Jesus Went To
Hell And Back ?
 |
Revelation 1:15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; |
Here’s the prophesy:
For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Here’s the prophesy repeated:
Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Here’s the event and the reason for it:
Acts 2:30-31
Therefore being a prophet,
and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him,
that of the fruit of his loins,
according to the flesh,
he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ,
that his soul was not left in hell,
neither his flesh did see corruption.
LIVE - DIE - DESCEND - RISE - LIVE - ASCEND
Christ
died with your sins on him (Isaiah 53).
God forsook him on the cross for six hours, including a three-hour
battle in the dark with Satan (Psalm 22:1, Matthew 27:45-46).
Satan needed Christ to live and Christ could have called ten thousand angels to set him free, but He died alone for you and me.
His soul then descended into the heart of the earth for three days and three nights (Matthew 12:40). That would be 6pm Wednesday until 6pm Saturday!
Now here’s where it probably gets beyond the mind of a wolf.
The heart of the earth has three places – hell (Isaiah 14:9, Luke 16:23), Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22-23), and !!!surprise!!! paradise (Luke 23:43), later moved to the third heaven (II Corinthians 12:1-4). (How can paradise be moved? Just like a student moves from class to class, he is still in school.)
Jesus deposited sin into hell and burned at least his feet (Revelation 1:15). He preached to imprisoned angels (I Peter 3:19-20, Jude 6). He visited the saved Gentile souls and the thief on the cross in paradise, and he visited the saved Jews in Abraham’s bosom. And he escorted many to heaven (Ephesians 4:8 – not exactly sure about the timing of this).
It was a very busy three days. Personally, I am quite looking forward to Jesus preaching and straightening me out.
What? Weren’t the saved in heaven already? Nope!
And no man hath ascended up to heaven,
but he that came down from heaven,
even the Son of man which is in heaven.
This is self-explanatory, but there are three unique exceptions to prove the rule. Enoch never died and never will. Elijah never died but will as a prophet in the tribulation. Moses died but will die again as a prophet in the tribulation. Furthermore:
Ephesians 4:8-10
8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
Old Testament souls did not go to heaven until the final sacrifice had been made (Hebrews 10:1-4). There is no record of a saved soul in the Old Testament going to heaven, other than Enoch, Elijah, and Moses which God gave their own individual reasons.
It appears that their bodies also went up, but maybe not according to some, making John 3:13 100% true. If not, I am clueless where they went because we don’t bury live people on purpose.
The annual shedding of blood from bulls and goats and lambs was a
temporary sacrifice, but the blood of the Lamb of God was the permanent
sacrifice, acceptable to God (Hebrews 10:10-14).
In fact (this is just too much sometimes),
Isaiah 53:10
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; .....
Alpha, Omega, Alleluia!
Photos courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
