Did Jesus spend three days in hades?
Question:
I had a lady try to tell me that Jesus spent three days in Hades before he arose from the grave. I didn't really get to discuss this with her because she had to leave. How do people come up with this kind of thinking?
Answer:
Sometimes people make up things, but in this particular case, it is based on Scripture.
In Peter's first sermon, he quotes from Psalms and applies it to Jesus: "For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. ... he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption." (Acts 2:27, 31). Hades is the realm of the dead, not to be confused with hell, which is the place of eternal punishment. In Hebrew, it is called sheol, which is sometimes translated as "the grave." The King James Version caused some difficulty because it wasn't consistent in its translation. Sometimes the Greek word hades was translated as hell, which causes confusion.
Since Jesus spent three days and three nights in the grave, the statement is correct. "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:40).
Response:
Thanks for your explanation. It helps me to understand so much better.
