Main Idea: Upon death, Jesus went to the place of the dead to proclaim victory & begin his exaltation as King.
I. What Does Jesus’ Descent Mean?
The Hebrew conception of the universe is three-fold: the heavens, the earth, and the place of the dead (Sheol or Hades). Within the place of the dead there are different compartments:
Righteous Compartment (Paradise; Abraham’s Bosom; place of comfort)
Unrighteous Compartment (Gehenna; place of torment)
“Tartarus” (the “abyss”; place of fallen angels)
Apollinarianism: False teaching that Jesus had a human body but not a human spirit. This means Jesus was not fully human, and this line may have been added for the purpose of refuting this belief.
II. What Does The Bible Say About Jesus’ Descent?
Acts 2:27-31: 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, Or let your Holy One see corruption… 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
Revelation 1:17-18: “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
“The descent is the first of three stops on Jesus’ victory tour: first he proclaims victory in the realm of the dead, then he proclaims it in the realm of the living, and then finally and universally he proclaims it in the heavenly realm. In other words, the descent begins Christ’s exaltation through the universe’s three tiers: the underworld, the earth, and the heavens.” ~ Matthew Emerson
1 Peter 3:18-19: 18 For 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, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison
Ephesians 4:8-10:
8 Therefore it says,
“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”
9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)
“Jesus transforms the nature of Paradise, from expectation to reality. Those Old Testament saints who sat waiting in the darkness of death for the coming Messiah in whom they trusted in life now see by sight what they formerly only saw by faith. Jesus is with them and soon he will be raised as a sign of their coming resurrection from the dead. And when he is raised on the third day, he will lead “a host of captives” those who were formerly captive to Death but now by virtue of their faith in the Messiah who has defeated death are in his resurrected presence until they, too, are raised on the last day.” ~ Matthew Emerson
III. Why Does Jesus’ Descent Matter?
3 Implications:
1. Jesus is King over everything & over every realm
Philippians 2:9-11: Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father
“Christ conquered on the cross, Christ conquered at the cemetery, and Christ is conquering in the clouds right now.” ~ Charlie Dates
2. We can have hope in death
3. “Fear Not” (Rev. 1:17)
“There is no possible cause for fear to any soul that believes in Christ. You shall ransack the corruptions of your heart within; you shall count your trials without; you shall imagine all the tribulations that shall come tomorrow; you shall reflect on all the sins that were with you yesterday and in the past; you shall peer into the shades of death and horrors of hell, but I declare solemnly to you that there is nothing in any of these which you, believing in Christ, have any cause to fear. No, if they all should unite, if the whole together, the world, the flesh, the devil, in trinity of malice should all come against you, while you have a living faith in a living Savior, “Fear not” is but the logical inference from that precious fact. Carry this fearlessness in your life…Be of good courage, Jesus is King of Hades. Fear not.” ~ Charles Spurgeon
