Matt. 12: 38-40 The Heart Of The Earth

Matt. 12: 38-40 THE HEART OF THE EARTH 4-13-13

During the past few days much has been said to do with the death, burial, and Resurrection of Christ, today I want to bring to our attention where Christ really was during the three days that His Body was supposedly to be in the tomb.

* Listen as I read our text found in;

>Matt. 12: 38-40 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.

39But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40For 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.

We're not going to dwell on what day Jesus had to be crucified in order for Him to be "three days and three nights" in the heart of the earth, so I'll just say in passing, He had to be crucified on Wednesday for three days and nights to be complete, instead today we'll think on where was His Body during that time, was it in the tomb or the heart of the earth?

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Listen; Jesus said in verse 40 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.

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Jesus said as Jonah 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.

Listen, the words "so shall" carries the meaning "just as, or the same as "

In other words just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale, so to Jesus would be in the heart of the earth (not the tomb).

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* What was Jonah's appearance inside the whale?

The great fish completely swallowed Jonah; spirit, soul and body.

Jesus said that as Jonah was body, soul and spirit in the whale's belly, in like manner He would be in the heart of the earth -- Body, soul and spirit.

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* Listen as I read 1 Peter 3:18-19.

v.18 For Christ also hath once 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: --- Strong's Greek concordance "to make alive"

v.19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.

We all realize that our body, our flesh is what dies, our spirit will always be alive some where, we that are saved will go to be with the Lord, the lost will go to hell, our body may very well be buried when it dies, but the spirit will never die.

* Listen as I read 1st pt. 3:18-19 once again;

1 Peter 3:18-19.

V.18 For Christ also hath once 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: --- Strong's Greek concordance "to make alive"

v.19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. ** (safety-guarded)"

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According to these verse's Christ was put to death in the flesh.

So it was only the flesh, the body of Jesus that died.

After His flesh was put to death, Peter tells us He was quickened by the Holy Spirit.

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I believe the picture here is; that they took Jesus dead body off the cross and placed it in the tomb, but as soon as the stone was rolled to close the entrance the Holy Spirit quickened His dead body, and then He descended into the heart of the earth and proclaimed to the O.T. saints Who He was and what He had accomplished, He was there with these O.T. saints for the three days and nights.

And when He ascended He took these O.T. saints with Him as now Paradise is above, not in the heart of the earth as before.

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Luke 16: 19-31 tells us about a place called Hades. Called Hades in the N.T.--called Sheol in the O.T. -- it had two compartments, there was a great gulf fixed that separated the two, the saved on one side referred to as Abrahams bosom, (paradise) the other side was where the lost were being held and still are today.

„« Hades was filled with disembodied spirits, both compartments, and then one day Jesus appears in the Paradise side of Hades proclaiming what He had accomplished, that He had the keys of death and hell. Rev.1:18