Where Was Jesus Between His Death and Resurrection?

BQ NO 98 - WHERE WAS JESUS BETWEEN HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION?

By Ezekiel Kimosop

INTRODUCTION

The Bible does not reveal conclusive details about where Jesus Christ was within the period between His physical death and burial (Friday) and His resurrection on the third day (Sunday). It is instructive that Jesus rose on the third day and not after three days! This article attempts to examine this question on the basis of what the writer can distill from the teaching of Scripture. 

DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF CHRIST

Jesus suffered physical death on the cross as part of His sacrificial atonement that was required by God to satisfy His divine purposes and to pay the penalty for our sins (Philippians 2:1-10). Christ could not have lost His soul on the cross because if He did so, that would imply that He temporarily lost His divinity at Calvary between the crucifixion Friday and the resurrection Sunday!

At no time in God's divine calendar did Christ cease to exist as the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. This is because Christ eternally coexists with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit as God and this triune relationship is inextricably intertwined. Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End (Rev 1:8). He is the same yesterday today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). His divinity is eternal. 

I agree with Jack Wellman that Jesus went to to the place of the dead to proclaim His victory over the bound spirits because they were being held in that place of darkness awaiting the final judgment recorded in Rev 20:7-15. To argue that Jesus had gone to lead these spirits to saving knowledge of Christ would violate Hebrews 9:27, at least in so far as Old Testament theology is concerned.

Hebrews 9:27 teaches that it has been appointed for man to die once and thereafter judgment. There is no second opportunity for those who reject the warning of God. There was none for the men of Sodom and Gomorrah or for the men of Noah's day who drowned in the flood. Once the window of God's grace is closed, there will never be any mercy for those who reject the atoning grace in Christ's shed blood.

Must all people in all ages die in order to go to heaven? Not really. We learn from the New Testament Scriptures that believers who will be alive at the coming of Christ will not die but will be transformed through in the twinkling of an eye. They shall put on glorified bodies and will meet Christ in the air (1Corinthians 15; 1Thessalonians 4:13-18). This is what Bible scholars refer to as present truth. This truth theologically revises and expands the teaching of Hebrews 9:27.

SO WHERE WAS JESUS BETWEEN HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION?

There are a number of theological views regarding Jesus' diary of activities between His death and resurrection. Some scholars have attempted to explain the whereabouts of Jesus between His crucifixion on the Passover Friday and His resurrection on Sunday. Some say that Jesus temporarily went to heaven upon His death and that He was reunited with His body in the tomb on the third day at which time His body was transformed into a glorious body and He resurrected. My view is that this theory is theologically defective. Here is why...

Even if there was a remote possibility that this may have happened, we have no Scripture evidence to back the claim. It remains a great piece of mystical speculation! Secondly, the notion that there was a secret ascension to heaven by Jesus between the crucifixion Friday and the resurrection Sunday is theologically flawed. It appears to contradict some passages of Scripture.

How could Jesus have proceed to heaven during this period yet He was not through with the works of the cross? The resurrection concludes Jesus' divine works of the cross. My view is that the resurrection was the greatest event that crowned the victory of Jesus over death and over the kingdom of darkness. This is the event by which Jesus made a mockery of Satan! It is the foundation of our victory in Christ. 1 Peter 1:3 refers to the resurrection as the source of living hope for the church. It is therefore inconceivable, in my view, that Jesus could have secretly ascended to heaven upon His death on the crucifixion Friday and returned to earth on Sunday morning for the resurrection yet Scripture nowhere teaches or implies it.

Philippians 2:1-10 indicates that Jesus was exalted by God the Father after His obedient death on the cross. His exaltation should naturally have occurred after His resurrection. We learn further that when Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene on the morning of the resurrection Sunday, He said to her: "Do not cling to me for I am not yet ascended to my Father" (John 20:17). This statement rules out the theory of a secret ascension to heaven between His death and His resurrection.

We may never know for sure where Jesus was for the most time during this period, perhaps until we appear before His divine presence! Acts 1:3 says that Jesus was later seen of the disciples and many others for a space of 40 days until His ascension recorded in Acts 1:9-11. This confirms that a forty days period separated Christ's resurrection and His ascension to heaven.

Pentecost (day of fifty) was celebrated 50 days from the Day of the Passover Feast which coincided with the day of the crucifixion of Christ as the Lamb of God. This further affirms that the Day of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2 occurred ten days after the ascension of Christ.

Luke 23:43 reveals that Jesus went to paradise upon His death. He promised the repentant thief on the cross that he would be with Him in Paradise. This is the place in Hebrew thought where the righteous dead are preserved by God until the final resurrection and judgment.

We learn from the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 that the wicked are taken to Hades where they suffer partial punishment as they await their final consignment to the lake of fire in hell. It appears that the place where the spirits of the fallen angels were kept was probably a special abode in Hades.

We learn from the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man that when Lazarus died he was escorted by the angels to the bosom of Abraham in Paradise, showing that He was declared righteous for his obedient living during his earthly life. On the contrary, when the rich man died, he was buried and his soul was taken to Hades where the flame and the heat was too intense for him and where God's mercy was beyond reach.

Hebrew theology teaches that the righteous and the wicked were eternally separated by these two abodes and that there is no opportunity for reversing one's eternal destiny after death.

It is however not clear if Jesus stayed in Paradise all the time. It appears that He had the liberty to cross over to the place of the dead where He proclaimed His victory over the spirits held there. It may be safe to assume that Jesus was not limited by any barriers by reason of His divinity but we cannot conclusively tell where else He could have gone besides paradise and the place of the dead. 

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

So where was Jesus between His death and His resurrection? We can attest from our analysis that Jesus went to Paradise upon His physical death. 1 Peter 3:18-20, read together with 2 Peter 2:4-5, reveals that Jesus went to the place of the dead and made a proclamation of victory to the spirits bound there. These the spirits were perhaps those of rebellious angels who participated in Satan's rebellion in heaven and who continued to deceive the men of Noah's day (cf. Isaiah 14:12-21).

These angels were possibly kept in a dark holding facility or dungeon as they awaited their final judgment. Bible scholars believe that there was no opportunity for redemption for them (Jude 1:6). I agree with Jack Wellman on the view that Jesus did not require to preach to the spirits of the Old Testament dead because God justified Old Testament people on the basis of their faith based on His revelation that was available to them.

Abraham was justified because of his obedient faith and so were all the heroes of faith listed in Hebrews 11 including Abel, Seth, Enoch, Moses, Joshua, Sarah, and Rahab the harlot. There was therefore no reason that the men of Noah's day should have been singled out for the gospel proclamation by Christ in Hades yet there were other people from biblical history who had rebelled against God and were destroyed.

These wicked men included the men of Sodom and Gomorrah and the men of Korah who were destroyed when they defied Moses in the wilderness (Numbers 16; Jude 1:11) and many other disobedient generations of people who departed from the ways of God and were given to evil and depravity despite knowing the truth (1 Corinthians 10).

Some scholars say that the mention of the spirits of the days of Noah was not in reference to the fallen angels who married the daughters of men (Genesis 6:1-4; 2 Peter 2:4). There is evidence in Jude 1:6 that the spirits referred to in 1 Peter 3:18-20 and 2 Peter 2:4-5 were those of fallen angels. Jesus could not have proclaimed a redemption message to the fallen angels since angels do not partake in the redemption of Christ (cf. Hebrews 2:16, 1 Peter 1:10-16). 

Still others say that Jesus was preaching through Noah in Noah's day and that those who rejected Noah's message had actually rejected Christ and were sent to Hades on that account. The passage of 1 Peter 3:18-22 appears to carry some symbolism of the salvation that we have in Christ. It speaks of the salvation of Noah's family through water as being symbolic of our baptism in Christ (1 Peter 3:20-21).

Let me conclude by saying that we ought to interpret Scripture with great care so that we do not misrepresent its fundamental truths. There is a theological rule in the interpretation of Scripture that says that we should not allow Scripture to speak out of silence. This implies that we should not impute anything into Scripture that is not expressly taught or implied in any text or passage of Scripture. 

Conversely, we should not suppress the voice of Scripture when it plainly speaks into our specific situations of life. In doing that we shall be muffling the voice of God when He speaks and would heap condemnation upon ourselves! 

The Bible should remain the spiritual yardstick by which all matters touching on our faith and practice shall find resolution.

Shalom




© Ezekiel Kimosop 2019