Theology Matters Conference 24, Day 1 - The Descent of Christ to Hades: Part 2
When I said in Part 1 that if we go mining, we could find gold, let’s see.
Let’s look at three places in Scripture where the descent is mentioned or spoken about: Jonah and the Big Fish, Peter’s Pentecost Sermon, and John’s Revelation of the Keys of Death and Hades.
Jonah
Jesus, speaking to Pharisees who were demanding signs and wonders, said, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt 12:39–40).
Jesus takes the story of Jonah and applies it to himself, and the reference to “heart of the earth” is a Jewish idiom for Sheol. Jesus tells the people that he will spend three days in Sheol and, like Jonah, will return.
Pentecost
Peter, in his first sermon following Pentecost, quotes Psalm 16:10, which was originally written by/about David, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” Peter is saying that David died, and he’s still dead, his tomb was in Jerusalem (Acts 2:29), Jesus died but had risen again, showing he was not just king over the people, but God’s eternal Holy One, king over death. Peter is framing Jesus as both the Jewish Messiah (Christ) and as God himself (Lord),
“Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” Acts 2:36
The Keys of Death & Hades
Not only this, but Jesus descended to Sheol and stole the keys! He is now the master and has authority over death and Hades (Sheol). Jesus, speaking to John in his Revelation, said,
“Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades” Revelation 1:17–18
There are three things here of great significance:
Jesus’s actual bodily death is presented, and in his humanity, he died willingly for us.
Jesus’ victory is affirmed – he descended to the realm of the dead and returned, the cords of death could not hold him, the gates of Hades could not be barred, and those who have died and risen in Christ (all Christians) share in his victory, co-heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven. Death and Hades no longer have authority over us!
Jesus’ authority as Messiah and Son of God is solidified. He is truly God.
He has done what we could not. Sheol is a prison without escape, but Jesus has busted us out.
Therefore, anyone trying to convince you that we can do anything at all to aid our salvation needs to think again.
At the beginning of day 1 of the TM Conference 24, Patrick asked us how we would summarise the gospel in 3 minutes and whether Jesus’ descent would have been included. The answer in my head was “probably not.”
But at the end of the day, having walked through numerous passages that speak not only about the event of the descent but the implications, this has completely changed my perspective.
I love the image of the man who walks into the eternal prison that no man has ever escaped; he takes the keys off the hook and walks straight back out as if he owned the place. Well, he does! This is not just a man but the God-man Jesus Christ, and one day, he will be back to bring the rest of his saints out of Sheol to live with him forever in the New Creation. Death will not prevail; we who are in Christ will be with him forever in the heavens, lifted out of Sheol and into his presence.