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
