There Is Power In The Blood – Part 4
A Journey to the Heart of the Earth
Today we have reached the end of our Bible study on There is Power in the Blood. We started our journey in heaven with the first sin and the defilement of the heavenly temple. We looked at what it takes to forgive and cleanse anything from sin – which according to Hebrews 9:22 is blood. We saw how only one man in history, Jesus Christ, could cleanse us from our sins, because He is the only man to have blood uncontaminated by sin. This fact made Him the perfect sacrifice for the offering of forgiveness and atonement of sin. And finally, last week we explored two of the unusual signs that occurred at Calvary that pointed to the fact that Jesus really was that sacrifice, and that no other sacrifice was needed.
This morning we are going to finish our study by looking at the events that occurred after Calvary. We know that when Jesus died on the cross, His body was removed and laid in a borrowed tomb, and that it remained there for three days and three nights. On the third day we have the miraculous story of Easter. Jesus rose from the dead and walked out of that tomb alive and well. No other religion can make the same claim. We worship a Savior who is alive! Praise God!
1. Where Did He Go?
But how many of you know what was really going on during those three days and three nights that He was in the tomb? Remember that we are three-fold beings. We have a body, a spirit, and a soul. When we die it’s only our body that dies, not our spirit and soul. They continue to live on. This was true of Jesus as well. He had a physical body as well as a spirit and a soul. He was fully God as well as being fully human. So, that leads us to the first question we are going to tackle today, just where did Jesus’ spirit and soul go during those three days and nights that His body was lying in the grave?
Well, the Bible doesn’t leave us guessing. In fact, it tells us exactly where Jesus went. Look at Ephesians 4:9, “Now that He (Jesus) ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?” And Jesus Himself tells us where He was headed in Matthew 12:40, “For 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.”
So according to Scripture, which by the way is the only reliable source that we have, Jesus’ spirit and soul spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth while His physical body lay in the tomb. But then, knowing this brings forth even more questions, doesn’t it? Questions like, why did He into the heart of the earth? What was there, and what was He doing there?
2. What was there?
Again we can find the answers to these questions in the Bible. In the gospel of Luke chapter 16 and verses 19-31 we find a fascinating story which Jesus told about a man named Lazarus who was a beggar who was full of sores and a rich man who dressed luxuriously and fared well every day of his life. Now this is a long passage, so we are not going to read it in its entirety. Instead we’re going to read verses 22-26. I hope that when you get home, you will take the time to read all the verses for yourself because from these verses we can see what was in the heart of the earth that required the presence of a Savior.
Luke 16:22-26 (KJV), “And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime recervedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.”
[In your bulletins I have included a drawing that shows what these verses are talking about.]
BEFORE the death and resurrection of Christ, the place where all human spirits and souls went after death was known in the Old Testament by the word SHEOL and in the New Testament by the word HADES. Both of these words relate to “the unseen state” or the place where the spirit and the souls of the dead go between the time of their physical body’s death and the resurrection of their new body. Literally, the words Sheol and Hades mean “a hollow subterranean place.” Contrary to popular belief, neither of these words refer to the final place of punishment. The name for that place is Gehenna or the Lake of Fire. We are talking about a totally different place.
Sheol or Hades is located in the heart of the earth, and is made up of two chambers. One chamber in known as Paradise or Abraham’s bosom. This is where the spirits and souls of the righteous went upon their death. David, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Ruth, Boaz, Gideon, Job, all of these famous righteous people of the Old Testament would have gone to the paradise chamber of sheol. By the description given here in Luke 16 it appears that it was a place of rest and comfort. But it was not heaven.
(Keep in mind that we are talking about the time before the resurrection of Christ. After His resurrection, the souls of the righteous dead DO go to be with the Lord in heaven. “To be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” – 2 Corinthians 5:8)
The other chamber is known as hell. This is where we see the rich man of Christ’s story residing. It appears to be a place of torment and suffering. But it is not the final dwelling place of the wicked. The book of Revelation tells us that the wicked will be sentenced at the Great White Throne Judgment. There they will answer for everything done in this life and be formally sentenced. Their final punishment will be to be cast in to the Lake of Fire for all eternity. This place called hell that we are looking at this morning is, as far as I can tell, a temporary holding place for the souls and spirits of the wicked dead, until they are brought before the Great White Throne to be sentenced at the end of time.
We know that these two compartments are in the same general area because the rich man who is in the compartment labeled hell can see and even speak to Lazarus and Abraham, who are in paradise. Jesus’ words wouldn’t make sense if paradise was in heaven, and hell was someplace else.
We are also told that a large chasm or gulf separates these two compartments from each other. The purpose of which was to prevent anyone from crossing over from one side to the other should they so desire. The Bible mentions in Revelation 9 and 20 an abyss or bottomless pit, as the location of the confinement of locusts that sting like scorpions that will be let loose upon the earth during the tribulation period. The bottomless pit is also where Satan will be cast and bound for the thousand year millennial reign.
3. Why Did Jesus Go There?
But this still doesn’t answer our question why did Jesus go there? I believe it is because it was part of the reason He was sent to earth in the first place. Jesus came to earth to die as a sacrifice in our place. He shed His precious blood on the cross of Calvary to set the captives free. Those captives are all those past, present, and future who are under the influence of sin. We were captives to sin before we accepted Jesus’ work on the cross. And all those who lived before Jesus came to earth were captives to sin as well.
But before the cross, all those righteous souls who were placed in the Sheol paradise in the earth were captives of another sort. Their sins were covered by the blood of animal sacrifices. Their sins were hid from God’s view, but not wiped out completely. That didn’t happen until Christ shed His blood on the cross.
Revelation 1:18 tells us that Jesus holds the keys to death and hell. That means He controls who gets in and out of the grave and the underworld. So, Jesus descended into the heart of the earth with the mission unlocking those righteous souls from Sheol paradise, because He had finally paid the price for their freedom.
One commentary I read on this subject said that the author believed Jesus even preached a sermon to those confined there. A message explaining His sufferings, His death, and His blood shed for them. And Christ had even brought an eyewitness with Him, a former thief on the cross, the first mortal man to be forgiven by the blood of Christ. Remember Christ told the forgiven thief, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise!” Luke 23:43. He was talking about this paradise in the heart of the earth, not the paradise of heaven as we normally think.
So, while Jesus body was in the tomb for three days and three nights, His spirit and soul were in paradise in the heart of the earth unlocking the souls of the righteous dead which had been held there until His blood was shed for them and they were made holy with Him.
4. Then What Happened?
But that begs another question. What happened to the Jesus and the righteous souls after those three days and nights?
Well, we know that Jesus’ soul and spirit went back to the tomb and retrieved His body. That’s what Easter is all about. Only His physical body had been transformed into a new physical body that was made to exist in both the spirit world and the physical world. We talked about this fact when we studied the rapture of the church and receiving our glorified bodies.
The spirits and souls of the righteous dead that were released from paradise in the earth went with Him. Matthew 27:52-53 tells us this event. “The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.”
The righteous dead were not only released from Sheol or Hades but, their bodies were released from death just like Jesus’ body was. Remember when we talked about the different waves of the resurrections? These righteous saints were part of the first wave of the first resurrection. They received their new transformed physical bodies at the same time Jesus did.
But notice that they didn’t immediately go to heaven. Here are the Old Testament saints, finally completely forgiven by the blood of their Savior, released from the comfortable prison in the earth and given new physical bodies, and what do they do? They go to the holy city to be seen by many people, probably giving most of them a heart attack. I mean wouldn’t you be bowled over to see your dead loved ones alive and walking in the streets of your hometown, let alone ancestors that had been dead for hundreds if not thousands of years?
But wouldn’t you think that the first place these saints would want to go would be to heaven and not earth? If you were given the choice to meet your Creator or your ancestors, who would you choose, especially if you’d been bound in the earth for thousands of years awaiting the day that you could be rejoined with God? It seems rather odd to me that these saints didn’t immediately go to heaven. So, why didn’t they?
5. So, Why Didn’t They Go Straight to Heaven?
Well, believe it or not there is a reason, and we can find it in the words of Jesus Christ after His resurrection when He speaks to two of His disciples. The first disciple is Mary Magdalene when she came to the tomb on the morning of His resurrection.
Let’s read John 20:15-17 to see what He says to her. “Jesus saith unto her, ‘Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou?’ She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, ‘Mary.’ She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, ‘Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascended unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God and your God.’”
Jesus tells Mary not to touch Him because He hasn’t yet ascended to the Father. Which is interesting when you compare this command with what He tells Thomas a few verses later in the book of John.
John 20:26-27, “And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, ‘Peace be unto you.’ Then saith he to Thomas, ‘Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.’”
Isn’t it interesting that Christ tells Mary not to touch Him and yet eight days later He commands Thomas to touch Him so that he will no longer doubt who He is. What’s the difference? What changed?
I believe that Jesus did just what He told Mary He was going to do. Between seeing Mary and later His disciples Jesus ascended into heaven. And He went there with a specific purpose in mind.
Remember how we started this study? We said that the first sin ever committed, occurred in heaven. And not just anywhere in heaven, but in the very temple of God in heaven. The result of that sin was the ejection of Lucifer from heaven, and the defilement of the temple. We also said that the Bible explained that the only way to purge anything from sin was through blood, right?
Well, Hebrews 9:11-12, and 21-25 tells us exactly what Jesus accomplished by dying on the cross of Calvary and shedding His sinless blood.
9:11-12, “But Christ being come a High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building. (Meaning not the earthly tabernacle, but the heavenly one.) Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”
21-25, “ Moreover he (Moses) sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood: and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these: but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, (that means the earthly temple) which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others.”
Jesus’ mission was to ascend into heaven and purge the heavenly temple from Satan’s sin with His pure blood. And because He did so, all who believe now have access to the very throne of God! That is why He didn’t want Mary to touch Him. He didn’t want His blood to be tainted before He cleansed heaven and prepared it for the saints. Then when He saw Thomas, He had already returned from heaven and allowed His disciple to touch Him. This is also the reason that the saints were wandering around Jerusalem with their new bodies instead of going straight to heaven. They were waiting for Jesus to cleanse heaven.
“And because the blood of Christ is incorruptible and time is no more in heaven, I believe that even though it has been almost 2,000 years since Calvary, in the temple in heaven there is an ark and there is still the red blood of Christ on the mercy seat that is as wet and fresh and alive as the day it was placed there by the eternal High Priest. When we understand this, we can understand why we are living in the age of grace, because the blood of Christ is continually, perpetually making atonement for our sins. Christ’s blood that has provided payment for our right to have access into the presence of God still has life in it. It still contains the resurrection, life-giving power for those that believe and put their trust in it.”
6. When Did the Saints Go to Heaven?
So that leads us to one final question. If the saints released from the Sheol paradise didn’t immediately go to heaven, but had to wait until Jesus had prepared a place for them, when did they go to heaven?
In Acts 1, Christ gathered His disciples together one final time on top of the Mount of Olives for last minute instructions and encouragement by promising them the baptism of the Holy Spirit in a short while. Then in verse 9 it says that He was lifted up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
The word ‘cloud’ in this passage is the same Greek root word that is used in Hebrews 12:1 where it refers to a great cloud of witnesses. So, Paul is telling us that Jesus was sent up in a cloud of saints–not a fleecy, white, rain cloud.
As further proof, Acts 1:10 says that two men (it didn’t say angels) in white apparel stood beside them. Verse 11, “Which also said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.”
And Revelation 19:14 tells us that Jesus is coming back with an army. Therefore, if He is not coming back alone and the two men told the disciples that He was coming back in the same way they saw Him go, then He must not have gone to heaven alone. He went to heaven with a cloud of saints. What a sight that must have been!
7. Is This Purgatory?
And one final word before we wrap up this study on the blood. A manmade idea evolved from the Bible’s teaching about a place in the heart of the earth where the souls of all the dead before Christ’s resurrection went. And that manmade idea is the doctrine of purgatory.
The word purgatory actually means purification. The doctrine of purgatory was not known in the first century. In fact it was not even taught until about 600 years after Christ. It states that the souls of men when they die are not fit to go immediately to heaven, so purgatory is an intermediary place where they go to wait while their souls are purged of their sins. It also says that the souls can do nothing towards their own deliverance and they are dependent upon the prayers offered by the living on their behalf.
This is NOT a scriptural teaching. As I’ve said, it’s a manmade teaching. To say that a person who accepts Christ is not worthy to be in heaven is to say that Christ’s death and shed blood on the cross is not good enough to get them there. You place man above God if you believe that only human prayers can get a soul to heaven and are essentially throwing Christ’s death and suffering back in His face.
So, we’ve come to the end of our study on the blood of the Lamb. I tried to cover some topics that are not usually mentioned so as to give you a bigger picture of the great sacrifice that Christ made for our benefit and to show you just how necessary and powerful His blood is to our eternal life. I hope you’ve enjoyed our study, and if you haven’t made the decision of accepting His sacrifice and settling your eternity, I urge you to do so before it is everlastingly too late.
(Chart used for this sermon available upon email request.)
