HOLY SATURDAY

Holy Saturday. Holy Saturday commemorates the day that Jesus Christ lay in the tomb after his death, according to the Christian bible. It is the day after Good Friday and the day before Easter Sunday. It is also known as Easter Eve, Easter Even, Black Saturday, or the Saturday before Easter.

This was the only sign Jesus gave that He was the promised Messiah: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”.

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightening stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.'"

Where was Jesus for the three days between His death and resurrection?

We know from Jesus’ statement to the thief that when one dies they enter the presence of God immediately. Luke 23:42 states, “Truly I say to you, today you shall  be with Me in Paradise.” This statement also tells us that Jesus went to His Father upon death.

Beyond this we know very little about where Jesus was for three days. One must be careful not to read too much detail into a parable or story. The issue in Jesus recounting the story of Jonah was to relate to His anticipated three days of being dead. Reading Jonah 2:2, some translations say, “from the depth of Sheol”, another translation says, “from the depth of hell”, still another says, “from the grave.” What is clear is that Jonah assumed he was a dead man inside the fish as he prayed.

Later, in Jonah 2:6 we are told his “life was brought up from the pit.” Some interpreters assume that this is a reference to hell. However, a very simple interpretation of the Bible takes this as a reference to death, the imagery is the grave. Sheol is not hell; to the Hebrew mind it is death; a place where the soul waits for resurrection and judgment. The context of Jonah 2:6 is “the earth with its bars was around me forever.” He is using imagery to say he felt just the same as if his body was buried in the earth (grave) and he was locked there forever.

There are other passages that are used to suggest that Jesus went to hell during the three days His body was in the tomb. If one wants to believe that He went to hell, then the verses can suggest it. However, if the verses are simply taken one-by-one, they do not support that belief. Let’s look at those verses.

• Psalm 16:10 says, “Because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.” It relates “grave” and “pit.” Hebrew poetic parallelism means the two words are to be taken as one idea—the simple grave, a pit in the earth where flesh decays.

• Ephesians 4:8-10 contains the statement, “‘He ascended,’ what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth’?” Some interpret “the lower parts of the earth” as hell. However, again, the simple reading of this verse is that Jesus ascended into the heavens after first having descended into the earth below, the grave. In fact, the Greek language here can either be read “the lower region of earth” or “the lower region, earth.” Either way, it is a simple contrast of descending to earth which is a lower region than the heavens and does not provide any detail to suggest to the reader that He had been to Hell.

• I Timothy 3:16 tell us that Jesus “was seen by angels.” Indeed, He was seen by angels as clearly suggested in all three synoptic gospels just after His resurrection (Matthew 28:6; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:6). Those who already assume that Jesus went to hell want this to mean “fallen angels” whom He preached to during the three days of death. There is no reason to assume this at all.

The passage of Scripture most referred to by those holding to the hell theory is 1 Peter 3:18-20. “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.” The words they point to are “in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison.” Supposedly, Jesus descended to hell and preached to lost souls. But why? Nowhere in the Bible is there any statement that a lost soul who has died can have a second chance. Did Jesus go to hell just to torment the lost souls more? There is a more reasonable interpretation of this passage.

Jesus was put to death in the flesh, but was made alive by the Spirit. The word “made alive” is passive, meaning that someone other than Jesus made Him alive. Either Jesus was made alive by the Spirit, or in His spirit. Either way the Spirit must have been involved. Then the passage continues by telling us who these souls in prison are, they are those who did not listen to Noah (who was preaching repentance in the Spirit’s power to the world at the direction of God). 

Thus, the same Spirit who raised Jesus as a testimony “in order that He might bring us to God” also had spoken in Noah’s day to those souls now in prison; and they are in prison because they did not listen at the time of the preaching. In fact, only eight people listened and were saved—” brought safely through the water.” The idea of “prison” is figurative. The Bible does indicate that lost souls are removed and restrained in Luke 16:26: “And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.”

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that Jesus went to hell during the three days. Actually, very little is said about what went on. The normal assumption is that Jesus’ fleshly body remained in the tomb, just as ours will remain in the grave. He went to the presence of the Father, and three days later the Spirit resurrected His body (in the same way that our bodies will be resurrected—the first-born from the dead in Col. 1:18). The difference is that God did not allow Jesus’ body to decay (exactly the promise found in Psalm 16:10 above.)

Answer: 1Peter 3:18–19 says, “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison” (ESV). The word spirit refers to Christ’s spirit. The contrast is between His flesh and spirit, and not between Christ’s flesh and the Holy Spirit. Christ’s flesh died, but His spirit remained alive.

1 Peter 3:18–22 describes a necessary link between Christ’s suffering (verse 18) and His glorification (verse 22). Only Peter gives specific information about what happened between these two events. The KJV says that Jesus “preached” to the spirits in prison (verse 19). However, the Greek word used is not the usual New Testament word for preaching the gospel. It simply means “to herald a message”; the NIV translates it as “made proclamation.” Jesus suffered and died on the cross, His body being put to death. But His spirit was made alive, and He yielded it to the Father (Luke 23:46). According to Peter, sometime between Jesus’ death and His resurrection Jesus made a special proclamation to “the spirits in prison.”

In the New Testament, the word spirits are used to describe angels or demons, not human beings. In 1 Peter 3:20, Peter refers to people as “souls” (KJV). Also, nowhere in the Bible are we told that Jesus visited hell. Acts 2:31 says that He went to Hades (New American Standard Bible), but Hades is not hell. Hades is a term that refers, broadly, to the realm of the dead, a temporary place where the dead await resurrection. Revelation 20:11–15 in the NASB and the NIV makes a clear distinction between the Hades and the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the permanent, final place of judgment for the lost. Hades is a temporary place for both the lost and the Old Testament saints.

Our Lord yielded His spirit to the Father, died physically, and entered paradise (Luke 23:43). At some time between His death and resurrection, Jesus also visited a place where He delivered a message to spirit beings (probably fallen angels; see Jude 1:6); these beings were somehow related to the period before the flood in Noah’s time (1 Peter 3:20). Peter does not tell us what Jesus proclaimed to the imprisoned spirits, but it could not be a message of redemption since angels cannot be saved (Hebrews 2:16). It was probably a declaration of victory over Satan and his hosts (1 Peter 3:22; Colossians 2:15). Ephesians 4:8–10 also seems to give a clue regarding Jesus’ activities in the time between His death and resurrection. Quoting Psalm 68:18, Paul says about Christ, “when he ascended on high, he took many captives” (Ephesians 4:8). The ESV puts it that Christ “led a host of captives.” The reference seems to be that, in paradise, Jesus gathered all the redeemed who were there and took them to their permanent dwelling in heaven.

All this to say, the Bible isn’t entirely clear what exactly Christ did for the three days between His death and resurrection. From what we can tell, though, He comforted the departed saints and brought them to their eternal home, and He proclaimed His victory over the fallen angels who are kept in prison. What we can know for sure is that Jesus was not giving anyone a second chance for salvation; we face judgment after death (Hebrews 9:27), not a second chance. Also, He was not suffering in hell; His work of redemption was finished on the cross (John 19:30).

In Christ,

Janet Irene Thomas

Director, Playwright, Producer,

Gospel Lyricist, Screenwriter

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of Fine &

Performing Arts