Christ in Hell for Three Days

Jesus Christ myself spoke about his decent into hell prior to his crucifixion, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here." Matthew 12:40-41 (NIV) Why thus did Jesus have to go to hell, and what did his decent into hell accomplish?

In asking the questions regarding the decent into hell by Jesus consider the following scripture, "About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?' -which means, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' ...And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, 'Surely he was the Son of God!'" Matthew 27:46-54 (NIV) Overall, some would thus paraphrase in saying that Jesus felt forsaken by God the Father, Jesus gave up his spirit, the curtain was torn, rocks broke open, the holy people came to life and burst out of their tombs, and even the roman military witnesses confessed that Jesus was the Son of God.

Could it be that even the rocks cried out "hosanna to the son of David" when Christ was crucified (Luke 19:40), and can it be that even the people of Nineveh burst out of their tombs to set the record straight? What is unique about Christ describing his decent into hell by making reference to the story of Jonah is that Jonah was the only prophet that when the Word of the Lord came to him he outright fled (Jonah 1:1-3), and most importantly in the height of Jonah's run from God he got swallowed by a huge fish such that Jesus regards this story to be descriptive of his own decent into hell. We however know that Christ did not flee from the Word of the Lord because he was the Word of God (John 1), and we find that Christ even prayed that the cup of communion with the Father that brought the death of Christ would be taken from him if the Father was willing to take the cup away (Matthew 26:36-42 & John 18:11).

Unlike Jonah, Christ did not descend into hell because he was trying to flee from God, but instead Christ went to hell because he embraced the word of the Father and was crucified for it. Zechariah 13:7 even goes so far as to prophecy regarding the crucifixion as he records the words of the Father as follows, "'Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!' declares the LORD Almighty. 'Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones.'" (NIV) What is significant is that Jesus quotes Zechariah 13:7 in Matthew 26:31 when he prophecies his own death as well as the reaction that the disciples would have to his arrest. Overall, Jesus fully embraced his death on the cross even though God the Father would call upon the 'sword' to destroy his body, and the Father would set his hand against the disciples.

We know however that the curtain was torn on the temple as the body of Christ was torn, and this curtain thus was the body of Christ (Hebrews 10:20) that opened the shrouding of the presence of the lord (the Holy Ghost) for people to experience, and thus just as Christ gave up the spirit so too the curtain was torn pouring the spirit onto those that would receive the charity of God as can be seen in Pentecost. The seven golden lamp stand inside of the curtain that kept the seven spirits of God (Isaiah 11:1-3 & Revelation 4:5) ablaze poured out its light onto all men through the seven arch angels of the seven churches that together became the seven golden lamp stand (Revelation 3:1 & 5:6). Overall, what Exodus 33 teaches us is that if God the Father went with the Israelites even for a moment, then God would destroy them (this gave a purpose for the tent to shroud the presence of God), but the consequence of Zechariah 13:7 and Matthew 26:31 is that without the full shield to separate God the Father from the people thus God the Father would set his hand against the saints much like the crucifixion of Christ was depicted as the Father calling upon the sward to strike down the shepherd.

We are thus told to offer ourselves up as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1) like Christ, to consider trials a pure joy (James 1:2), and to rejoice that we have been found worthy of suffering (Acts 5:41). Exodus 33:19 and Romans 9:18 both tell us that God has mercy on who ever he chooses, but Exodus 33 shows God demonstrating his appearance, saying his name, and showing his goodness to Moses whereas in Romans 9 God has already appeared, spoken his name, and shown his goodness to all people in the person of Jesus Christ. Overall, one of the main purposes of Christ going into hell was that in doing so he would give up his spirit for others to have, and then when he would raise from the dead he would regain everything and sit at the right hand of the father until he put his enemies under his feet.

Christ thus went to hell because, "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 (NIV) In other words the purpose for Christ going to hell was for us to inherit righteousness, and this was thus for the most part made complete by the resurrection of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. Christ giving up the Ghost thus foreshadowed Pentecost, and the raising of the holy men from their tombs as a result of the crucifixion teaches us a foreshadowing of the resurrection of all men at the end of time.

The only problem is that Judas killed himself prior to Christ's crucifixion, and as a result both Judas and Christ had been in hell together. The question that many have asked is what the dialog of Judas and Christ would have been. Did Judas ask salvation from Jesus, and did Jesus give salvation to Judas?

The strongest theological answer that many give is that Judas was never saved but instead will be in hell forever, but in Hebrew the word hell is known as Sheol (this is often translated as the grave). Jonah considered himself as being in Sheol or the grave when he was in the belly of the fish, and because of the prayer of Jonah eventually God had the fish vomit Jonah out. Some would thus argue that Judas in hell was like Jonah in the fish.

Consider the prayer of Jonah from within the fish as he considered himself inside of the grave (Sheol). "From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. He said: 'In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.' The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God. 'When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.' Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD.' And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land." Jonah 2:1-10 (NIV) Thus if we want to ask the question seriously regarding the salvation of Judas, then we should consider how he was different from Jonah, and we should ask ourselves if Judas would have said the same type of prayer as Jonah and even if that prayer would have mattered given the fact that Judas was fully submersed in hell with Jesus after having betrayed Jesus. Overall, we learn about Jesus raising from the dead, but we do not learn about Judas raising from the dead.