MAP | MONDAY 24-04-2023 | DID JESUS GO TO HELL?

 MAP | MONDAY 24-04-2023 | DID JESUS GO TO HELL? 

*CHAPTER 1- Hades (Sheol)*

●  I'm gonna explain to you all of the different words that are used in the Bible to describe hell

●  The first word is the Old Testament Hell Hebrew word Sheol which was the general word that was used throughout the Old Testament to refer to the basic general place where both the righteous and the unrighteous went and so because of that it is better translated as the grave rather than hell because once again both the righteous and unrighteous went there.

●  As a matter of fact, we can see this because King David who we believe to be a righteous man saw himself going to this place called Sheol or the grave and he trusted that God would not abandon his soul to this place called Sheol.

●  Therefore, my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices, my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your holy ones see corruption.– Psalm 16:9–10

●  Now because the Old Testament does not go into a lot of depth on the subject of Hell and their understanding of Hell was not that involved or developed at this time.

● We then now need to move forward to the new testament because Jesus and the New Testament writers give us a whole lot more detail on this subject of hell.

● And so the New Testament Greek counterpart to the Old Testament word Sheol is the Greek word New Testament Hell is Hades and this is translated several times in the New Testament as hell.

● Now the central passage that will give us a little bit more information about this compartment of Hell once again there are three different compartments of Hell is in Luke chapter 16.

● Luke 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 

● Luke 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 

● Luke 16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 

● Luke 16:25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 

● Luke 16:26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 

● Luke 16:27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: 

● Luke 16:28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 

● Luke 16:29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 

● Luke 16:30  And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 

● Fact 1 | Pay close attention to the contrast that Jesus is

setting up in this story. You have a rich man and then you have a beggar. You also have a gate that is separating this beggar from this rich man so that no matter how much this beggar wants to cross over into this rich man's home.

●  Luke 16:21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 

●  Fact 2 | The beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried and being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.

●  HELL COMPARTMENT NUMBER 1 | PLACE OF TORMENTS

● Luke 16:23  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 

● Luke 16:24  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 

● Luke 16:28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 

● Now there are several things that we can learn here about Hades 

● Number one : This rich man did not go there because he was rich but he went there because he was evil

● Number two : It is a place of pain or torment

● Number three : It is a place of memory

● Luke 16:23  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

● Luke 16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

●  Number four : It is a place of separation most importantly a place of separation from God but also separation from loved ones who will eventually go to heaven.

●  Luke 16:25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 

●  Luk 16:26  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 

●  Note that there is a gulf that is fixed between the place of torments and Hades and this place called Paradise which is the place where the Old Testament believers went and were comforted.

●  VICTORIOUS PROCLAMATION

Because even believers were filled and contaminated with sin, they were not qualified to go directly into the presence of God in the Old Testament because payment for their sin had not yet been paid for until the coming of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross.

●  And so, they were not tormented in Hades but they were comforted in this place called Paradise which is the reason why when Jesus was on the cross, he didn't say that the man who repented of his sins would go directly to heaven.

●  He said, "Today, you will be with me in paradise" Luk 23:43

●  Why? because Jesus had not yet provided payment for the sins of mankind.

●  But notice here in 1st Peter chapter 3 Peter gives us some insight as to exactly what Jesus did after he died on the cross.

●  1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 

●  1 Peter 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 

●  What many theologians believe is that what happened at the cross was that Jesus provided payment for our sins by his blood to the Father thus now allowing these Old Testament Saints to now be transferred into the presence of God because. 

●  Now, when God looks at them, he does not see their sins but he sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ that covers a multitude of sins and so basically, it is believed by theologians that this place called paradise that was once full of Old Testament believers is now empty and all of these believers are now in the presence of God. 

●  Which is the reason why the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 

●  So, the understanding now is that whenever we die we don't go to this place called paradise but rather we go directly into the presence of God.

●  HELL COMPARTMENT PART 2 | TARTARUS

● Now you may be wondering about that last little phrase where it says that Jesus preached to the spirits that are in prison. 

● Well, now I'm going to introduce you to the next compartment of Hell which is another greek word used in the New Testament only once and that is the word Tartarus.

● 2 Peter 2:4, "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment"

● In our English verses it just says hell but the greek word behind is TARTARUS.

● This is a different compartment of hell called Tartarus where a group of angels that had sinned against God and are reserved for judgment.

● We find it also says in 

● Jud 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. 

● Now, apparently the demons were aware that there was this other place where some of their other demonic friends were being held in Chains awaiting judgment.

● As a matter of fact we read

Luke 8:31 And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. 

● So, even these demons knew that there was a place where they did not want to go and this was the abyss, the bottomless pit, which many scholars believe is the same as this place called Tartarus. 

● So, right now all of the people who are unrighteous and people who do not believe in Christ are in this place called Hades specifically this place called torments receiving a punishment for their sins. 

● HELL COMPARTMENT PART 3 | THE LAKE OF FIRE

● Now, I want you to think of torments or Hades as a

temporary place where people are awaiting their final sentence or their final judgment so think of it more as the County Jail rather than prison which is going to be where they're ultimately going to live out the rest of their sentence. 

● Now, before someone gets sentenced they have to be judged and so this leads us to now the second judgment Great White Throne which is called the great white throne judgment in Revelation chapter 20.

● Jesus gives us some details about this judgment. 

● Revelation 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

● Revelation 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 

●  Revelation 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. 

●  Notice here the sea gave up the dead who were in it and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them and they were judged each one according to his works.

●  So, the lake of fire is the third compartment of Hell which is currently now empty. Why? Because this great white throne judgment has not yet taken place.

●  And so, this is a place that has been reserved for the devil and his angels and his followers.

●  Matthew 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 

●  This lake of fire is called Gehenna because just outside of Jerusalem there is a little valley called the Valley of Hinnom.

●  This is what theologians believe that Jesus used to get this word Gehenna where sacrifices were made or all of the trash was dumped or dead bodies were dumped. Sacrifices were made by way of fire and it was believed that there was a fire that was continually burning in this trash dump just outside of Jerusalem.

●  The New Testament describes heaven as the New Jerusalem and it says that people who do not believe in Christ will be cast out where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

●  So, Jesus knowing that his listeners understood exactly what this place the Valley of Hinnom was all about and how no one wanted to end up there. 

●  Hell is going to be the same way. It's gonna be a place of fire, a place of torments where even the worm will not die.

●  So, to recap, we can view Hell as having three basic places 

●  - First of all there is the place called torments where unbelievers and unrighteous are experiencing different levels of torment.

●  - Then, you have this place called Tartarus or the abyss or the bottomless pit where there are a certain number of angels or demons rather that are being held there awaiting their everlasting judgement 

●  - And then you have this place called Gehenna the lake of fire that is currently empty where one day all of the people from the county jail so to speak will then be transferred over to once they are permanently and eternally sentenced to separation from God.

●  DID JESUS SPEND THREE DAYS TO HELL BETWEEN HIS DEATH AND HIS RESURRECTION?

●  Fact 1 | Jesus went somewhere during these three days. 

●  Matthew 12:39  But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 

●  Matthew 12:40  For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 

●  We know that Jesus body was in the tomb for three days and

three nights but the question on the table is, "where was

Jesus spirit during this time?"

●  INTERPRETATION 1

Now the first interpretation is that Jesus went to hell to suffer for our sins. 

●  Now, we clearly reject this particular interpretation because it creates this idea that whatever Jesus did on the cross to accomplish our salvation in terms of his suffering and his death wasn't sufficient or wasn't good enough that he needed to suffer even more by going to hell and suffering further there. 

●  Now, we know that is an erroneous interpretation because in John chapter 19 verse 30 Jesus said this on the Cross, IT IS FINISHED. 

●  It is finished means there's nothing more that I need to do. I have accomplished everything that I've come here to do which is to die on the cross for your sins. 

●  So, I don't believe that interpretation.

●  INTERPRETATION 2 |

The next interpretation is that Jesus actually made two different visits in between his crucifixion and his resurrection.

●  VISIT 1 | HADES

The first visit is that Jesus went to HADES to lead a host of old testament saints that were being held captive to be able to go into heaven.

●  This is what Paul was talking about in Ephesians chapter 4.

●  Ephesians 4:8  Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 

●  Ephesians 4:9  (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 

●  Ephesians 4:10  He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 

●  He said, "Hey I know you guys have been waiting for a while. It's time to take you up to heaven where you can be with the

Father because i've paid the price for your sins". 

●  And so, therefore he led those who were being captive to heaven 

but there's a second place.

●  VISIT 2 | TARTARUS

Between his crucifixion and his resurrection, Jesus actually went to hell to make a victorious proclamation that 

●  --- Sin, Satan and Death have all been destroyed once and for all. 

●  1 Peter 3:19-20

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

●  1 Peter 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 

●  1 Peter 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. 

●  Some people will suggest that what's happening here

is that Jesus made a trip to hell to preach the Gospel right to to proclaim the gospel to give people another opportunity to be saved.

False.

●  Well these spirits in prison are actually angels

and angels can't be saved anywaybut not only that we know that the bible says it is appointed for a man to die once and after that the judgment.

●  So, that's another false teaching.

●  There are a couple of different words for the word preach 

●  1- One is the greek word euangelion from which we get our

english word for evangelism and that's the idea of proclaiming the good news or preaching the Gospel. 

●  2- That's not the Greek word that Peter used here. He actually uses another word kérussó -- to be a herald ... which basically means to make a proclamation or to proclaim some sort of thing or herald something and that's what is in view here.

●  CONCLUSION : VICTORIOUS PROCLAMATION

●  Somewhere between Jesus crucifixion and his resurrection, Jesus went and he made a victorious proclamation to these fallen angels and saying 

1- Sin has been destroyed 

2- Satan has been destroyed

3- Victory has been achieved

4- Col 2:15  Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 

5- I now hold the key of hell and of death Rev 1:18. 

6- I now hold all power, riches, glory, wealth, honour, wisdom, strength and blessing. Rev 5:12

●  VICTORIOUS PROCLAMATION 

1- “No weapon that is formed against me will prosper” (Isaiah 54:17)

2- "You who are in me are greater than he who is in the world" ( 1 John 4:4)

3- “My enemies shall come out against me one way and the Lord will cause them flee before me seven ways.” (Deuteronomy 28:7)

4- "They shall fight against me; but they shall not prevail against thee" (Jeremiah 1:19 / Matthew 16:18)

5- "The very hairs of my head are all numbered and not a hair on my head will be lost." (Luke 12:7/ 21:18)

6- I will see the downfall of the enemy in my life. He will not see the downfall of my life. ( Rev 12:7)

7- I shall arise. I shall prevail. I shall overcome. ( Micah 7:8)

8- Any craftiness of the enemy against me will be exposed.

9- No devil will hurt me ( Luke 10:18-19)

10- My feet are anointed to crush the enemy ( 1 John 4:4)

11- No weapon formed against me will prosper ( Isa 54:17)

12- You will turn every adversity into victory and will grant me a successful ending of any struggles or contests ( 2 Cor 2:14)

13- Greater is he that is in me, than he that is in the world (  1 John 4:4)

14- The evil plan of men against me will never hinder the fulfillment of your good plan for me ( Rev 12:4-5)

15-All the attempts of the devil to harm me will fail, will not succeed, will fall short and will be unsuccessful in the Name Of Jesus Christ!

16- What God is about to do for me is known from no witch and no wizard. As a matter of fact, the news of my promotion will be a shock to the devil and his agents in the Name Of Jesus Christ!

17- Those who look for me and who monitor me to harm me will not find you in the name of Jesus Christ! 

18- "The enemy has no right to prevail over me"

19- The same way it is impossible for the devil to prevail over Christ, the same way it is impossible for the devil to prevail over me who is in Christ"

20- "I confess 1 John 4:4 and declare that greater is he that is in me, than he that is in the world"

Pastor TD KASUKU