"Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it," (Acts 2:24).
"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man," (Heb. 2:9).
"Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father," (John 10:17-18).
"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," (Matthew 12:40).
The thought of Jesus being sent to hell to suffer in the flames has been so controversial that it has been laid aside. What Jesus accomplished on the Cross has become so magnified until some believe that the victory of Jesus is tied to the Cross alone. They cannot see beyond it. The New Testament records so little of the life of Jesus. He disappears from our view between the ages of 12 and 30. So, we are silent. He also disappears from our view for three days while His Body lays in the tomb. In this instant, however, scripture is not so silent.
Interestingly enough, even though Jesus commands his disciples to follow him (e.g., Mt. 10:38, 16:24; Mark 8:24, 10:21; Luke 9:23), a point in time comes when He says, "Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come," (John 7:34). The apostles questioned among themselves, "What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come?" (vs. 36). Antiquity records that many of Jesus' disciples died as martyrs; Peter was even crucified upside down, stating that he was not worthy to die as his Lord had. We can follow Jesus to the Cross; he tells us to take up our cross and follow him. We know that He has gone to prepare a place for us in heaven and that we're to be with him eternally. So, we can follow Him to glory. The only place we could not follow was hell. There would be no one to witness the price that He would pay in that place. And perhaps that's why we are so silent. There is nothing but the testimony of scriptures to give us at least a glimpse of what may have happened in the "belly of the earth".
Here is my perspective. Jesus became sin. The sin of the world was upon him and had to be destroyed in the fires of hell. I believe He felt the tormenting flames and because of that his soul travailed until the ultimate penalty for our sins and the wrath of God was satisfied. ("He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied" - Isa. 53:11). The flames could not destroy Jesus, only the sin.
There is an obscure scripture that I believe holds the revelation of what happened to Jesus.
"Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water," (Numbers 31:23).
I am of the opinion that when Jesus went to hell with our sin, he had to stand in the flames to destroy the sin; yet he himself came out clean. I believe that as long as sin was upon him, he was "tasting" the death that he never meant for mankind to experience. Afterward, I believe he was "loosed from the pains of death" according to the scriptures. I believe he won the victory over death, hell and the grave and those keys were brought up with him when he came up out of the grave. The flames held no more power against him and now the "second death" cannot harm us.
"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power..." (Rev. 20:6).
The story of Jonah was a prophetic picture Jesus used to show how he would be three days in the hell. I believe the story of the three Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace is a prophetic picture as well. He was showing us that when we walk with him, the fire will not harm us.
We Go Through Water
Numbers 31:23 tells us that whatsoever cannot endure the fire, must go through the water. God in His great mercy allows us to identify with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ by going through the waters of baptism because we could not endure going through the fires of hell. After we have received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we are spiritually transformed. We then receive not only water baptism, and Holy Spirit baptism, but a baptism of fire! (Mt. 3:11; Lk. 3:16).
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