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Christ in Hell Part 5 of 9
By Bro. Cheek | October 19, 2007
Table of contents for Christ in Hell
Christ in Hell
Part Five
Did Jesus Christ Go to Hell?
By Pastor Robert L. Cheek Jr.
Victory Baptist Church
This lesson brings us to the focal point of our study, the actual question, “Did Jesus Christ Go To Hell?” We will answer that question from the Word of God. We can prove that Christ went to hell using several methods of reasoning. Let’s consider them in order of importance.
1. We have Scriptural assertion to prove that Jesus went to hell.
First and most important is the clear revelation from the Word of God that Christ went to hell. For the Bible-believer, this is all that is needed to convince us that Jesus went to hell. If the Bible states that Jesus went to hell, we simply accept what the Bible says. Notice this text.
Acts 2:22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
Acts 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Acts 2:24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
Acts 2:25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
Acts 2:26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
Acts 2:27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Acts 2:28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Acts 2:29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
Acts 2:30 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;
Acts 2:31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
Acts 2:32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
This passage is a quote from David in Psalm 16:8-11. When David wrote that he wrote it not about himself, but as a prophet, he prophesied about Christ that God would not leave the soul of Christ in hell. This is clear proof that Jesus went to hell. It is all the proof any Bible-believer would need. Let’s consider another passage. Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Isaiah 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Isaiah 53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Notice Isaiah 53:9. The Bible says that Jesus made His grave with the wicked. Consider this:
Luke 23:52 This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.
Luke 23:53 And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.
Because Christ’s body was placed in a new tomb by itself, Isaiah 53:9 cannot refer to His physical grave. Rather, it refers to His spiritual grave in hell. All the wicked have their graves in hell, spiritually speaking.
Psalms 9:17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
Isaiah 53:9 mentions the rich in his death. Isn’t it interesting that Christ preached about a rich man in hell in Luke 16:23?
Notice Isaiah 53:10. This verse states that God made the soul of Christ an offering for sin. The entire human trinity of Jesus Christ (body, soul, and spirit) suffered. We have a picture of this in Isaiah 53:7-9. Notice with me:
Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
This verse describes the Spirit of Christ suffering for us. This is the mental anguish He suffered.
Isaiah 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
This verse describes the physical anguish of His body.
Isaiah 53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
This verse describes the soul of Christ suffering in hell. All these verses show that Christ went to hell for us. His soul suffered there.
2. We have spiritual application to prove that Jesus went to hell.
We can apply several of the Psalms in spiritual application to Christ in hell. We can do this because there are many instances where the psalmist speaks of hell and going there. We know that no saint of God has ever gone to hell, except Jesus Christ. Just as David spoke of Christ in Psalm 16, many of the Psalms refer to Him. This gives us application through instruction in righteousness about Christ in hell.
Psalms 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Notice that Holy One is capitalized. That refers to Jesus Christ, the seed of David.
Psalms 86:13 For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
The Bible teaches that there are degrees or levels in hell, just like there are degrees or levels of wickedness in men. Paul the apostle called himself the chiefest of sinners in 1 Timothy 1:15. Christ would have had to go to the lowest hell to pay for the sins of Paul according to his testimony. Let me show you a familiar passage of Scripture. When we consider this passage, it sheds new light upon the fact that Christ went to hell.
Psalms 40:1 <<To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.>> I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
Psalms 40:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
Psalms 40:3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.
Let us now skip down to verses 6-8.
Psalms 40:6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
Psalms 40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
Psalms 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
Psalm 40:6-8 is quoted in Hebrews 10:5-9 and applied to Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 10:5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
Psalms 40:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
That horrible pit that Christ was taken out of was the pit of hell. We often think of Psalm 40 and apply it to ourselves, but in reality it is Christ that was brought up out of a horrible pit. The pit was hell. Psalm 88 is a good example of what Christ went through in hell. When we read it through spiritual application, from the vantage point of Christ in hell, it opens our eyes to see something incredible.
Psalms 88:1 <<A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite.>> O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:
Psalms 88:2 Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;
Psalms 88:3 For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.
Psalms 88:4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:
Psalms 88:5 Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.
Psalms 88:6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
Psalms 88:7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.
Psalms 88:8 Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
Psalms 88:9 Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
Psalms 88:10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
Psalms 88:11 Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?
Psalms 88:12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
Psalms 88:13 But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.
Psalms 88:14 LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?
Psalms 88:15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
Psalms 88:16 Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.
Psalms 88:17 They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.
Psalms 88:18 Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.
Not only do we have Scriptural assertion and spiritual application that Christ went to hell, we have supporting arguments that He went to hell.
3. We have supporting arguments to prove that Jesus went to hell.
A. His substitutionary death is a supporting argument.
It is a common held belief that Christ took our place on the cross. In other words, He died a vicarious (or substitutionary) death for us. Catholics call the Pope, the Vicar of Christ. That means they believe he is the substitution for Christ on earth. Vicarious comes from the root word vicar which means a substitute for another. When we think of Christ dying a substitutionary death for us, we are accepting the fact that Jesus Christ died in our place. But what kind of death did He die in our place? Which death did He substitute on our behalf? To answer that, we must consider what death means in the Bible and how many kinds of death there are.
First of all, death in the purist sense of the word, and by Biblical definition, is simply separation. It means to separate something. Websters 10th definition for death is separation. Consider the first use of the word “die” in the Bible and we can see this from Scripture.
Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
The question is, did Adam and Eve die the day they ate of the tree? There are many speculations on this, but let’s consider what the Bible says about it in conjunction with our definition of death.
Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
Genesis 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
I want you to notice that verse 8 gives an example of death in the purist definition. They hid themselves from the presence of the Lord. In other words, they were separated from God. God said that they would die, “the day that thou eatest thereof.” When Adam hid himself from the Lord’s presence, it was the first time that he was literally separated from God. But there is an even greater separation (or death) that took place on the very day they ate the fruit.
Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Genesis 3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
Genesis 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Some time during that day, Satan beguiled Eve to eat of the forbidden tree. She then gave to Adam and he did eat. Then, according to Genesis 3:8, God went walking in the garden in the cool of the day to fellowship with Adam. The cool of the day was a time between 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. In other words, God showed up at the end of the same day they ate the fruit. A conversation transpires between God, Adam, Eve, and Satan. At the end of that day, God drove man from the garden. Adam was never allowed to enter the garden of God again. He was separated from God on that day. He, in effect, died (separated from God) on that day.
It doesn’t matter what we might think about Adam dying spiritually on that day. Perhaps he did or perhaps he did not. Regardless though, Adam did experience a form of death. He was separated from God on that day. That is the Biblical definition of death. Adam did not die physically that day. He lived to be 930 years old, but he did experience a form of death. He was separated from the fellowship of God on that day.
We are considering the vicarious (substitutionary) death of Christ as a supporting argument that He went to hell. What death was substitutionary? What death did He suffer in our place? We can certainly say that it was not a physical death that was substituted. The reason is obvious. If Christ took the place for my physical death, then I would never die physically. If His physical death was substitutionary, why, as children of God, do we die physically? The vicarious death of Christ would then have to refer to another type of death other than physical. There are only two possibilities for the substitutionary death (separation) that we can think of.
1. His vicarious death refers to the time when He was on the cross and was separated from the Father on our behalf.
Matthew 27:45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
We will pick up with this thought in our next lesson.
Topics: Studies |
March 26th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Brother Cheek, I enjoy Victory’s website, and the way you seem to relish tackling unpopular subjects head on!
I have learned that there is seldom a royal road in any doctrine, and that there are almost always details that we struggle to reconcile honestly with what we believe to be the broad teaching of scripture. I guess the Lord does things this way to keep us humble!
Forgive me if I missed it somewhere in the text of your study, but how do you understand Jesus’ words, “It is finished,” with respect to His atoning work, spoken as they were prior to His burial?
Lord strengthen you for the work,
- Paul
March 27th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Paul,
I am glad that you enjoy our site, though I must admit I don’t really relish in unpopular subjects. Most of the time my studies are the result of real-life issues faced as a pastor, and this particular subject was no different.
To answer your question, I understand the Lord’s words, “It is finished” to mean that His earthly ministry was finished. Jesus said that He had finished all that the Father had asked Him to do (John 17:4). But He still had to die, be buried, and be resurrected. All three actions are part of salvation’s plan (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Knowing all that the Lord had to do after His death (see this study), it is certain He did not mean that everything that He had to do to secure our salvation was finished when He said. “It is finished.” He wasn’t resurrected until day three, and we know that He was raised again for our justification (Romans 4:25). So then, “it is finished” cannot mean that salvation’s work was finished. It must mean that His earthly work was finished. Then, He had His post-death work to do. Part of that work was to go to Hell in our place. That is what this study is all about.
I hope this helps,
Bro. Cheek