Hey Calvin,
Thanks for clearing up some of that. Yeah in beginning that he didn't go to hell during that 3 day period, but he did go to hades/sheol - 1 Peter 3:19 (like the Bible says to preach to the spirits in prison). What could be the reason for him preaching to the prisoners during that 3 day period? Could it be that he forgave them and took them to paradise? Hence Jesus using the phrase - "Father forgive them" before he breathed his last.
Im thinking that Hades isn't Hell but its a place where the souls of unbelievers are kept whilst the righteous dead go to paradise. Or is the paradise Jesus is referring to here is heaven?
Just trying to get this clear...
Jake
Jake,
Allow me to quote Dr. Luke who in fact is quoting the Lord Jesus as He taught on Hades/sheol.
Luke 16:20-28........................
And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which 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 seeth 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 thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
From the words of Scripture we clearly see that the rich man is "tormented with fire" hence the name for this olace is then TORMENTS. It is divided by a FIXED GULF and the other side of the place we see is called PARADISE.
When Jesus told the man on the cros that "TODAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE" He was referring to this place. It is also callled Abrahams Bossom. So we see by the Scriptures that Hades/Sheol is a place where the souls of the lost wicked are held and also the saved souls of the believers.
We see that Jesus Himself said that "TODAY you will be with me in PARADISE". That can only mean one thing..........
Jesus actually did go into the PARADISE side of Hades/Sheol as Calvin said and that is found in Ephesians 4:8-10
"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."
When Jesus ascended, He took with Him the souls of the saints who were in PARADISE with Him to heaven and now there is no one in the PARADISE side of Hades/Sheol. The TORMENTS side of that place is still occupied and grows every second.
Peter confirms all of this in 1 Peter 3:18-19
"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the un-just, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but quicked by the Spirit. By which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prision".
Then Peter says in verse #20........
"Which were sometime (formely-past) 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".
There are excelleant Bible commentators who differ on this verse and I am not in that catagory by the way. But to me the immediate mention of Noah would indicate to me IMO that these spirits be understood as the souls of those who heard and then rejected the preaching of Noah, since they were the largest group of mankind to ever experience the universal judgment of God at one time.