He Rose from the Dead and Descended Into Hell

He Rose from the Dead and Descended into Hell

Nicene Creed Sermon Series #7

Easter Sunday

April 8, 2007

He descended into Hell. (Apostles Creed)

On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures. (Nicene Creed)

It’s been a while since we had a sermon in our Nicene Creed sermon series, but today is the perfect day to resume it, because we have come to the part of the Nicene Creed that says, “On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures.”

But before we get to that we also want to talk about the part in the Apostles’ Creed that precedes the resurrection of Jesus, for they are also perfect words for our consideration this morning–“He descended into Hell.”

I think some words of explanation are necessary here to correct the false impression those words have given to many, many Christians down through the years.

Because let’s admit it–when you heard the words “He descended into Hell” and heard the assertion that they were perfect words for our consideration, at least some of you thought, “It’s Easter! I didn’t come to hear about Good Friday. I didn’t come to hear about Jesus suffering Hell. I didn’t come to hear about death. I came to hear about Jesus defeating death.”

Well, that first Easter Sunday morning there was one place where people felt the opposite. They came to hear about death. They came to hear about Jesus being defeated. And they had come to party–well, at least as much as someone or something in their miserable condition could party, anyway.

Yes, that first Easter Sunday morning in Hell the streamers were being hung, banners proclaiming “The strife is o’er, the battle won.” Folding chairs were set up in the auditorium of Hell. (And more were constantly needed, for, as always, there was a steady stream of souls entering Hell.) The Devil was walking around accepting congratulations, handing out high fives, smiling the sneer of victory. Souls in Hell were congratulating one another. Although they were still in Hell, at least they hadn’t done as so many others had done, wasting their lives in service to a dead Savior. Like even Paul himself would later write, if you serve a dead Savior, you are to be pitied more than all men. (1 Corinthians 15) At least they hadn’t gotten their hopes up over this so-called Savior, now proven to be helpless in the face of death. At least now the souls in Hell knew that there were people who were going to be even more miserable than they were.

The celebration was about to begin. Voices were hushed as the Devil got up to speak, and yet an air of excited anticipation filled the room. Satan walked to the podium, greasy smile–more of a smirk, really–looked out over the crowd with great satisfaction, and began to speak. He began by saying (something like), “Today we have come to celebrate the death of Jesus Christ. Once again death has proven to be too strong for any...[BAMMMMM!!!]”

It was like a gunshot had been fired–or perhaps like a bomb had exploded. Shrapnel from the previously impenetrable gates of Hell flew over their ducking heads. As they turned to look, they saw only one door dangling from its hinges. Suddenly a mighty kick sent the door flying, and in came...

Jesus? The one who had died? The one who had died so ingloriously, so humiliatingly, so seemingly without even a fight? Jesus? Alive? Risen from the dead?

Jaws literally dropped. Smiles–gone. Shoulders drooped. Arms hung limply. In the silence, Jesus walked to the front of the room, heads swiveling to follow him. He headed to the pulpit, and it was obvious that there was going to be a guest preacher in Hell that day.

Peter tells us that Christ preached that Easter Sunday morning, when he writes, “He [Christ] was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison...” (1 Peter 3:18-19).

And oh, he preached. He preached the way your father preached to you when you ignored his warnings about picking up your stuff from the yard, and your baseball glove ended up getting ruined in the rain. He preached the way your mother preached when she warned you that you’d better study for that test, but you didn’t because you knew better–and you ended up bringing home an “F.” They didn’t preach in order to give you a second chance. No, it was too late for that. The glove was ruined. The F was forever in the books. They preached a sermon with the same title as the one Jesus preached in Hell that Easter Sunday--“You Should Have Listened and Believed When You Had the Chance.” Or perhaps a theme that would be easier to fit on the marquee sign of Hell, “How Do You Like Me Now?” It’s easy to believe that Paul was referring to this moment when he wrote in Colossians, “Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15)

Perhaps all this makes it sound like an over-the-top WWE extravaganza.but the fact is that Jesus didn’t descend into and enter Hell as the meek and beaten-looking man we had seen just a few days prior to Easter Sunday. Neither did he enter Hell as the gentle Savior we had for the most part seen during his time on earth. No, he went down there as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He went down there as a conqueror. He went down there to make a public spectacle of those who had dared to rob him of the glory and the worship that is rightfully his. He went down there to reclaim his throne and to proclaim his victory.

Then, when Jesus was done preaching, he did something that the people there had never seen, something that the demons there had never seen, something that the Devil himself had never seen. He left Hell. They had seen many, many–yes, the countless thoughtless thousands who choose the road that leads the soul away from God–they’d seen countless thousands of people enter Hell, but they’d never seen one leave. They’d never seen one who wasn’t held captive by it. But Jesus walked out without any problem at all. Not even an attempt was made to stop him.

As they sat there in stunned silence, party hats askew, punch bowl in shattered pieces, banners torn to shreds, the fortress of Hell suddenly no more formidable than the little pig’s house of straw, they knew. They knew that Jesus was the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and that he shall reign forever and ever.

Jesus left, having made his first appearance of Easter Sunday. But he had more appearances–far more important appearances to make. He had another party to ruin. Back on earth he had to make some appearances to people who had also gathered for a party. It was a party of a different sort–hardly the celebratory sort of party that Jesus had ruined in Hell. No, this was a pity party that Jesus’ followers were throwing for themselves. And they were going all out.

This wasn’t just a party with some long faces. This was a party with truly broken hearts. They weren’t merely feeling the sort of sadness that comes when something disappointing happens–but you know the sadness will eventually pass–that the pain will fade as time goes on–that something will come along to make you almost entirely forget about what had happened. No, this was the sort of sadness that makes your heart literally ache. It was the sadness of having hopes and dreams shattered so completely that there is no hope of ever piecing them back together at all.

The disciples must have just sat behind those locked doors that weekend, staring at each other, too sad to even speak. Now what? The women who had followed Jesus during his ministry–what was left for them? What purpose did they have anymore in life? Yes, what purpose did life itself even have anymore?

Put yourself in their shoes. Because the fact is that you’re not much different than they. By ourselves we have no hope. If the Bible is correct when it says that the wages of sin is death, then death waits to swallow us up as certainly as it appeared to have swallowed up Jesus that first Easter Sunday. And when death swallows us up, it will toss us and our mountains of dirty laundry down the laundry chute that leads to Hell.

If we have no Savior from that–and no hope of saving ourselves from that, then what purpose do we have anymore in life? Yes, what purpose does life itself even have anymore? Suddenly all moral platitudes become meaningless. All teachers of morality become laughable for their meaninglessness. All life becomes horrifying for its meaninglessness. The only thing longer than our faces is the march to the grave and the eternity of suffering that awaits.

So when I say that Jesus’ followers were throwing themselves a pity party, I’m not suggesting that they should have been doing otherwise or that they were overreacting. They knew, they understood what the death of Jesus meant. They understood how it meant that all hope–of any sort–was gone.

Their hearts were telling them that, and so was the Devil. The Devil hadn’t only prepared a sermon to preach in Hell, but he had also prepared a sermon to preach on earth to the minds and hearts of those who had followed Jesus. He was telling them how they had wasted their lives, how pathetic they were for having chosen the losing side, for having bet on the wrong horse. He was telling them that they were to be pitied–or perhaps scorned–more than all men.

And then the Devil’s preaching in their heart was drowned out by what they heard with their ears and saw with their eyes. The women heard an angel saying–and showing them–that Jesus wasn’t there, that he had risen from the dead. And then it got better. To hearts that had been gripped by the hounds of Hell during the past 36 hours, to hearts that may still have been a bit reluctant to believe, to hearts that had at least the nagging realization that they had received no proof that was undeniable–to such hearts, Jesus suddenly appeared before their eyes and said, “Greetings. Do not be afraid.” (Matthew 28:9-10) Their ears heard those words and their eyes saw, “He has risen from the dead.”

And they knew that everything had changed. The gates of Heaven were open. The kingdom of Hell had fallen.

Can you imagine how people felt in the 400's when word came that Rome had fallen? It hardly seemed possible that the mighty empire could have been proven to be a toothless shark, a clawless bear, a stingerless–and therefore no longer killer–bee.

Or maybe you recall how it felt when you heard that Germany had surrendered in World War II. It hardly seemed possible. It hardly seemed possible because the enemy had seemed so formidable. And it hardly seemed possible because it was such good news that just changed everything.

No, there was no longer any reason for Jesus’ followers to be afraid. And there is no longer any reason for us to be afraid. He has risen from the dead! So will we!

And you’ll notice that the Nicene Creed does not merely say that Jesus rose from the dead, but that he did so “in accordance with the Scriptures.” That’s sort of what Jesus said to the two men on their way to Emmaus that Easter Sunday evening. He said, “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” (Luke 24:26) And we read that Jesus then “beginning with Moses and the Prophets...explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27)

Of course it had to happen this way. God’s Word had said so. Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, had done so. What a waste those past 36 hours had been on the disciples’ part, for they had spent them doubting that things would take place in accordance with the Scriptures.

May we not waste a moment doubting anything that Jesus has said to us. And the risen Lord, the one who is powerful enough to descend into Hell to proclaim his victory, the one whose word is trustworthy enough that even promises of resurrection must come true–that same risen Lord calls us to not be afraid, because he will be with us and he will care for us–even to and through the point of death–at which point we too also will rise, according to the Scriptures. The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! Amen.

the Soviet Union had collapsed? The great superpower, suddenly revealed to be not really too great, not really too powerful. Nothing to be afraid of here.

Peter and John would later race to find an empty tomb.

And yet none of them had evidence that Jesus

You almost felt sorry for them.

Heads swiveled around to see what had made such an outrageous noise.

“If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.”

I don’t mean to turn this into an over-the-top WWF extravaganza, but the fact is that Jesus didn’t descend into and enter Hell as the meek and beaten-looking man we had seen just a few days prior to Easter Sunday. Neither did he enter Hell as the gentle Savior we had for the most part seen during his time on earth. No, he went down there as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He went down there as a conqueror.

Make sure to use Bible passages on descent into Hell–preaching to the spirits in prison–also the passage about having made a public spectacle of them

“Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15)

“He [Christ] was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison...” (1 Peter 3:18-19)