Have you ever wondered where Jesus was the day between His death and the day he was resurrected?
"This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to a cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep it's hold on him." Acts 2:23-24
I Corinthians 15 tells us the risen Christ appeared first to His disciple Peter,"and then to the Twelve. Then He appeared to more than five hundred... I was so glad to discover this verse many years ago, because I heard people ask, "How do you know Jesus was resurrected, no one ever saw Him?" Yes, lots of people alive at that time did see Christ.
Luke 24 shares the story of the risen Jesus walking on the road to Emmaus, a village about seven miles from Jerusalem, when he encounters some men who were talking among themselves about what had just happened. He joins them. They didn't recognize Him as the Lord. It wasn't until they were at the table and Jesus gave thanks and broke bread that "their eyes were opened" and they recognized Him. It's the same with us, we can't see who Jesus is until He reveals Himself.
The day between, where was Jesus, what was he doing? The Scripture doesn't give us a lot of information, but we do know this, He went to hell so those who believe in Him won't ever have to go there! Jonah was a 'type' of Christ. God asked Jonah to go to a city called Nineveh and preach His Word. This city was known to be full of 'evil', Jonah didn't want to go so he hopped a ship that was heading in the opposite direction. A storm threw Jonah overboard and he was swallowed up by a "big fish". Three days later he was vomited up on the shore of Nineveh.
I love this story because it shows so clearly that we may have our own plan, but God's desire for our life will prevail! Most Bible scholars believe that Jonah died in the belly of what was no doubt a whale. This happened about 800 yrs prior to Jesus. You might want to read Jonah's prayer in Jonah 2. When he was in the belly of the whale Jonah experienced death, hell and God's saving grace who lifted him out of that place.
The Bible speaks of three 'hells'. The Old Testament refers to hell as 'Sheol' the New Testament calls it 'Hades'. They are the same place. Revelation 20 - 21 describes the third hell, a place of unending torment which has the Greek word 'Gehenna'. We who know Jesus as our Lord and Savior will never be there.
Jesus did for us what we can't do for ourselves. We cannot erase guilt or overcome our sin by doing 'good deeds'. We can only escape hell by faith in our Savior. This is a hard truth to share and when you do, you'll no doubt take a few 'hits', I know I have. Keep sharing the truth and leave the results to God - He always wins!
I wrote a poem a few years ago using only Bible text to share the Easter story, I'm going to re-post.
REDEEMED
John 1, Matthew 27, Isaiah 52:14, Psalm 22
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God,
He was with God in the beginning.
Through Him all things were made;
without Him nothing was made
that has been made., He
became flesh and lived among us.
In Him was life, and that life was
the light of men.
The light shines in darkness,
but the darkness has not understood it.
At the appointed time in history,
foretold by prophets of old,
a bloodied and beaten body,
marred beyond human likeness,
was nailed to the cross.
The mid-day sun was replaced by
darkness over all the land.
He was heard to cry out;
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
Then, He gave up His Spirit.
At that very moment the curtain of the temple
was torn in two from top to bottom.
The law has been fulfilled
providing free access
to God the Father
through the living Word, Jesus Christ.
The earth shook that day, the rocks split,
tombs broke open
and bodies were raised to life.
Those present exclaimed,
"Surely this is the Son of God!"
It is finished.
I've been redeemed.
To God be the glory!
