Jesus In Hell?
Jesus declared unequivocally, about two thousand years ago that “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” [1] After this powerful declaration, no scientist, philosopher, psychologist, atheist, etc, has been able to disproof Him. Moreover, Jesus promised His disciples and said “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” [2]
However, when He was teaching them how to pray He said, “Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” [3] It stands to reason that when Jesus said “In my Father’s house…” He was referring to heaven.
The Bible says “So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth [4].” This means that those who can not make it to heaven will be cast into hell. The bible says
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world …Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels [5].
This means that until the judgment day, there is no one in heaven nor hell. There have been a lot of controversies on the subject of heaven and hell. We hear people claim that they have had visions or ‘near death experiences’ and had seen some celebrities in hell. That is not Biblical! No man will be condemned before the judgment day. The question then is “where do people go when they die?”
When Jesus was on the cross, there were two men condemned by crucifixion with Him, one on His left and the other on His right. The one on His left blasphemed and said if He was the Son of God, He should save Himself and them as well [6]. Consequently, the one on his right rebuked and told the blasphemer that they deserved the death on the cross because of their crimes and that Jesus didn’t deserve to die [7]. He then requested that the Lord to remembers him when He goes to His Kingdom. Jesus then replied and said to him “Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” [8]. This means that if someone dies believing Jesus, he/she goes to paradise: A temporary place prepared by God, for the Church triumphant to wait until judgement day. They will then spend eternity in heaven. However, the bible says
Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee [9].
This Scripture describes how someone is treated when he/she dies without believing in Jesus. The phrase “Hell from beneath” is known as Hades in Greek and Sheol in Hebrew.
Whenever people die, depending on how they lived their lives, they either go to Paradise or Hades/Sheol, to wait for the judgment day before they either go to heaven or hell, where they spend their eternity. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me [11].” The question then is, ‘what about those who died from the time of Adam to the last person who died before Jesus begun His ministry?’ They were never given the opportunity to hear the salvation message of Jesus, perhaps they would have repented if someone had preached to them about Jesus. God therefore, would not be fair to cast them into the hell fire after judgment. To cure this, Jesus descended to Hades/Sheol after His death on the cross on Easter, to preach to the spirits in prison and emancipate them from the shackles of death, In order for God’s judgment to be fair to all humanity. See 1 Peter 3:18-20.
It is imperative that we Christians observe Easter annually, being the season our Lord Jesus Christ died and traveled to Hades/Sheol to conquer hell, death and the grave. It is also important to note that, the moment he went to Hades/Sheol, He traveled along with our burdens, sicknesses, diseases, pains, infirmities, afflictions, sorrows, poverty and any negative thing you can think of. His word says “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted [11].” It is therefore a season to remind the enemy that all the pain he inflicts on us have been cast into Hades/Sheol.
Alleluia!!!!!!!!
References
[1] John 14:6
[2] John 14:2
[3] Matthew 6:9-10
[4] Mathew 13:49-50
[5] Mathew 25:31-34, 41
[6] Luke 23:39
[7] Luke 23:40-43
[8] Luke 23:43
[9] Isaiah 14:9-11 (KJV)
[10] John 14:6
[11] Isaiah 53:4
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