Where was Jesus After the Cross? [You Might be Surprised]
Photo Credit: christianjournals.org
Question: Where was Jesus after the cross? Answer: Abraham’s Bosom/ Paradise.
The Bible gives us the facts that Jesus was killed on a cross, and that He rose again the third day. With this in mind, many find themselves wondering where Jesus was during the time period between the cross and His resurrection. I am going to lay out for you what I believe, and why I believe it. Let me, however, begin by stating the Bible is sometimes not as black and white as people try to make it. Sometimes, you put together a belief based on what you see in scripture, and you present that idea in a logical manner, but ultimately it is going to be up to you to come to your own conclusion. Scripture does not always spell things out for us as clearly as we would often hope for.
The doctrine I believe in for explaining where Jesus was for those 3 days is called “Paradise” or “Abraham's Bosom”. I used to mock this doctrine, to be honest. Even as I type out the words “ I believe in the doctrine of Abraham’s Bosom” I can see my old self shaking his head in utter disgust. I see myself cringe. But coming to this conclusion came after much study. My purpose is to reach people with the Word of God, and because I know this is a question that people have, I want to lay out a biblical argument for why I believe in the Paradise/Abraham’s Bosom doctrine.
First off, let’s look from the Word’s of Jesus to see where He claims to be going the day of His death.
Luke 23:43
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Jesus tells the thief on the cross that he is going to be with Him that very day in paradise. Moments before this, the thief on the cross got saved, there's no doubt about that if you read the story. So when the thief dies shortly after this, where does he go? We know he's saved, so he's not going to an everlasting hell, therefore it cannot be there. We also know that he is without doubt going to be WITH Jesus. The obvious answer is heaven, right?
Well, no, but let us dig in a little deeper. This is the resurrection of Jesus, pay close attention to His words in verse 17:
John 20:11-17
11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,
12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.
14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.
15 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.
16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
17 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 ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
We see here that even at the resurrection of Jesus, He had not yet ascended to the Father in heaven. How is this possible? He told the thief that He would be with him that very day in paradise. The thief is saved, and saved people go to heaven. So is Paradise heaven? The answer has to be NO. Paradise cannot be heaven at this period in history. Not yet that is.
Now keep in mind, I never want to force my views on people, I want them to come to their own conclusions. It takes far too much work to go through the effort of writing these articles out, just to have someone skim over them and then simply choose if they agree or not. Please, as you read my work, internalize what I am saying. I don’t mind you disagreeing with me, and quite frankly, I am aware that I can’t be right about everything. But I hope whatever you are taking away from my work, it is causing you to really reflect on what you believe and why you believe it. I hope you are truly basing your beliefs on what scripture teaches us.
So with that being said, can you see the problem with the thought process of assuming Jesus went to heaven that day? He can’t be in heaven that day AND make the statement at His resurrection that He hasn’t even gone there yet. Yet time and time again, while out preaching the gospel or speaking with brothers and sisters in Christ, people either assume Jesus went to heaven between the cross and resurrection or they simply have not given it any thought at all. So It is no surprise when I tell them where I personally think Jesus went for those 3 days. I believe that Jesus went to hell.
I have seen, more than I can count, the shock in people's eyes and the uncomfortable feeling people get when I say that. Honestly it is understandable. I understand people's shock. We know Jesus is perfect and Holy, so the thought of Him going to hell, a place where sinners deserve to go, sounds like blasphemy on the surface level. But what I think we should consider is, we deserve to go there and Jesus sacrificed Himself for us. Not only does a perfect, sinless and Holy Jesus not deserve to go to hell, He also does not deserve to die a brutal death on a cross. And yet WE do. And while we deserve those things, He went through them for us. He took our place. So when you slow down and think about it, it absolutely makes sense that He went there. And the Bible backs up this claim.
Acts 2:31
31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
It's an undeniable fact that Jesus went to hell. Now let me be clear, some people teach Jesus went there and suffered, that is not what I believe. There is certainly no evidence in the Bible for this being the case. Jesus went to hell to put our sins where they belong, to lead captivity captive and to defeat death and hell. That was the purpose of him going there, not to suffer. If He went there to suffer, as we would for all eternity, that isn't really defeating death and hell.
The point is this, I believe that there is a place called paradise/ abraham's bosom, and that place is where Jesus went for those 3 days. I believe that Abraham's Bosom/ Paradise is located in hell. Some might say this is not possible, and I wouldn't blame you because it seems like an odd concept, but If we put on our investigator hats and read closely in scripture we can see that hell had 2 separate compartments.
Again, let us go to the source of all our beliefs. Let us look at what the Bible says.
Luke 16:19-26
19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 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;
23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
So Lazarus dies and is carried to Abraham's Bosom. I believe a synonym for the same exact place is called “Paradise” although the text here doesn't tell us that. Then it tells us that the rich man also died and was in hell.
24 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.
25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
26 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.
The rich man is in agony in hell, while Lazarus is in Abraham’s Bosom and is comforted. Notice also the interaction that takes place between them. Abraham, the prime example of a person of faith, is in the same place as Lazarus, but they have an interaction with the rich man who is suffering in hell. In this interaction the rich man requests that Abraham send some water over with Lazarus so that the rich man can cool his tongue a bit. Here is the key: Abraham states that this is not possible. He is telling the rich man that even if they wanted to, nobody from Abraham's Bosom could pass to where the rich man is, and nobody from where the rich man is could pass to Abraham's Bosom. Some at this point might say “Um, what?”. I get it. To that I say “Totally understandable.”
This is not light reading. This is some heavy stuff. But with study, things like this can make sense. And if they can’t make total sense, you will probably learn a lot in your attempt at making it make sense.
Here is how I believe this all works out:
At this time, before the resurrection of Christ, there were 2 separate compartments in hell. Abraham's Bosom/ Paradise is an Old Testament abode of people of faith before access to heaven was granted. In Galatians 3:13-29 and Romans 4:1-12 we see Abraham is noted for being a man of faith, and people of faith do not go to hell.
The Old Testament saints (people of faith) went to the same location of what we know as hell, but it was obviously much different than hell because there was no suffering happening like the people in hell who are there because of their sins, verse 25 shows us that Lazarus is being comforted while the rich man is being tormented. Its completely obvious there is a separation between the abodes.
Another way we know that this is hell, is because of the direction it is located in respect to us. We see another person of faith who is said to come up from this place, and not down from heaven as some might assume. Let's look at the interaction between king Saul and the witch at Endor. This story is super interesting.
1 Samuel 28:11-15
11 Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.
12 And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.
13 And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.
14 And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.
15 And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.
Notice these people (she calls gods) are ascending from where? The earth. They are coming up from the earth. And why is she scared? Well because you are playing with fire when you dabble in witchcraft, but that's another topic for another day. An old man comes UP from the earth, and that man is Samuel. What was Samuel doing in the middle of the earth? He was in Abraham's bosom. There is no way around this either, the narrator tells us Paul perceived it WAS samuel. It doesn't say he or the witch mistook the situation, it clearly tells us this was in fact an interaction with Samuel.
Does this interaction recorded for us give us a free pass to try and communicate with dead saints? No. I highly encourage you to not try that. God allowed this specific situation to take place, I think because in this text Samuel ends up telling Saul that he's going to die. This does not end up being a good thing for Saul.
So why were the Old Testament saints in Abraham's Bosom? Why couldn't they just go to heaven? Remember that in the Old Testament tabernacle there was a Holy place that the priests would minister to God in. Once a year the high priest alone would enter the most Holy of all, even more separated of an area that was off limits the rest of the year, and it had the ark of the covenant representing the very presence of God. What was separating the more common Holy place from the rare and most Holy place? A veil. There was a barrier between the most Holy space and the rest of the space. Why is this significant?
Matthew 27:50-51
50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
When Jesus died that veil was torn. From that point onward, there is no longer a separation between us and God. That separation between us and God the Father has been bridged through Christ. Here's another scripture on that same concept:
Hebrews 9:8
The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
See, the way to the most Holy had not been made known yet.. But Jesus accomplished this for us. He is our high priest. Through him we have access to the Father and most Holy.
John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
This is a verse I often quote while out preaching the gospel, it's powerful. And this verse tells us that people can only go to the Father THROUGH Jesus. Before the Old Testament saints could be in the presence of God the Father, Jesus had to arrive on the scene and provide a way to be in the presence of the Father. Although the Old Testament saints in Paradise were saved by grace through faith, they could not yet be in the presence of the Father. They were saved from wrath, but did not have immediate access to behold God’s face.
Ephesians 4:8-10
8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
I believe that these captives that it is talking about are in fact Old Testament saints that were trapped, or held in Abraham's bosom until they were able to go into the presence of the Father in heaven. Now that this has been accomplished, I believe at this moment when a person who is saved dies they go straight to heaven to be with the Father. Access to the Father has already been made.
Revelation 1:17-18
17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Jesus is claiming His authority right here. He notes of course He was dead, but IS alive, He notes His eternal existence..and He notes He has the keys of death and hell. How does He have those keys? Because He defeated death and hell! And we can have that same victory THROUGH Him. Now when we die we do not need to go sit in Abraham’s Bosom/ Paradise. Now when we die we get to go to heaven! What a blessing that is. Friend, are you on your way to heaven?
If you are not sure that you are going to heaven, please get this settled today by clicking here: How to Go to Heaven.
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