Dump idea Jesus went to hell

In Jesus Christ’s Luke 16 parable about the rich man and the poor beggar named Lazarus, the rich man goes unnamed.

“When God didn’t give him a name, theologians made up a name and that’s why the Catholic Vulgate calls him ‘Dives,’ which is the Latin term for ‘rich man,’ ” explains Richard Jordan. “Lazarus, who was saved, had a name, but when you die and go to hell you lose all your identity; you lose all the stuff you think . . . you’re trying to be somebody, make yourself something, stand out, but you go to hell and you’ll be a nobody!

“People say, ‘Well, if I go to hell I’ll have a lot of friends.’ You won’t have any that recognize you and think highly of you for being there. They’ll think you’re as big a fool as they are because they’ll remember the opportunity you had to get out--a free pass to get out, the blood of Jesus Christ, and you didn’t take it. You see, all the excuses people use to be ‘smart’ are really dumb.

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“In time past, what the Bible calls hell--the place where the departed go--had two compartments. While the rich man went down to the torment side, Lazarus was in the paradise side, or Abraham’s bosom. When Jesus Christ died, He and the thief went down to paradise in the heart of the earth.

“In II Corinthians 12, Paul is caught UP into paradise; he’s caught up into the third heaven. Between Luke 23 and II Corinthians 12, paradise got moved.

“Paul writes in Ephesians 4, [7] But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
[8] Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
[9] (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
[10] He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

“There’s an issue of captivity that Jesus Christ has liberated us from. Isaiah talks about how he ‘takes captive those whose captives you were.’ Literally Jesus has liberated a captivity that had taken possession of the earth and the heavens.

“It’s important to understand what that captivity is. The captivity is the not the issue of the Old Testament saints being taken to heaven. The captivity has to do with the fact the heavens and earth have been placed into a bondage of corruption by sin and has a god other than the Most High God.

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“When Paul says ‘he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth,’ there’s a real odd kind of a doctrine that goes around based on that verse used to teach that when Jesus Christ died, between His death and His resurrection, what He did was descend into hell, that is into the torment side of hell, and that somehow in hell that’s when He suffered your hell and ‘dumped your sins.’

“I’m going to tell you this passage means something entirely different from that. The Bible never talks about Jesus dying and going to hell. Where does that idea come from? The idea that Jesus went to hell and dumped your sins is really a pagan idea, not a Bible idea.

“If you were raised in a religious system like I was, every Sunday we would go to church and during the morning service we would repeat the Apostle's Creed.

“The idea that Jesus descended into hell after His death and before His resurrection is not a bible doctrine; it’s a doctrine of the Apostle’s Creed. It’s a church tradition, and because you hear it repeated over and over and over again you think, ‘Well, the Apostle's Creed came from the apostles—must be right,’ and you forget it really came from a bunch of dead church fathers.

“Any time you’re going to trust the early church fathers you got to remember that the last thing Paul tells you in II Timothy is, ‘All they which are in Asia be turned away from me.’

“When you see Paul finish out his ministry, he says, ‘All those people out there—you know what? They’ve left me.’ They didn’t forsake the Lord Jesus Christ or the Bible; they just left the word rightly divided.

“What you do when you start reading the early church fathers is you instantly see these are guys who are trying to promote Israel’s program. So why would you go to people so confused they don’t even know who they are in Christ to find sound doctrine?! You know better.

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“From Matthew 27, we know from 12 o’clock noon to three p.m., when Christ is on the Cross, there’s darkness, ‘And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’

“During those hours of darkness, there was something happening that caused Jesus Christ to cry this from the Cross. He speaks 7 times, three before this and three after, so this is the central issue on the Cross; there’s something going on inside of Him that causes Him to cry that.

“Now, every time Jesus spoke from the Cross, He quoted Scripture. In this saying, He’s quoting Psalm 22, telling you what’s going on inside of Him. ‘Out of the heart the mouth speaks.’

“What happened on the Cross was not simply the physical; there was a spiritual transaction taking place. Psalm 22:2 says, ‘O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.’

“In other words, Jesus is praying to the Father, and when that darkness came, He’s praying to the Father still. Why doesn’t God answer Him?

“As the passage goes on, [3] But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
[4] Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
[5] They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
[6] But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

“So Christ knows why the Father’s not answering Him. In that darkness the Lord Jesus Christ was being ‘made sin’ for us. It was in that moment He was being made sin and God’s pure eyes can’t look upon sin.

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“We sing, ‘Alas and did my Savior die for such a worm as I,’ but when Jesus said, ‘I’m a worm and no man,’ He meant something much more than that.

“Mark 9:43 says, [43] And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched.

“When a person dies and goes to hell, the Bible uses the term ‘worm’ to describe their soul in hell. A worm is a degenerated form—you know, there’s this idea in the world that we started out a little Platymantis, a tadpole swimming in the sea, ‘then I tucked my tail in and got out on the banks and pretty soon I was a professor with a Ph.D. and here I am.’

“What your old sin nature tells you is you started there and you’re going there, but the Bible says you started in paradise and now you’re on your way to the puddle.

“You know what sin does? It brings death. Sin doesn’t elevate your life; it doesn’t improve your life. That’s why when the Bible describes ‘the second death,’ or the death of your soul, it literally describes the degenerative nature of sin. Not just the wrath of God against sin, the consuming fire of punishment--sin has an impact on your soul just like it has on your physical body.

“What Jesus Christ did on the Cross was He literally suffered, experienced in His inner man, in His soul, YOUR second death.

“When He said, ‘I’m a worm and not a man,’ He was describing the transformation in His soul that the Bible calls ‘the second death.’ Not just your hell but where hell’s going to be dumped out into ‘the lake of fire.’ He literally was suffering, experiencing FOR YOU your second death.

“When did He do that? He did it on the Cross. Who is it that has the power of death? Hebrews says Satan did before Christ took it away from him.

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“I Peter 2 says, [21] For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
[22] Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
[23] Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
[24] Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

“Where did Jesus Christ bury your sins timewise? On the tree. Now, the preaching of the Cross is something Paul started. Why does Peter say ‘on the tree’? Paul says ‘Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.’ The timing of this is clear; it’s on the tree, on the Cross.

“We see from I Peter the spiritual healing He provided for you on the Cross. Isaiah 53 describes that. When Peter says ‘by whose stripes ye were healed,’ that’s Isaiah 53 and that’s what He was fulfilling on the Cross. Isaiah 53:5 says, [5] But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

“Verse 10 says, [10] Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

“When it says ‘he bore our sins in his own body,’ what’s inside the body? 

His soul! He suffered your spiritual death. Verse 11: [11] He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

“The whole passage is talking about what He did on the Cross. Understand, when He said, ‘It’s finished,’ that was finished. It’s done.

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“People are always itching to say, ‘Well, what about I Peter 3?!’ There’s a great controversy over this passage and so it’s called ‘the great dissension passage,’ and by that, they mean, ‘This is the passage that’s used to say Christ descended into hell.’

“I Peter 3:18-19 reads, ‘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:
[19] By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
[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.

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“A common teaching is that Jesus, when He died, He went down and ‘preached unto the spirits in prison, the spirits that during the days of Noah . . . you remember II Peter 2:4-5? [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;
[5] And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly.’

“Those angelic creatures back there, those ‘sons of god,’ came down and so corrupted the humanity that caused the Flood to be happening, so that God judged those angels, put them down in a place called the bottomless pit--if you like Greek words it’s called ‘Tartarus’—and has them in chains of darkness.

“The idea that Jesus went down and preached to those dudes--notice it doesn’t say He went down there and dumped your sins, so if you want you to use that passage, He dumped a MESSAGE on them, if that’s what you think it’s talking about.

“The problem with that is that makes absolutely no sense at all! What would He preach to them?! Did He say, ‘Hey, you dudes need to get saved!’ It’s a little late for that. You can’t go from there to here; you can’t get out of the torment side into the paradise. It’s TOO LATE, so what in the world is He preaching to them? They’re ‘reserved in chains unto judgment,’ Jude 6 says. They’re not going to get out of the judgment.

“Some people say, ‘Well, He was preaching how He won the victory!’ I think, ‘Who does it say He preached to?’ It says ‘the spirits who were once disobedient in the days of Noah.’ Is that the only people He got the victory over?! What about all the lost people who didn’t have anything to do with Noah that aren’t these angels in chains of darkness? Did He just ignore them?

“By the way, if Paul is given a ‘secret message’ about the Cross that tells you about the victory at Calvary, and yet those dudes in hell knew about it before Paul did, isn’t there something of a contradiction in your mind?! Again, you’ve got to ignore right division.

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“I Peter says he preached ‘when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah.’ Peter is describing what went on in the days of Noah. I Peter 1:11 says the ‘Spirit of Christ testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.’

“Remember verse 10: [10] Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:

“It’s talking about Christ through the Holy Spirit. How would He have preached in the days of Noah? II Peter 2:5 says ‘Noah was a preacher of righteousness.’ How do you think Jesus preached through His Spirit in the days of Noah? He preached through Noah.

“God says in Genesis 6:3 that ‘My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.’ The Spirit of God was striving with man through the preaching of Noah, telling the world, ‘Judgment’s coming.’

“What’s happening in Noah’s day is a picture of exactly what the situation was with Israel in the time Peter’s writing. It’s a picture of what’s happening to Israel as they face the tribulation. That’s why he uses the Noah illustration and you see in verses 21-22 they’re saved ‘by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: [22] Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.’ ”

(new article tomorrow)