Hell – Did Jesus go to Hell?
Did Jesus go to Hell after He died? Yup! Jesus went to Hell; Sheol/Hades. It’s the place everyone went after death. Abraham (Luke 16:22-26), David (Psalms 16:10 & Acts 2:27), and all of the righteous dead went there. It’s not that He was taken to Hell or that He fought Satan in Hell. Satan has never been in Hell, but will be in Revelation times. Jesus called Hell “the Heart of the earth” that He would spend 3 days and nights in (Matt 12:40). It’s also called “the lower parts of the earth” (Eph 4:9).
Did Jesus burn in Hell? No! Jesus told the thief who was dying with Him, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:46). How can Jesus be in both paradise and Hell? It’s because paradise was in Hell. I know that sounds like 2 opposite ideas, but Hell (which is Sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek) had at least 2 compartments. There was a place for the righteous and a place for the wicked. The place for the righteous dead was paradise, also called Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:22). The place for the wicked dead in the Greek is Gehenna; a place filled with fire.
What did Jesus do in Hell? All of the righteous dead were held in Hell as prisoners… He “led captivity captive”; He set captives like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David free from Hell (Eph 4:8-10). This is why David said, “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell” (Ps 16:10). He also “preached to the spirits in prison” (1Pet 3:18), which was in Hell.
Did Jesus go to Heaven? Jesus went to Heaven 40 days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3). Did Jesus go to Heaven directly after He died? No, but at first, it may seem that way. Jesus said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). However, when Jesus rose from the dead, He said to Mary, “I have not yet ascended to my Father” (John 20:17). So where was He if He hadn’t ascended to His Father?
