Where was Jesus during the three days before resurrection?
Posted : 18 Apr, 2014 11:30 AM
He was being tried and tortured by the religious and civil authorities, and then crucified and buried. The question you might be asking is where was Jesus while He was buried.
I believe He simply rested in the grave, "asleep", which is what the bible describes death to be. He did not go to heaven, because after the resurrection, Jesus cautioned His disciples not to touch Him because He had not yet ascended to the Father. It makes a lot of sense for Him to have "rested". He died and finished the work of redemption on Friday. He was rushed to be buried by the Jews before sundown, so that they would not profane the Sabbath, the day of rest. They did not even have time to prepare the body properly, which they were very concerned about. The angel came on Saturday, after sundown, to roll away the stone. So Jesus was alive again by Saturday night. Jesus was only in the grave for one day, the Sabbath. The Jews counted the days from sundown to sundown. The women came very early in the "morning" on the first day of the week to finished the burial process, after the Sabbath had ended at sundown on our Saturday night.
Luke 24
1Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
Mark 16
1And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
Matthew 28
1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,
13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept.
Here is one good verse about death being a "sleep" or "rest". There are many many more. God rested after the work of creation, and Jesus rested after the work of recreation.
1 Corinthians 15
14And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 20But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruit of them that slept. 21For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruit; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 24Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
There are some who would say that Jesus descended into hell while He was in the grave. I don't personally believe that, but it's the only other belief out there that I know of about where Jesus was while He was in the grave.
Where was Jesus during the three days before resurrection?
Posted : 18 Apr, 2014 02:06 PM
This is something that ive been thinking of a bit on and off as well, so i will try my best to explain what i have come up with the best i can.
in john 3:13 Jesus says that noone has been too or come from heaven except for himself (im paraphrasing). so we can assume from this verse that anyone that died believing in God the father before jesus` death and resurection were not in heaven (that and one cannot enter heaven unless they confess with their mouths and believe in their hearts that Jesus is who he said he was which was impossible to do before he actually came to earth to attone for our sins). in luke 16:19-31 it talks about lazarus and the rich ruler who both die. the rich guy goes to hades/hell and lazarus ends up in abrahams bosom/side (depending on translation). when jesus is on the cross talking to the thief, He tells the thief that today he (the thief) will be with Him in paradise. in ephesians 4 it talks about how Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth.
now for some small greek mythology (which i will keep short mostly because i learned this in grade 5 and that was quite a few years ago (cough 18 years ago cough) so it may be slightly off). in greek mythology they had some sort of reward/punishment system. those being rewarded went to paradise, and those being punished went into hades (there was also the pit of tartarus (probably messed up the spelling but oh well) in where the titans where chained (sort of similar idea to the bottomless pit referred to in revelation, and i believe one other place but i cant remember right now). hades and paradise where seperated by the styx river (i believe that is what it is called again it has been awhile) that noone could cross. both of these places where in the center of the earth. now i also want to mention that in alot of various mythologies (greek, roman, egyptian, norse, babylonian etc.) there are some grains of truth in them, but im not going to get into all that right now cause this is getting long enough.
anyways back to what i was trying to get at. when Jesus died (and there is a bit of a debate on where He ended up going, if He went anywhere at all) but i suspect that He went into "paradise" or abrahams bosom to reveal Himself to those that died believing in Him before His attoning death (like abraham, moses, the prophets, john the baptist etc. etc.) some people say that He preached to those people in hades, during His "down time" between His death and resurection, im not sure if i entirely believe that, mostly because it really depends on technicalities, and that hades/hell is the absence of God in any way, shape or form so Jesus would not have been in hades.
anyways i think that i am forgetting something, but this is long enough at the moment and if i remember what it is that i am forgetting i will try to remember to post it.
Where was Jesus during the three days before resurrection?
Posted : 18 Apr, 2014 02:14 PM
oh i remember what it was. Jesus may have preached to those on the Hades side of the great chasm (which i think some translations call it) from the paradise/abrahams bosom side of it, because in the lazarus/rich ruler account in luke, lazarus and the rich guy can communicate. but i really dont think it was a call to repentance, it was probably more along the lines of "why didnt you believe" type of thing, i say that because they were given a chance to believe in Jehovah before Jesus came onto the scene, and faith was what got you into paradise in the old testament.
Where was Jesus during the three days before resurrection?
Posted : 18 Apr, 2014 03:07 PM
DHTM: "Jesus was only in the grave for one day, the Sabbath"
No, it was three days, and there were two sabbaths that week.
'For just 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.' Matt 12.40
'From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.' Matt 16.21
'Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.' John 19.3
The 'high day' sabbath was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, not the normal weekly sabbath, which happened as usual that week, one or two days later depending on how you want to count the three days and three nights.
Where was Jesus during the three days before resurrection?
Posted : 18 Apr, 2014 11:47 PM
Let me remind you that Jesus resurrected Himself by His divine power but after death He got to hell to save people from hell.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ�s gift. 8 Therefore He (GOD) says:
�When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.� (Psalm 68:18, see below)
9 (Now this, �He ascended��what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
Ephesians 4:9: Christ our Lord descended into Hell after He offered His life on the cross. �Now that He ascended, what is it, but because He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?� Note here that Hell is described as having �parts� that is the four parts of Hell.
The chariots of God are twenty thousand,
Even thousands of thousands;
The Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the Holy Place.
18 You have ascended on high,
You have led captivity captive;
You have received gifts among men,
Even from the rebellious,
That the Lord God might dwell there.
Psalm 68
Acts 2:24 �God hath raised up Christ, having loosed the sorrows of hell, as it was impossible that He should be holden by it.�
1 Peter 3:19 �Christ coming in spirit preached to those spirits that were in prison, which had some time been incredulous.�
The Son of God said in Hosea 13:14: �O death, I will be thy death; O hell, I will be thy bite.�
Where was Jesus during the three days before resurrection?
Posted : 20 Apr, 2014 03:51 PM
I don't think it was three days in the grave. The gospels say that He was crucified on preparation day, stayed in the grave on the Sabbath, and rose on the first day. If you add more days in there, then it doesn't make sense. Why would the women wait three days to prepare the body if some of those days weren't "Sabbath days"? The only think that stopped them was the "Sabbath", and they immediately went to prepare the body after the Sabbath had ended. I've always understood that the "three days" the bible speaks of started when Judas betrayed him at the garden. Counting from then, it's exactly three days. When Jesus said He would be in the "heart of the earth" for three days, what makes you assume He meant the grave? When Judas betrayed Jesus to the mob, that was the first time on this earth that Jesus was subjected imprisonment, and it was the beginning of His torture and death at the hands of "the world". It makes a lot of sense to interpret "heart of the earth", to mean "subjected to the cruelties of an evil world", and the timing works out perfectly just like Jesus described, with no reason to add days or sabbaths.
Luke 18
32 For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: 33 And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.
Matt 16:21
'From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.'
Starting with His arrest, then the torture, death, burial, and resurrection, it's exactly three days.
Luke 24
20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn�t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive.
The disciples here conclude the same thing. From the time Jesus was handed over to the authorities for His Crucifixion, it was three days. They included it all in the three days.
Luke 23:54-24:1
54 And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on.55 And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid.56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.
Here also, the disciples are recorded resting on the Sabbath day "according to the commandment". Which Sabbath commandment? And again, why prepare the spices and ointments, and then wait for three days? If Jesus was in the tomb for 3 days, then all three days weren't Sabbath days, so they could continue with their labor at least one of those days. Do you think they would have waited?
Where was Jesus during the three days before resurrection?
Posted : 28 Apr, 2014 07:56 PM
There is a great deal of confusion in regards to this question. This concept comes primarily from the Apostles' Creed, which states, �He descended into hell.� There are also a few Scriptures which, depending on how they are translated, describe Jesus going to �hell.� In studying this issue, it is important to first understand what the Bible teaches about the realm of the dead.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, the word used to describe the realm of the dead is sheol. It simply means the �place of the dead� or the �place of departed souls/spirits.� The New Testament Greek equivalent of sheol is hades which also refers to �the place of the dead.� Other Scriptures in the New Testament indicate that sheol/hades is a temporary place, where souls are kept as they await the final resurrection and judgment. Revelation 20:11-15 gives a clear distinction between the two. Hell (the lake of fire) is the permanent and final place of judgment for the lost. Hades is a temporary place. So, no, Jesus did not go to hell because hell is a future realm, only put into effect after the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15).
Sheol/hades is a realm with two divisions (Matthew 11:23, 16:18; Luke 10:15, 16:23; Acts 2:27-31), the abodes of the saved and the lost. The abode of the saved was called �paradise� and �Abraham's bosom.� The abodes of the saved and the lost are separated by a �great chasm� (Luke 16:26). When Jesus ascended to heaven, He took the occupants of paradise (believers) with Him (Ephesians 4:8-10). The lost side of sheol/hades has remained unchanged. All unbelieving dead go there awaiting their final judgment in the future. Did Jesus go to sheol/hades? Yes, according to Ephesians 4:8-10 and 1 Peter 3:18-20.
Some of the confusion has arisen from such passages as Psalm 16:10-11 as translated in the King James Version, �For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption....Thou wilt show me the path of life.� �Hell� is not a correct translation of this verse. A correct reading would be �the grave� or �sheol.� Jesus said to the thief beside Him, �Today you will be with me in paradise� (Luke 23:43). Jesus� body was in the tomb; His soul/spirit went to the �paradise� side of sheol/hades. He then removed all the righteous dead from paradise and took them with Him to heaven. Unfortunately, in many translations of the Bible, translators are not consistent, or correct, in how they translate the Hebrew and Greek words for �sheol,� �hades,� and �hell.�
Some have the viewpoint that Jesus went to �hell� or the suffering side of sheol/hades in order to further be punished for our sins. This idea is completely unbiblical. It was the death of Jesus on the cross and His suffering in our place that sufficiently provided for our redemption. It was His shed blood that effected our own cleansing from sin (1 John 1:7-9). As He hung there on the cross, He took the sin burden of the whole human race upon Himself. He became sin for us: �God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God� (2 Corinthians 5:21). This imputation of sin helps us understand Christ's struggle in the garden of Gethsemane with the cup of sin which would be poured out upon Him on the cross.
When Jesus cried upon the cross, �Oh, Father, why have you forsaken me?� (Matthew 27:46), it was then that He was separated from the Father because of the sin poured out upon Him. As He gave up His spirit, He said, �Father, into your hands I commit my spirit� (Luke 23:46). His suffering in our place was completed. His soul/spirit went to the paradise side of hades. Jesus did not go to hell. Jesus� suffering ended the moment He died. The payment for sin was paid. He then awaited the resurrection of His body and His return to glory in His ascension. Did Jesus go to hell? No. Did Jesus go to sheol/hades? Yes.
