Where did Jesus go after His death? Pt. 1
By Ivan Ho 15 July 2024
There’s a general confusion about “Jesus going to hell” after his death on the cross, due to one of the statements in “the apostles’ creed“. It would be better if we say: “Jesus went to “Hades” or “Sheol” which are translated into “hell” in some bible translation (KJV).
The truth is, Jesus didn’t go to hell to deal with the devil, or as some preachers may suggest, being tormented by the devil in hell after his death on the cross. Some even go as far as to say that Jesus was born again in hell which is an erroneous doctrine.
Jesus had no business with the devil nor the souls being tortured in hell. For 3 days after his death, Jesus went to a place called paradise to preach to the souls of the righteous dead (the righteous saints during OT time, not just the Jews). Upon his resurrection, Jesus took all the souls who responded in faith to Jesus from paradise to heaven, before His Spirit returned to His body lying in the tomb, and His body resurrected!
Jesus is God who came to earth as a human person. He laid down His divine identity and came as a servant, but He never lost His divine nature during His life on earth. Jesus was fully God and fully man when He walked on earth. When Jesus died, His physical body died and was buried, but His own Spirit did not cease to exist nor did He descend to hell.
Contrary to some teachings, the Holy Spirit did not raise the Spirit of Jesus from the dead as if there are two distinct Spirits. In reality, Jesus’s own Spirit returned to His body three days after His death. Notice the word of God says “the Spirit of Him” (Spirit of Christ) raised His body from the dead:
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
On the cross before His death, Jesus said to one of the thieves who was crucified next to Him: “Today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23: 42-43 ), proofing that paradise was where Jesus went after His death on the cross.
Where Jesus went after His death 2