1 Peter 3:18-20 (p.181)
The context of these verses is “Christian suffering.” Peter is demonstrating Christ’s victory while going through great suffering. This was a three-part victory:
1. By victoriously facing suffering, in His humanity, under the power of the Holy Spirit and by application of the Word of God thus demonstrating how we, as believers, are to go through suffering;
2. By victoriously completing, on the cross, all the suffering for sins required by the righteousness of God. This makes it possible for human beings to have eternal life by faith alone in Christ alone and for believers to receive the imputation of righteousness;
3. By victoriously declaring triumph in the Angelic Conflict over the Satan and the demons.
Today our focus will be on the third of these victories.
1 Peter 3:19-20
“in which also”: That is, in His human spirit. (Note: some translations capitalize “Spirit” in verse 18 thus making it refer to the Holy Spirit. However, this is not the best way to handle the text. The word “spirit” refers to Jesus’ human spirit.)
“He went”: He went from one place to another place. The soul/spirit of Jesus went to Paradise (Abraham’s bosom) after He allowed His physical death on the cross to occur. This is seen by the reply of Jesus to the thief on the cross who was crucified with Him:
Luke 23:42-43 (p.69)
Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, said:
Acts 2:31 (NASB) he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. (quoting Psalm 16:10)
Paradise was a compartment of Sheol / Hades. Sheol (Hebrew) or Hades (Greek) refer to the same place: the place of the departed souls of the conscious dead. It is not simply “the grave.” (see chart)
The place is always said to be in the center of the earth (all from NASB):
Ezekiel 26:20, 32:18 – “the lower parts of the earth”; Ezekiel 31:14, 16, “the earth beneath”; Ezekiel 32:18 “those who go down to the pit.”
Ephesians 4:9 – “descended into the lower parts of the earth”
Matthew 12:40 – the soul/spirit of Jesus was in Paradise until the resurrection.
Paradise is where the physically dead believers went before the Ascension of Christ. But there was and is another compartment of Sheol which has three parts: torments (hell), Tartarus, and the Abyss. Between “torments” and Paradise is a “great chasm.”
Luke 16:22-26 (p.61)
Paradise (Literally: a garden or park)
From the time of Adam to the time of the Ascension of Jesus, Paradise (Abraham’s bosom) was located in Sheol. It was a place of rest and beauty. This is where Jesus was from His physical death on the cross until the resurrection.
Torments or Hades (commonly called Hell). Sometimes called “The Pit”
This was and is the location of the unbelieving, unrighteous dead and is the suffering side of Sheol. The unbelieving dead are here where they are waiting for their final Judgment at the Great White Throne (Revelation 20:11-15). Jesus did not go into this compartment or any other in Sheol except paradise.
Fallen angels (demons) who are not still active in the world today (and many, many are) can be found in two other compartments of Sheol:
Tartarus
This is the prison of the fallen angels who made the demonic direct assault on humanity in Genesis 6. These angels will not be released except to go to the Lake of Fire after the great White Throne Judgment. They are in “eternal bonds,” Jude 6.
2 Peter 2:4-5 (p.183)
Jude 1:6-7 (NASB) 6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
The Abyss or The Bottomless Pit
This is a temporary prison for fallen angels. It seems as if the demons that violate the rules of the Angelic Conflict by possessing human bodies are sent here when they are forced to leave. It is from this place that the demonic armies of Revelation 9 will come during the Tribulation.
In our text in 1 Peter 3:19-20 it tells us, in part, what Jesus was doing in Paradise:
He (Jesus) went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20 who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark
“made proclamation”: that is, He made an announcement; He proclaimed something publically. Those in Paradise could see into at least one other compartment – the place of the unrighteous dead - and these could see into Paradise (Luke 16:19-31).
“to the spirits now in prison”: This announcement is tied to the fallen angels, especially those in Tartarus – the ones from the days of Noah. He proclaimed an announcement to one part of the other side (Tartarus) where the evil spirits are imprisoned.
“who once were disobedient”: Fructenbaum writes, “Literally it says, ‘they were unyielding at one time.’ This was deliberate disobedience and conscious resistance to authority” (Ariel’s Bible Commentary, The Messianic Jewish Epistles, p.362).
Their disobedience was to violate the rules of the Angelic Conflict by taking on human form and function including having sexual relations with human women (Genesis 6:1-4). From these relations came children called the Nephilim, the “men of renown.”
More on this in a later study! (Sorry)
Though the exact content of the proclamation is not revealed, the context would seem to focus on the attack of Genesis 6 which was an attempt to thwart God’s fulfilling of the promised “Seed of the Woman” who was to crush the head of Satan (Genesis 3:15). This Satanic attack was so serious that God sent the world-wide flood and destroyed all humanity except Noah and his immediate family.
Jesus was this promised “Seed.” He would have announced – at the very least – that the Promised One did come and Satan’s rebellious plan was doomed to failure. The fallen angels in Tartarus would have no knowledge of events in earth’s history or the progress of the Angelic Conflict.
It is also very probable, to my thinking, that He also proclaimed victory in the Angelic Conflict to all the confined angels since He had proven many of Satan’s accusations against God to be false.
Colossians 2:14-15 (NASB) 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
Notice the two-fold aspect of the cross: in one part it is toward us; in another it is toward angels and the Angelic Conflict.
It may also be that He proclaimed that the final disposition, the final judgment on the fallen angels, was coming in accordance with God’s perfect plan.
His proclamation may also have been to believers that God’s plan of salvation was now victoriously completed and they were going to be relocated.
His proclamation may also have been to the unsaved that His death guarantees their final judgment. Christ was not giving unbelievers a second chance to believe. There is not second chance after death:
Hebrews 9:27 (NASB) And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
Not immediate judgment, but next in the sequence of events. Unbelievers are in a place of torment awaiting the final judgment at the great White Throne (Revelation 20:11-15).
It is totally unbiblical for a person to teach any sort of second chance after physical death for a person to believe.
But Jesus did something else a short time later at His ascension: He moved Paradise to the third heaven:
Ephesians 4:8-10 (p.152)
(Psalm 24:7-10 may prophetically refer to this event) (p.402)
These Old Testament saints were taken out of Abraham’s bosom and Jesus led them into the third heaven. The Paradise side of Sheol was eliminated. With this He demonstrated His victory and authority over death and Hades (Revelation 1:18)
Revelation 1:18 (NASB) and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
However, nothing changed for unbelievers and they are still there today. It is where all unbelievers go today at the very second they die:
Luke 16:22-23 (NASB) 22 "Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 "In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw* Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.
Today believers go to the third heaven when they die. This is where Jesus is also:
2 Corinthians 5:6-8 (NASB) 6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight— 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
Philippians 1:21-23 (NASB) 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. 23 But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;
It also is right to say that at death angels accompany the believer to Heaven:
Luke 16:-22 (NASB) "Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom….
Conclusion:
1) Where will you be immediately after you die? There are only two options and each last eternally. By faith alone in Christ alone you can have Eternal Life today and go to be with Christ in heaven forever.
2) Christ is victorious in the Angelic Conflict and it will be resolved perfectly. As a believer we have an opportunity to also be victorious and arrive home in heaven a winner believer. Jesus set the example:
Hebrews 12:2-3 (NASB) 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
1 Corinthians 3:12-15 (NASB) 12 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
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