went during the time between His death and resurrection is a widely debated topic which has been confusing to me for many years.
​Now I finally see the truth clearly after studying the topic myself and receiving revelations from the Holy Spirit.  

The following are the passages which people refer to when trying to prove that Jesus descended to hell after He died on the cross.
Let us examine them and offer the correct interpretations of the texts.
​

1) Jesus was released from the agony of death and God did not abandon His soul to Hades - Acts 2:24-31

“But God raised Him up, releasing Him and bringing an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in death’s power. For David says of Him, ‘I SAW THE LORD CONSTANTLY BEFORE ME; FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN [from my state of security]. ‘THEREFORE MY HEART REJOICED AND MY TONGUE EXULTED EXCEEDINGLY; MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE [that is, will encamp in anticipation of the resurrection]; ‘FOR YOU WILL NOT FORSAKE ME and ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES (the realm of the dead), NOR LET YOUR HOLY ONE UNDERGO DECAY [after death]. ‘YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE; YOU WILL FILL ME [infusing my soul] WITH JOY WITH YOUR PRESENCE.’ “Brothers, I may confidently and freely say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, being a prophet and knowing fully that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH THAT HE WOULD SEAT one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE, he foresaw and spoke [prophetically] of the resurrection of the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), that HE WAS NOT ABANDONED [in death] TO HADES (the realm of the dead), NOR DID His body UNDERGO DECAY.” (ACTS 2:24-31 AMP)

For Jesus who is a holy, sinless God to undergo death at the cross, and stay in that state of death until the third day was a great agony to Him. 
​
If you read carefully, you will notice that the passage above says that Jesus was "not abandoned to Hades (hell)" and it didn’t say “not abandoned in Hades”. 
The passage in Hebrew agrees and says the same thing.
The difference between "to" and "in" is huge! 

This means that God did not send Jesus to hell after He died at all, and it's not that God left Him there and then brought Him out of hell on the third day. 

2) In the Spirit, Jesus went and preached to the spirits now in prison - 1 Peter 3:18-20

“For indeed Christ died for sins once for all, the Just and Righteous for the unjust and unrighteous [the Innocent for the guilty] so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit; in which He also went and preached to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the great patience of God was waiting in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons [Noah’s family], were brought safely through the water.” (1 PETER 3:18-20 AMP)

The passage above does not mean that Jesus descended to hell after His death to preach to the spirits there. 

““Now there was a certain rich man who was habitually dressed in expensive purple and fine linen, and celebrated and lived joyously in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus, was laid at his gate, covered with sores. He [eagerly] longed to eat the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. Now it happened that the poor man died and his spirit was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom (paradise); and the rich man also died and was buried. In Hades (the realm of the dead), being in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom (paradise). And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in severe agony in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things [all the comforts and delights], and Lazarus likewise bad things [all the discomforts and distresses]; but now he is comforted here [in paradise], while you are in severe agony. ~‘And besides all this, between us and you [people] a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to come over from here to you will not be able, and none may cross over from there to us.’” (LUKE 16:19-26 AMP)

There would be no point in doing that because Jesus Himself said in “the parable of the rich man and Lazarus” that because of the great chasm fixed, no one can cross from Hades to where Abraham is. 

Since these spirits are already in hell, they cannot go to where Abraham is just because they believe in the gospel now. It’s too late because they had their chance to believe in God while they were alive. 

Also some people believe that Jesus preached to these spirits in hell about the certainty of their judgment and doom.
To me that is not based on Scripture and doesn’t reflect the nature of our Lord Jesus.

“He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went into a Samaritan village to make arrangements for Him; but the people would not welcome Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and destroy them?” But He turned and rebuked them [and He said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] And they journeyed on to another village.” (LUKE 9:52-56 AMP)

Jesus rebuked James and John for asking Him if they should command fire down from heaven to judge the Samaritan village that rejected them.
Jesus said “you don’t know what kind of spirit you are” and that He came to save men’s lives and not to destroy them. 
What makes one think that Jesus’ heart of grace has changed after He died? 

What 1 Peter 3:18-20  is saying is that the Spirit of Christ preached through Noah to the inhabitants of the world during that time (before the great flood). 
The former inhabitants of the ancient world are spirits in prison (hell) now because they didn’t believe in what was preached. 

“and if He did not spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought [the judgment of] a flood upon the world of the ungodly;” (2 PETER 2:5 AMP)

Peter wrote that Noah was a “preacher of righteousness”, so righteousness is the message which Jesus preached through Noah. 

God was so merciful that despite telling Noah that He would wipe out mankind from the earth because of their wickedness, He still gave them a chance to repent and be saved through the preaching of Noah. Unfortunately, none of them believed. ​

3) The Son of Man (Jesus) will be in the heart of the earth - Matthew 12:38-40 

“Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign (attesting miracle) from You [proving that You are what You claim to be].” But He replied and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation [that is morally unfaithful to God] craves and demands a [miraculous] sign; but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah; for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (MATTHEW 12:38-40 AMP)

In the passage above, “in the heart of the earth” doesn’t mean that Jesus descended to hell. 

“A man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court), a good and honorable man (he had not consented to the Council’s plan and action) a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for and expecting the kingdom of God; this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. And [after receiving permission] he took it down and wrapped it in a linen [burial] cloth and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had yet been laid.” (LUKE 23:50-53 AMP)

It’s a prophecy which means that Jesus’ body will be lain underground, in a tomb that was cut into the rock. 

"For You cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me." (Jonah 2:3 AMP)

In the Book of Jonah, the same pattern of words were used: "heart of the seas" just means under the sea. 

Likewise, Jesus being in the “heart of the earth” doesn’t mean in the middle of the earth - 
it just means His body being underground, in contrast to being above ground which He has been for over 30 years. 
​

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4) The good news of salvation was preached even to those who are dead - 1 Peter 4:5-6

​“But they will [have to] give an account to Him who is ready to judge and pass sentence on the living and the dead. For this is why the good news [of salvation] was preached [in their lifetimes] even to those who are dead, that though they were judged in the flesh as men are, they may live in the spirit according to [the will and purpose of] God.” (1 PETER 4:5-6 AMP)

The passage above doesn't mean that Jesus descended to hell after His death to preach to the spirits of the deceased there.
​ 
​Instead, it means that the good news of salvation was preached to everyone in their lifetimes, even to those who are in hell now for not believing in the good news. 

It talks about the goodness of God that gives everyone a chance to believe and be saved. 

It doesn’t mean that Jesus descended to hell to preach to the spirits of the dead there. 

5) Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth - ​Ephesians 4:9-10

​“(Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had previously descended [from the heights of heaven] into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the very same as He who also has ascended high above all the heavens, that He [His presence] might fill all things [that is, the whole universe]).”(EPHESIANS 4:9-10 AMP)

The passage above doesn’t mean that Jesus descended to hell after His death.
What it means is that Jesus who was the only One who has been in the highest heaven with God, descended to the lowest part of the universe (earth) in order to save us. 

One very interesting fact is that the River Jordan (at the Dead Sea) where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, is the lowest part of the earth’s surface on land in terms of elevation! 
So the passage is literally stating the truth that Jesus has been to the lowest parts of the earth’s surface. 

Aren’t you so glad that our Lord Jesus has been to both the lowest and highest parts of the universe? 
We have a God who humbles Himself and is approachable to us. 

He has experienced the greatest humiliation on earth as well as the greatest exaltation in heaven. 

There is no one more worthy or qualified to be God Than Him. 

The next time you feel like God can’t understand how you’re feeling, remember that He has been to the lowest parts of the earth and experienced the greatest humiliation - He knows and understands what you’re going through. 

Not only is He able to empathize with you, Jesus who is seated at the right hand of God and bestowed with the name above every other name has the power to help you in your situation as well.

Our Savior is both willing and able to rescue us, just like He healed the leper in Matthew 8:
When we say “Lord if you are willing you can make me clean”, He will reply “I am willing, be cleansed”.
​

​Bonus: Jesus has the keys of death and of Hades - Revelation 1:18 

One of my readers commented about this blog post:
"Well I've always heard that Jesus went to Hades to take the keys of hell and the post is saying different which left me puzzled.... therefore I need understanding e.i. your point of view.... Please". This is a bonus part - my reply to her. 

"and the Ever-living One [living in and beyond all time and space]. I died, but see, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of [absolute control and victory over] death and of Hades (the realm of the dead)." (Revelation 1:18 AMP)

The keys of death and of Hades aren't actual keys, but it represents the power of death like in the verse below:

"Therefore, since [these His] children share in flesh and blood [the physical nature of mankind], He Himself in a similar manner also shared in the same [physical nature, but without sin], so that through [experiencing] death He might make powerless (ineffective, impotent) him who had the power of death—that is, the devil--" (Hebrews 2:14 AMP)

The devil used to have the power of death because He used to wield the Law as a weapon to condemn people and put people to death. 

"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin [by which it brings death] is the law;" (I Corinthians 15:56 AMP) 

However, Jesus' death has put into place a New Covenant, not based on man's obedience to the Law to become justified, but they are now justified by faith in Jesus. 

This is why the devil no longer has the keys of death and of Hades (the power of death). 
It's all in Jesus' hands - He has the complete and final say. 

Do you know that the devil has never been to hell - in fact, he's deathly afraid of the lake of fire! He's been to heaven before, and he's now on earth. 

The lake of fire will be his final destination but he's not there yet. 

"And the devil who had deceived them was hurled into the lake of fire and burning brimstone (sulfur), where the beast (Antichrist) and false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever." (Revelation 20:10 AMP)

So if the devil once wielded the keys of death and Hades (the power of death), it can't have been in hell. So there won't be any keys for Jesus to take in hell in the first place. 

Where Jesus really went after His death - Luke 23:42-43

​So if Jesus didn’t descend to hell after He died on the cross, where did His Spirit go while His body lay in the tomb? 

“And he was saying, “Jesus, [please] remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” Jesus said to him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”” (LUKE 23:42-43 AMP)

Jesus went to Paradise. However, this Paradise, is not located in the highest heaven where God’s throne is. 

After Jesus' resurrection,  He was on earth for 40 days appearing to His disciples and other people.
Only after that did He ascend to the Father in heaven. 

If you want to know where Jesus really went between His death and resurrection, it will take a whole book to explain that in the proper context of the structure of the heavens. 

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I hope that you have been blessed by reading this post on "Did Jesus descend to hell after His death on the cross?  (5 commonly misunderstood verses explained)".

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