APOSTLES’ CREED: He Descended into Hades
When we talk about the Apostles’ Creed in membership classes, I ask people if they have questions they want to talk about. Almost always, someone asks about the phrase, “He descended into hell.”
What does that mean? Honestly, I don’t know exactly what the phrase meant to those who first included it in the creed. I would rather talk about what we do know, and what it means for us.
(Note to preacher: For a summary of what it might have meant originally, see https://journal.rts.edu/article/he-descended-into-hell/)
JESUS JOINED HUMANITY IN MORTAL LIFE AND DEATH.
Two different Greek words are sometimes translated as “hell” in the New Testament.
One is “gehenna,” which might refer literally to the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, just outside of Jerusalem, where some Israelites sacrificed their children to heathen gods! (See Jeremiah 19:4-6.) Later, garbage was burned in the same valley, giving the image of a hot place, a place of fire and smoke. Jesus said that in gehenna, the fire never goes out, although of course he might have been speaking figuratively. His point was that people should take seriously the possibility of eternal punishment, in a very nasty place.
The original word in the creed is not “gehenna,” but “hades.” Hades, or sheol in the Hebrew of the Old Testament, was thought to be the abode of the dead. Because of that, some churches translate the phrase in the creed as, “He descended to the dead.” That is not a bad translation, but it is redundant, since the creed already said, “He was crucified, died, and was buried.”
Hades was not necessarily a place of punishment, but it was a rather hopeless existence. The Hebrew view of the place of the dead was expressed in Psalm 88:10-12, “Do you show your wonders to the dead? Do their spirits rise up and praise you? Is your love declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Destruction? Are your wonders known in the place of darkness, or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?”
Hades represents the great unknown of death. When we take our last breath, we go where we have never been before. Every mortal confronts the same question: What existence will I have after death?
Jesus went into that great unknown. He went there as a mortal man, subject to death and the grave. When he went there, he broke the power of the grave to hold us in fear.
Hebrews 2:14-15 says it this way: “Since the children have flesh and blood, Jesus also shared in their humanity, so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”
Without Christ, would you fear death? At the very least, we might fear the unknown. What if everything I have gained in this life is lost? What if death means being lost in a shadowy, unfulfilling existence? What if I end up with some bad people, or in a really bad place. Without Christ, we wouldn’t know.
Hebrews implies that those fears might spill over into our lives on earth, so that people might be “held in slavery by their fear of death.” What we fear in death is what we fear in life: loss of possessions and achievements, separation from relationships, and the specter of evil coming to us.
How can we overcome fear of death, and live with confidence? We trust God, of course. Yet God was not content to sit safely in heaven, telling us not to be afraid of death. He became one of us, facing every one of the things we fear, in his life on earth. Then he went through death, into the reality beyond. When he rose from the dead, he destroyed our fears.
Let’s take a closer look at our fears, in death and life, and how Jesus frees us from fear:
JESUS FREES US FROM FEAR OF LOSS.
I learned something last week: Some coffins come with drawers, so that people can be buried with things that were meaningful to them. In addition to things like Bibles or pictures, some people are buried with booze, or even computers or phones that they seemingly couldn’t live without. As the website iMortuary explains, “There is something truly moving about knowing those we love will be near the things that mattered to them for all of eternity.” Of course, as we all know, we can’t take it with us.
Ecclesiastes talks about all the things people try to accumulate in their lives, only to lose them at death. Pleasure disappears. A king leaves a legacy which is not appreciated. A man amasses wealth, only to leave it to another who does not deserve it. The writer concludes that death makes everything in life meaningless. Even self-identity is lost: “For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6)
Do you feel that sometimes? Death is like a black hole, where everything disappears. Your wealth, your relationships, your legacy might last for a while, but those who hold those for you will also die.
When Jesus breathed his last, it seemed that everything he had accomplished slipped away. His miracles, his teaching, and his sacrifice of love would be soon forgotten. His disciples would be devastated, and even if they gathered occasionally to remember the man they loved, they would eventually die off. At best, Jesus would be a footnote of history.
His disciples felt the loss personally. Imagine their despair on the Saturday after he died. They had left everything to follow him. What did they have to show for it? They could only go home, back to the “same old, same old” existence they had before, until they final went the way of all flesh, passing into the unknown.
They had hoped for so much more. They had hoped, as the two disciples said on the way to Emmaus, “that Jesus was the one who was going to redeem Israel.” They had hoped to part of a great movement, that would endure forever. But now, with Jesus dead, the movement was dead. In all seriousness, they could say that it had all gone to hell.
But on the third day, as the creed says, “Jesus rose again from the dead.” That changed everything! The movement Jesus began was not lost; Jesus was alive forever, and they would forever have a place in the kingdom of God. Jesus said to them, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
When we die, do we disappear into the black hole of death? Our wealth, our pleasures, our human-focused achievements, and the recognition we receive will not follow us into the grave. But like Jesus, our efforts in the kingdom of God will endure into eternity. That is why Paul said, in reflecting on the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
JESUS FREES US FROM FEAR OF ABANDONMENT.
In times of crisis or discouragement, we sometimes wonder: “Is God there for me?”
David struggled with that question, as he feared for his life. In Psalm 6:5, he said, “God, among the dead no one proclaims your name. Who praises you from the grave [sheol]?” Sheol was the great unknown, and he feared that in the grave, he would be separated from God.
Jesus experienced separation from his Father even before he died, as on the cross, he cried out in pain, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He was quoting another psalm of David, Psalm 22, and expressing a fear that many people experience at times: “What if God abandons me, in life, or in death?” On the cross, it seemed that the Father had abandoned the Son! Jesus entered hades—the hades of abandonment.
The sense of abandonment became more intense after his death, as the hours passed, and God did not immediately raise him to life. For the rest of Friday, and then Saturday, into Sunday morning, the disciples feared that the Father had truly abandoned Jesus. And, if he had abandoned his own Son to the grave, what hope was there for them?
Yet the Father had not abandoned Jesus, and he will not abandon us. On the third day, he raised Jesus from the dead.
Fifty days later, as Peter preached on Pentecost, he quoted what David had said: “You put Jesus to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about him [in Psalm 16]: 'I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.' Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact.” (Acts 2:22-32)
***I knew a man who had a hellish childhood. His mother was unstable, and sometimes she locked him in the basement all day and night, because of small mistakes. He turned to drugs, and was a slave to meth for 20 years. He was an intelligent man, a deep thinker, but when I first met him, he was devoid of any confidence, barely functioning in a menial job.
Then he found Jesus, or to be more accurate, Jesus found him in the depths of his personal hell. The lure of meth did not go away for quite some time, and he said he could not think clearly for a year after he quit using. He continued to struggle with bouts of depression and negativity, and many aspects of his life were still difficult. Yet for the first time in his life, he had hope and comfort, which enabled him to rise above his desperation.
One day, he told me about being alone in the basement, feeling totally abandoned. He told me how he had also felt abandoned by God, for most of his life. Then he said that as he dealt with the crippling memories of his childhood, he realized that God had never abandoned him. He began to think of Jesus being there with him, in his abandonment. Jesus was always with him, in the crises that caused him to open up to the love of Jesus.**
God did not abandon Jesus, even in death, and he will not abandon us, in death or in life. As the Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:38-39 “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
JESUS FREES US FROM FEAR OF EVIL.
Without Christ, death could very well lead to an evil realm. Death is the result of sin, and Hebrews says that Satan holds the power of death. Even without the fire and brimstone of gehenna, hades without God will be a dark, desolate existence. The devil and his angels will be there, along with all who reject Christ.
***I have known a couple of men who were prison guards in California. One told me hair-raising stories about his experiences in a maximum security prison. It sounded like hell to me—and he was a guard! The other man had been a guard in the LA County jail, until he was permanently disabled by an attack by a prisoner. Were all of the men in those facilities monsters? No, but the facilities were overcrowded, those in authority were unable or unwilling to restrain evil, and inmates and guards were swallowed up in a downward spiral of sin and evil.***
We don’t want to spend eternity in an existence where God does not restrain evil. We experience enough evil on earth, where God reins it in.
Jesus came to earth, where he experienced a taste of hades. He encountered evil spirits, hypocrisy, and the opposition of self-driven people. He could not fully trust anyone, and even his closest friends were not dependable. He knew the pain of loneliness and betrayal, and the pain of whips, thorns, nails and hanging on the cross. John Calvin, in commenting on “He descended into hell,” said, “He suffered hellish agonies on the cross.”
We all suffer at the hands of evil—some more than others. Evil lurks in the corners of human life: hellish experiences of war, fear in a hospital, sorrow in a funeral home, dread in a mental health unit, apprehension in an unemployment office. We experience cruel words, unfair actions, even betrayal by people we trust. Some stay up late worrying about children, or can’t sleep because of worry about work or marriage or a troubled friend.
Without Christ, life is hopeless, and death even more so. Yet in death, Jesus entered into the realm where evil seemed to be unrestrained. Just before his betrayal, he said to those who came to arrest him, “This is your hour—when darkness reigns.” (Luke 22:53)
Jesus went to hades in his death, as he experienced unrestrained evil. Jesus did not go to hell to be punished, or to be defeated by the powers of darkness. No, he went there to take on the powers of darkness, especially the power of death. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:26, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” Peter said in Acts 2:24, “God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”
Entering the arena of death, Jesus went into the ring, to take on all comers. In street language, he kicked butt. Revelation 1:17-18 describes more accurately what he did there: “When I saw Jesus, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.’”
The end of Revelation looks ahead to the end of human life in the universe, and the end of all evil: “And the devil, who deceived the nations, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10) And, “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.” (Revelation 20:14) In the end, hades will be destroyed! Hades will go to gehenna, along with the devil and his angels. But the dead in Christ? In the words of Jesus, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matthew 13:43)
Because Jesus Christ experienced death as we do, and overcame it, we don’t need to fear death. We are free to really live, knowing that our lives are not in vain, God will not abandon us, and Jesus holds the keys to death and hades.
