Where Did Jesus Go When He Died?
Did Jesus go to Hell so after Jesus died on the cross, where did he go until he rose three days later acts 2:27 quotes Psalm 16:10 and referring to Christ’s resurrection saying that his soul would not be leftin Hell.
But on the cross, Jesus told thethief today thou shalt be with me in paradise so which is it did Jesus go to hell for three days or did he go to paradise.
Meaning Of Hell In The Old Testament
So I admit that this can be confusing, but the answer is actually pretty simple and quite frankly it’s really fascinating if you ask me in order to understand what the Bible teaches about Hell we have to understand the Hebrew and Greek words that are translated as Hell in the English Bible in the Old Testament the word translated hell is the Hebrew word Sheol.
Now she’literally means the grave or the after life doesn’t necessarily mean a place of torment, for instance in Genesis 37 Jacob thinks that his son Joseph is dead and he mourns saying I will go down into Sheol unto my son mourning she’ll hear clearly does not refer to a place of torment and just punishment for sin surely Jacob did not believe that he and Joseph would end up in hellon the other hand, Psalm 917 tells us that she’ll is a place specifically where the wicked will go so.
We can say that the word Sheol refers to a place where both righteous believers and wicked unbelievers go when they die admit that this doesn’t seem to make sense. But when we examine the New Testament teaching about Hell we beg into get a clearer picture.
Meaning Of Hell In The New Testament
There are three words in the New Testament that aretranslated as Hell in English Gehenna which refers to a place of fiery judgment for sin as in Matthew 18 9 Tartar ooh meaning to cast into thunder world and the most common Greek word for hell Hades which is the word used in acts 2 speaking of Christ, notbeing left in Hell now this word Hades literally means the abode of departed spirits. So it can refer to all those who go to the grave just like the word Sheolin the old testament the English translators of the bible were smart enough to know that when Hades was used to refer to a place of torment it should properly be translated as Hell.
Jesus Tells A Story Of A Rich Man And A Poor Man
However in Luke 16 Jesus tells a story of a rich man and a poor man who both died the rich man was an unbeliever and found himself in Hell or Hades but the poor man was a believer and found himself in a place where he was embraced by the patriarch Abraham the story goes on to describe a conversation between the rich man in torment and the poor man in comfort apparently they were in the same place only separated by what the Bible describes as a great gulf that was fixed between them they were both in the place of departed spirits or Hades.
Place Of Departed Spirits Or Hades
But one was in fiery torment and the other was with Abraham in comfort and at peace some people assume that the rich man was in hell and the poor man was in heaven but technically the Bible just says that they were both in Hades now it’s true that today when a believer dies, he goes to heaven.
Where God is Paul said that to be absent from his body meant that he would be instead present with the Lord Jesus, but it seems that this was not the case before Jesus died on the cross from what we can tell in the Old Testament when someone who trusted in the coming Messiah would die like King David.
He was taken by angels to a part of Sheol separated from torment the ologians like to refer to this place as Abraham’s bosom remember that Jesus said noman cometh unto the father but by me soeven though these were men and women of faith in God and in the coming Messiah until they knew Jesus as the Messiah they could not go to be with God in heaven unbelievers in the old testament also went to Sheol when they died only they went to another part of Sheol where there was fire and torment separated by a great gulf from the place where believers existed at ease and comfort.
Where Did Jesus Go For Three Days After Crucifixion
So just what was Jesus doing for three days after he died but before he rose again well he told the thief on the cross that he would meet him in paradise, it seems that he was referring to this place of comfort where Abraham was apparently Jesus went to this part of Hades and spent those days with the believers of the Old Testament first Peter 3 tells us that Jesus preached to the spirits in prison and chapter 4 actually tells us that the gospel was preached to them that are dead, it seems that Jesus spent this time after dying on the cross in this paradise with Old Testament Saints preaching to them that he is the Messiahso that they could trust him and receive the gift of eternal life in heaven Ephesians 4:8 quotes Psalm 68 and refers. to Jesus carrying captivity captive after he descended to the lower parts of
the earth.
So from what we can tell, Jesus did go to Hades after he died but not to the place where men are in torment that we think of when we think of Hell instead, he went to the paradise near the place of torment and preached to them the good news that he was the Messiah and that he died to purchase their redemption then he took those believers.
Out of their captivity there in that paradise and brought them with him to present them to God the Father in heaven so if we use the word Hell in the same sense that the Greek word Hades and the Hebrew word Sheol are used technically.
We could say that Jesus spent time in Hell because he was in that afterlife place where people go when they die but what we read in Scripture seems to make it clear that he did not go to the part of Hades where there is fire and torment.
He went to what he himself called paradise, the part of Hades within earshot of the tormented where the believers were waiting for him to come and preach to them that they might believe and have everlasting life now I know some people think that Jesus had to go to the fires of Hell to suffer what we deserve for our sins in our place but think about it we deserve eternity in Hell, not just three days and the ultimate penalty for our sin is the wrath of God and being for saken by him.
Jesus suffered all of this for us on the cross and when God’s perfect justice was satisfied Jesus said it is finished, so that’s my explanation for where Jesus went after he died.
FAQ
1. Where did Jesus soul go after his death?
Answer: Jesus suffered and died on the cross, and his body became dead, and his soul died when he was made a sin. But his spirit was resurrected and he returned it to the Father. According to Peter, at some point between his death and his resurrection, Jesus made a special announcement in “captive spirits.”
2. What did Jesus do during the three days in the tomb?
Answer: Jesus Christ had sacrificed himself for the good of humanity. After rising alive from the tombs on the third day of the crucifixion, he went to heaven. One should simran the name of the Lord in life. He congratulated the management of the Golden Jubilee of St. Thomas High School, Mastkot, which was started for the last 50 years.
