He has Risen - What happened when He died - why Three Days - It's Worth a Thought or Two
Posted: Sunday, April 12, 2009
by Teresa Ortiz
Freelance writer/Speaker
The resurrection season has hit me in a different and more powerful way than ever before. Perhaps it's because my life is in a crossroad of sorts. Thankfully, I can see sprouts of new direction, causing excitement for all the new adventures God has in store for my entire family. Nevertheless, we cannot embrace and appreciate the new without lying to rest the old.
In this, it occurred to me that there was some unfinished business when Jesus died, which needed attending to while He was in the grave in order to lie to rest the Old Testament prophecies. Once accomplished, His resurrection would set the captives free, paving the way for victory and ushering in the New Covenant.
There are many passages of Scriptures scattered throughout the Old and New Testaments that remind me of pieces to a puzzle. Which on their own, are hard to comprehend, but once put together, build a beautiful picture (in my opinion is but a glimpse) of all that was accomplished in these three days and three nights.
I fully acknowledge my limited perspective, yet I hope it serves to encourage you to think about these things in greater depth, bringing added understanding and a new level of faith and obedience to the things of God. Thank you in advance for staying with me through this lengthy read. (I cut it down as much as I could. J)
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Psalm 22:1
"You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive; Psalm 68:18
Jesus speaks of Abraham's Bosom and Hades –
"So it was that the begger died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom…then he said. ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house, for I have five bothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.' Abraham said to Him, "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent. 'But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.'" Luke 16:22-23,27-31
Jesus on the cross –
"Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, ‘If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us." But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deed; but this Man has done nothing wrong.' Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.' And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise." Luke 23:39-43
"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Matthew 27:46
Death – Resurrection – Ascension
"Jesus, when He had cried out again with aloud voice, yielded up His Spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many." Matthew 27:50-53
Peter preaches to the Masses on the day of Pentecost, 10 days after the ascension –
"Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth…"Him, being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it, for David says, concerning Him, ‘….Because you will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption." Acts 2:22a-23-25,27
Paul speaking to church of Ephesus –
"But to each one grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore He says: ‘when He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men'. (Now this, "He ascended"-what does it mean but that He first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above the heavens, that He might fill all things.)" Ephesians 4:7-10
Peter writing to all the churches spread throughout Asia Minor –
"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls were saved through water." 1 Peter 3:18-20
Are you still with me? Whew – what a journey; I am almost done.
I'm not sure about you, but my mind was spinning with "what if" and "does that mean" kind of thoughts. When did Jesus go to Hades to preach to the disobedient spirits, if not after his death? After all, he rejoiced because he knew that His Father would not leave his soul in Hades. When did Jesus "lead captivity captive" Who were these captives – could they be the saints that died in faith of the coming Messiah? Are these the saints kept in Abraham's bosom until the resurrection? Remember Jesus told the thief who came to faith that he would be with Him in Paradise – is Paradise another name for Abraham's bosom? Did he need three full days and nights to accomplish this task? Is that why it was prophesied that Jesus would be in the grave for this exact amount of time?
What about the tormented souls in Hades – are these among the disobedient spirits (fallen angels) kept in prison until the great white throne judgment?
What about the many that came out of the graves just after the resurrection of Jesus – are these the captives led out of Abraham's bosom and did they ascend into heaven forty days later as Jesus did?
Now I leave you with your thoughts – please feel free to share then with me
Happy Resurrection Day!
Thanks for the article.You are welcome. Thank you for reading, I appreciate it very much! Big blessings to you! Teresa
Very thought provoking article. You should write more on the subject! Great job getting all of those verses together, wow. I think once Jesus had died for our sins He was able to lead the captivity to God's eternal home for them. All of the saints that died in faith, but before Christ's atoning death. But what did He preach? Great stuff to ponder. I think there is so much in our future for us to know, the things God has planned for us, that we could just not even imagine or comprehend now. Praise God for His eternal love and goodness!Hi Brian, it is alot to ponder. Maybe I will break these thoughts down and write some more on them individually. Thanks for the encouragement.It was more like he proclaimed the victory, the truth about himself. We know it wasn't preaching the gospel as in giving them a second chance to choose him. Luke 16 makes that clear and Hebrews, our choice is before we breathe our last.Thanks for all your awesome thought provoking devotionals on WWBS!Blessings to you! Teresa
Yeah now my head is spinning to Teresa...so Jesus did have to go to Hades as well after he died on the cross...am I right or wrong? If I am right, that is so sad. But he did it for US, he sure must love us all do to that. I am going to have to read your article again. I find the bible hard to comprehend as well...but your articles are great and help me understand things better.HI Kathy,Yes, you are right. And it is sad, to say the least. It is one of the things that amazes me that Jesus would leave the throne of heaven in all his holiness to become a man, to be separated from his Father for three days and nights and face a death he did not deserve, yes, too much to fathom. How can we dismiss His call for holiness?Big hugs and blessings! Teresa
Hi Sis!Awesome article. Is it not the faithful of the old testament that Jesus went to bring out, the "captivity captive", as stated in your article?Your passion is what draws me to your work. If you didn't care I wouldn't read.Yes, I believe it is the saints of the old testament who went to Abraham's bosom. Because until Jesus Resurrected, nobody's spirit went to heaven. And since there will be nobody in Hell (the lake of fire) until the great white throne judgement of non-believers, those spirit's went to hades and still do today.Lots and Lots of good stuff!Thanks for everything!!!!!Sis
What an honor it is to read your work! Thank you!HI Anon,Wow, I don't know ow to respond to this, thank you and praise the Lord, it is all about Him, I just want to my part and share what I am learning along the Way.Blessings to you! Teresa
Teresa,Just the title has me. I've marked/flagged this as a favorite so that I may go back to read it more thoroughly; say, like take notes. (smile)Hi Ronyae, thanks so much! There is alot to ponder. I have been encouraged to write about these individual thoughts in more depth, I am working on it, but it will take me awhile to get there. It will go on the list.Thanks again! Be blessed as you take notes and study :-)Blessings! TeresaTeresa,If anyone can do it-YOU CAN! I know this, and trust me, I know it's going to take a climb of Jacob's Ladder, but the victory and finished product will be worth that climb!Stay Blessed, and Keep Up the Great Writing
Great info, great writing. Thanks, Teresa for sharing your heart and knowledge. I always look forward to reading your articles.Hi Lorrie, thank you. I know it falls short, but I hope its a good start :-)Thanks for reading and your encouraging words.Blessings! TeresaDoesn't fall short at all! I always learn and am blessed by your writing.Thank you Lorrie, praise our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ! I am glad there was a great turn out for the tea party.
"After which, I will do my best to put these pieces together in a thought-provoking manner that will instill a new appreciation for the tremendous power of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ"Not sure if you did this at the end of the article or if you plan to do so in another. You ask questions but I don't see a putting of any pieces together.One of the problems I had growing up and attending catechism is that I heard a lot of stories, history, but little in the way of informing in everyday, non-pie-in-the-sky terms how best to live my life, the main reason I left the Catholic Church and have avoided most Christian denominations that throw stories around with little meaning. If I can't feel the spirit, and today my faith allows me to do so in amazing, moving, important ways that has brought great focus and purpose to my life, then I avoid. Over the last 15 years I have been daily guided with great purpose and prescient knowledge that has come to fruition time and again. I have used the spirit to lead me in all things, whether finding the airport and airline for my wife as we were late for her flight to building a spiritually guided business built upon the foundation of practical information that my clients rave about. God lives and His power is greatest when faith applied in specific, accurate, thorough, un-confusing ways, when we step into the dark faithing the light to come. Peace!.Hi Jeff, thanks for reading and the comment.If reading the prophetic scriptures and the fulfillment scriptures and looking at Abraham's bosom and Hades did not bring to your mind the power of the God, and want you to re-visit this portion of the death and resurrection, then I am sorry. We can't touch everybody :-)My intent was not to answer these questions for the reader, but to encourage at least one or two people to consider them and reread these passages for themselves. Scripture is so rich and the word of God so alive and active that we can never learn it all one time through.I have never been Catholic, but I do remember going to classes with some of my friends when I was a kid who were and I remember movies and stories about their tradition, and I thought it was wierd that they didn't read out of the bible. As you might guess, I prefer going to a church that reads and teaches from the bible in a non-denominational fellowship.I guess a meaningless story is dependent upon the one taking it in. Everyone is touched in different ways.The Holy Spirit is indeed our guide. The Godhead is amazing!You say faith works when we apply it in specific and acurate ways. I wonder how you define accurate when in your own words you say no bible is reliable. What is your plumbline? I guess we don't need to go here again.Jesus said to test all spirits to see if they are of God or not. There are deceibing spirits and we can just base it on our hearts because God says our hearts are deceitfully wicked. I am glad He is faithful to keep his word so that I have a place to take all thoughts and teachings to - as a means of testing the spirits to be sure I am applying my faith in Christ in an accurate way.Thanks again for reading. Blessings to you,Teresa
Wow! Teresa, Another very tremendous article. Certainly this is your passion and I am glad I came across you. Wonderful . Keep writting and reviving us.SwapnaHI Swapna, I have missed you :-) Praying all is good for you on the other side of the planet :-)Thank you for the encouraging words! Blessings, Teresa
hi i think this a great article keep writin
Hello Madi,Thank you for reading and for your comment. I appreciate the encouragement.God bless you!
More comments