Nicene Creed

[~Shalhevet~]

He decended into hell. What does this mean? Jesus went to hell after he died? Why?

[MelodyCat]

Answer:- To preach to those in Hell or Hades that He has done it, Jesus has defeated death and paid for the Sins of mankind.

A number of verses give us an insight into this.

1 Peter:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, 19 through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison 20 who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.

In the above verses we see Jesus went to where the dead were and preached to the spirits.

Jesus said himself he would go to be in the heart of the Earth and we know that is where Hades is and Paradise where the dead were waiting.

MT 12:39 He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Jesus also said to the Thief that they would both be in Paradise together that same night.

LK 23:43 Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

Where was Paradise at this time but in the Earth in Hades. Hell and Paradise were side by side but separated by a Chasm.

LK 16:22 "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, `Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

LK 16:25 "But Abraham replied, `Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'

So the rich man was being tormented in Hell while Abraham and the begger Lazuras were able to look down upon him from where they were. Obviously they were not in Hell. Elsewhere in the Bible we know that the righteous went to Paradise and the wicked to Sheol or Hell. So if Jesus went to Paradise with the thief they were in the place of the Dead which can be reffered to as Hell or Hades.

Jesus went there to preach to the dead then he ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father.

EPH 4:7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says:

"When he ascended on high,

he led captives in his train

and gave gifts to men."

EPH 4:9 (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

So the Jesus who descended to Paradise to preach to the Dead also ascended to take His rightful place in the Universe.

I'm not good at explaining this but I hope you got the general idea.

Actually they should not use the word Hell it is misleading because Jesus technically never went to Hell but Paradise.

Cheers

MelC

Edited December 14, 2009 by MelodyCat

[~Shalhevet~]

Paradise? Now I'm really confused.

[MelodyCat]

Paradise? Now I'm really confused.

OK you obviously have little knowledge on what the Bible tells us about where people go after they die.

I'll try and summarise.

If you read the Old Testament you will find that the Dead go to Sheol after they die.

Sheol is known to the Gentile world as Hades. Both Sheol and Hades are the place of the Dead.

Sheol

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For the album, see Sheol (album).

Sheol (pronounced "Sheh-ole")[1], in Hebrew שאול (Sh'ol), is the "abode of the dead", the "underworld", or "pit".[2] Sheol is the common destination of both the righteous and the unrighteous dead, as recounted in Ecclesiastes and Job.

Sheol is sometimes compared to Hades, the gloomy, twilight afterlife of Greek mythology. The word "hades" was in fact substituted for "sheol" when the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek (see Septuagint). The New Testament (written in Greek) also uses "hades" to refer to the abode of the dead.

By the second century BC, Jews who accepted the Oral Torah had come to believe that those in sheol awaited the resurrection either in comfort (in the bosom of Abraham) or in torment. This belief is reflected in Jesus' story of Lazarus and Dives. At that time Jews who rejected the Oral Torah believed that Sheol meant simply the grave.

Christian translations of the Hebrew scriptures have variously rendered the word sheol as "hell"[3] or "the grave".[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheol

It is often referred to as being located in the Earth.

Now the Dead are separated between those whose names are written in the Book of Life and those who are NOT (Revelation 20:12-15).

If your name is in the Book of Life like Abraham and Moses then you go to Paradise which is the part reserved only for those who are Saved. The other part of Sheol or Hades is for the wicked whose Names do not appear in the Book of life and so they are not Saved. This part of Sheol or Hades is referred to as HELL (Luke 16:22-26).

Death and Hell get thrown into the Eternal Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:14).

Paradise is now located in Heaven, because after Jesus finished preaching to the Spirits of the Dead he took it up with Him when he ascended to the right hand of the Father (Ephesians 4:7-9).

OK so to recap. The PLace where the Dead wait for judgement is called Sheol or Hades. The wicked are in the Hell part of this place and the Saved are in the Paradise section.

The Bodies of the Dead are where they were buried on Earth. Still in their graves or where ever their remains ended up like in the Ocean if they went down with the Titanic etc.. Sheol and Hades hold the Spirits of mankind. Please don't get the location of our Bodies mixed up with that of our Spirits.

I hope that explains it to you know.

Please feel free to ask more questions if I haven't explained it well enough for you. Do read the scriptures I quoted because they help you to see how the Bible explains some of this.

Cheers

MelC

Edited December 14, 2009 by MelodyCat

[~Shalhevet~]

I don't believe the wholes paradise theory. There is heaven and hell. That is it. I would rather not get into that discussion because that was not my intent for this thread.

Any other thoughts on these words?

[KC02]

I don't believe the wholes paradise theory. There is heaven and hell. That is it. I would rather not get into that discussion because that was not my intent for this thread.

Any other thoughts on these words?

I have a thought... in the form of a question.

(Luke 23:43 [KJV])

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

Did Jesus go to heaven on that day?

(Matt 12:40 [KJV])

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.

Jesus didn't return to heaven until after His resurrection and after He appeared to His followers. I forget exactly how many days ...

[Botz]

I don't believe the wholes paradise theory. There is heaven and hell. That is it. I would rather not get into that discussion because that was not my intent for this thread.

Any other thoughts on these words?

No other thoughts at this moment in time...I thought MelodyCat did a pretty good summary, not based on a theory, and I thought for some reason you were ungracious in your response.

[nebula]

I don't believe the wholes paradise theory. There is heaven and hell. That is it. I would rather not get into that discussion because that was not my intent for this thread.

Any other thoughts on these words?

When studying these things, there I times when it does not matter what you personally believe - it is still wise to understand and know what was understood in times past.

As for the Nicene Creed, it was written apart from Hebrew influences (that's another topic in and of itself) - for example, Hebrew thought would have mentioned the role of the High Priest rather than Pilot.

But the concept of "He descended into Hell" comes from:

Psalms 68:18 - You have ascended on high, You have led captive Your captives ; You have received gifts among men, Even among the rebellious also, that the LORD God may dwell there.

Which is explained here:

Eph. 4

8 Therefore it says, "WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN." 9 (Now this expression, "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth ? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)

According to Hebraic thought, Jesus descended to Sheol after He died where He released the "captives".

[~Shalhevet~]

Sincere apologies for seeming ungracious. (Bad day...no excuse.) I appreciate your explanations. Bless you all.

[~Shalhevet~]

And thank you for pointing out my ungraciousness. Forgive me please.