Question: Often the question is posed, “Where did Jesus go when He died?” When I read Ephesians 4:9, where it says, “…He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth,” it seems to be talking about hell. Where do we go when we die? I know it’s supposed to be a resting place (Abraham’s bosom), but what about the scripture which speaks of Jesus returning with His saints on the last day? I had assumed that the unsaved would go straight to hell; but it speaks of the ocean, etc., giving up its dead, and the dead being judged, and then put into hell. I would appreciate any ideas or scriptures on the above.
Answer: First, it is my understanding that Ephesians 4:9 does not refer to Jesus going into hell or even to the grave. Let me insert the full context here. “Wherefore he saith, 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.)” Ephesians 4:8-10. This passage refers to Jesus ascending into heaven. But it also states that He first descended into the lower parts of the earth. It must be evident that He would have to descend before He could ascend into heaven because He was in heaven as the eternal Word of God before He came down to earth at His incarnation. This passage refers, as I understand it, to the condescension and exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The “lower parts of the earth” in this text would refer to the depths of His condescension down to the poorest of the poor and the lowest of the low that His redemption might reach all people from that level clear on to the top. He did not come to a king’s palace; He did not sit upon a king’s throne; He was not arrayed in royal robes. But He was born in a stable, cradled in a manger and during His lifetime here had no place to lay His head, nor possessed anything of earth. Surely this could be described as the “lower parts of the earth.”
I Corinthians 15:47 says, “The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.” The first man was Adam; the second man was Jesus and the text says He was from heaven. John 3:13 says, “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” Jesus said again in John 6:38, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” But Jesus also said in John 6:62, “What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?” All these texts and others teach us that Christ was in heaven before He came to earth; that He came from heaven to earth and when His mission on earth was accomplished, He returned to heaven from earth and the One who descended is the same One who ascended.
Philippians 2:7 declares that Jesus totally divested Himself (emptied Himself) of all His glory and oneness with the Father and became as a servant and was made in the likeness of men. This was truly a great descension for the Lord of glory. But verse 8 says He humbled Himself even more and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross which was very ignominious. But verses 9-11 declare how God highly exalted Him because of this and set Him at His own right hand far above all others. (Ephesians 1:20-21.) Paul was speaking of the same condescension and exaltation of Christ in Philippians 2:6-11 and Ephesians 4:8-10, as I see it.
Now we will notice some scriptural references to hell whereby we may be able to answer two questions in one where Jesus went when He died and where the unsaved go when they die. “Hell” in the New Testament, is translated from two Greek words Hades meaning “not to see,” and refers to the unseen or spirit world which is the place of departed spirits after death; and Gehenna which refers to the lake of fire or eternal abode of the damned. In Acts 2:27 Peter referred to a prophecy concerning Jesus in Psalm 16:10. “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” Some have supposed from this statement, together with I Peter 3:19 where it mentions preaching to the spirits in prison, that at the time of Christ’s death He descended into hell and preached to the souls there and offered them a chance of salvation. But do not be misled. Had that ever happened, there would not have been a single soul left in there. Every soul there would escape from that place if they had opportunity. Here Hades is the word from which “hell” is translated and refers to the place of departed spirits after death and it was into this invisible spirit world (paradise) that Christ entered at the time of His death. He said to the penitent thief on the cross, “…To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43. Another reference is made to this same thing in Acts 2:31. “…His soul was not left in hell,…” (Hades).
In Luke 16 we have the story of the rich man and Lazarus. In verse 23, it is said that the rich man lifted up his eyes in hell being in torments, etc. Again the word here is Hades signifying the place of departed souls after death and not Gehenna which refers to the eternal abode of the damned. He was to be cast into that place later on after the judgment. There are four places in the book of Revelation which mention “Death and hell,” and in each case the word is Hades. They are: Revelation 1:18; Revelation 6:8; Revelation 20:13; and Revelation 20:14.
In the following texts, the word “hell” is translated from the Greek word, Gehenna meaning the lake of fire and eternal abode of the damned; Matthew 5:22; 5:29; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15; 23:33; Mark 9:43; 9:45; 9:47; Luke 12:5; and James 3:6. However, since all the questions at hand have to do with the term Hades, and can be answered within that framework, I will not take up time and space with this phase as it lies outside the area of the question and is not necessary.
It seems that Hades (the unseen, invisible spirit world; that place of departed souls after death) has two parts to it which are equivalent to the “right hand” and “left hand” (Matthew 25:33) a place for the saved and a separate place for the unsaved, and the term is used without respect to misery or happiness, peace or torment.
Let me say in regard to Jesus bringing all the saints who sleep in Jesus with Him when He comes to judgment (I Thessalonians 4:13-18); that the same power of God who brought the soul of Jesus Christ back from paradise to enter the resurrected, glorified body of Jesus; that same power can gather out the departed souls of all the saints who are there and bring them to enter their resurrected, glorified, spiritual bodies and then catch them away to meet the Lord in the air and so shall they ever be with Him. In fact, that world will be entirely vacated and emptied at that time and both the righteous and wicked, saved and unsaved will be gathered out and brought to judgment, and everyone will receive the reward of his deeds. Hades will have no more purpose then and will utterly be destroyed and pass out of existence.
