“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” II Cor. 4:18 In this article we shall endeavor to investigate a number of seemingly difficult passages, comparing scripture with scripture, with the hope of shedding at least some degree of light upon them.
We are given many details about the crucifixion: those who were present, what they said, the things they did - this may be classified as those things that are seen. Many of the Old Testament scriptures give us the significance of those things (such as Isaiah chapter fifty three.) The book of Hebrews gives tremendous insight into prophetic types, identifying the high priesthood of the Lord Jesus and the Plan of Redemption. Even so, to us they remain fathomless. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!” Rom. 11:33.
No mortal man could witness the things that transpired those three days - only the placing of a body: pierced, bloody, beaten, and bruised, into a borrowed tomb. They are things not seen; things in the realm of the eternal. Because they are not seen, they are shrouded with uncertainties. We “see through a glass darkly” and the Holy Spirit must needs reveal Truth through the scriptures, else we shall not see the Lord Jesus. And Satan’s “ministers” and “religion” are ever working to twist, to change the Truth into something less; to try to deceive the true body of Christ; to weaken our faith.
IT IS FINISHED - ISN‘T IT?When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is FINISHED: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost” John 19:30. It is a cry of Victory! He has finished the work that the Father had sent him to do! Likewise the apostle Paul follows his Lord’s example: “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, [as did his Lord] I have FINISHED my course. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at that day” II Tim. 4:6-8.
“And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom” Matt. 27:53, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45. And just what significance is there in that? “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us,through the veil, that is to say, his flesh” Heb. 10:19,20. Under the old way “went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest. But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands. . .by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” Heb. 9:7-8,11-12.
“The veil was rent the moment that Christ died (Matt. 27:50), showing that the barrier between God and the contrite sinner was gone. As soon as the veil was rent it was changed from a barrierto a gateway: the moment Christ died a “newly-slain and living way” was opened for sinners to God.”
Gleanings from Exodus. The Veil. page 235. Arthur W. Pink
The veil of the temple would not, could not, be rent; until Jesus had “entered in once by his own blood into the holy place!” (the Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was now made manifest).
Notice the order: “and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice (It is finished!) he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus he gave up the ghost” Luke 23:45-46. The Greek word for “commend” is paratithemi, to place along side,to present; to deposit (as a trust or for protection) commit (the keeping of.)
Need we be reminded of the declaration of our Lord to the repentant thief: “Verily I say unto thee,Today, shalt thou be with me in Paradise. And it was about the sixth hour and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour” Luke 23:43.
There was three hours of darkness; the veil is rent; it is Finished; Jesus commends his spirit into the Father’s hands - and it was about three hours or so earlier that He had told the thief, Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise!
THE MANNER OF HIS DEATH“And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost” Luke 23:46.
“He gave up the ghost.” “Therefore doth my Father love Me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father” John 10:17,18. Did you catch that? Not only did our Lord have the power to lay down his life and take it up again: He was commanded to do so by the Father! The resurrection was an act of obedience in submission to his Father’s will. It is from this point that Jesus was supposed to have decended into hell?
“But by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place” Heb. 9:12. And when was it that Christ entered Heaven by virtue of the merits of His own blood? The writer is fully satisfied that what is affirmed in this verse took place immediately after Christ, on the cross, triumphantly cried, “It is finished.” “First, the typical priest’s entrance within the veil took place immediately after the victim’s death: its body being carried without the camp to be burned in a public place, its blood being taken into the holiest to be sprinkled on the propitiatory, covering the ark. Those closely-connected acts in the ritual were so related that, the burning followed last in order. In pouring out his blood on the cross and surrendering His spirit into the hands of the Father, Christ expiated sin, and at that very moment the veil of the temple was rent, to denote his entrance into the presence of God. No sooner had He expired, than he entered Heaven, claiming it for Himself and His seed. His resurrection testified to the fact that God had accepted His sacrifice, that justice had been fully satisfied. . .His resurrection was the antitype of Aaron’s return from the holy of holies unto the people, which was designed as a proof that Divine wrath had been averted and forgiveness secured.
An Exposition of Hebrews, pages 489-490. Arthur W. Pink
“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.” Further, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them;” II Cor. 5:18a-19. Every part of the Tabernacle was a picture of Christ, even to the high priest. Christ our High Priest set aside His royal garments [with the bells and pomegranates sewn to the bottom]. He put on the linen garments [these showing forth His submission unto God as a servant:] these He wore, even into the Most Holy Place. Christ as High Priest entered in through Christ the Veil, offering His own blood upon Christ the Mercy Seat, which was upon Christ the Ark of the Covenant. “And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And I willmeet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony” Exodus 25:21-22. Where then was God? “God wasin Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself!”
THE QUESTION OF HELLWhat earthly reason could the Father have to send his Son into the pits of hell? We really don’t know do we? But the Bible plainly teaches it, doesn’t it?
“For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” Psalm 16:10.
“Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” Acts 2:27.
“Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David. . .being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that hissoul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses” Acts 2:29-32.
We know David as a slayer of giants; we know him as king; but we might not see him as a prophet. But we’ve just now read it! And David knew that Christ would come; that He would sit on his throne: he even prophesied concerning the resurrection!
Here we see the agreement and fulfillment of scripture: Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; His soul wasnot left in hell! But this still gives us no indication as to how or why He was there, exactly where He was; and we must yet define what hell is according to the scriptures. We can do no less than that which was spoken by our Lord -“Search the scriptures!”
JESUS AND THE SIGN OF JONAH“Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and He healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the Son of David? (These having in mind the Old Testament prophesies: the “Son of David” for whom they looked was the Messiah!) “But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils” Matt. 12:22-24.
So here we have it: is Jesus the Anointed One of God, the fulfillment of prophesy - or is He of that Wicked One? “Give us some proof - a sign.”
“And certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But He answered and said unto them, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall be no sign given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” Matt. 12:38-40.
As Christ himself is speaking and it is He who is making the comparison, we would do well to take a closer look.
“Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and Thou heardest my voice” Jonah 1:17 - 2:1,2.
Jonah is in the belly of the whale, but he speaks metaphorically as he calls it the belly of hell. But Jonah was not in hell, though we might suppose he was if we didn’t know better. Jonah gives us a description of his “living death:”
“For Thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I AM cast out of thy sight. . .The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about. . .I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me forever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God” Jonah 2:3-6.
Even if Christ Himself had not purposed to make known unto us the comparison, we would needs labor to try to deny it. The grave is well portrayed: his soul being compassed about by the deep, the floods, thewater, the depth: I went down to the bottoms, the earth with her BARS [sounds like a prison, doesn’t it?] about me forever [sounds like he’s locked up without hope, doesn’t it?] Yet thou hast brought up My life [sounds like Resurrection, doesn’t it!] from corruption, 0 Lord My God! Well - what did we expect! The scriptures we read earlier told us three times that Christ, the Holy One, would never seecorruption!
CHRIST AND THE SONG OF DAVID“And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: When the waves of death compassed me, thefloods of ungodly men made me afraid; The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of deathprevented [confronted] me; In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to MY GOD; and he did hear my voice. . .He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters; He delivered me from my strong enemy. . .The Lord rewarded me according to my Righteousness. . .Thou also hast lifted me up on high ABOVE them that rose up against me” II Samuel 22:1,5-7,17-18,21,49.
David’s song parallels Jonah’s sign with its metaphors. But David is not delivered from the belly of a whale! No, it is rather from the hand of his enemies! He speaks of the waves of death; but the floodsare clearly identified::they are ungodly men. He, Jonah, portrays death and hell: he finds himself hedged in on all sides by the place called hell; he is caught, entrapped by death. He is being held captive bydeath and hell, if you please. Oh, but it’s not over! What follows is a beautiful eight point outline! (For those who are interested, eight is the number of new-beginning!)
First, he called: My God! Second, He did hear my voice! Third, He sent from above! [If Jesus can call Lazarus from the grave, then most certainly the Father can call His Son to “come forth!”] Fourth, Hetook me! [If the Lord God can cause an earthquake, shake the foundations of a prison and break asunder the fetters that held Paul and Silas; then He can most certainly shake the foundations of death and hell and take His Son from their grasp!] Fifth, He drew Him out. “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined [stretch, bend down, deliver] unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay” Psalm 40:1,2. Does this not well agree with the other scriptures we have seen? Sixth, He delivered me from my strong enemy: “I AM HE that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I AM alive forevermore, AMEN; and have the keys of hell and of death” Rev. 1:18. Seventh, “the Lord rewarded me according to My Righteousness.” “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name which is above every name” Phil. 2:9. Eighth, “Thou also hath lifted me up on high ABOVE them that rose up against Me.” “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . .thatevery tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father” Phil. 2:10,11.
DEFINING HELLIn the Old Testament, the Hebrew for hell is sheol - hades or the world of the dead (as if a subterranean retreat) grave, hell, pit. Three words are given in the New Testament: hades - unseen, i.e. “Hades” or the place (state) of departed souls: grave, hell; geenna, or gehenna- a valley of Jerusalem, used (fig.) as a name for the place (or state) of everlasting punishment: — hell; Tartaros— (the deepest abyss of Hades), to incarcerate in eternal torment: cast down to hell.
“Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell” as given in Psalm 16:10 is sheol; as recorded in Acts 2:27, it ishades. The same word is used in I Corinthians 15:55: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave (Hades), where is thy victory?”
Likewise in Revelation chapter one and verse eighteen: “I AM He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I AM alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” You will not find “death, hell, and the grave” used together in the scripture; that would be saying death, Hades, and Hades! In fact,hell and grave are not to be found in conjunction anywhere in the scriptures. This in no ways makes the flames of hell (gehenna, Tartaros) one degree cooler!
HELL - WHAT IT IS NOTHell is a place of eternal punishment. It is not an altar where a sacrifice may be offered. Abraham laid Isaac upon the wood that he had carried upon his back. The purpose: to “make his soul an offering.” God laid his Son upon the wood that He had carried on His back to “make His soul an offering” Isa. 53:10. “And the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” Isa. 53:6.
If hell was the altar, the place of sacrificial offering, then why the cross? If our Lord made one sacrifice then it must have been at the cross. If Jesus was cast into the lake of fire, then must He have sufferedtwice for our sin.
PURGATORY AND THE PURGING OF SINCatholicism teaches the existence of Purgatory; or we might say Purge-atory. It is supposed to be a place where one’s sins are purged away (however long that might take.) My Bible teaches that Christ “by Himself purged our sins” Heb. 1:3. It says, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood;and without the shedding of blood is no remission” Heb. 9:22. It says, “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” I John 1:7.
Jesus entered the Holy Place with His own blood to offer it upon the Mercy Seat. What! Is the Holy Place to be found in the pits of hell? The Old Testament “burnt offering” was unto the Lord God a sweet-smelling savour. Christ is the fulfillment of this as He offered Himself unto God; He likewise was as asweet- smelling savour unto Him.
“IT IS FINISHED!” If the Lord Jesus went to a fiery furnace to suffer yet a second time, then it was far from being finished!
If the shedding of blood and the death of Christ on the cross was not sufficient for the putting away of our sins then we have cause for alarm!
CHRIST AND THE SPIRITS IN PRISON“For Christ also hath once [not twice] suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were 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” I Peter 3:18-20.
It was the days of Noah. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” Gen. 6:5. The Lord thought to destroy man from the face of the earth:
“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” Gen. 6:8. He would build an ark to the saving of his family; judgment would come. But God always gives warning; He allows space for repentance; and this He would do for this generation. “And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years” Gen. 6:3.
“The preacher - Christ Jesus, who has interested himself in the affairs of the church and of the world ever since he was first promised to Adam, Gen.3: 15. He went and preached, by his Spirit striving with them, and inspiring and enabling Enoch and Noah to plead with them, and preach righteousness to them. The hearers. Because they were dead and disembodied when the apostle speaks of them, therefore he properly calls them spirits now in prison; not that they were in prison when Christ preached to them, as the vulgar Latin translation and the popish expositors pretend. The sin of these people: They were disobedient, that is, rebellious, unpersuadable, andunbelieving; this their sin is aggravated from the patience and longsuffering of God (which once waited upon them for 120 years together, while Noah was preparing the ark, and by that, as well as by his preaching, giving them fair warning of what was coming upon them. The event of all: Their bodies were drowned, and their spirits cast into hell, which is called a prison (Matt. 5:25, II Peter 2:4,5); but Noah and his family, who believed and were obedient, were saved in the ark.”
Matthew Henry’s Commentary, Volume VI, Page 1026
Some say, Well Jesus went to hell to preach to the spirits in prison. And I would ask, Why? And what would he preach? They are already condemned; their fate is sealed; the day of opportunity is past; repentance unto salvation is no longer possible. The only message Our Lord has for such as these is, “Depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity” Luke 13:27. And that would be senseless, for they’re already in hell.
Jesus preach to those already in hell? Unless one believed he was in a temporary hell; that he might hear, make confession, and yet be purged from his sin; that he might leave that place and go to heaven - such “belief” reeks of Catholicism!
LEADING CAPTIVITY CAPTIVE“Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things”) Eph. 4:8-10.
Here is a portion of scripture that has been often misconstrued. A common interpretation calls the Captivity to be the Old Testament saints; that the term, “led captivity captive” refers to the Lord Jesus leading them forth from Paradise. While there is no disputing that this actually happened, the term nor the text fit here. Notice what is said in the story of the rich man and Lazarus. “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by angels into Abraham’s busom” Luke 16:22. In the conversation that followed Abraham reminds the rich man that he (Lazarus) is comforted while the rich man is tormented. Will any deny that the Lord is very present there in Paradise? They are certainly not being held captive, neither ought they be called captive when Christ brings them forth. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” John 8:36. Then to whom or what is the scripture referring? For the answer we must look elsewhere.
One of the basic laws of interpretation is that of the “law of first mention,” and it well applies here. The first reference to leading “captivity captive” is found in Judges chapter five.
“Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam. Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people: the Lord made me have dominion over the mighty” Judges 5:12,13. Israel’s second judge, Ehud, led the people against the Moabites after slaying their king, and the land had rest for eighty years. But after his death Israel once again fell back into sin.
“And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan. . .twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.” At that time the Lord raised up a “prophetess”, Deborah. She sent word to Barak the son of Abinoam: he was to assemble ten thousand men at Mount Tabor; Jehovah would draw Sisera (Jabin’s general) and his armies to meet him at the river Kishon; there He would deliver them into his hand. But the death of Sisera would be given into the hand of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. Sisera’s death came as she drove a tent nail through his head. The victory was secured and Israel rested for forty years.
“Then sang Deborah and Barak. . .Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves” Judges 5:1. The song related the entire episode. In the song there is conveyed a poetic illusion, “Awake, awake, Deborah: awake awake, utter a song: arise Barak, and lead thy Captivity captive” vs. 12. The term most surely would have rung with familiarity among the Israelites! “Captivity” in the song was portrayed by the oppressors, the Moabites. Israel was the oppressed, the captive. But now the tables are turned: Israel is the captor, while Moab is the captive!
A defeated people might find their entire city or district removed from the land and relocated nearby their captors, where they were made to serve as slave labor. Removal was thought to sever a people from the care and protection of their god: it implied the defeat of such deity. Their prominent leaders were likely to be chained, to be treated with indignation and cruelty; the victors leading them down the main streets of the city in great celebration of their triumph.
Let us make the application: Sin was our Captivity. It drew us away; it bound us; it enslaved us. It “removed us from the care and protection of our God: it implied the defeat of such deity!” But He has slain the enemy! They are overcome by His power! He is triumphant, victorious! Death and hell are vanquished foes! He is risen from the grave, alive evermore. He has delivered His people from Captivity! He has taken Captivity captive!
“Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the operation of God, who hathraised Him from the dead. And you. . .hath He quickened together with Him. And having spoiledprincipalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it” Col. 2:12,13,15. Does this verse not clearly define that which we have just read?
In the book of Judges chapter sixteen we are given through Samson, a portrayal of the resurrection of Christ; a metaphor of Death and Hell. “Then went Samson to Gaza. . .And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city. And Samson lay until midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.”
Death and Hell thought to compass in our Lord; but He arose while it was yet night. And He came forth!Not only does He carry the keys of Death and Hell (not the keys to them) but He has carried away the Gates of Death and the Grave, bar and all! Even the framework, the doorposts are removed! As trophiesof His victory, He carries them up to the top of a hill: He has “led “Captivity captive!” “And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it” Col. 2:15. It was “to the top of the hill that is before Hebron.” Hebron, a royal residence for king David: shall we not say that Christ also entered His royal residence in triumph over His foes? May we therefore stand triumphantly in Christ and cry aloud, Death, where is thy sting; Grave, where is thy victory!
Returning to Ephesians chapter four we offer a brief synopsis of verses eight through eleven.
“When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.” He ascended up far above the heavens, that He might fill all things,” all the members of His church with gifts and graces,according to His riches in glory. “And He gave some apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” Ten days after our Lord’s ascension (the number ofcompletion for those who are interested) the gift of the Holy Ghost was given; and that, to every believer! Acts 2:38, 10:45, 11:16.
“As great conquerors, when they rode in their triumphal chariots, used to be attended with the most illustrious of their captives led in chains, and were wont to scatter their largesses and bounty among the soldiers and other spectators of their triumphs, so Christ, when He ascended into heaven, as a triumphant conqueror, led captivity captive. . .He conquered those who had conquered us; such as sin, the devil, and death. Indeed, He triumphed over these on the cross;but the triumph was completed at His ascension, when He became Lord over all, and had the keys of Death and Hades put into His hands.”
Matthew Henry’s Commentary, Volume VI, Page 703
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