Today we look at the most controversial phrase in the Apostles’ Creed, “He descended into hell.” There are a lot of people who want to leave out this phrase because it is a late addition to the Creed. But it’s only late if you consider the 5th Century late. Despite the “lateness” of the addition, however, the theological concept of Jesus descending into hell was not only being discussed by the earliest Church fathers, it is indeed biblical, which I strive to show you today. St. Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenaeus, Tertullian and others were teaching and writing about Jesus descending into hell centuries before the phrase was added to the Creed.
One
of the things different about this phrase, unlike the others we have examined,
it that there are multiple ways in which it can be interpreted, all of which
are valid interpretations. So I hope you
will be able to heartily affirm this phrase of the Creed, regardless of how you
personally interpret it.
There are multiple words and
concepts of what we have generally translated as “hell” in the Bible. Some versions are better at distinguishing
between these words and ideas than others.
In Rob Bell’s 2011 book, “Love Wins,” Bell does a good job of discussing
these different words. I don’t endorse
the book, but I don’t think Bell is as wrong as some of his detractors try to
make him out to be. Where Bell does miss
the mark is that he never discusses the term, “second death” that is found in
Scripture. “Second death” is what many
of think about when we think about hell.
We think of the place of ultimate eternal destruction. If that is what we are talking about when we
think of hell, then no, Jesus did not descend into hell. The Bible tells us that the second death is
reserved for the devil and his angels and ultimately, those whose names are not
found in the Lamb’s Book of Life, though even those people do not seem to be
there now. But there are many other
words and ideas for hell, all of which are alluded to in our Psalm today, even
though some of them are Greek New Testament ideas and not Hebrew ones.
Psalm 88 is perhaps the darkest of all
the psalms. It was written by a man
named Heman. There are two prominent men
in the Bible named Heman. One is Heman
the Ezrahite, a grandson of Zerah, the son of Tamar and Judah. He lived during the time that the book of
Exodus takes place. Solomon’s wisdom was
said to be more than that of Ethan, Heman, Chalcol, and Darda or Dara, (all
brothers) and the sons of Malcol. So
Heman was a very wise man, so much so that he was remembered for his wisdom
years and years after his death. He was
respected. The second Heman was a great
musician and composer. He was the son of the son of a man named Joel. He, along with Asaph, and another Ethan, were
extraordinary musicians, both in composition, singing, and in playing
ability. They served during King David’s
reign. This Heman was also a man of
renown.
Whichever Heman is writing this psalm,
he is coming from a place of deep pain.
It sounds like he has a terminal illness, and perhaps is in the
beginning stages of Alzheimer’s or some form of dementia, because he writes
using the imagery of the land of forgetfulness, and even of some of his use of
darkness. Here is a man who was famed,
who is losing his wisdom and is infirmed.
Instead of people coming to him, they stay away. Heman talks about
feeling shut in. It could be that he is
homebound, and no one visits him. His
eyes are tired from crying. This is what
Heman is experiencing. Dementia and
Alzheimer’s can be living hell for both the one who has it, especially in the
earlier stages, and for the caregivers.
Many of you have had experience with this type of living hell. At a pastor’s retreat I attended a few ago,
our retreat leader, Rev. Rebekah Maul, spoke of her mother who had
Alzheimer’s. Little by little, she
forgot who people were, but when asked if she knew who Jesus was, she replied,
“Oh yes! I know Jesus!” Jesus was the One who connected people
together. She never forgot Jesus. Jesus is always the hope in midst of
hell.
In verse 3, Heman says his soul is full of
troubles. He uses the word Sheol, to
describe his hell. Sheol can simply mean
the grave, but Sheol is also the place of the dead, where all departed souls
went. The Greek words used for Sheol are
“the grave” and Hades. The concept of
Sheol or Hades is partially where Catholics get their theology of Purgatory, an
in between state, and where others get their theology of soul-sleep. Heman feels dead in his soul.
When I was in the Holy Land in 2017, one
of the places we visited in Jerusalem, was The House of Caiaphas, also known as the Church of Saint Peter
in Gallicantu. We went
in down into the room where Christ was held prisoner…We read this Psalm and then had the
lights turned out while we stood in silence, imagining what it might have been
like for Jesus. This prophetic psalm
could very well have been what He recited while he was being held there,
waiting to be taken to Pilate. Like
Heman, Jesus knew what it was to be abandoned by those who had once admired and
followed Him. He was denied and
betrayed by disciples. Other followers left Him at various times, and most did
not witness His crucifixion. He was
despised and rejected. Jesus knew what
is was to be hungry and thirsty. He was
tortured before He was killed. There
were multiple attempts to take His life before that. He knew what it was to live as a
refugee. He was hated. He was surrounded by darkness. Jesus was beaten badly before He was even
scourged by Pilate. In addition to
facing the darkness of the dungeon, there was a total eclipse on the day He was
crucified. He even cried from the cross,
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
As for Sheol simply meaning
grave, we know that Jesus really died and was buried. I hope at this point, we can all affirm that
Jesus really died, and thus descended into hell.
In verse 4, Heman describes his hell as
“the pit”. Pits were often used as
temporary prisons in Bible times. In
Revelation 9, we read about the “bottomless pit,” a prison from which evil is
loosed on the earth. In verse 5, he describes his hell like being dead and in
the grave, separated from communication with God. In verses 6-7, he repeats some of his imagery
but also as water imagery to it. In the
New Testament, the abyss, hell, is described as being located at the bottom of
the sea. The abyss is where demons are
held. Heman feels God’s wrath, another
sign of hell. While Jesus, as I said before, never went into the bottomless
pit, He was literally held in a pit a Caiaphas’s house.
In our brief reading form Ephesians
today, we see that Jesus had to descend in order to ascend. Some say this is simply Jesus coming to
earth. We see through the experience of
Heman, and know from our own experiences, that sometimes life itself can be
hellish. We know as well that Jesus certainly experienced hell on earth, even
before His final hours of suffering. But
this passage could also be referencing a deeper experience of Jesus’s work in
the grave, a descent to Hades.
To get further clarification on what it
means that Jesus descended into hell, we take a look at our Confessions, by
which we are to be guided. The
Heidelberg Catechism’s answer to question 44 tells us that the creed added “He
descended into hell” to assure [us] during attacks of deepest dread and
temptation that Christ [our] Lord, by suffering unspeakable anguish, pain, and
terror of soul on the cross, but also earlier, has delivered [us] from hellish
anguish and torment.” The Westminster
Larger Catechism’s answer to Question 50 speaks similarly: “Christ’s humiliation after his death
consisted in His being buried, and continuing in the state of the dead and
under the power of death until the 3rd day, which is otherwise
expressed in these words, ‘He descended into hell.’”
In verse 1, Heman addresses Yahweh as
“the God of my salvation.” Despite the
fact that God is afflicting him, God is the only one who saves. God has saved Heman, even though he is living
hell right now. Heman questions as to
whether God will work wonders from the dead.
“Shall the dead arise and praise You?
Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave?” In verse 11, Heman uses the word, “Abaddon”
for his hell. Abaddon is the place of
destruction. It is reflected in the
“second death” language of the NT as well as destruction, and in Revelation, we
read of Abaddon or Appolyon, the Destroyer, an angel who guards the abyss. Abaddon is eternal destruction. Although Heman assumes the answer to his
questions is, “No.”
Another common word for this idea of hell is Gehenna. Gehenna is a real physical place. It is the Valley of Hinnom just outside Jerusalem. In Jesus’s day, it was used as the city dump and was perpetually smoldering. Jesus used this imagery to describe what the place of eternal punishment might be like. He used something physical to point to a deeper reality. There are times when Gehenna is used by Jesus and other New Testament writers that seem to imply that spiritually, Gehenna is not exactly the same as the 2nd death and lake of fire, but it a place of punishment that the unbelieving dead go when they die. There is nothing in Scripture that would indicate Jesus did descend into Gehenna.
Heman is right in the sense that vessels
of wrath will not praise God, but not for vessels of mercy. The answer is yes! God works the wonder of resurrection for the
dead. Hell cannot have the last word for
one saved by God. The apostle Paul will
quote, “O death, where is your sting? O
grave, where is your victory?” We have a
sure hope that “in life and in death, we belong to God.” In asking these
questions, Heman affirms God’s characteristics:
wonder-worker, lovingkindness or grace, faithfulness,
righteousness. Though Heman isn’t
experiencing these aspects of God, he knows that this is who God is. Heman shows faith in the midst of living
hell. Being faithful to Jesus does not
mean we will not go through living hell.
There is one other concept of hell that
we have not covered. It is used in II
Peter 2:4. This is the Greek
word Tartarus. It is only used here in
the Bible, though it was well-known outside the Bible. It is considered below Hades and a place for
the worst of the worst. Peter tells us
that it is where the rebellious angels are being held until the final judgment,
until they are finally destroyed in the lake of fire. In I Peter 3:18-20, Peter tells us
that Jesus went and preached to the spirits that are in prison, and in I
Peter 4:6, that the gospel has been preached to those who are now
dead. This is where we get into
controversy. Some people see the
“spirits” mentioned in chapter 3 as the same ones mentioned in II Peter 2,
especially with the reference to the time of Noah. Some scholars say that Jesus descended to
Tartarus to proclaim victory over them.
Others say, No, that these are the people who died in flood and who were
stuck in Hades, and that Jesus preaching to them allowed them to have the
opportunity to repent. Some people see
the “now dead” in chapter 4 as all who died without hearing the gospel. Others see this as people who are spiritually
dead only. Regardless, it is assumed
that this is part of the work Jesus accomplished when He was in the grave, that
He went and preached to the spirits in prison.
I personally think that Jesus did extend this grace to the pre-Flood
people. Neither do I think that it was
impossible for Jesus to proclaim victory over His enemies in Tartarus. He would not have had to suffer in order to
do this. But since it is difficult to
know what these verses mean for sure, we can accept this mystery that Jesus
knows all about that pre-Flood situation and has taken care of those involved
according to His love.
As we have seen in our ongoing study of
the creeds, everything we say we believe has implications for us and ought to
shape how we live. We have seen in the
example of Heman’s life some of these implications. We are reminded that when we find that life is
hell, Jesus is right there with us. He
shares in our sufferings and we share in His.
Though God seems absent, though our prayers don’t seem to get answered,
though our hell doesn’t end, Jesus is with us.
He promised never to abandon us, and He doesn’t.
When life is hell, we can be comforted
by the fact that Jesus went through hell for us. Whether Sheol, Hades, and even
Tartarus, and especially Jesus lived through hell on earth, we can know that
Jesus not only understands our situations, but has the power to deliver us from
them. Most of all, Jesus went through
living hell for you, so that you would be saved from eternal separation from
God, so that you don’t have to experience second death, hell, the lake of fire. Yes, we can proclaim with confidence in the
Apostles’ Creed that Jesus descended into hell.
He knows what a hellish life is.
And He doesn’t want us to suffer eternal hell.
Some of you may be going through hell
right now. Life is hell for a lot of
people, war, poverty, terminal or chronic illness, murder, natural disasters,
rape, abuse, abandonment, addiction, divorce, disability, mental illness, false
accusations, imprisonment, loss of loved ones, strain in relationships are some
of the hells we live through. “Hello,
Darkness, my old friend. I’ve come to
talk to you again…” so begins the song “The Sound of Silence” by Simon and
Garfunkel in the 60’s. Our psalmist says
that darkness is his only friends. The
last line literally reads, “My acquaintances are darkness.” Like Job, Heman never discovers why he is
suffering, but like Job, he knows he is in God’s hands and trusts in God’s
ultimate plan. Hell doesn’t end at the
end of this psalm. Darkness remains
Heman’s only friend. He is still
depressed. We might not get any
resolution in this life. Our hells do not automatically disappear when we
pray. Suffering is real. But Jesus, who went through hell for us, goes
through hell with us. He shares in our
suffering, and we share in His. So don’t
cut off your relationship with God, because God does not cut off God’s
relationship with you. God is still faithful and gracious, even when we are
living hell, and God is the only hope of our salvation. Jesus is with you in your deepest pain. God sees each tear, and one day, they will
all be wiped away. May this truth that
Jesus “descended into hell” bring you comfort, peace, and hope.
