DID JESUS GO TO HELL?

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE BELIEF THAT JESUS WENT TO HELL!

Over the centuries, perhaps billions of Christians have recited some version of the Apostles' Creed, which states that Jesus Christ descended into hell following His death, and that He arose three days later.  Unfortunately, the next line says "He ascended into heaven" which did not occur until forty days after His Resurrection (Acts 1:1-9).  Those forty days changed forever, those who had scattered upon His arrest, and subsequent Crucifixion (Mt. 26:31, 56; Mk. 14:27, 50; Jn. 16:32)!  Men who denied knowing Jesus and who had abandoned Him, were fifty days later proclaiming Jesus as the risen Messiah, the Son of God, Lord, and Savior (Acts 2:1-47)!

There are four words in the Hebrew and Greek that are translated "hell" in the King James Version;  here they are with their definitions according to Young's Analytical Concordance:

SHEOL - The unseen state.  Examples:  Deut. 32:22; Ps. 9:17; Isa. 5:14; etc.

HADES - The unseen world.  Examples:  Mt. 11:23; Acts 2:27; Rev. 20:14; etc.

GEENNA (GEHINNA) - The Valley of Hinnom (Jerusalem's huge burning trash dump outside of the city).  Examples:  Mt. 5:22, 29, 30; Jam. 3:6; etc.

TARTAROO (TARTARUS) - To send to; to sentence to hell.  There is but one example:  2 Pet. 2:4.

SCRIPTURES THAT SUPPORT JESUS DESCENDED INTO "HELL."

Psalm 16:10 - For You will not leave my soul in hell; neither will You suffer (allow) Your Holy One to see corruption.

Acts 2:27-32 - Because You will not leave my soul in hell, neither will You suffer (allow) Your Holy One to see corruption.  You have made known to me the ways of life; You shall make me full of joy with Your countenance.  Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.  Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing this before spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see corruption.  This Jesus has God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.

THE BIBLE CLEARLY EXPLAINS WHAT 
HIS DESCENT INTO "HELL" MEANS!

Luke 16:19-31 - There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:  and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, who was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table:  moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.  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; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.  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.  But Abraham said, Son, remember that you in your lifetime received good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things:  but now he is comforted, and you are tormented.  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from here to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from there.  Then he said, I pray you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house:  for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.  Abraham said unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.  And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.  And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

IRONICALLY, MANY ROSE FROM THE DEAD AND PREACHED 

CHRIST RISEN, AND THE MAJORITY OF THE JEWS STILL DENIED HIM!

Matthew 27:50-53 - Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.  And, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks broke; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

Ephesians 4:8-10 - Wherefore He said, When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.  Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?  He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things.

It is my understanding that the place of the departed dead consisted of two groups of people divided from one another by a great, impassable gulf.  One side was a place of temporary torment (it will later become part of the Lake of Fire - Rev. 20:14), and the other side was called Paradise (a.k.a. Abraham's bosom).  Jesus told the thief on the cross next to Him that following their death, they would both be together in Paradise (Lk. 23:43); Paradise is later said to be where Jesus, in heaven (2 Cor. 12:4; Rev. 2:7).  I believe when He "led captivity captive," that those in Paradise who believed in Jesus, were moved to "be ever with the Lord" (1 Th. 4:17).

So, bottom line:  did Jesus go to hell?  I do not believe He did; I believe the word "hell" refers to the place of the dead as described in Luke 16 above.  I can see Jesus preaching to those in Paradise, with those across that great divide hearing Him and grieving that they had rejected God!  Which side of the divide will you be on?  If you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I will see you soon in Paradise!