This morning at our annual Bailey Easter Egg Hunt ("Bailey" only because it's held at Nate and Deb's; it involves a half dozen families with nearly two dozen kids chasing all over five acres in the snow), pastor Joe and I were talking about Holy Saturday, and what Jesus was accomplishing in the Spirit while his body lay in the tomb. The Scriptures don't tell us much, other than that Jesus was crucified, buried, and raised on the third day. There are however, a small number of texts that are intriguing, and which are the basis of that part of the Apostles' Creed which tells us that "he descended into hell.."
Peter asserts that "Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—to those who were disobedient long ago..." (1 Peter 3:18-20). Later, he adds, "this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit." (1 Peter 4:6).
Paul himself gets in on the act when he offers a question; "What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions?" (Ephesians 4:9). There are a couple more, but these are sufficient for the doctrine, and for our morning conversation. Biblical theology tells us that before the Cross, those who died went to a rather nebulous place of the dead called Sheol in Hebrew, or Hades in the Greek. It wasn't a place of torment; it could be likened more to a holding place for all the dead.
According to Peter, Jesus' descent to this place was that he might proclaim to those held there the Good News that salvation was accomplished, and those who believed were finally able to be received into their heavenly reward, while those who had opposed God in life were relegated to that place we call hell. The Creed's statement is subtle testimony to the activity of Christ as his body lay in the tomb. While we cannot be as certain of this as of other tenets of our faith, we might assume from our own struggles with evil that the devil doesn't release his prisoners easily. But yield, he must, then, and now, for which we give joyful thanks and praise tomorrow as we celebrate the resurrection.
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