Events had reached their predicted end: “And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him” (Luke 23:33). It was Joseph of Arimathaea, who went to Pilate, and obtained the body of Jesus: “He took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before” (Luke 23:50-53). Note the change of emphasis, “they crucified Him”, but “he took it down”, not ‘Him’ but ‘it’, the body of the Messiah. The burial of Jesus was the burial of the body of the Messiah only. Jesus no longer occupied it. He was away somewhere else. He had descended into Hades. Paul wrote, Jesus: “also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?” (Eph.4:8-10) And again: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)” (Rom.10:6-7). Jesus had prophesied: “for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” . Jesus described his destination as “the heart of the earth”; Paul, the great expositor, calls it, “the lower parts of the earth” and “the abyss (the deep)”. The garden tomb does not fit these descriptions. The Bible tells of Jonah’s experience in these words: “I went down to the bottoms of the mountains, the earth with its bars closed behind me forever”, and: “You cast me into the deep”. In keeping with this context, an earthquake marked the descent of Christ into Hades.
The descent of the Messiah into Hades is used to emphasise at least two important truths in Scripture. (i) That total victory over Satan would not be accomplished until the kingdom of the dead was under the control of the Lord of life. (ii) The second truth suggests the height of the exaltation of the Messiah was in direct contrast with the depth of His humiliation. The Bible states, “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) (Eph.4:8-10) William Kelly writes ‘He led those captive who had led the Church captive. We were led captive of the devil, and Christ going up on high passed triumphantly above the power of Satan’. Paul also wrote, ‘And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to … death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’ (Phil.2:8-11)
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