Battle and Victory

Beneath the Surface

S. R. Hostetter
Copyright 2008 by S.R. Hostetter

Battle and Victory Beneath the Surface

by S.R. Hostetter

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 978-1-60477-148-0

All rights reserved solely by the author. The author guarantees

all contents are original and do not infringe upon the legal
rights of any other person or work. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any form without the permission of the author.

Unless otherwise indicated, Bible quotations are taken from

The New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962,
1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman
Foundation Used by permission, and The King James II Bible,
Copyright 1979 by Jay P. Green, Sr., Used by permission.

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By S. R. Hostetter

The Lambs Trilogy

Garden Promises
Battle and Victory Beneath the Surface
To Fill the Earth

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To Becky

Without you I would have not been able to fulfill the

mandate and bring what follows to completion. Thank you
for your tremendous support and encouragement.

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 Content

ONE
The Hour of Darkness.....13
Death and Darkness in the Earth
after the Disobedience of Adam.. 13
Light Revealed to the Nation of Israel
through the Law of Moses 15
Characteristics of the Word of God 18
The Word of God Revealed to the World... 20
The Benefit of the Lord... 23
The Flow of the Life of God... 26
The Baptism of Death. 30
A Continued Appeal to those in Darkness.. 32
Jesus Christ Protected until the Coming of His Hour. 33
The Death of the Passover Lamb 35
The Hour of Darkness. 35
Details Concerning the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ 42

TWO
The Execution of the Son of Man.....46
The Cup of Death... 47
The Kiss of Death... 54
The Sentence of Death.... 61

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Details Concerning the Sentence of Death. 73
The Blood of Atonement and the Blood of Judgment 74
The Deaths of Jesus Christ. 75
The Scourging and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.. 77
Sin Laid on Jesus after His Crucifixion.. 82
The Passover Lamb Slain... 82

THREE
The Geography of the Underworld.....91
Jesus Promises the Sign of Jonah.. 91
Jesus Descends to Sheol.... 96
Jesus Prays to His Father from Sheol.... 96
Jesus Trusts His Father while in Sheol.. 97
The Geography of Hell Similar to that of Oceans. 99
The Geography and Characteristics of Sheol. 100
The Geography and Characteristics of Goshen.. 111
The Geography and Characteristics of Hades 121
Hades Contains Abrahams Bay. 123
The Shepherds Protection in Abrahams Bay 126
The Geography and Characteristics of Gehenna 127
The Geography and Characteristics of Tartaros. 132

FOUR
Battle and Victory Beneath the Surface.....135
Battle Between the Son of God and Satan in Hell. 135
The Purpose of the Son of God in the Battle. 136
The Purpose of Satan in the Battle.... 138
Satan Attempts to Stop Gods Promised Destruction 143
Satan Promotes Mass Rebellion and Wickedness. 145
Angels to Cross Boundaries only on Gods Order 148
Satan Orders Angels to Cross Boundaries.... 148
God Brings Judgment on the Ancient World.... 150
Satans Hatred for God Grows.. 150

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Satans Hatred for Women and a Forming Nation.. 151
Satans Hatred Directed Toward Jesus 151
Jesus Christ Descends into Hell... 154
The Justification of the Son of Man. 156
The Life of God is Placed within Jesus Christs Spirit 157
The Son of Man becomes the Firstborn from the Dead... 157
Jesus Christ Disarms Rulers and Authorities... 158
Jesus Christ Renders Satan Powerless. 160
Jesus Christ Takes Two Keys from Satan 161
Jesus Christ Proclaims Judgment
to Angels in Tartaros.. 161
Jesus Christ Proclaims Deliverance
to those in Paradise. 163
The Inhabitants of Paradise Cleansed from Sin 165
The Family of God Enters the Sanctuary of God.. 167
Residents of Paradise Exiled from their True Home. 170
God Begins the Building of His Tabernacle.. 173
Events Related to the Death of Jesus Christ.. 174
Events Related to the Ascension of Jesus Christ... 175
Disciples Instructed to Go to All Nations.. 184
All Inhabitants of Earth Allowed to Join Gods Family 185

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 ONE

The Hour of Darkness

Death and Darkness in the Earth after the

Disobedience of Adam

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the

world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all
men, because all sinned- for until the Law sin was in the
world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even
over those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adams
offense, who is a type of Him who was to come.
Romans 5:12-14

Scripture describes mankind as being in death since the

transgression of Adam. Mankind was in death, and death was in
mankind. There was no distinction between the death and the
people. They were one and the same.

There were those who dwelt in darkness and in the

shadow of death, prisoners in misery and chains, because
they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned
the counsel of the Most High.
Psalm 107:10,11

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 Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:105

Adam was the first individual to reject the counsel of

God. God had commanded him not to eat the fruit from the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. God gave His word to
Adam so that Adam might allow it to be a light, or a guide for
him. God gave His word to Adam so that Adam might live. As
Adam obeyed the word, the light of God, he experienced life.
The moment that Adam refused to obey the word of God and
walk in the light, he chose darkness, practiced sin, and
experienced death. The consequence of his action was that his
descendants would be born into the same darkness and death.

Once Adam had disobeyed God, bringing death and

darkness to his descendants, God commanded Adam to institute
the blood sacrifice. This commandment from God to Adam and
his descendants was a word, or a light. It was given to them in
order that they might choose to obey that word and experience
life.

The picture that scripture presents is that after the

rebellion of Adam, the entire globe was in darkness and death.
Death ruled, and the only light that was in the darkness was the
word of God. Part of the word of God was the promise of the
coming seed of Eve. Another part of the word of God was the
commandment to offer the appropriate blood sacrifice in faith.
Compared to the total darkness that filled the earth, it appeared
that the word of God, the only light available for the earth, was
barely shining. It appeared that the darkness in the earth would
rule over the light. This, however, would not be so. The word of
God would be revealed to those who would be joined
corporately together into a nation, and the word of God would
be beamed through them to the rest of the world.

From among Adams descendants, existing in all nations

of the world, would be those who would choose to walk in
darkness, disregarding the word of God as Adam had originally

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done. They would either choose to disregard the promise of the
coming seed of Eve, or disregard the commandment to offer the
appropriate blood sacrifice in faith. They would be like Cain,
wandering on the face of the earth, marked by God for
judgment.

Also from among Adams descendants, existing in all

nations of the world, would be those who would choose to walk
in light, receiving the word of God, believing the promise of the
coming seed of Eve and obeying the command to offer the
appropriate blood sacrifice in faith. They would be the ones in
the earth that were in right standing before God, able to
experience His blessing. God would form them into a spiritual
nation, making them peculiar in comparison to all other nations
that would ever exist in the earth.

Light Revealed to the Nation of Israel through the

Law of Moses

He declares His words to Jacob, His statutes and His

ordinances to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any
nation; and as for His ordinances, they have not known
them.
Psalm 147:19,20a

And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the

judgments which I am teaching you to perform, in order
that you may live and go in and take possession of the
land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving
you. You shall not add to the word which I am
commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may
keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I
command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord has
done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who
followed Baal-peor, the Lord your God has destroyed
them from among you. But you who held fast to the Lord
your God are alive today, every one of you. See, I have
taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my
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 God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land
where you are entering to possess it. So keep and do
them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in
the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes
and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and under-
standing people. For what great nation is there that has a
god so near to it as the Lord our God whenever we call
on Him? Or what great nation is there that has statutes
and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am
setting before you today? Only give heed to yourself and
keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which
your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart
all the days of your life; but make them known to your
sons and your grandsons. Remember the day you stood
before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said
to me, Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them
hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days
they live on the earth, and that they may teach their
children. And you came near and stood at the foot of the
mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very
heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick gloom.
Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire;
you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form- only
a voice. So He declared to you His covenant which He
commanded you to perform, that is, the ten
commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of
stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach
you statutes and judgments, that you might perform them
in the land where you are going over to possess it.
Deuteronomy 4:1-14

God revealed His light to Adam by speaking His word.

As Adam obeyed the word of God, he experienced life. As
Adam disobeyed the word of God, he experienced death. What
was true with the individual Adam was also true with the
individuals that corporately formed the nation of Israel. God
also revealed His light to Israel by speaking His word. God first
gave His word to Moses. God then commanded Moses to take

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the word that was given to him and give it to the nation. The
word, the law of God, was given to provide light for the people.
As people obeyed the word of God, they experienced life. As
people disobeyed the word of God, they experienced death.

The end result was that the nation was to be full of light;
full of the word of God. Moses would first teach the people the
word of God. In turn, the people would then teach their children
what they had been taught. The nation would develop into a
people who were filled with light, the word of God. Israel
would be the only nation on the face of the earth that had any
light. All other nations and all other peoples would still be filled
with darkness and death, but Israel would be used by God to
reveal the word of God to the nations.

It is important to see the progressive revelation of Gods

word in the earth as light. When Adam communed with God in
the Garden of Eden, there was no darkness or death. When
Adam was obedient to the word of God, there was both light
and life in the earth. When Adam committed sin, becoming
disobedient to the word of God, he allowed both darkness and
death into the earth. At that point, God established a blood
covenant with Adam so that God could again bring His word
into the earth for the purpose of bringing life to humanity. After
the sin of Adam, the only way that people could have access to
the life of God was through the Lamb of God that was promised
and was to be provided by God. The word or light of God
coming into the earth would reveal to humanity their absolute
dependence upon the Lamb of God for their salvation. That is
why the word of God first shone in the darkness as the promise
of the coming seed of Eve and the command to offer the blood
sacrifice. That is why the word of God would later shine in the
nation of Israel as the Law of Moses, which revealed sin to the
people, making them dependent upon the blood of the Lamb of
God for their cleansing. That is also why the word of God had
to be revealed to the nations of the world through the nation of
Israel. When God sent the Lamb of God to Israel to be

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sacrificed for the sins of humanity, the Lamb of God would
also be the Word of God and the Light of the world.

Characteristics of the Word of God

The Servant of God Appointed as a Light to the Nations

Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in

whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry
out or raise His voice, nor make His voice heard in the
street. A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly
burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully
bring forth justice. He will not be disheartened or
crushed, until He has established justice in the earth; and
the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law. Thus
says God the Lord, who created the heavens and
stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its
offspring, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit
to those who walk in it, I am the Lord, I have called you
in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and
watch over you, and I will appoint you as a covenant to
the people, as a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to
bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and those who
dwell in darkness from the prison. I am the Lord, that is
My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My
praise to graven images.
Isaiah 42:1-8

Isaiah prophesied that God would appoint His Servant to

be a covenant to the people and a light to the nations. Fulfilling
Gods blood covenant established with humanity through
Adam, Gods Servant would be the Lamb of God. Appointed
by God as a light to the nations, Gods Servant would be the
Word of God. As the Lamb of God and the Word of God,
Gods Servant would experience being a delight to God. God
would place His Spirit upon Him and reveal His glory through

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Him. Gods Servant would open blind eyes, bringing prisoners
out of darkness and dungeons.

The Son of Man Revealed as the Servant of God

Listen to Me, O islands, and pay attention, you peoples

from afar. The Lord called Me from the womb; from the
body of My mother He named Me. And He has made My
mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand He
has concealed Me, and He has also made Me a select
arrow; He has hidden Me in His quiver. And He said to
Me, You are My Servant, Israel, in Whom I will show
My glory....

And now says the Lord, who formed Me from the womb
to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, in order
that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in
the sight of the Lord, and My God is My strength), He
says, It is too small a thing that You should be My
Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the
preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of
the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of
the earth. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel,
and its Holy One, to the despised One, to the One
abhorred by the nation, to the Servant of rulers, Kings
shall see and arise, princes shall also bow down; because
of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who
has chosen You. Thus says the Lord, In a favorable
time I have answered You, and in a day of salvation I
have helped You; and I will keep You and give You for a
covenant of the people, to restore the land, to make them
inherit the desolate heritages; saying to those who are
bound, Go forth, to those who are in darkness, Show
yourselves. Along the roads they will feed, and their
pasture will be on all bare heights. They will not hunger
or thirst, neither will the scorching heat or sun strike
them down; for He who has compassion on them will

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 lead them, and will guide them to springs of water.
Isaiah 49:1-3,5-10

The only Servant that God has ever called from the
womb was Jesus Christ. He was uniquely conceived within the
body of His mother Mary as both the Son of God and the Son
of Man. He came to Israel as the Lamb of God to provide
salvation for Israel and all other nations of the world. He was
abhorred by His own nation as He experienced the crushing of
His heel in service to rulers and kings as the Lamb of God. He
was given as the Lamb of God by God to the high priest of
Israel to fulfill the blood covenant established with Adam for
the salvation of humanity.

God did make the mouth of His Servant like a sharp

sword, for He was also the Word of God. As the Word of God,
He would bring forth only truth and life. He would shine in the
spiritual darkness that engulfed the nation of Israel and the rest
of the nations throughout the world.

The Word of God Revealed to the World

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning
with God. All things came into being through Him; and
apart from Him nothing came into being that has come
into being. In Him was life; and the life was the light of
men. And the light shines in the darkness; and the
darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man, sent
from God, whose name was John. He came for a witness,
that he might bear witness of the light, that all might
believe through him. He was not the light, but came that
he might bear witness of the light. There was the true
light which, coming into the world, enlightens every
man. He was in the world, and the world was made
through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came
to His own, and those who were His own did not receive
Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the

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 right to become children of God, even to those who
believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we
beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the
Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him,
and cried out, saying, This was He of whom I said, He
who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He
existed before me. For of His fullness we have all
received, and grace upon grace. For the law was given
through Moses; grace and truth were realized through
Jesus Christ.
John 1:1-17

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only

begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the
Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world
should be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is
not judged; he who does not believe has been judged
already, because he has not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God. And this is the judgment, that
the light is come into the world, and men loved the
darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil.
For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not
come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
John 3:16-20

When the Word of God became flesh, He came to earth

bringing both life and light to a dead and dark world. The Law
of Moses brought light to Israel and the world, bringing the
realization of condemnation due to mankinds spiritual
condition. When Jesus Christ came to Israel and the world as
the Word of God, He brought realization of Gods grace and
truth. He would first shine like a light in the darkness and reveal
truth to humanity. Then, as the Lamb of God, He would be
sacrificed to deliver humanity from their spiritual death.

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 The Word of God became flesh, being formed within the
womb of Mary. Later to be known as Jesus, He was born as just
a little twinkle in the darkness, and the darkness did not
comprehend the light within it. The Greek word for
comprehend means to seize. The darkness tried to seize, to
take hold of the light forcibly and overpower it. The darkness
could not overpower the light, the life, the glory of God. In fact,
just the opposite took place. As Jesus grew and developed as
the Son of Man, so the light, the life and the glory of God grew
larger and larger. Like Adam before his rebellion, Jesus had the
life and glory of God in and flowing through Him as the Son of
Man. The twinkle of light that was placed within the womb of
Mary grew and developed as the Son of Man developed. The
life, the light, kept on growing and increasing. As Jesus grew,
He allowed the life within Him to grow by staying in
communion with His Father. When the time for public ministry
came, He submitted Himself in obedience to His Father and
allowed Himself to be baptized by John. At that point, He
started establishing the kingdom of light, the kingdom of God
in the midst of the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of death
that had existed from the time of Adams rebellion.

Contrary to the desires of many, the Word of God would

shine in the dark earth, exposing sin and death as the sun
exposes particles in the air surrounding a polluted city. The
twinkle of light that was first seen when the Word of God
became flesh would grow and develop into a light so large that
it would expose the kingdom of darkness that existed within the
entire nation of Israel. There would be those in the nation who
would not want to come to the light, but would rather stay in
darkness. These would hate the light, the Word of God, and
would attempt to put it out by killing Him. Their attempts,
however, would be as futile as was the attempt of the darkness
to seize and put out the light. The light of God was shining on
humanity. It was on the increase, and it was bringing with it the
benefit of the Lord.

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The Benefit of the Lord

Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me,

bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget none of His benefits; who pardons all your
iniquities; who heals all your diseases; who redeems your
life from the pit; who crowns you with lovingkindness
and compassion; who satisfies your years with good
things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
Psalm 103:1-5

Jesus, the Word of God, brought light into the world. He

was shining in the darkness. That light was the life of God. That
life in Him flowed through Him and contacted various areas
within people. When the life of God that was in Jesus contacted
those areas, those areas came to life. Those areas were changed
from dead to living. We have separated the light of God from
the life of God for the purpose of illustration, but in reality, the
life and light of God are one in the same. We have attempted to
divide what cannot be divided. The coming of light brought
life, and the coming of life brought light.

As the life of God was flowing through Jesus, the life of

God was manifested in different ways, depending upon what
the dead area was that the life of God contacted and the
willingness of individuals to accept and receive the person of
Jesus. If people were unwilling to receive Jesus, the life of God
would shine on the individual, but could not enter and contact
the dead areas within. If individuals did receive Him, life could
gain entrance and bring the life and light of God to those areas
within. Individuals who did not receive Jesus could not
experience any changes, but those who did receive Him could
experience the transformation from death to life in both spirit
and body.

Jesus Christ brought the life of God to mankind so that it

would be available to fill every aspect of human need. The life
of God can have varied effects on an individual, depending on

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that individuals need and ability to receive it into a specific
area of their life. It is possible for an individual to receive the
life of God into one area, such as the spirit, and not receive the
life of God into another area, such as the body. In this case,
transformation would take place in the spirit, but not in the
body.

It is necessary to understand that God made His life

available to mankind through Jesus Christ. The life of God was
in Jesus Christ and still is in Jesus Christ. Outside of Jesus
Christ there is no life of God. It is only as an individual receives
Jesus Christ that he can receive the life of God that is in Him.
People must first be willing to receive Jesus Christ, the Word of
God and then receive the life of God into every area of his or
her being. As any individual opens up every area of need to the
Word of God, the light of God shines into what before was
hidden in the dark, and the life of God transforms what has
been dead to life.

The scripture record describes many of the

manifestations that are expected to be experienced within the
life of a person who has received Jesus Christ, the Word of
God, into every area of his or her life. It is a description of areas
within the spirit, soul, body, and environment that can be
transformed from death to life as humans open these areas to
the light and life of God. This is what God has provided for
every human being who is willing to receive His life, made
available to him or her in Jesus Christ, the Word of God. By
coming into the world, Jesus Christ made the life of God
available to mankind. He made that life available for all who
would be willing to receive it. It was a singular action that had
plural results.

The psalmist says to forget none of the Lords benefits.

The Hebrew text indicates that the word benefits should be
properly translated benefit, defined as a singular treatment;
a singular act of good or ill.

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 The singular act of the Lord that we are not to forget is
that He did make the life of God available for mankind. Jesus
Christ came to earth so that people could experience life. It was
an act of good, not an act of ill. He brought life, not death. This
can be seen in His ministry on earth. During that time, He tore
down the strongholds of darkness and death, and established
strongholds of light and life while He established the kingdom
of God within people. The plural results for the people who had
received the life of God that was in the Word of God were
many. In every instance, it was a result of life, of good.

There are many results listed by the psalmist that come

as an individual receives the life of God. Included is the pardon
of all iniquity, or forgiveness of all sin. Included is the healing
of all diseases. Included is the redemption from the pit.
Included is being crowned with loving-kindness. Included is
being crowned with compassion. Included is the satisfaction of
years with good things. Included is the renewal of youth like
the eagle.

The psalmist encourages us not to forget any of the plural

results that come from the singular benefit of the Lord. There
are those who have forgotten part of the benefit of the Lord.

Some have forgotten that the life of God was given to

them so that they might experience the total pardon of all of
their sin, not having to live a life of condemnation and guilt.

Some have forgotten that the life of God was given to

them so that they might experience the healing of all diseases,
not having to live a life dominated by sickness and disease.

Some have forgotten that the life of God was given to

them so that they might experience rising above the
circumstances around them that so easily drag them down into
hopelessness and despair.

Some have forgotten that the life of God was given to

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them so that they might have love and compassion control
them, allowing them to live a life of sacrifice in a selfish world.

Some have forgotten that the life of God was given to

them so that they might be satisfied with the things of God, not
with the things of this world that only give emptiness and
dissatisfaction.

Some have forgotten that the life of God was given to

them so that they might experience the vitality of youth in old
age, being useful to God throughout all their years.

Human beings have generally refused to believe that the

only life of God available to mankind is in the person of the
Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. Even for those who have received
the life of God that is in Him, many refuse to believe that the
life of God can have so many varied effects within an
individual. Among some groups for example, there have been
claims that the life of God can bring forgiveness, but not
healing. This is an example of how some of the benefit of the
Lord has been forgotten. In this case, it has been forgotten that
the life of God brought to man can have the result of healing of
diseases, while it has been remembered that the life of God
brought to man can have the result of forgiveness. It is time for
mankind to know and receive all that is available to them as
they receive the life of God that is in Jesus Christ, the Word, the
light of God.

The Flow of the Life of God

In the Ministry of Jesus Christ

And when He had come back to Capernaum several days

afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many
were gathered together, so that there was no longer room,
even near the door; and He was speaking the word to
them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic,
carried by four men. And being unable to get to Him on

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 account of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him;
and when they had dug an opening, they let down the
pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing
their faith said to the paralytic, My son, your sins are
forgiven. But there were some of the scribes sitting
there and reasoning in their hearts, Why does this man
speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins
but God alone? And immediately Jesus, perceiving in
His spirit that they were reasoning that way within
themselves, said to them, Why are you reasoning about
these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the
paralytic, Your sins are forgiven; or to say, Arise, and
take up your pallet and walk? But in order that you may
know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to
forgive sins, He said to the paralytic, I say to you, rise,
take up your pallet and go home. And he rose and
immediately took up the pallet and went out in sight of
all; so that they were all amazed and were glorifying
God, saying, We have never seen anything like this.
Mark 2:1-12

This individual sought out the life of God that was in

Jesus. He was aware of his own spiritual and physical
condition. When Jesus saw him, He knew that the man desired
to be brought to spiritual life from spiritual death. As a direct
result of the mans willingness to receive the Word of God, thus
allowing the life and light of God to shine within him, Jesus
could allow the life of God to flow by pronouncing the
paralytics sins forgiven. Jesus also gave the man an
opportunity to allow the life of God to enter into his body. He
instructed the man to rise, take up his pallet, and walk. Upon
obeying the instruction from the Word of God, the life of God
entered his body and changed it to a healed body.

In the Ministry of the Church

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders
of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing

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 him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer
offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the
Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they
will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one
another, and pray for one another so that you may be
healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can
accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like
ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it
did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.
James 5:14-17

The life of God that is available in Jesus Christ is as

available to mankind today as it was when He was on the earth
as the Son of Man. When Jesus Christ was on the earth as the
Son of Man, He was the channel for the flow of the life of God
into the earth, primarily within Israel. Gods plan was to
increase the volume of the flow of the life of God to Israel and
then to all other nations. This increased flow of the life of God
to the nations would take place as individuals received Jesus
Christ and learned to how to allow Gods life to flow through
them to others. Now God uses these channels in the earth today
as God used Jesus Christ as His channel yesterday. However,
before an individual can be used by God to give the life of God
to others, he or she must first receive Jesus Christ and receive
the life of God that in Him.

It is first necessary for any individual to be willing to

receive Jesus Christ as the Word of God before any individual
can experience the flow of the life of God into his or her spirit,
soul, body, or environment. The willingness of any individual
to receive Him into the different areas of his or her life and
being will determine the degree of light and life that can enter
and transform a given area, be it spirit, soul, body, or
environment.

If a person is not knowledgeable about how to receive

Jesus Christ and the life that is in Him into their lives on their

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own, it is beneficial for that individual to seek out those who
have themselves experienced the transformations that come
from receiving Jesus Christ; those who have allowed the life of
God to enter into their own spirits, souls, bodies, and
environments.

The men and women who have experienced receiving

Jesus Christ, the Word of God, into their lives should first learn
to allow the life of God to enter every area of their own lives.
Then they should learn, at least in part, to help others do the
same. These individuals are the true elders of the church.
People who have the willingness to receive from God, but who
have not yet learned how to receive Jesus Christ or the life of
God that is in Him into their own lives on their own, should
come to these elders and expect them to pray as Elijah did. The
elders should be able to instruct the people how to receive Jesus
Christ, the Word of God into their lives, and release the life of
God into the persons spirit, soul, body, and environment
through effective prayer. The results should be as dramatic and
as transforming as was Elijahs prayer that ended a three and
one-half year drought.

The church of Jesus Christ should be the channel of the

life of God into the earth, as Jesus Christ was the channel of the
life of God into the earth. The life of God today has the same
transforming power in the spirits, souls, bodies, and
environments of mankind as it did when Jesus was the only
channel of the life of God in the earth. When those who have
received Jesus Christ learn to allow the life of God to flow
through them as Jesus did, allowing the light and life to shine in
a much greater magnitude throughout the darkened world, those
in death and darkness will be drawn into the kingdom of God
that was established by Jesus Christ, the Word of God.

While Jesus Christ was on the earth, operating as the Son

of Man, He allowed the life of God to flow through Him and
counter the death and darkness that was in the earth. He did
what Adam failed to do. He allowed the life of God to dominate

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Him and the environment around Him. As people were willing
to receive Jesus, they were receptive to the life of God flowing
through Him. As they received the life of God into their spirits,
souls and bodies, many were radically transformed
instantaneously.

Jesus allowed the flow of the life of God to dominate

every part of His ministry as He brought life and light to
mankind. There was a point in time, however, when He began
to speak of a time when He would die. As He described this
time to those close to Him, He described His death as being a
baptism. The time would come when Jesus would not reign
over the death and darkness around Him with the flow of the
life of God coming from within His spirit, but would yield to
the baptism of death.

The Baptism of Death

Revealed to His Disciples

Described as a Night when No Man Could Work

And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and

Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they were
amazed, and those who followed were fearful. And again
He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was
going to happen to Him, saying, Behold, we are going
up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered up
to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will
condemn Him to death, and will deliver Him up to the
Gentiles. And they will mock Him and spit upon Him,
and scourge Him, and kill Him, and three days later He
will rise again. And James and John, the two sons of
Zebedee, came up to Him, saying to Him, Teacher, we
want You to do for us whatever we ask of You. And He
said to them, What do you want Me to do for you? And
they said to Him, Grant that we may sit in Your glory,
one on Your right, and one on Your left. But Jesus said
to them, You do not know what you are asking for. Are

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you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized
with the baptism with which I am baptized? And they
said to Him, We are able. And Jesus said to them, The
cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized
with the baptism with which I am baptized. But to sit on
My right or on My left, this is not Mine to give; but it is
for those for whom it has been prepared. And hearing
this, the ten began to feel indignant toward James and
John. And calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them,
You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the
Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise
authority over them. But it is not so among you, but
whoever wishes to become great among you shall be
your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you
shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not
come to be served, but to serve, and give His life a
ransom for many.
Mark 10:32-45

I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish
it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo,
and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!
Luke 12:49,50

And as He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.

And His disciples asked Him, saying, Rabbi, who
sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born
blind? Jesus answered, It was neither that this
man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the
works of God might be displayed in him. We must work
the works of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day; night
is coming, when no man can work. While I am in the
world, I am the light of the world. When He had said
this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle,
and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, Go,
wash in the pool of Siloam (which is translated, Sent).
And so he went away and washed, and came back seeing.
John 9:1-7

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 Jesus Christ came to earth as the Lamb of God. As the
Lamb of God, given by God to take away the sins of the world,
it was imperative that He be sacrificed and experience death,
thereby pouring out His blood in exchange for the contaminated
blood of humanity. Since the Lamb of God first came to Israel,
the Lamb of God would have to be given to the person in the
nation who had the authority to sacrifice the Lamb of God. The
person within Israel who had such authority was the high priest.
Since the blood of the Lamb of God was also to be poured out
in behalf of those within the Gentile nations, the Lamb of God
would also have to be turned over to the authority of the Gentile
leaders as part of the sacrificial death.

Knowing that He was the Lamb of God and that He

would eventually experience crucifixion at the hands of both
the Jews and the Gentiles surely brought distress to Jesus Christ
while He brought the life of God to those in the earth. As
distressful as that knowledge was, however, Jesus purposed to
allow the life of God to flow through Him as long as He could.
The hour would come when the life of God could not flow
through Him, but until that time, the life of God flowing
through Jesus brought light into the darkness, turning the night
into day.

A Continued Appeal to those in Darkness

To Believe in the Light

To Become sons of Light

Jesus therefore said to them, For a little while longer the

light is among you. Walk while you have the light, that
darkness may not overtake you; he who walks in the
darkness does not know where he goes. While you have
the light, believe in the light, in order that you may
become sons of light....

And Jesus cried out and said, He who believes in Me

does not believe in Me, but in Him who sent Me. And He

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 who beholds Me beholds the One who sent Me. I have
come as light into the world, that everyone who believes
in Me may not remain in darkness. And if any one hears
My sayings, and does not keep them, I do not judge him;
for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the
world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My
sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is
what will judge him at the last day. For I did not speak on
My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me
has given Me commandment, what to say, and what to
speak. And I know that His commandment is eternal life;
therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has
told Me.
John 12:35,36,44-50

Throughout His ministry while on earth, Jesus sought to

bring eternal life to all those who would receive Him. As those
in the darkness believed in Him, they would become sons of
light. There would be those in the same darkness who would
not receive Him. These would remain in darkness and some of
them would attempt to put out the light, but would fail in their
efforts to do so, just as the darkness had failed to seize the light
when the Word of God became flesh.

Jesus Christ Protected until the Coming of His Hour

In the Synagogue

And all in the synagogue were filled with rage as they

heard these things; and they rose up and cast Him out of
the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which
their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the
cliff. But passing through their midst, He went His way.
Luke 4:28-30

In the Temple

Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and

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saying, You both know Me, and know where I am from;
and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is
true, whom you do not know. I know Him; because I am
from Him, and He sent Me. They were seeking therefore
to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because
His hour had not yet come...

The Pharisees heard of the multitude muttering these

things about Him; and the chief priests and the Pharisees
sent officers to seize Him.

Others were saying, This is the Christ. Still others were

saying, Surely the Christ is not going to come from
Galilee, is He? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ
comes from the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem,
the village where David was? So there arose a division
in the multitude because of Him. And some of them
wanted to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him.
John 7:28-30,32,41-44

In the Treasury

These words He spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the

temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour had not
yet come.
John 8:20

At the Tomb of Lazarus

Jesus therefore again being deeply moved within, came

to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying
Against it. Jesus said, Remove the stone. Martha, the
sister of the deceased, said to Him, Lord, by this time
there will be a stench; for he has been dead four days....

And when He had said these things, He cried out with a

loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. He who had died
came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings; and his

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 face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to
them, Unbind him, and let him go. Many therefore of
the Jews, who had come to Mary and beheld what He had
done, believed in Him. But some of them went away to
the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had
done.

So from that day on they planned together to kill Him.

John 11:38,39,43-46,53

During His ministry on earth, Jesus brought the life of

God that was in Him to people. Many would gladly receive it
because they received Him, but many would not receive it
because they did not receive Him. For those who chose to
continue to live in darkness, their rejection of the light was
intense, for the light exposed the evil that they attempted to
keep hidden from the light. In more than a single instance, those
who chose to remain in darkness made an attempt to kill Jesus,
thinking that they could remove the light by removing Him. In
every instance they failed until the arrival of the time for the
death of the Lamb of God had come, as prophesied by the high
priest of Israel.

The Death of the Passover Lamb

The Hour of Darkness

Chief Priests and Pharisees Search for Jesus

The Feast of the Passover Approaches
Jesus Stays With the Disciples

Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a

council, and were saying, What are we doing? For this
man is performing many signs. If we let Him go on like
this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will
come and take away both our place and our nation. But
a certain one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that
year, said to them, You know nothing at all, nor do you

35
 take into account that it is expedient for you that one man
should die for the people, and that the whole nation
should not perish. Now this he did not say on his own
initiative; but being high priest that year, he prophesied
that Jesus was going to die for the nation; and not for the
nation only, but that He might also gather together into
one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

Jesus therefore no longer continued to walk publicly

among the Jews, but went away from there to the country
near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there
He stayed with the disciples. Now the Passover of the
Jews was at hand, and many went up to Jerusalem out of
the country before the Passover, to purify themselves.
Therefore they were seeking for Jesus, and were saying
to one another, as they stood in the temple, What do you
think; that He will not come to the feast at all? Now the
chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if
any one knew where He was, he should report it, that
they might seize Him.
John 11:47-52,54-57

As the time approached for the feast of the Passover to

take place, the Lamb of God came closer to the time of His
death. The freedom that He had previously experienced to
wander among the people at liberty was coming to an end.
Since He had to be sacrificed, the time would come when He
had to be seized by those who would sacrifice Him. To prepare
Himself for His own coming sacrifice, He withdrew from the
populace in the company of His disciples.

Death by Crucifixion

And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come

for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to
you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,
it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much
fruit. He who loves his life loses it; and he who hates his

36
 life in this world shall keep it to life eternal. If any one
serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there
shall My servant also be; if any one serves Me, the Father
will honor him. Now My soul has become troubled; and
what shall I say, Father, save Me from this hour? But
for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Thy
name. There came therefore a voice out of heaven: I
have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again. The
multitude therefore, who stood by and heard it, were
saying that it had thundered; others were saying, An
angel has spoken to Him. Jesus answered and said,
This voice has not come for My sake, but for your
sakes. Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of
this world shall be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men to Myself. But He was
saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was
to die.
John 12:23-33

These things Jesus spoke; and lifting up His eyes to

heaven, He said, Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy
Son, that the Son may glorify Thee, even as Thou gavest
Him authority over all mankind, that to all whom Thou
hast given Him, He may give eternal life. And this is
eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. I glorified Thee
on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou
hast given Me to do. And now, glorify Thou Me together
with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I ever had
with Thee before the world was.
John 17:1-5

The death of Jesus Christ was a death that would come as

He was crucified. Through the act of His death would be gained
His ability to give eternal life to all mankind. Before His death,
mankind was separated from God due to the transgression of
Adam. After His death, mankind could be joined to God as the
Son had been joined to God before the world was created. As

37
the direct result of His death, each individual human could
experience eternal life; oneness with both the Father and the
Son. Through the death of Jesus Christ would come the ability
of each human being to know God intimately, to be restored
into relationship and communion with the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit that was previously only known by Adam and
Eve.

Jesus Observes Purification in Preparation for Passover

Judas Iscariot Betrays Jesus

Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that

His hour had come that He should depart out of this
world to the Father, having loved His own who were in
the world, He loved them to the end. And during supper,
the devil having already put into the heart of Judas
Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing
that the Father had given all things into His hands, and
that He had come forth from God, and was going back to
God, rose from supper, and laid aside His garments; and
taking a towel, girded Himself about. Then He poured
water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples
feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was
girded. And so He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him,
Lord, do You wash my feet? Jesus answered and said
to him, What I do you do not realize now; but you shall
understand hereafter. Peter said to Him, Never shall
You wash my feet! Jesus answered him, If I do not
wash you, you have no part with Me. Simon Peter said
to Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and
my head. Jesus said to him, He who has bathed needs
only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you
are clean, but not all of you. For He knew the one who
was betraying Him; for this reason He said, Not all of
you are clean....

I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have

chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He

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 who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.
From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so
that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He.
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I
send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him
who sent Me. When Jesus had said this, He became
troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Truly, truly, I
say to you, that one of you will betray Me. The disciples
began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which
one He was speaking. There was reclining on Jesus
breast one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon
Peter therefore gestured to him, and said to him, Tell us
who it is of whom He is speaking. He, leaning back thus
on Jesus breast, said to Him, Lord, who is it? Jesus
therefore answered, That is the one for whom I shall dip
the morsel and give it to him. So when He had dipped
the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of
Simon Iscariot. And after the morsel, Satan then entered
into him. Jesus therefore said to him, What you do, do
quickly.
John 13:1-11,18-27

Jesus spent the final moments before He was to be seized

and sacrificed with His disciples. During that time, He
participated with them in the observance of Passover. After the
supper was completed, He brought the life and light of God to
them for a final time. He brought light into the dark heart of
Judas. Judas had made his final choice not to receive Jesus, the
Word of God, but to reject Him. Although not recognized by
the other disciples at the time, Judas was exposed for who he
really was. Now that Judas had chosen darkness over light, he
had to leave the presence of the Word of God and the other
disciples who had chosen to walk in His light. He was now
separated from them, and was committed to the betrayal of
Jesus.

39
Jesus and the Disciples Go to Gethsemane
Jesus Receives the Cup of Death

And they came to a place named Gethsemane; and He

said to His disciples, Sit here until I have prayed. And
He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began
to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them,
My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain
here and keep watch. And He went a little beyond them,
and fell to the ground, and began praying that if it were
possible, the hour might pass Him by. And He was
saying, Abba! Father! All things are possible for Thee;
remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what
Thou wilt. And He came and found them sleeping, and
said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep? Could you not
keep watch for one hour? Keep watching and praying,
that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is
willing, but the flesh is weak. And again He went away
and prayed, saying the same words. And again He came
and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy;
and they did not know what to answer Him. And He
came the third time, and said to them, Are you still
sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has
come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the
hands of sinners. Arise, let us be going; behold, the one
who betrays Me is at hand! And immediately while He
was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came up,
accompanied by a multitude with swords and clubs, from
the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now he
who was betraying Him had given them a signal, saying,
Whomever I shall kiss, He is the one; seize Him, and
lead Him away under guard. And after coming, he
immediately went up to Him, saying, Rabbi! and
kissed Him. And they laid hands on Him, and seized
Him. But a certain one of those who stood by drew his
sword, and struck the slave of the high priest, and cut off
his ear. And Jesus answered and said to them, Have you
come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me, as though I

40
 were a robber? Every day I was with you in the temple
teaching, and you did not seize Me; but this has happened
that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.
Mark 14:32-49

Jesus knew that when Judas left the Passover meal, he

left to inform the chief priest and elders of where He was
located. Jesus knew that they would soon seize Him once Judas
had told them where He could be found. Since He had observed
the Passover meal with His disciples, He was ready for death as
the Passover Lamb. He was ready for His hour of darkness to
come. The only thing left to do was spend the rest of His
remaining time in communion with His Father. To do so He
went to a place of prayer within the garden of Gethsemane.

Jesus is Betrayed and Seized

But Jesus said to him, Judas, are you betraying the Son
of Man with a kiss? And when those who were around
Him saw what was going to happen, they said, Lord,
shall we strike with the sword? And a certain one of
them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his
right ear. But Jesus answered and said, Stop! No more
of this. And He touched his ear and healed him. And
Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple
and elders who had come against Him, Have you come
out with swords and clubs as against a robber? While I
was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands
on Me; but this hour and the power of darkness are
yours.
Luke 22:48-53

Up until the instant of His spiritual death, the Lamb of

God would have the life of God within Him. Jesus did have the
life of God within Him before and after His last Passover meal.
He had the life of God within Him as He went through His
entire ordeal in prayer while in Gethsemane. He had the life of
God within Him when the Jewish leaders seized Him, for He

41
healed the slave of the high priest. He would continue to have
the life of God within Him, as He did during His public
ministry, but would refuse to allow it to flow through Him to
dominate the darkness and protect Him from the people in
darkness that wanted to take His life. The beacon of light and
life that had beamed so strongly into the dark world through the
Word of God was now not to flow through Jesus. He had
submitted to the will of His Father, and would be obedient to
Him and experience death as the Lamb of God, experiencing
that death while crucified on a cross. From the time of His
arrest, Jesus would not dispel the death and darkness
surrounding Him with the life and light that was within Him.
He had submitted himself to the will of His Father, choosing to
yield to death.

Death and darkness were now pressing upon Him,

pressing upon His body, literally squeezing Him in the attempt
to extinguish the Light, the Word of God. Jesus would
experience this pressing of death and darkness upon Him while
He was crucified. As He yielded to the death on the cross in
obedience to His Father, the death and darkness would first
enter His body, then His spirit.

Details Concerning the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ

Jesus Crucified at the Third Hour

Darkness Falls from the Sixth to the Ninth Hour
Jesus Dies at the Ninth Hour

And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments

among themselves, casting lots for them, to decide what
each should take. And it was the third hour when they
crucified Him. And the inscription of the charge against
Him read, The king of the Jews. And they crucified
two robbers with Him, one on the right and one on the
left...

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And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him,
wagging their heads, and saying, Ha! You who were
going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,
save Yourself, and come down from the cross! In the
same way the chief priests along with the scribes were
also mocking Him among themselves and saying, He
saved others; He cannot save Himself. Let this Christ, the
King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that
we may see and believe! And those who were crucified
with Him were casting the same insult at Him. And when
the sixth hour had come, darkness fell over the whole
land until the ninth hour.
Mark 15:24-27,29-38

Jesus Forsaken by God the Father

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice,
Eloi, Eloi, sabachthani? which is translated, My God,
My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
Mark 15:34

Jesus Fulfilled Every Prophecy Concerning His Death

Reproach has broken my heart, and I am so sick. And I

looked for sympathy, but there was none, and for
comforters, but I found none. They also gave me gall for
my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Psalm 69:20,21

After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been
accomplished, in order that the Scripture might be
fulfilled, said, I am thirsty. A jar full of sour wine was
standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine
upon a branch of hyssop, and brought it up to His mouth.
When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He
said, It is finished! And He bowed His head, and gave
up His spirit.
John 19:28-30

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 Jesus Gives Himself to His Father

And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, Father,

into Thy hands I commit My spirit. And having said
this, He breathed His last.
Luke 23:46

Earthquake Results from the Death of Jesus

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded
up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn
in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook; and the
rocks were split, and the tombs were opened; and many
bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.
Matthew 27:50-52

As death and darkness surrounded the Word of God,

Jesus Christ came closer to His crucifixion and death on the
cross. Although He could have saved Himself from the coming
hour, He drank from the cup of death presented to Him in the
garden of Gethsemane. When He drank what was in that cup,
accepting the method of death, He passed the point of no return.
Even though He would not experience immediate death upon
drinking the cup, death was inevitable, and He had to be
crucified.

Jesus was crucified about nine oclock in the morning, at

the third hour. Until noon, or the sixth hour, Jesus received
insult after insult. During this time, all except a few of His
disciples deserted Him. At noon, darkness fell on the land until
the ninth hour, or three oclock. During this time, He was
forsaken and deserted by His Father. To be deserted by any
human being was one thing, but to be left alone by His Father,
to be separated from Him, was one thing that He had never
experienced throughout all of past eternity.

Even in this condition, Jesus knew that He had to fulfill

all of the prophecies recorded in Scripture concerning His

44
crucifixion. Knowing that all had been fulfilled except one, He
said that He was thirsty and someone gave Him some sour
wine. When that was done, that act fulfilled the last prophecy
that was left concerning His crucifixion. Jesus then said that all
Scripture was fulfilled and gave up His spirit, committing
Himself to His Father who had forsaken Him.

The events that surrounded the death of Jesus Christ were

astounding. Not only did He die during what was an apparent
eclipse, but when His spirit left His body, the veil of the temple
was torn in two and an earthquake took place which opened up
the tombs of many who had died while trusting in the hope of
the Messiah, exposing their bodies to the open air.

Mankind had just entered into the hour of darkness, a

period of time when no man could work. Jesus Christ was dead
and His disciples would be scattered. It appeared that the light
and life of God was forever gone from the planet earth. Jesus
said, however, that He would rise again in three days. The next
three days would be the darkest days in the history of the earth,
but then events more astounding than those surrounding the
death of Jesus Christ would take place. They would be those
events surrounding His resurrection.

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 TWO

The Execution
of the Son of Man

Jesus Christ was both the Lamb of God and the Son of
Man. As the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ came to Israel and the
world from God the Father for the purpose of being sacrificed.
He came to shed His blood in order to remove sin from the
world. This was a provision of the mercy of God the Father
toward the human race. As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ was a
representative of the human race. As the Son of Man, He
experienced the unique formation of spirit and body that was
free from the effects of the contaminated bloodline that was
common to other human beings. He therefore lived on the earth
not being subject to the dominion and control of sin and death.

As Jesus Christ lived on the earth, He was continually in

obedience to both His Father and to the Law of Moses. This
resulted in His continued ability to exercise total dominion over
sin and death, forcing and driving them away from Him. This
continued until the point in time when He allowed the spiritual
nature that was resident within the human race to be joined to
Him. At this point in time, He became a representative of the
human race, and became like every other member of the human
race. The Son of Man became so joined with the sin,
lawlessness, and rebellion that was inherent within the human
race, that He was executed in the place of every individual
member of the human race. This happened while He continued
to not commit any sin- sin that would come through

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disobedience to either His Father or to the Law of Moses.

As the Son of Man, Jesus Christ experienced the

execution that Adam did not experience. The execution of Jesus
Christ was the provision for the judgment of God the Father
toward the human race. The first Adam experienced the mercy
of God in the Garden of Eden and was allowed to live after he
committed sin. Jesus, the second Adam, experienced the
judgment of God in the garden of Gethsemane and was required
to die even though He had not sinned. As the representative of
Adam and his descendants, He would assume their sin and guilt
and die in their place.

To understand what took place during the death of Jesus

Christ, it is necessary to look at several details that scripture
provides concerning the subject. As we look at these details,
we will find that Jesus experienced three things as part of His
death and crucifixion. He experienced the cup of death, the kiss
of death, and the sentence of death. Each of these three
experiences involved details that were foreshadowed by events
that took place in Israels history. These historic events were
the killing of the Passover lamb, the raising of the brass serpent,
and the sacrifice of the Lords goat. With details from these
events applied to the death of Jesus Christ, what took place
before, during, and after His crucifixion can be more easily
understood.

The Cup of Death

Details Foreshadowed in the Killing of the

Passover Lamb

Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of

Egypt, This month shall be the beginning of months for
you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to
all the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth of
this month they are each one to take a lamb for
themselves, according to their fathers households, a

47
lamb for each household. Now if the household is too
small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his
house are to take one according to the number of persons
in them; according to what each man should eat, you are
to divide the lamb. Your lamb shall be an unblemished
male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from
the goats. And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day
of the same month, then the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. Moreover,
they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two
doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they
eat it. And they shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted
with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and
bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with
water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its
legs along with its entrails. And you shall not leave any
of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until
morning, you shall burn with fire. Now you shall eat it in
this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your
feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in
haste- it is the Lords Passover. For I will go through the
land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the
first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and
against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments- I
am the Lord. And the blood shall be a sign for you on the
houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will
pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy
you when I strike the land of Egypt....

Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to
them, Go and take for yourselves lambs according to
your families, and slay the Passover lamb. And you shall
take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in
the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin
to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall
go outside the door of his house until morning. For the
Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when
He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts,

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 the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the
destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you. And
you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and
your children forever. And it will come about when you
enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has
promised, that you shall observe this rite. And it will
come about when your children will say to you, What
does this rite mean to you? that you shall say, It is a
Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the
houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the
Egyptians, but spared our homes. And the people
bowed low and worshiped.
Exodus 12:1-13,21-27

There are several details associated with the Passover

sacrifice that are also details that were associated with the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The Passover lamb was an
unblemished male. Jesus Christ was a man who was not flawed
by sin. He did not sin because He was always obedient to His
Father. He did not sin because He was always obedient to the
Law of Moses. The blood of the Passover lamb was a sign of
life for those who applied that blood to their dwelling in the
face of death. The same is true for any who apply the blood of
the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, to their lives.

There are other details associated with the sacrifice of

Passover and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, but none more
important than the detail that the Passover lamb was to be eaten
with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. This detail gives us
information concerning the nature of the cup of death, which
was drunk by Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.

Scripture compares leaven with sin. As leaven has a

gradual effect upon dough, transforming and changing it, so sin
has a transforming and changing effect on an individual. As the
Passover lamb was eaten, the lamb did not come into contact
with leaven, for leaven was absent from the bread. Like the
unleavened bread, Jesus Christ never came into contact with

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sin. He never allowed sin to contact Him, nevertheless allow it
to transform or change Him.

As the Passover lamb was eaten, the lamb did come in

contact with bitter herbs. To understand the significance of
Jesus Christ coming into contact with bitter herbs and how this
relates to His sacrifice, it is necessary to look at some details
concerning the cup of death.

Jesus Saw the Cup in the Garden

Then Jesus came with them to a place called

Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, Sit here while I
go over there and pray. And He took with Him Peter
and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved
and distressed. Then He said to them, My soul is deeply
grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep
watch with Me. And He went a little beyond them, and
fell on His face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it is
possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but
as Thou wilt. And He came to the disciples and found
them sleeping, and said to Peter, So, you men could not
keep watch with Me for one hour? Keep watching and
praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit
is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away a second
time and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cannot pass
away unless I drink it, Thy will be done. And He came
back and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
And He left them again, and went away and prayed a
third time, saying the same thing once more. Then He
came to the disciples, and said to them, Are you still
sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand
and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of
sinners.
Matthew 26:36-45

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 Jesus Drank the Cup in Obedience to the Father

And He was saying, Abba! Father! All things are

possible for Thee; remove this cup from Me; yet not what
I will, but what Thou wilt.
Mark 14:36

When Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane for the

last time, He went there to pray so He would not be tempted to
refuse to submit to the death that He knew was so close at hand.
While in prayer, in communication with His Father, He saw the
cup of death. That cup was given to Him by His Father to drink.
Jesus recoiled from the command to drink the contents of the
cup, but He did so, submitting to the will of His Father.

The cup that was given to Jesus in the garden of

Gethsemane was like a cup that contained poison. Drinking the
cup of poison would bring death. The poison in the cup would
cause two forms of death. The first was physical death. He had
to drink the disease and infirmity that could bring death to His
physical body. The second was spiritual death. He had to drink
the sin that would kill His spirit. At the point of His spiritual
death, He would be separated from God the Father as Adam
was after Adams sin in the Garden of Eden.

After Adam sinned by rebelling against Gods

commandment in the Garden of Eden, he stood before God
condemned by his very action. He did not have any excuse for
what he did and he stood before God who had previously told
him that death would result if he disobeyed. Adam stood before
God guilty of bringing death to His descendants. Adam stood
before God condemned as a murderer, awaiting the sentence of
death to be imposed by the court. Since Jesus Christ was the
Son of Man, a representative of Adam and all of his
descendants, and also the Lamb of God, who was to exchange
His life for that of humanity, Jesus Christ was given the death
sentence in the garden of Gethsemane that should have been
given to Adam in the Garden of Eden.

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 Since all of Adams descendants were contaminated by
the sin that Adam had allowed into the earth, all of them were
also guilty of transgressing Gods standard of total obedience to
Him and of total love to all others. Up until this point in time,
those who believed in the promise of the coming Lamb of God,
and offered appropriate blood sacrifices to God in obedience to
Him, experienced righteousness being imparted to them. The
blood of the sacrifices was spilled rather than their own. Now,
in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus Christ stood in the place of
every human being. He stood in Adams place. He stood in
Eves place. He stood in my place. He stood in your place. His
innocent blood was to be poured out in exchange for our guilty
blood.

The drinking of the cup of death was to Jesus as the

eating of the bitter herbs was to those who ate the Passover
lamb. As Jesus Christ drank the cup of death, He came into
contact with death as the Passover lamb came into contact with
the bitter herbs as it was eaten during the Passover meal.

The word bitter has several definitions. Bitter can be a

disagreeable taste. Bitter can be disturbing or distasteful to
the mind. Bitters are a solution of bitter and often aromatic
plant products used especially for preparing mixed drinks. A
bartender might put bitters in a drink to produce a certain smell
or taste.

That which is bitter is often accompanied by severe pain

or suffering.

Hemlock has two definitions. It is any of several

poisonous herbs of the carrot family. It is also a poisonous
drink made from the fruit of the hemlock.

One of the ways that the Greeks used to carry out the
execution of the death sentence was by the use of poison.
Instead of beheading or quartering a criminal, the civilized
Greeks used a plant known as hemlock as the poison of choice

52
for their executions. Socrates was a well-known Greek executed
by the use of hemlock about 399 B.C.

The cup of death that Jesus drank did not contain the herb
of hemlock, but did contain the bitter herbs of sin and disease.
It is hard to picture what the cup of death was like to Jesus
unless we have some idea of why He recoiled so much from
drinking it. We can gain a partial picture of why He recoiled
from it when we look at some type of cups that we might recoil
from, if we were commanded to drink from them.

One cup that we might see is a cup that has been used
during anti-smoking campaigns. During some of these
campaigns, people have been encouraged to leave a cigarette
in a cup of water overnight and then imagine drinking it the
next day. In the end, people are hopefully disgusted by the idea
of drinking it and choose not to drink it or take any of the same
material into their lungs by smoking. The same principle holds
true with other types of cups that are even more unpleasant to
the senses. Can you imagine looking into a cesspool or a sewer
and think about drinking that? Just the smell alone can cause
enough revulsion to cause the need to turn away. If you have
worked in a medical environment you may been repulsed by the
smell of gangrene. These images are bad enough, but Jesus
looked into the cup of death and saw every physical and
distasteful thing that you could ever see in a hospital. He
smelled the aromas. These were the smells of some of the
aromatic bitters in the cup of death prepared for Him by His
Father.

The physical diseases and associated aromas in the cup of

death were distressing enough to Jesus, but were only a part of
what was in the cup of death. There were also all of the various
sins practiced by mankind within the cup, which brought with it
a bitter aroma all of its own.

We have to remember who was looking into that cup and

smelling the aromas coming from within. He was the same one

53
who exercised total dominion over all sin and death while in
His ministry on the earth. He was the same one who came from
the presence of God where the angels declare His holiness. He
was the same one who came down to Sodom and Gomorrah to
see if the sin there was as bad as it appeared. At that time, He
came to destroy the flesh that had been contaminated by the
sins of adultery, fornication, homosexuality, and sodomy. Now
He was to drink of those sins, among others, and allow them to
become one with Him.

Jesus looked into that cup and saw every sexual

perversion. He saw every legalism. He saw everything that was
contrary to the Ten Commandments. He saw every time that
someone struck out against the widow or orphan and stole their
food. He looked within the cup and saw the greed and lust for
power that contaminated mankind. He saw every act of sin
against God and against man. He smelled the bitter, vile aroma,
knowing that if He drank it, He would be separated from the
life and holiness of God with whom He had been joined from
eternity past. However, in spite of how much He recoiled from
the cup and its odor, as well as from the death that drinking it
would bring to both His body and spirit, Jesus submitted in
obedience to the will of the Father and drank the cup of poison.

The Kiss of Death

Details Foreshadowed in the Raising of the

Bronze Serpent

Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red
Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people
became impatient because of the journey. And the people
spoke against God and Moses, Why have you brought
us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is
no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable
food. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people
and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel
died. So the people came to Moses and said, We have

54
sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and
you; intercede with the Lord, that He may remove the
serpents from us. And Moses interceded for the people.
Then the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent, and
set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that
everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he shall
live. And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the
standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man,
when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.
Numbers 21:4-9

Details Fulfilled in the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ

And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come

for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say unto
you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,
it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much
fruit. He who loves his life loses it; and he who hates his
life in this world shall keep it to life eternal. If any one
serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there
shall My servant also be; if any one serves Me, the Father
will honor him. Now My soul has become troubled; and
what shall I say, Father, save Me from this hour? But
for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Thy
name. There came therefore a voice out of heaven: I
have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The
multitude therefore, who stood by and heard it, were
saying that it had thundered; others were saying, An
angel has spoken to Him. Jesus answered and said,
This voice has not come for My sake, but for your
sakes. Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of
the world shall be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth, will draw all men to Myself.
John 12:23-32

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,

even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever
believes may in Him have eternal life. For God so loved

55
 the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have
eternal life.
John 3:14-16

There are several details associated with the raising of the

serpent in the wilderness that are also details associated with
the death and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The raising of the
serpent in the wilderness was preceded by the sin of the people.
The crucifixion of Jesus Christ was also preceded by the sin of
the people who comprised the human race, for all the
descendants of Adam were controlled by the sin that he had
allowed to enter the human race when he disobeyed God in the
Garden of Eden.

The serpent was raised on the standard in the wilderness

to remove from the people the source of death that came from
the fiery serpents. Jesus Christ was crucified and raised on the
cross to remove from the human race the source of death that
came from the serpent Satan. Satan had brought spiritual and
physical death to humanity through his actions in the Garden of
Eden and would be removed and cast out from the earth
through the death and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. For the
people who had been bitten by the serpents in the wilderness
and were dying as the result, a look at the serpent on the
standard would bring life. For all the descendants of Adam, all
of whom had experienced the bite of Satan, the bite of eternal
death, but who would look forward or backward in time to
Jesus Christ on the cross, eternal life rather than eternal death
could be had. To understand how these details about the raising
of the serpent apply to the death and crucifixion of Jesus Christ,
it is necessary to understand how the nature of Satan was joined
to the nature of the Son of Man through the kiss of death.

The Kiss of Death by Satan through Judas Iscariot

And it came about that when Jesus had finished all these
words, He said to His disciples, You know that after two

56
days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be
delivered up for crucifixion. Then the chief priests and
the elders of the people were gathered together in the
court of the high priest, named Caiaphas; and they
plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth, and kill Him.

Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the

chief priests, and said, What are you willing to give me
to deliver Him up to you? And they weighed out to him
thirty pieces of silver. And from then on he began
looking for a good opportunity to betray Him.

Arise, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me

is at hand! And while He was still speaking, behold,
Judas, one of the twelve, came up, accompanied by a
great multitude with swords and clubs, from the chief
priests and elders of the people. Now he who was
betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, Whomever I
shall kiss, He is the one; seize Him. And immediately he
came to Jesus and said, Hail, Rabbi! and kissed Him.
Matthew 26:1-4,14-16,46-49

Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the

Passover, was approaching. And the chief priests and the
scribes were seeking how they might put Him to death;
for they were afraid of the people. And Satan entered into
Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number
of the twelve. And he went away and discussed with the
chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to
them. And they were delighted, and agreed to give him
money. And he consented, and began seeking a good
opportunity to betray Him to them apart from the
multitude.

While He was still speaking, behold, a multitude came,

and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was
preceding them; and he approached Jesus to kiss
Him. But Jesus said to him, Judas, are you betraying

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 the Son of Man with a kiss?
Luke 22:1-6,47,48

A kiss is not simply a form of physical contact, but is

usually a sign that indicates a close or even intimate contact
between two individuals. The kiss is often associated with the
sexual act where two individuals join together physically and
become one flesh. The joining of the two into one is often
preceded by the kiss.

Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Judas thought

that it was a simple act, but in reality, it was the first contact
that Jesus Christ would have with the nature of Satan, the
serpent whose nature would later be totally joined with the Son
of Man upon the cross. To understand the progressive joining of
the nature of Satan to Jesus Christ, it is necessary to look at the
personality of Judas and see how he was manipulated and used
by a spiritual being greater than himself.

Judas Iscariot: Disciple and Thief

Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to

Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from
the dead. So they made Him a supper there; and Martha
was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at
the table with Him. Mary therefore took a pound of very
costly, genuine spikenard ointment, and anointed the feet
of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house
was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. But Judas
Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to
betray Him, said, Why was this ointment not sold for
three hundred denarii, and given to poor people? Now
he said this, not because he was concerned about the
poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the
money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it.
John 12:1-6

But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and

58
 said, What is the point of this waste? For this perfume
might have been sold for a high price and the money
given to the poor. But Jesus, aware of this, said to them,
Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a
good deed to Me. For the poor you have with you
always; but you do not always have Me. For when she
poured this perfume upon My body, she did it to prepare
Me for burial. Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is
preached in the whole world, what this woman has done
shall also be spoken of in memory of her. Then one of
the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief
priests, and said, What are you willing to give me to
deliver Him up to you? And they weighed out to him
thirty pieces of silver. And from then on he began
looking for a good opportunity to betray Him.
Matthew 26:8-16

Satan managed to bring about the spiritual death of the

human race in the Garden of Eden. For his action, God
promised that he would be punished. God promised that a seed
would come into the earth through Eve and break Satans head.
From that time on throughout human history, the serpent
attempted to stop the seed from coming into the earth. When
Jesus Christ, the seed of Eve, did arrive in the earth, Satan
continued to try and stop Him from bringing about his own
prophesied destruction and the prophesied redemption of the
human race. To do so, however, Satan needed to work through
humans who were born in the earth. Just as God had to have a
man in the earth who would obey Him in order to bring about
salvation and life, so Satan had to have a man in the earth who
would obey him in order to bring about further death.

Satan first attempted to try and influence Peter to

discourage Jesus about thinking of being crucified and killed at
Jerusalem. Jesus however, let Peter know that his thoughts were
not his own thoughts, but the thoughts of Satan that had been
placed within his mind by Satan. Judas Iscariot was another
disciple that Satan tried to influence. But there was a great

59
difference between Peter and Judas. Just as much as Peter was
truly concerned about the welfare of Jesus, Judas was only
concerned about the welfare of Judas. Judas was not concerned
about Jesus or the poor, but only about himself. It may have
been true that he was actually angered by the fact that the
perfume was used on Jesus and was not used to enlarge the
amount of money from which he repeatedly stole. The attitude
of Judas heart made him a prime target for Satan. With the fact
that Judas was in the habit of stealing, it did not take much
influence from Satan to get Judas to go to the chief priests with
motivations of monetary gain, no matter what his action might
mean to Jesus.

Satan Enters Judas

When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit,

and testified, and said, Truly, truly, I say to you, that
one of you will betray Me. The disciples began looking
at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was
speaking. There was reclining on Jesus breast one of His
disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore
gestured to him, and said to him, Tell us who it is of
whom He is speaking. He, leaning back thus on Jesus
breast, said to him, Lord, who is it? Jesus therefore
answered, That is the one for whom I shall dip the
morsel and give it to him, So when He had dipped the
morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon
Iscariot. And after the morsel, Satan then entered into
him. Jesus therefore said to him, What you do, do
quickly. Now no one of those reclining at table knew for
What purpose He had said this to him. For some were
supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus
was saying to him, Buy the things we have need of for
the feast; or else, that he should give something to the
poor. And so after receiving the morsel he went out
immediately; and it was night.
John 13:21-30

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 Every time Judas stole from the moneybox, he broke
Gods commandment which said, You shall not steal. By
breaking that law, he committed sin. Every time he committed
sin, he presented his being to Satan rather than to God. Through
his habitual disregard for Gods law, Judas now had become
one of those in the earth through whom Satan could operate.
Judas Iscariot was close to Jesus. Satan could use Judas as a
tool to get to Jesus. Satan took advantage of Judas yielded
thoughts and will and entered into his body. While Satan was in
the body of Judas, his personality merged with the personality
of Judas throughout the betrayal of Jesus and the exchange of
the pieces of silver. This merging of personality continued to
take place while Judas led the mob to the garden of
Gethsemane. Satans personality, however, took the upper hand
when, using the body of Judas, he gave Jesus the kiss of death.
The event was Satans first actual contact with Jesus and it was
an indicator of how the nature of the serpent would be joined
with the Son of Man as He was crucified and lifted up from the
earth. There would be a future point in time after Jesus was
crucified and lifted up on the cross that He would be so totally
merged with the nature of Satan that they would be one. It
would be at that point in time that judgment would come upon
the world and Satan would be cast out from among the people.

The Sentence of Death

There are several details associated with the Old

Testament sacrifice of the Lords goat that foreshadowed details
associated with the death of Jesus Christ. Within the picture of
the sacrifice of the Lords goat is a description of four major
figures associated with that event. Details concerning the
actions of the four major figures involved in the sacrifice of the
Lords goat were later seen in the actions of the four major
individuals involved in the sentence and resulting crucifixion of
Jesus Christ.

Details Foreshadowed in the Sacrifice of the Lords Goat

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And he shall take from the congregation of the sons of
Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a
burnt offering. Then Aaron shall offer the bull for the sin
offering which is for himself, that he may make
atonement for himself and for his household. And he
shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord
at the doorway of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall
cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the
other lot for the scapegoat. Then Aaron shall offer the
goat on which the lot for the Lord fell, and make it a sin
offering. But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat
fell, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make
atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the
scapegoat.

Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering which

is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil, and
do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and
sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy
seat. And he shall make atonement for the holy place,
because of the impurities of the sons of Israel, and
because of their transgressions, in regard to all their sins;
and thus he shall do for the tent of meeting which abides
with them in the midst of their impurities. When he goes
in to make atonement in the holy place, no one shall be in
the tent of meeting until he comes out, that he may make
atonement for himself and for his household and for all
the assembly of Israel. Then he shall go out to the altar
that is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and
shall take some of the blood of the bull and of the blood
of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar on all
sides. And with his finger he shall sprinkle some of the
blood on it seven times, and cleanse it, and from the
impurities of the sons of Israel consecrate it. When he
finishes atoning for the holy place, and the tent of
meeting and the altar, he shall offer the live goat. Then
Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live
goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of

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 Israel, and all their transgressions in regard to all their
sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and
send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man
who stands in readiness. And the goat shall bear on itself
all their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release
the goat in the wilderness.
Leviticus 16:5-10,15-22

The first figure involved in the sacrifice of the Lords

goat is Aaron, the high priest. In order to atone for the sins of
the people, he would offer a bull as a burnt offering and then
offer two male goats as a sin offering. Before the sin offering
was made, Aaron would cast lots between the two male goats,
making one the Lords goat and the other a scapegoat.

The second figure involved in the sacrifice of the Lords

goat is the Lords goat. The Lords goat was free from the sin
of the people, and because it was, its life and blood could be
shed and poured out to atone for the sins of the people.

The third figure involved in the sacrifice of the Lords

goat is the scapegoat. After the life and blood of the Lords goat
was shed to atone for the sins of the people, Aaron laid his
hands on the head of the scapegoat. The scapegoat was then
allowed to live and carry the sins of the people into the
wilderness.

The fourth figure involved in the sacrifice of the Lords

goat was a man standing in readiness. After the high priest had
functioned within his office by sacrificing the Lords goat and
laying the sins of the people on the head of the scapegoat, this
man standing in readiness took his position in the chain of
events by releasing the scapegoat into the wilderness.

Details Fulfilled as Jesus Christ Receives the Sentence of

Death
The Death of Jesus Christ Prophesied by the High Priest

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 And when He had said these things, He cried out with a
loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. He who had died
came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings; and his
face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to
them, Unbind him, and let him go. Many therefore of
the Jews, who had come to Mary and beheld what He had
done, believed in Him. But some of them went away to
the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had
done. Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees
convened a council, and were saying, What are we
doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let
Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the
Romans will come and take away both our place and our
nation. But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, who was
high priest that year, said to them, You know nothing at
all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for
you that one man should die for the people, and that the
whole nation should not perish. Now this he did not say
on his own initiative; but being high priest that year, he
prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation; and
not for the nation only, but that He might also gather
together into one the children of God who are scattered
abroad. So from that day on they planned together to kill
Him.
John 11:43-53

People responded in various ways to the ministry of Jesus

Christ while He was on the earth. Some simply heard His
teaching and believed in Him. Others believed in Him as they
saw the signs and wonders that took place at His hands. There
were others who fell into a different category. These were like
some of the religious leaders of the day who knew that Jesus
was performing signs and wonders, but who would not believe
in Him for any reason. Not only did they choose not to believe
in Him; many of them plotted together to kill Him. The leaders
of this group were the chief priests and Pharisees. As they
gathered together to plot against Jesus, the Holy Spirit inspired
Caiaphas, the high priest, to prophesy that Jesus Christ had to

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die in order to save some of those within the nation of Israel.
This group of religious leaders had consistently attempted to
discredit Jesus during His ministry, but their attempts to do so
had been fruitless. Every attempt to stop Him had been
thwarted. With their hearts hardened toward God and having a
legalistic view of the Law, Jesus was to them a source of
irritation, frustration and anger. Now, due to a Holy Spirit
inspired prophetic utterance stating that Jesus had to die, this
group of leaders put total effort into finding a way to put Jesus
to death.

Jesus Betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane

Jesus Taken Before the High Priest

Arise, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me

is at hand! And immediately while He was still
speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came up,
accompanied by a multitude with swords and clubs, from
the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now he
who was betraying Him had given them a signal, saying,
Whomever I shall kiss, He is the one; seize Him, and
lead Him away under guard. And after coming, he
immediately went up to Him, saying, Rabbi! and
kissed Him. And they laid hands on Him, and seized
Him.

And they led Jesus away to the high priest; and all the
chief priests and the elders and the scribes gathered
together. And Peter had followed Him at a distance, right
into the courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting
with the officers, and warming himself at the fire. Now
the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to
obtain testimony against Jesus to put Him to death; and
they were finding none. For many were giving false
testimony against Him, and yet their testimony was not
consistent. And some stood up and began to give false
testimony against Him, saying, We heard Him say, I
will destroy his temple made with hands, and in three

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 days I will build another made without hands. And not
even in this respect was their testimony consistent. And
the high priest arose and came forward and questioned
Jesus, saying, Do You make no answer to what these
men are testifying against You? But He kept silent, and
made no answer. Again the high priest was questioning
Him, and saying to Him, Are You the Christ, the Son of
the Blessed One? And Jesus said, I am; and you shall
see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and
coming with the clouds of heaven. And tearing his
clothes, the high priest said, What further need do we
have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy; how
does it seem to you? And they all condemned Him to be
deserving of death.
Mark 14:42-46,53-64

When the chief priests, scribes and elders found their

opportunity to seize Jesus through the actions of Judas, they lost
no time in doing so. They sent a multitude of individuals with
Judas for the purpose of seizing Him, not caring that Jesus had
never violated the Law. These individuals were not looking for
truth to determine guilt or innocence. They were simply looking
for an excuse to kill Him for whatever reason they could. Since
their attempts to obtain consistent testimony against Him were
futile, they continued in their effort to find an excuse to kill
Him.

Throughout all of the proceedings Jesus did not make a

statement concerning what was going on around Him. When
the high priest questioned Him, however, Jesus submitted to the
authority of the office of the high priest and answered his
question. When Jesus was asked if He was the Christ, the Son
of God, Jesus responded truthfully. Although the statement was
true, it was not accepted as truth. The statement was considered
a blasphemy. The chief priests, scribes and elders took the truth
spoken by Jesus and used it as the excuse they were looking for
to condemn Him to death.

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Jesus Declared Innocent by Pilate and Herod

They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the

Praetorium; and it was early; and they themselves did
not enter into the Praetorium in order that they might
not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. Pilate
therefore went out to them, and said, What accusation
do you bring against this Man? They answered and said
to him, If this Man were not an evildoer, we would have
not delivered Him up to you. Pilate therefore said to
them, Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according
to your law. The Jews said to him, We are not
permitted to put anyone to death, that the word of Jesus
might be fulfilled, which He spoke, signifying by what
kind of death He was about to die.
John 18:28-32

Then the whole body of them arose and brought Him

before Pilate. And they began to accuse Him, saying,
We found this man misleading our nation and
forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He
Himself is Christ, a King. And Pilate asked Him, saying,
Are You the King of the Jews? And He answered him
and said, It is as you say. And Pilate said to the chief
priests and the multitudes, I find no guilt in this man.
But they kept on insisting, saying, He stirs up the
people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee,
even as far as this place. But when Pilate heard it, he
asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he
learned that He belonged to Herods jurisdiction, he sent
Him to Herod, who himself also was in Jerusalem at that
time. Now Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus; for
he had wanted to see Him for a long time, because he had
been hearing about Him and was hoping to see some sign
performed by Him. And he questioned Him at some
length; but He answered him nothing. And the chief
priests and the scribes were standing there, accusing Him
vehemently. And Herod with his soldiers, after treating

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Him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in a
gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate. Now Herod
and Pilate became friends with one another that very day;
for before they had been at enmity with each other. And
Pilate summoned the chief priests and the rulers and the
people, and said to them, You brought this man to me as
one who incites the people to rebellion, and behold,
having examined Him before you, I have found no guilt
in this man regarding the charges which you make
against Him. No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to
us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by
Him. I will therefore punish Him and release Him.
Luke 23:1-16

Pilate Seeks to Release Jesus

The Crowd Demands the Release of Barabbas

But they cried out all together, saying, Away with this
man, and release for us Barabbas! (He was one who had
been thrown in prison for a certain insurrection made in
the city, and for murder.) And Pilate, wanting to release
Jesus, addressed them again, but they kept on calling out,
saying, Crucify, crucify Him! And he said to them a
third time, Why, what evil has this man done? I have
found in Him no guilt demanding death; I will therefore
punish Him and release Him. But they were insistent,
with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their
voices began to prevail.
Luke 23:18-23

Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor

questioned Him, saying, Are You the King of the
Jews? And Jesus said to him, It is as you say. And
while He was being accused by the chief priests and
elders, He made no answer. Then Pilate said to Him, Do
You not hear how many things they testify against You?
And He did not answer him with regard to even a single
charge, so that the governor was quite amazed. Now at

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 the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the
multitude any one prisoner whom they wanted. And they
were holding at that time a notorious prisoner, called
Barabbas. When therefore they were gathered together,
Pilate said to them, Whom do you want me to release
for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ? For he
knew that because of envy they had delivered Him up.
And while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife
sent to him, saying, Have nothing to do with that
righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream
because of Him. But the chief priests and the elders
persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas, and to put
Jesus to death. But the governor answered and said to
them, Which of the two do you want me to release for
you? And they said, Barabbas. Pilate said to them,
What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?
They all said, Let Him be crucified! And he said,
Why, what evil has he done? But they kept shouting all
the more, saying, Let Him be crucified! And when
Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather
that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his
hands in front of the multitude, saying, I am innocent of
this Mans blood; see to that yourselves. And all the
people answered and said, His blood be on us and on
our children! Then he released Barabbas for them; but
Jesus he scourged and delivered over to be crucified.
Matthew 27:11-26

The chief priests took Jesus to Pilate with the hopes that
he would agree with them and state that Jesus was an evildoer
deserving of death. Pilate, however, told the Jews that Jesus
was not guilty of the charges brought against Him. The Jews
insisted that Jesus incited the people to rebellion beginning in
Galilee. When Pilate found out that Jesus was a Galilean, he
sent Him to Herod for further questioning. Herod also found no
guilt in Jesus, and after mocking Him, sent Him back to Pilate.

When Jesus was brought back to Pilate, Pilate again

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sought to release Jesus from custody, but did not due to the fact
that the Jewish leaders had agitated the crowd. They continued
demanding the release of Barabbas, a prisoner who had been
convicted of insurrection and murder. After seeing that he was
not going to be able to convince the crowd to ask for the release
of Jesus, Pilate released Barabbas.

Barabbas Released to Live During the Passover Feast

Jesus Crucified to Die During the Passover Feast

Now at the feast he used to release for them any one

prisoner whom they requested. And the man named
Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists
who had committed murder in the insurrection. And the
multitude went up and began asking him to do as he had
been accustomed to do for them. And Pilate answered
them, saying, Do you want me to release for you the
King of the Jews? For he was aware that the chief
priests had delivered Him up because of envy. But the
chief priests stirred up the multitude to ask him to release
Barabbas for them instead. And answering again, Pilate
was saying to them, Then what shall I do to Him whom
you call the King of the Jews? And they shouted back,
Crucify Him! But Pilate was saying to them, Why,
what evil has He done? But they shouted all the more,
Crucify Him! And wishing to satisfy the multitude,
Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus
scourged, he delivered Him over to be crucified.
Mark 15:6-15

Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, and

summoned Jesus, and said to Him, You are the King of
the Jews? Jesus answered, Are you saying this on your
own initiative, or did others tell you about Me? Pilate
answered, I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and
the chief priests delivered You up to me; what have You
done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this
world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My

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servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered
up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this
realm. Pilate therefore said to Him, So You are a
king? Jesus answered, You say correctly that I am a
king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come
into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one
who is of the truth hears My voice. Pilate said to Him,
What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out
again to the Jews, and said to them, I find no guilt in
Him. But you have a custom, that I should release
someone for you at the Passover; do you wish then that I
release for you the King of the Jews? Therefore they
cried out again, saying, Not this Man, but Barabbas.
Now Barabbas was a robber. Then Pilate therefore took
Jesus, and scourged Him. And the soldiers wove a crown
of thorns and put it on His head, and arrayed Him in a
purple robe; and they began to come up to Him, and say,
Hail, King of the Jews! and to give Him blows in the
face. And Pilate came out again, and said to them,
Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may
know that I find no guilt in Him. Jesus therefore came
out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.
And Pilate said to them, Behold, the Man! When
therefore the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they
cried out, saying, Crucify, crucify! Pilate said to them,
Take Him yourselves, and crucify Him, for I find no
guilt in Him. The Jews answered him, We have a law,
and by that law He ought to die because He made
Himself out to be the Son of God. When Pilate therefore
heard this statement, he was the more afraid; and he
entered into the Praetorium again, and said to Jesus,
Where are You from? But Jesus gave him no answer.
Pilate therefore said to Him, You do not speak to me?
Do You not know that I have authority to release You,
and I have authority to crucify You? Jesus answered,
You would have no authority over Me, unless it had
been given you from above; for this reason he who
delivered Me up to you has the greater sin. As a result of

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 this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried
out, saying, If you release this Man, you are no friend of
Caesar; every one who makes himself out to be a king
opposes Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard these
words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the
judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in
Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation for
the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to
the Jews, Behold, your King! They therefore cried out,
Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him! Pilate
said to them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief
priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. And so
he then delivered Him up to them to be crucified.
John 18:33-19:16

The release of Barabbas meant that Jesus would be

crucified at the time of the Passover. The one who was guilty
would live and the One who was innocent was about to be
executed. The release of Barabbas in celebration of Passover
meant that Jesus had to die as the Passover Lamb.

Abba! Father!

And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground,

and began praying that if it were possible, the hour might
pass Him by. And He was saying, Abba! Father! All
things are possible for Thee; remove this cup from Me;
yet not what I will, but
what Thou wilt.
Mark 14:35,36

Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would

love Me; for I proceeded forth and have come from God,
for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He
sent Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying?
It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your
father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your
father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does

72
 not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.
Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature;
for he is a liar, and the father of lies.
John 8:42-44

Jesus, the Son of God, knew His Father as Abba, as

Daddy. Jesus had the characteristics of His Father and was
obedient to serving Him.

The name Barabbas means son of abba or son of

daddy. Barabbas also knew his spiritual father, but his father
was Satan, not God. Barabbas also had the characteristics of his
father and served him. Satan was a murderer and so was
Barabbas.

Details Concerning the Sentence of Death

Foreshadowed in the Sacrifice of the Lords Goat:

Figure Number One

The high priest of Israel, authorized by God to

offer the sacrifice to atone for the sins of the
people.

Figure Number Two

The Lords goat, free from sin, whose life and

blood was poured out to atone for the sins of the
people.

Figure Number Three

The scapegoat, allowed to live and carry the sin

into the wilderness.

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 Figure Number Four

A man standing in readiness, waiting to release the

scapegoat into the wilderness.

Fulfilled as Jesus Christ is Sentenced to Death:

Figure Number One

Caiphas, the high priest of Israel, authorized by

God to offer the sacrifice to atone for the sins of
the people.

Figure Number Two

Jesus Christ, free from any sin, whose life and

blood was poured out to atone for the sins of
the people.

Figure Number Three

Barabbas, allowed to live and carry his sin into the

wilderness.

Figure Number Four

Pilate, a man standing in readiness, waiting to

release Barabbas into the wilderness.

The Blood of Atonement and the Blood of Judgment

Jesus Christ was condemned by the Jews for saying that

He was the Son of God. Rather than accept this truth, the
Jewish leaders refuted it and used it as the excuse they needed
to deliver Him to the Gentiles for crucifixion. The Jews and
Gentiles were both guilty of their actions. Caiaphas, the high
priest, was the one who was most involved in the events. He
prophesied the death of Jesus under the inspiration of the Holy

74
Spirit, but he also yielded himself to Satan, who wanted to kill
the Son of God. In the same way that Judas opened himself to
Satan and allowed himself to be used by him to give Jesus the
kiss of death, so Caiaphas opened himself to Satan and allowed
himself to be used by him to first demand the sentence of death
for Jesus and to later incite the people to demand the death by
crucifixion. Caiaphas was authorized to slay the Lords goat,
shedding its blood to atone for the sins of the people, but he
was instrumental in causing people to turn away from Jesus
Christ, the Lamb of God.

By killing Jesus Christ, Caiphas offered the last blood

sacrifice that would ever be necessary to atone for any sin. For
those who accepted Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God and as the
King of kings, His blood was a blood of atonement and
forgiveness. For those who did not, His blood became a blood
of judgment.

In his actions to kill Jesus, Caiaphas laid his hands on

Barabbas, the scapegoat. Barabbas, guilty of his actions and
deserving of death, was released from custody to experience
life while Jesus experienced death as the sinless Lamb of God.
Barabbas was released to a wilderness of exile from both Jew
and Gentile. Throughout the events that took place during this
Passover sacrifice, the concern of Caiaphas was not for the life
of Barabbas, but for the death of Jesus.

The presence of Caiphas, Barabbas, and Pilate during the

sentencing of Jesus Christ was foreshadowed by the presence
of three individuals participating in the offering of the sacrifice
of the Lords goat as commanded by Moses. These three were
actively involved in the offering of the Lamb of God as the
final Passover sacrifice.

The Deaths of Jesus Christ

The cup of death, the kiss of death, and the sentence of

death were three events experienced by Jesus Christ that

75
preceeded His crucifixion. It must be remembered that the death
that was about to be experienced by Jesus would be total death.
When someone is poisoned with a cup of death, the person will
eventually have no life. When someone receives the kiss of
death, that person will come to the end of his or her life, usually
through an execution-type death. When someone is sentenced
to death, life will be extinguished. This was true concerning the
crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. His death would be
complete. In the end, He would have no life.

In order to understand what happened to Jesus on the

cross, it is necessary to have a scriptural definition of what
death is. It is only as we properly define death that we can
properly understand the death that was experienced by Jesus
Christ as He was crucified.

Scripture Defines Two Types of Death

For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also

faith without works is dead.
James 2:26

For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is

torn down, we have a building from God, a house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in
this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our
dwelling from heaven; inasmuch as we, having put it on,
shall not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this
tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want
to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is
mortal may be swallowed up by life.
2 Corinthians 5:1-4

James defines the reality of human existence as the

joining of spirit and body. He describes that when the spirit and
body are joined together, the body is alive. When the spirit is
apart from the body, the body is dead. This is a description of
the life and death of the body. As long as the spirit is within

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the body, the body lives. The spirit gives life to the body. If the
body is somehow overly diseased, weakened, broken, or
otherwise traumatized, the body loses its ability to keep the
spirit contained within the body. If this happens, the spirit
leaves the body and all that is left of the individual is the
corpse, the tent of the spirit. At this point, the person may or
may not be alive spiritually. The life or death of the spirit is
determined by where the spirit goes after it is released from the
body. Paul describes the spirit as leaving the earthly tent or
house and going to one that has been prepared by God, eternal
in the heavens. This is spiritual life after physical death. The
spirit is joined with God and is clothed with an eternal building.

There is also the reality of spiritual death after physical

death. In the same way that spiritual life after physical death is
characterized by the spirit of an individual being joined to God,
spiritual death after physical death is characterized by the spirit
of an individual being separated from God for all eternity.

It is important to realize that not only can a person be

separated from God after physical death, but that all people
born in the earth have been separated from God before their
physical death. This was Adams condition in the Garden of
Eden after his transgression of Gods commandment. He was
physically alive, but was separated from God, cut off from
communication with Him. This is the same condition into
which Adams descendants are born, and it is the condition
into which Jesus Christ, the Son of Man would eventually
arrive.

The Scourging and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ experienced drinking from the cup of death,

receiving the kiss of death, and being sentenced to death as
preliminaries to His scourging and crucifixion. It was in His
scourging and crucifixion that He would actually experience
death. Since He had been formed as the Son of Man, the
combination of spirit and body, He would experience the death

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of His spirit and He would experience the death of His body.
He was also the Son of God, but He had laid aside His rank and
privilege as the Son of God when He accepted the commission
from the Father to come to the earth as the Son of Man.
Throughout His life and ministry on the earth, and throughout
His scourging and crucifixion, He continually chose not to
exercise the authority that was His as the Son of God to
exercise. He could have delivered Himself from the coming
death at any time, but He continually chose to yield Himself to
the coming death that was ever before Him from the moment of
His unique conception in the womb of Mary. He had come to
earth as the Lamb of God, and as the Lamb of God, He had to
die. He had also come as the Son of Man, uniquely formed in
both body and spirit. In order to exchange the life that was His
in both His body and spirit, making it accessible to the bodies
and spirits of humans in the earth, both His body and spirit had
to die.

Potential Physical Death by Scourging

Jesus was scourged before He was crucified. Through the

scourging, He would receive what He had seen in the cup of
death that could bring death to His physical body. When He
looked into the cup of death in the garden of Gethsemane, He
saw the sickness, disease, and infirmity that could be
experienced by mankind. In His scourging, each one of those
sicknesses, diseases, and infirmities was laid onto and into His
body, sickness-by-sickness and disease-by-disease.

Jesus Christ was the Son of Man, taking upon Himself

the death sentence that was due mankind for their ransgressions
against God. As those lashes came down on His body as a
partial fulfillment of the death sentence due mankind, He
received all of the diseases, sicknesses, and infirmities that
mankind could experience. He absorbed those one at a time into
His body. Just as a patient in a hospital may experience having
several diseases or infirmities at the same time, Jesus Christ

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experienced all that can be experienced, and He experienced
them at one time.

Jesus Christ absorbed those sicknesses and diseases into

His body, but they could not yet kill Him. Through the life that
was yet in His spirit, He was able to keep His body alive
although it was filled with sickness and disease that would have
brought physical death to anyone else. Jesus had absorbed all
that could kill His body, but had not yet absorbed the sin that
would kill His spirit. The life in His spirit was dominating the
death that was in His body. As long as His spirit was alive, life
would flow from His spirit and continue to dominate the death
in His body. He had experienced the potential for physical
death as He was scourged, but would not die physically until
He had experienced spiritual death and released His dead spirit
from his body into the hands of His Father.

Certain Spiritual Death by Crucifixion

Crucifixion is a type of gradual, but certain death. A

person may or may not die if scourged, but will die if crucified.
In the same way, when Jesus was finally crucified, it led to His
certain death, but for a different reason. The diseases that were
laid on Jesus as He was scourged did not kill Him, but the sin
that was laid on Him after He was crucified did cause His
spiritual death. Then, after all the prophetic details concerning
His crucifixion were fulfilled, He chose to die physically as an
act of His will, just before He would have experienced death
through the crucifixion itself. To understand the death that
Jesus experienced while crucified on the cross we will study
His crucifixion step by step.

Crucifixion Prophesied by the Prophet King David

My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Far

from my deliverance are the words of my groaning.
O my God, I cry by day, but Thou dost not answer;
and by night, but I have no rest. Yet Thou art holy, O

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 Thou who art enthroned upon the praises of Israel. In
Thee our fathers trusted; they trusted, and Thou didst
deliver them. To Thee they cried out, and were delivered;
in Thee they trusted, and were not disappointed. But I am
a worm, and not a man, a reproach of men, and despised
by the people. All who see me sneer at me; they separate
with the lip, they wag the head, saying, Commit
yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; let Him rescue
him, because He delights in him. Yet Thou art He who
didst bring me forth from the womb; Thou didst make me
trust when upon my mothers breasts. Upon Thee I was
cast from birth; Thou hast been my God from my
mothers womb. Be not far from me, for trouble is near;
for there is none to help. Many bulls have surrounded
me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open
wide their mouth at me, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of
joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within me. My
strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue
cleaves to my jaws; and Thou dost lay me in the dust of
death. For dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers
has encompassed me; they pierced my hands and my
feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at
me; they divide my garments among them, and for my
clothing they cast lots.
Psalm 22:1-18

The psalmist King David of Israel described the details of

the crucifixion of Jesus Christ two hundred and fifty years
before crucifixion was instituted as a form of execution and one
thousand years before Jesus was crucified.

Jesus Christ Crucified at the Third Hour

And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments

among themselves, casting lots for them, to decide what
each should take. And it was the third hour when they
crucified Him. And the inscription of the charge against

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 Him read, The King of the Jews. And they crucified
two robbers with Him, one on the right and one on the
left.

And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him,

wagging their heads, and saying, Ha! You who were
going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,
save Yourself, and come down from the cross! In the
same way the chief priests along with the scribes were
also mocking Him among themselves and saying, He
saved others; He cannot save Himself. Let this Christ, the
King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that
we may see and believe! And those who were crucified
with Him were casting the same insult at Him.
Mark 15:24-27,29-32

Jesus was crucified at nine oclock in the morning. The

events surrounding His crucifixion, even the actions and
statements of those involved, were detailed by the Holy Spirit
to David a thousand years before the event actually took place.

The Spirit of Jesus Alive During the Crucifixion

And two others also, who were criminals, were being led
away to be put to death with Him. And when they came
to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him
and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the
left. But Jesus was saying, Father forgive them; for they
do not know what they are doing. And they cast lots,
dividing up His garments among themselves.
Luke 23:32-34

When Jesus was crucified, His body was full of sickness,

disease and infirmity, but His spirit was healthy and in
communion with His Father, for He asked for His Father to
forgive those who were crucifying Him. He had communion
with His Father because His spirit was still alive. However, this
communion was soon to be broken.

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Sin Laid on Jesus after His Crucifixion

Darkness Falls at the Sixth Hour

And when the sixth hour had come, darkness fell over the
whole land until the ninth hour.
Mark 15:33

Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand

toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land
of Egypt, even a darkness which may be felt. So Moses
stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was thick
darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.
Exodus 10:21,22

At the sixth hour, or noon, darkness fell on the land. The

darkness lasted for three hours until the ninth hour, or three
oclock. This was a detail of the crucifixion that was
foreshadowed in the plague of darkness, the ninth plague that
fell upon Egypt.

The Passover Lamb Slain

And Moses said, Thus says the Lord, About midnight I

am going out into the midst of Egypt, and all the first-
born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of
the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the first-born
of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the first-
born cattle as well....

Then Moses called for the elders of Israel, and said to

them, Go and take for yourselves lambs according to
your families, and slay the Passover lamb. And you shall
take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in
the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin
to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall
go outside the door of his house until morning. For the
Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when

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 He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts,
the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the
destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you. And
you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and
your children forever. And it will come about when you
enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has
promised, that you shall observe this rite. And it will
come about when your children will say to you, What
does this rite mean to you? that you shall say, It is a
Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the
houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the
Egyptians, but spared our homes. And the people
bowed low and worshiped. Then the sons of Israel went
and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and
Aaron, so they did. Now it came about at midnight that
the Lord struck all the first-born in the land of Egypt,
from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the
firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all
the first-born of cattle.
Exodus 11:4,5;12:21-29

The tenth plague that fell on Egypt was the death of the
first-born that took place at midnight. During the crucifixion of
Jesus, darkness fell on the land at noon. Due to the fact that
darkness was on the land, the brightness of the noon sun was
changed to be like the darkness that comes at midnight. It was
at this point the Son of God, also known as the Son of Man,
Gods uniquely formed first-born, experienced death as the
Passover Lamb. To understand the reality of what happened to
Jesus at this point, we will look at more details of the event as
described by the prophet Isaiah.

The Death of the Passover Lamb

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the

arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before
Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched
ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should

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look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be
attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a
man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and like one
from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and
we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself
bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves
esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But
He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was
crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-
being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has
turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the
iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and
He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a
lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent
before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By
oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for
His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of
the land of the living, for the transgression of my people
to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned to
be with wicked men, yet with a rich man in His death;
although He had done no violence, nor was there any
deceit in His mouth. But the Lord was pleased to crush
Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as
a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will
prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will
prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His
soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge
the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as
He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a
portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with
the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and
was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself
bore the sin of many, and interceded for the
transgressors.
Isaiah 53:1-12

Just as David prophesied details concerning the

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crucifixion of Jesus Christ, so Isaiah prophesied details
concerning the death of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Isaiah
saw that the death of Jesus involved both death to the body and
death to the spirit. Jesus, the Lamb of God, bore the sicknesses
and pains of mankind. He bore all that brings death to the
bodies of members of the human race. Jesus, the Lamb of God,
also bore the sin and iniquity of mankind. He bore all that
brings death to the spirits of members of the human race. The
Lamb of God bore that which brought death to the bodies of
human beings so that they might experience His life within
their bodies. The Lamb of God bore that which brought death to
the spirits of human beings so that they might experience His
life within their spirits.

Jesus Christ Absorbs the Darkness

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning
with God. All things came into being through Him; and
apart from Him nothing came into being that has come
into being. In Him was life; and the life was the light of
men. And the light shines in the darkness; and the
darkness did not comprehend it.

And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the
world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light;
for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil
hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his
deeds should be exposed.
John 1:1-5;3:19,20

When Jesus, the Word of God, came to earth to shine in

the darkness, the darkness tried to seize and grasp Him in an
effort to overpower and extinguish Him. Those who chose to
love the darkness and hate the light also attempted to do the
same. Neither the darkness nor the people who loved the
darkness could overpower the life, the light that was in Him.
However, due to the exercise of His will in the garden of

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Gethsemane, Jesus not only allowed the darkness to seize Him,
but to enter Him voluntarily. He absorbed the sickness, disease,
and infirmity of all humanity into His body. At this point in
time, sickness, disease and infirmity was removed from
humanity as it was nailed to the cross. Jesus also absorbed the
sin and iniquity of all humanity into His spirit. At this point in
time, sin was removed from humanity after He was nailed to
the cross.

At an earlier point in time the serpent was removed from

among the people as it was raised on Moses standard. Now, at
this point in time, sickness, disease, infirmity and sin was
removed from among the people as Jesus was crucified and
raised on the cross.

Jesus Separated from His Father

Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land
until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried
out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama
sabachthani? that is, My God, My God, why hast Thou
forsaken Me?
Matthew 27:45,46

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf,

that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21

Throughout His entire life and ministry, Jesus did not

commit sin of any kind. He was not guilty of committing any
sin and was crucified while He was innocent. Before and after
He was crucified at nine in the morning, He continued to love
and obey His Father and love and forgive even those who were
causing Him to be scourged and crucified.

While Jesus was scourged, God laid all the sickness,

disease, and infirmity on Him that had been bringing physical
death to mankind. After He was crucified, God laid all the sin

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and iniquity on Him that had been bringing spiritual death to
mankind. When God laid the sin of mankind on Jesus at noon,
darkness fell on the whole land. Jesus experienced death as the
first-born Son of God as was foreshadowed by the death of the
first-born that took place within Egypt. Sin was removed from
among the human race and laid on Jesus while He was on the
cross. As He absorbed the sin and iniquity of mankind, He died
spiritually. As the result, Jesus experienced separation from His
Father for the first time in eternity.

Jesus was now separated from God in the same way that
Adam had been separated from God since Adams
transgression in the Garden of Eden.

Jesus was now separated from God as were all of the

descendants of Adam and Eve.

Jesus had just experienced the same spiritual death

experienced by Adam after his disobedience in the Garden of
Eden.

Jesus had just experienced the same spiritual death as is

experienced by all who had inherited the contamination of their
blood from Adam and who had been born into the world
physically alive but spiritually dead.

Jesus had just been joined with sin and death in order that
God could remove these forces from among humanity. Now
Adam and his descendants could become righteous through the
shedding of the blood of Jesus. Jesus died in order that we
might live. Jesus was separated from God that we might be
joined to Him.

Jesus had just experienced death as the Lamb of God.

Jesus had just completed the exchange of His life for the
lives of all humanity.

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 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been
accomplished, in order that the Scripture might be
fulfilled, said, I am thirsty. A jar full of sour wine was
standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine
upon a branch of hyssop, and brought it up to His mouth.
When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He
said, It is finished! And He bowed His head, and gave
up His spirit.
John 19:28-30

And immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge,

he filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed, and gave
Him a drink. But the rest of them said, Let us see
whether Elijah will come to save Him. And Jesus cried
out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from
top to bottom, and the earth shook; and the rocks were
split, and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the
saints who had fallen asleep were raised.
Matthew 27:48-52

And it was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell
over the whole land until the ninth hour, the sun being
obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And
Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, Father, into
Thy hands I commit My spirit. And having said this, He
breathed His last.
Luke 23:44-46

After Jesus experienced spiritual death due to the fact

that He was joined with sin, He asked for a drink. He knew
from His knowledge of scripture that He would be offered one
last drink. As soon as it was given, He knew that all prophetic
details concerning His crucifixion had been fulfilled. He then
released His dead spirit, committing it to His Father. When He
did so, an earthquake took place, which split the veil of the
temple and opened many of the graves in he immediate area,

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exposing the bodies that were buried. They were still dead, but
were exposed to the open air.

Jesus Joined to the Nature of Satan

And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and

he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse
shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely
bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is
accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land
which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.
Deuteronomy 21:22,23

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,

even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever
believes may in Him have eternal life.
John 3:14,15

Jesus Christ died spiritually and physically on the cross.

He died in the place of every human being whose blood had
been contaminated by Adam. He died in the place of every
human being who had transgressed or who would transgress
Gods law. He died for Adam and all of Adams descendants;
each of whom would be deserving of death. Jesus Christ did not
die for His sin, but for the sin of everyone else. He died in my
place. He died in your place. He died that we might have life in
Him.

Jesus was joined with the nature of Satan while on the

cross. The nature of Satan is death, both physical and spiritual.
When Jesus was joined with that death, He removed it from
among the people of the earth, as long as those people would
first look at what He did upon the cross in their place. As
individuals would look at the cross and acknowledge that Jesus
had experienced death in their behalf, they then would be in the
position to receive both spiritual and physical life.

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90
 THREE

The Geography
of the Underworld

Jesus Promises the Sign of Jonah

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered Him,

saying, Teacher, we want to see a sign from You. But
He answered and said to them, An evil and adulterous
generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign shall be
given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as
Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the
sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and
three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh
shall stand up with this generation at the judgment, and
shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching
of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is
here.
Matthew 12:38-41

Many of the religious leaders of Israel, living during the

time when Jesus was on the earth, did not accept Him as the
Christ, the One who was both Son of God and Son of Man.
Neither did they realize that He was the Lamb of God, given to
take away the sin of the world. Instead of receiving Him, they
resisted Him, continually demanding that He prove Himself to
them. Instead of giving them the many signs and miracles that
they wanted, He responded to them by saying that they and
their generation would see only one sign. That sign would be

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the sign of Jonah. Due to their hardness of heart, many of the
scribes and Pharisees would not repent at the preaching of Jesus
as the men of Nineveh had repented at the preaching of Jonah.
They would see, however, that Jesus would be in the heart of
the earth for three days and three nights as Jonah had been in
the stomach of some kind of a sea monster for three days and
three nights. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ would
be the sign of Jonah to the generation of Jesus as Jonahs
experience of being in the stomach of the sea monster was the
sign of Jonah to Jonahs generation.

The Sign of Jonah to the Generation of Jesus

So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the
sea stopped its raging.

And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah,

and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and
three nights.
Jonah 1:15,17

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach
of the fish, and he said, I called out of my distress to the
Lord, and He answered me. I cried for help from the
depth of Sheol; Thou didst hear my voice....

Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah

up onto the dry land.
Jonah 2:1,2,10

The sign of Jonah to his generation was that he was in the

stomach of the fish for three days and three nights and that he
came back to live on the earth after experiencing what would
have been, under normal circumstances, certain death. The sign
of Jonah to the generation of Jesus was that Jesus was in the
heart of the earth for three days and three nights and then was
resurrected from death.

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 As we study details concerning Jonahs experience after
being thrown from the ship, we find that his experience in the
stomach of the fish was a prophetic description of the
experience that Jesus would have while in the heart of the earth.
The description of reality within the stomach of the fish is a
description of reality within the heart of the earth. As we study
these details, we will gain greater understanding of what
happened to Jesus during those three days and three nights that
He was in the heart of the earth.

The Bars of the Earth Enclose Jonah

The Bars of the Earth Enclose Jesus

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach
of the fish, and he said, I called out of my distress to the
Lord, and He answered me. I cried for help from the
depth of Sheol; Thou didst hear my voice. For Thou
hadst cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and
the current engulfed me. All Thy breakers and billows
passed over me. So I said, I have been expelled from
Thy sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Thy
holy temple. Water encompassed me to the very soul,
the great deep engulfed me, weeds were wrapped around
my head. I descended to the roots of the mountains. The
earth with its bars was around me forever, but Thou hast
brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. While I
was fainting away, I remembered the Lord; and my
prayer came to Thee, into Thy holy temple. Those who
regard vain idols forsake their faithfulness but I will
sacrifice to Thee with the voice of thanksgiving. That
which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the
Lord.
Jonah 2:1-9

As Jonah was in the stomach of the fish, he experienced

being closed in by bars that were at the roots of the mountains.
The word bars in the Hebrew is defined as a bolt or a bar,
used for shutting a door. That which is at the roots of the

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mountains is of course, that which is toward the center of the
earth. While Jonah was in the stomach of the fish, he was
prophetically describing how bars in the heart of the earth
would later enclose the spirit of Jesus. This would take place
after His spirit left His body when He experienced physical
death while on the cross on the surface of the earth.

Jesus Enclosed in the Lowest Pit

Jesus Prays for Salvation from Death

O Lord, the God of my salvation, I have cried out by day

and in the night before Thee. Let my prayer come before
Thee; incline Thine ear to my cry! For my soul has had
enough troubles, and my life has drawn near to Sheol. I
am reckoned among those who go down to the pit; I have
become like a man without strength, forsaken among the
dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom Thou dost
remember no more, and they are cut off from Thy hand.
Thou hast put me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the
depths. Thy wrath has rested upon me, and Thou hast
afflicted me with all Thy waves. Thou hast removed my
acquaintances far from me; Thou hast made me an object
of loathing to them; I am shut up and cannot go out. My
eye has wasted away because of affliction; I have called
upon Thee every day, O Lord; I have spread out my
hands to Thee. Wilt Thou perform wonders for the dead?
Will the departed spirits rise and praise Thee? Will Thy
lovingkindness be declared in the grave, Thy faithfulness
in the place of destruction? Will Thy wonders be made
known in the darkness? And Thy righteousness in the
land of forgetfulness? But I, O Lord, have cried out to
Thee for help, and in the morning my prayer comes
before Thee. O Lord, why dost Thou reject my soul?
Why dost Thou hide Thy face from me? I was afflicted
and about to die from my youth on; I suffer Thy terrors; I
am overcome. Thy burning anger has passed over me;
Thy terrors have destroyed me. They have surrounded me
like water all day long; they have encompassed me

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 altogether. Thou hast removed lover and friend far from
me; my acquaintances are in darkness.
Psalm 88:1-18

The prophet Jonah prophesied that Jesus would be

enclosed behind bars in the heart of the earth. In his prophetic
utterance describing this condition, Jonah described that the
experience of Jesus would be similar to that of a man who had
experienced death by drowning. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the
psalmist who authored this psalm used similar language to
prophetically describe the words that Jesus would pray while
enclosed in the heart of the earth.

Through the psalmist, the Holy Spirit also gives further

clarification as to where Jesus was when He prayed for
salvation from death by describing the words that Jesus would
later speak. He states that Jesus would say that He had been
drawn to the depths of the dark places, to the lowest pit. This
would agree with Jonahs picture of the spirit of Jesus
descending from the surface of the earth, where there is natural
light, to the depths of the earth, where there is only darkness.

This psalmist also indicates that after the descent of the

spirit of Jesus, the spirit of Jesus entered into an area from
which there was no return. Once beyond the gates, or bars that
enclosed this area, He was shut in and could not leave. He was
essentially a prisoner behind bars.

The word pit as used in this section of scripture is

translated from the Hebrew, which is defined as a pit hole,
especially one used as a cistern or prison. Jesus was therefore
in a cistern, a pit, a prison, a dungeon, and/or a well, and the
language used to describe His experience while there could be
that used to describe a person being both drowned in water and
locked behind bars.

All the time that Jesus was enclosed within this area, He
was cut off from the presence of His Father, as He had been

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from the instant that He had experienced spiritual death while
on the cross. At that point in time, Jesus cried out in pain at the
agony of being separated from His Father for the first time in
eternity. That agony continued past the time that He died
physically and His spirit left His body. As His body hung on the
cross, later to be laid in a tomb, His spirit was being drawn
closer and closer to the lowest pit. After His entrance into that
place, the agony of separation from His Father continued, and
He continued to cry out to Him for salvation.

The psalmist who authored Psalm 88, the prophet Jonah,

and the prophet king David who authored Psalm 16 both used a
word that was descriptive of the place to which the spirit of
Jesus was drawn; the place where He was contained after his
spiritual death. As we review three events that were
prophetically pictured by these writers as happening to Jesus,
we can see that the word Sheol was used in a way that clearly
defines the place which has been referred to previously as the
lowest pit.

Jesus Descends to Sheol

For my soul has had enough troubles, and my life has

drawn near to Sheol.

Thou hast put me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the

depths.
Psalm 88:3,6

As the spirit of Jesus descended from the surface of the

earth to the depths, to the heart of the earth, He was drawn
closer and closer to the area which has been termed the lowest
pit. This area is also known as Sheol. The major characteristic
of Sheol is that it is a subterranean area of intense darkness.

Jesus Prays to His Father from Sheol

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 I called out of my distress to the Lord, and He
answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol;
Thou didst hear my voice.

I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with

its bars was around me forever, but Thou hast brought up
my life from the pit, O Lord my God. While I was
fainting away, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer
came to Thee, into Thy holy temple.
Jonah 2:2,6,7

The prophet Jonah detailed the cries and prayers of Jesus

that were directed toward His Father while Jesus was shut up
within the confines of Sheol. As Jonah detailed those words, he
portrayed the steadfast trust that Jesus had in His Fathers
ability to save Him from eternal death. As we will see, Jesus
trusted His Father to save both His spirit and His body.

Jesus Trusts His Father while in Sheol

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my

flesh also will dwell securely. For Thou wilt not abandon
my soul to Sheol; neither wilt Thou allow Thy Holy One
to see the pit. Thou wilt make known to me the path of
life; in Thy presence is fullness of joy; in Thy right hand
there are pleasures forever.
Psalm 16:9-11

The faith and trust that Jesus exercised toward His Father
while contained in Sheol is something that is remarkable. In the
place of every human being who has ever existed in the past or
who will ever exist in the future, Jesus was executed at the
command and action of His Father. In the garden of
Gethsemane, God the Father instructed Him to drink the cup of
poison that contained everything that would bring death to His
body and death to His spirit. He was lashed, and the disease,
weakness, and infirmity that brought death to the bodies of the
members of the human race since Adam was laid on Him. After

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He was nailed to the cross, the sin that brought death to the
spirits of the members of the human race since Adam was also
laid on Him.

Jesus literally experienced the physical and spiritual

death that was due every past, present, and future member of
the human race, all of whom had sinned against God by
trespassing His law of perfect love, as Jesus had never done.
After His sentence and execution, He was incarcerated in the
prison of Sheol while He was totally innocent. Through all of
this, He still continued to love His Father.

After experiencing all of this as the result of His

obedience to His Father, and while in the middle of spiritual
death, separated from Him, Jesus trusted in His Fathers ability
to bring life back to His spirit. The psalmist records that God
the Father would not allow Jesus, the Holy One, to see the
pit. This verse is correctly translated as to undergo decay.
While His physical body was in the tomb on the surface of the
earth, Jesus trusted in His Fathers ability to preserve it,
keeping even His physical body from undergoing decay during
the three days and nights that His spirit would be in Sheol.

The spiritual death of Jesus and the resulting separation

from His Father was, in itself, enough to pain Jesus beyond
words. The loss of being joined as one with His Father had to
be tremendously agonizing. Now Jesus had also experienced
the wrath of God focused on Him as His Father punished him
for the sin of the human race. Beyond that fact, Jesus had been
shut in prison, placed in darkness beyond measure. All of this
happened after the very people He had come to the earth to save
had rejected him. As terribly rejected and lonely as He must
have felt while incarcerated in Sheol, further torment was yet to
come. The delight of Jesus was to do the will of His Father,
although He was required to be obedient to the point of death.
Now, after death, Jesus would experience being tormented at
the hand of His archenemy, the one He had come to the earth to
destroy. However, before we describe the battle of the ages that

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took place within the confines of Sheol, we must first more
clearly give a picture of what Sheol is like. After that, we can
detail the chronological events that started from before the
Garden of Eden and would lead to the conflict that would
shortly reach its climax in the depths of the earth.

The Geography of Hell Similar to that of Oceans

Jesus Described as Drowning in Deep Waters

Sheol is an Ocean of Deep Waters

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my soul.

I have sunk in deep mire, and there is no foothold; I have
come into deep waters, and a flood overflows me. I am
weary with my crying; my throat is parched; my eyes fail
while I wait for my God. Those who hate me without a
cause are more than the hairs of my head; those who
would destroy me are powerful, what I did not steal, I
then have to restore. ...

For zeal for Thy house has consumed me, and the
reproaches of those who reproach Thee have fallen on
me. ...

But as for me, my prayer is to Thee, O Lord, at an

acceptable time; O God, in the greatness of Thy
lovingkindness, answer me with Thy saving truth.
Deliver me from the mire, and do not let me sink; may I
be delivered from my foes, and from the deep waters.
May the flood of water not overflow me, and may the
deep not swallow me up, and may the pit not shut its
mouth on me. Answer me, O Lord, for Thy
lovingkindness is good; according to the greatness of Thy
compassion, turn to me, and do not hide Thy face from
Thy servant, for I am in distress; answer me quickly. Oh
draw near to my soul and redeem it; ransom me because
of my enemies! Thou dost know my reproach and my
shame and my dishonor; all my adversaries are before

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 Thee. Reproach has broken my heart, and I am so sick.
And I looked for sympathy, but there was none, and for
comforters, but I found none. They also gave me gall for
my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Psalm 69:1-4,9,13-21

The prophet David describes the death of Jesus as the

death of one who is drowning in deep waters. We have seen
that Jonah prophesied that Jesus would enter an area of deep
darkness that was very similar to the darkness that exists within
the depths of the oceans that cover the surface of the earth.
Jonah described this place as a cistern or prison. He and other
Hebrew prophets called this place Sheol. Sheol was defined as a
hollow and subterranean place full of thick darkness. The
characteristics of Sheol are similar to the physical
characteristics of the oceans, the deep waters of the earth. We
will see, however, that there are also differences between the
characteristics of Sheol and the characteristics of the deep
waters of the earth.

The Hebrew prophets used the word Sheol to describe

what we refer to today as hell. After the development of the
Greek language, others who knew and used that language were
inspired by the Holy Spirit to use certain Greek words to further
clarify the picture of hell. The Greek words which were used
included Hades, Gehenna, and Tartaros. As we continue to
study the use of the Hebrew word Sheol and the definition and
use of each of these Greek words, we will find that together
they give a good understanding of the geography and associated
characteristics of hell.

The Geography and Characteristics of Sheol

A Place Where the Anger of God Burns

Give ear, oh heavens, and let me speak; and let the earth
hear the words of my mouth. Let my teaching drop as the
rain, my speech distill as the dew, as the droplets on the

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 fresh grass and as the showers on the herb. For I proclaim
the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God! The
Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a
God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and
upright is He. ...

But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked- you are grown fat,
thick, and sleek- then he forsook God who made him,
and scorned the Rock of his salvation. They made Him
jealous with strange gods; with abominations they
provoked Him to anger. They sacrificed to demons who
were not God, to gods whom they have not known, new
gods who came lately, whom your fathers did not dread.
You neglected the Rock who begot you, and forgot the
God who gave you birth. And the Lord saw this, and
spurned them because of the provocation of His sons and
daughters. Then He said, I will hide My face from them,
I will see what their end shall be; for they are a perverse
generation, sons in whom is no faithfulness. They have
made Me jealous with what is not God; they have
provoked Me to anger with their idols. So I will make
them jealous with those who are not a people; I will
provoke them to anger with a foolish nation, for a fire is
kindled in My anger, and burns to the lowest part of
Sheol, and consumes the earth with its yield, and sets on
fire the foundations of the mountains.
Deuteronomy 32:1-4,15-22

These verses of scripture were inspired by the Holy Spirit

to be sung by Moses to the people of Israel. Within this song
the greatness and goodness of God toward the nation is
proclaimed. Also recorded within the song is the response of
the nation to God. Rather than acknowledging His goodness,
perfection, and faithfulness by remembering His love for them
and then responding to that love by giving Him worship, they
forgot Him and gave their worship to demons and idols. Jealous
of that worship, He became angry. The anger of God burns
throughout Sheol and exists for the purpose of consuming those

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in the earth who, like the rebellious Israelites, have turned away
from God. In the depths of Sheol, the anger of God is so intense
that it has become a literal fire. Sheol is the place for those who
have forsaken God and who have scorned His salvation.

God Able to Save those Circumcised in Heart

God Unable to Save those Uncircumcised in Heart

Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel,

Thus you have spoken, saying, Surely our
transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are
rotting away in them; how then can we survive? Say to
them, As I live! declares the Lord God, I take no
pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the
wicked will turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn
back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O
house of Israel? ...

But when I say to the wicked, You will surely die, and
he turns from his sin and practices justice and
righteousness, if a wicked man restores a pledge, pays
back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the statutes
which ensure life without committing iniquity, he will
surely live; he shall not die.
Ezekiel 33:10,11,14,15

God takes no pleasure in the death of any person. He is

pleased when people live. However, He did tell Adam that he
would die if he disobeyed the command of God. God spoke to
Israel through the prophet Ezekiel, telling them that there was
such a thing as statutes that govern the life of God. God does
not want death, but the existing statutes must be followed to
have life. This was as true for the nation of Israel as it was for
Adam. As it was true for that nation, so it is true for all nations.
God takes no pleasure in the death of any person. He is

The fundamental statutes that govern the life of God were

given to Moses in the Law. Those statutes involve the love of

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God and the love of man. As individuals and nations obeyed
what was commanded in the spirit of those laws, they were
circumcised in heart and could experience the life of God. As
individuals and nations disobeyed or disregarded what was
commanded in the spirit of those laws, they were
uncircumcised in heart and would experience continued death.

Individuals and nations who disobeyed the statutes of

God and who were therefore uncircumcised in heart would
experience the anger of God. Individuals and nations who
obeyed the statutes of God and who were therefore circumcised
in heart would experience the compassion of God. This was
true on the surface of the earth and it was true beneath the
surface of the earth. God would remove both nations and
individuals from the surface of the earth to Sheol and within the
confines of Sheol show both His anger and His compassion.

The Removal of Uncircumcised Nations to Sheol

And it came about in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth of

the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and bring it
down, her and the daughters of the powerful nations, to
the nether world, with those who go down to the pit;
Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down and make
your bed with the uncircumcised. They shall fall in the
midst of those who are slain by the sword. She is given
over to the sword; they have drawn her and all her
multitudes away. The strong among the mighty ones shall
speak of him and his helpers from the midst of Sheol,
They have gone down, they lie still, the uncircumcised,
slain by the sword. Assyria is there and all her company;
her graves are round about her. All of them are slain,
fallen by the sword, whose graves are set in the remotest
parts of the pit, and her company is round about her
grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, who
spread terror in the land of the living. Elam is there and
all her multitude around her grave; all of them slain,

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fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised to
the lower parts of the earth, who instilled their terror in
the land of the living, and bore their disgrace with those
who went down to the pit. They have made a bed for her
among the slain with all her multitude. Her graves are
around it, they are all uncircumcised, slain by the sword
(although their terror was instilled in the land of the
living), and they bore their disgrace with those who go
down to the pit; they were put in the midst of the slain.
Meshech, Tubal and all their multitude are there; their
graves surround them. All of them were slain by the
sword uncircumcised, though they instilled their terror in
the land of the living. Nor do they lie beside the fallen
heroes of the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol
with their weapons of war, and whose swords were laid
under their heads; but the punishment for their iniquity
rested on their bones, though the terror of these heroes
was once in the land of the living. But in the midst of the
uncircumcised you will be broken and lie with those slain
by the sword. There also is Edom, its kings, and all its
princes, who for all their might are laid with those slain
by the sword; they will lie with the uncircumcised, and
with those who go down to the pit. There also are the
chiefs of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians,
who in spite of the terror resulting from their might, in
shame went down with the slain. So they lay down
uncircumcised with those slain by the sword, and bore
their disgrace with those who go down to the pit. These
Pharaoh will see, and he will be comforted for all his
multitude slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his
army, declares the Lord God. Though I instilled a
terror of him in the land of the living, yet he will be made
to lie down among the uncircumcised along with those
slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude,
declares the Lord God.
Ezekiel 32:17-32

The picture that these verses of scripture paint is like a

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picture of some graveyard on a dark night. Within the darkness
are graves of soldier after soldier who killed with and who was
killed by the sword. Next to them is king after king who
inflicted terror on people while he was living on the surface of
the earth. In all of their power, in all of their boasting, each one
has come to this end. In all of their arrogance and disregard for
both God and His statutes, God raised them up within realms of
power. They thought they had raised themselves up in their own
power, but in the end, the truth is shown that they were raised
up only so that they might be killed and come to Sheol. Even if
they escaped death by the sword, they would not escape from
this place. They terrorized others on the earth, but now, after
physical death, they lived within the terror and darkness of
Sheol.

The Removal of Uncircumcised Individuals to Sheol

Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son
of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and
On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took action, and
they rose up before Moses, together with some of the
sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the
congregation, chosen in the assembly, men of renown.
And they assembled together against Moses and Aaron,
and said to them, You have gone far enough, for all the
congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is
in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the
assembly of the Lord? When Moses heard this, he fell
on his face; and he spoke to Korah and all his company,
saying, Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who is
His, and who is holy, and will bring him near to Himself;
even the one whom He will choose, He will bring near to
Himself. Do this: take censers for yourselves, Korah and
all your company, and put fire in them, and lay incense
upon them in the presence of the Lord tomorrow; and the
man whom the Lord chooses shall be the one who is
holy. You have gone far enough, you sons of Levi! ...

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Then Moses sent a summons to Dathan and Abiram, the
sons of Eliab; but they said, We will not come up. Is it
not enough that you have brought us up out of a land
flowing with milk and honey to have us die in the
wilderness, but you would also lord it over us? Indeed,
you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk
and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of fields
and vineyards. Would you put out the eyes of these men?
We will not come up! Then Moses became very angry
and said to the Lord, Do not regard their offering! I have
not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I done
harm to any of them. ...

Thus Korah assembled all the congregation against them

at the doorway of the tent of meeting. And the glory of
the Lord appeared to all the congregation. Then the Lord
spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves
from among this congregation, that I may consume them
instantly. But they fell on their faces, and said, O God,
Thou God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins,
wilt Thou be angry with the entire congregation? Then
the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the
congregation, saying, Get back from around the
dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Then Moses
arose and went to Dathan and Abiram, with the elders of
Israel following him, and he spoke to the congregation,
saying, Depart now from the tents of these wicked men,
and touch nothing that belongs to them, lest you be swept
away in all their sin. So they got back from around the
dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram; and Dathan and
Abiram came out and stood at the doorway of their tents,
along with their wives and their sons and their little ones.
And Moses said, By this you shall know that the Lord
has sent me to do all these deeds; for this is not my
doing. If these men die the death of all men, or if they
suffer the fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me.
But if the Lord brings about an entirely new thing and the
ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all

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 that is theirs, and they descend alive into Sheol, then you
will understand that these men have spurned the Lord.
Then it came about as he finished speaking all these
words, that the ground that was under them split open;
and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up,
and their households, and all the men who belonged to
Korah, with their possessions. So they and all that
belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth
closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the
assembly.
Numbers 16:1-7,12-15,19-33

As God was bringing together a nation of people for the

purpose of revealing to the world the nature and character of
God, other nations often opposed Israel, and by doing so,
opposed God. If they were persistent in their actions, God
would use either Israel or other nations to destroy them. In the
end, God would remove those nations from the earth. As they
exalted themselves against Him, they would be brought down
to Sheol.

Within His own forming nation, God desired to have

individuals who were like Him in nature and character;
individuals who were circumcised in heart toward Him. This
condition was a prerequisite for leadership in the nation.
Leaders who were circumcised in heart toward God would be
able to trust Him. They would be humble and obedient, trusting
in His ability rather than their own. Moses was such a person.
Moses had been chosen by God to be the leader of the nation.

Moses spent the first forty years of his life trusting in his
strength and ability. After spending the next forty years in the
wilderness tending sheep, he came to the point where he did not
trust in his ability any longer. When God spoke to Moses and
told him that He was going to use him to free the nation from
Egyptian slavery, Moses realized that God would use His
ability to accomplish the task. From that point on, Moses

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trusted in Gods ability alone to free the people and lead them
into a land flowing with milk and honey.

Korah and his followers did not recognize what Moses

had experienced over the past forty years while he was being
prepared to lead Gods people. They did not recognize that
Moses was humble and circumcised in heart toward God. They
mistakenly thought that Moses was arrogant and brought
unfounded accusations against him. These individuals deceived
themselves about their own true spiritual condition. Due to their
own hardness of heart, they wanted nothing to do with Gods
will and were filled with rebellion toward God and His statutes.
They were not circumcised in heart toward God themselves and
strongly opposed the leadership of Moses. Korah and his
followers would be removed as they defied the leadership of
God through Moses. God would not tolerate anyone counseling
rebellion to Him and would remove those who continued to be
uncircumcised in heart from the nation.

A Place Where the Tree of Egypt Will Lament

A Place Where the Trees of Eden Are Comforted

And it came about in the eleventh year, in the third

month, on the first of the month, that the word of the
Lord came to me saying, Son of man, say to Pharaoh
king of Egypt, and to his multitude, Whom are you like
in your greatness? Behold, Assyria was a cedar in
Lebanon with beautiful branches and forest shade, and
very high; and its top was among the clouds. ...

Therefore, thus says the Lord God, Because it is high in

stature, and it has set its top among the clouds, and its
heart is haughty in its loftiness, therefore, I will give it
into the hand of a despot of the nations; he will
thoroughly deal with it. According to its wickedness I
have driven it away. And alien tyrants of the nations have
cut it down and left it; on the mountains and in all the
valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs have been
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 broken in all the ravines of the land. And all the peoples
of the earth have gone down from its shade and left it. On
its ruin all the birds of the heavens will dwell. And all the
beasts of the field will be on its fallen branches in order
that all the trees by the waters may not be exalted in their
stature, nor set their top among the clouds, nor their well-
watered mighty ones stand erect in their height. For they
have all been given over to death, to the earth beneath,
among the sons of men, with those who go down to the
pit. Thus says the Lord God, On the day when it went
down to Sheol I caused lamentations; I closed the deep
over it and held back its rivers. And its many waters were
stopped up, and I made Lebanon mourn for it, and all the
trees of the field wilted away on account of it. I made the
nations quake at the sound of its fall when I made it go
down to Sheol with those who go down to the pit; and all
the well-watered trees of Eden, the choicest and best of
Lebanon, were comforted in the earth beneath. They also
went down with it to Sheol to those who were slain by
the sword; and those who were its strength lived under its
shade among the nations. To which among the trees of
Eden are you thus equal in glory and greatness? Yet you
will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth
beneath; you will lie in the midst of the uncircumcised,
with those who were slain by the sword. So is Pharaoh
and all his multitude! declares the Lord God.
Ezekiel 31:1-3,10-18

In these verses, Ezekiel compares the nations of Assyria

and Egypt to trees. He indicates how Assyria grew to be large,
but was caused to be chopped down after God gave the nation
into the hands of an alien nation for destruction. Ezekiel warns
that the same thing will happen to Pharaoh and Egypt. The
promise is made that, like Assyria, Egypt will be brought down
to Sheol and be counted among the number of the
uncircumcised.

The promise of God is that the uncircumcised, the ones

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who have attempted to exalt themselves above God while living
on the surface of the earth, will be brought to the darkness of
Sheol with others uncircumcised in heart. These verses also
describe the trees of Eden. In the sight of God, these trees, these
individuals, are the choicest and best in the land. The promise
of God to them, the circumcised in heart, the ones who have
humbled themselves before God while living on the surface of
the earth, is that they will also be brought to Sheol, but will
experience comfort while there.

We can see that there were, at one point in time, two

groups of human beings in Sheol. One group was the
uncircumcised. They were those who were hardened in heart to
God, insensitive and disobedient to Him while living on the
earth. Now, after their physical death and subsequent entrance
into Sheol, they experienced the torment of Gods anger. The
other group was the circumcised. They were those who were
sensitive in heart and obedient to God while living on the earth.
Now, after their physical death and subsequent entrance into
Sheol, they experienced the comfort of God. For those among
the uncircumcised, there was nothing but darkness, but for
those among the circumcised, God made special provision. As
the Shepherd of all sheep, God would provide pasture for His
people even within the confines of Sheol. Clear detail of this
provision will be seen in the study of the use of a Greek word
that was used to define our area under study. The Greeks used
the word Hades to describe the area that was called Sheol by the
Hebrews. Before we go on to study of that word, however, we
must look at the characteristics of a small area of Egypt known
as Goshen.

As we study the land of Goshen, we will find that the

general characteristics of Egypt describe the general
characteristics of Sheol that was occupied by the
uncircumcised. We will further find that the general
characteristics of Goshen describe the general characteristics of
the area within Sheol that was occupied by the circumcised. We
have detailed the general environment of Sheol, but now we

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will detail a smaller, specific environment within Sheol that is
unlike its surroundings.

In order to more clearly understand the characteristics of

this specific area of Sheol, we must look at its reality as
presented in type and shadow. This will give us a visual picture
of what cannot be physically seen. The spiritual reality of this
area may be seen as described in type and shadow through the
study of the physical characteristics of the land of Goshen, the
land in which the Israelites lived when God poured out His
plagues on the land of Egypt.

The Geography and Characteristics of Goshen

Joseph Instructs His Family to Live in Goshen

Then Joseph could not control himself before all those

who stood by him, and he cried, Have everyone go out
from me. So there was no man with him when Joseph
made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so
loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of
Pharaoh heard of it. Then Joseph said to his brothers, I
am Joseph! Is my father still alive? But his brothers
could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his
presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, Please come
closer to me. And they came closer. And he said, I am
your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And
now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because
you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve
life. For the famine has been in the land these two years,
and there are still five years in which there will be neither
plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you to
preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you
alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not
you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a
father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler
over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father,
and say to him, Thus says your son Joseph, God has

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 made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not
delay. And you shall live in the land of Goshen, and you
shall be near me, you and your children and your
childrens children and your flocks and your herds and all
that you have. There I will also provide for you, for there
are still five years of famine to come, lest you and your
household and all that you have be impoverished. And
behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother
Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which is speaking to
you. Now you must tell my father of all my splendor in
Egypt, and all that you have seen; and you must hurry
and bring my father down here. Then he fell on his
brother Benjamins neck and wept; and Benjamin wept
on his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept on
them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.
Genesis 45:1-15

From this portion of scripture we can see several

characteristics of the people who would be living in the land of
Goshen. Those living in the land would be kept alive so that
God could preserve them and deliver them from the condition
of starvation and death. Among those dwelling in the land
would be some who, like Josephs brothers, had dealt
treacherously with others, but who had been forgiven for their
actions. Those living in the land would be united with each
other throughout all generations. The time spent by those living
in Goshen would be pleasurable. It would be a time of rejoicing
in Gods salvation with all their family.

Josephs Family Occupation is that of Shepherd

Josephs Family to Pasture in Goshen

Now he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to point out the

way before him to Goshen; and they came into the land
of Goshen. And Joseph prepared his chariot and went up
to Goshen to meet his father Israel; as soon as he
appeared before him, he fell on his neck and wept on his
neck a long time. Then Israel said to Joseph, Now let

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 me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still
alive. And Joseph said to his brothers and to his fathers
household, I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and will say to
him, My brothers and my fathers household, who were
in the land of Canaan, have come to me; and the men are
shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock; and
have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they
have. And it shall come about when Pharaoh calls you
and says, What is your occupation? that you shall say,
Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our
youth even until now, both we and our fathers, that you
may live in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is
loathsome to the Egyptians. Then Joseph went in and
told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brothers and
their flocks and their herds and all that they have, have
come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in
the land of Goshen. And he took five men from among
his brothers, and presented them to Pharaoh. Then
Pharaoh said to his brothers, What is your occupation?
So they said to Pharaoh, Your servants are shepherds,
both we and our fathers. And they said to Pharaoh, We
have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture
for your servants flocks, for the famine is severe in the
land of Canaan. Now, therefore, please let your servants
live in the land of Goshen. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph,
Your father and your brothers have come to you. The
land of Egypt is at your disposal; settle your father and
your brothers in the best of the land, let them live in the
land of Goshen; and if you know any capable men among
them, then put them in charge of my livestock. ...

Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and

they acquired property in it and were fruitful and became
very numerous.
Genesis 46:28-47:6;47:27

Before being questioned by Pharaoh, Joseph instructed

his family to be sure to state the fact that they were shepherds.

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There was pasture in Goshen and since the Egyptians abhorred
shepherds, Josephs relatives would be ensured a livelihood and
a degree of separation from the Egyptians themselves while
living there. Goshen would develop as a place associated with
shepherds. As that identification became stronger and stronger,
the separation between the Israelites and the Egyptians would
become greater and greater.

The Sons of Israel Multiply

Pharaoh Orders Death of Hebrew Males

And Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that
generation. But the sons of Israel were fruitful and
increased greatly, and multiplied, and became
exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with
them. Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not
know Joseph. And he said to his people, Behold, the
people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than
we. Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they
multiply and in the event of war, they also join
themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us, and
depart from the land. So they appointed taskmasters
over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built
for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the
more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and
the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of
the sons of Israel. And the Egyptians compelled the sons
of Israel to labor rigorously; and they made their lives
bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds
of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously
imposed on them. Then the king of Egypt spoke to the
Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah,
and the other was named Puah; and he said, When you
are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see
them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, then you shall put
him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.
Exodus 1:6-16

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 According to His promise, God caused the nation of
Israel to multiply while in Egypt. As long as the Pharaoh knew
Joseph and the numbers of the Israelites were relatively few in
comparison to the Egyptians, there was no problem between the
nations. The Israelites engaged in the occupation of
shepherding, an occupation which the Egyptians did not like to
do. The Israelites served a purpose for the Egyptians and there
was no conflict between them.

After the death of Joseph, a new Pharaoh came to power.

By this point in time, the number of Israelites was great enough
to cause concern to Pharaoh. In an attempt to exercise control
over the number of Israelites in the land he forced them into
slave labor and then ordered the death of the newborn males.
For the first time since the Israelites lived in Egypt, they
experienced persecution at the hands of the Egyptians. As a
nation, the Egyptians had shifted from tolerating the Israelites
as shepherds to persecuting them as slaves. If the Israelites
resisted their slavery, they would be killed. Egypt was no
longer tolerant of Israel. They had become enemies. This
characteristic hatred of the Israelites by the Egyptians would
continue through the point in time when God would deliver
Israel from Egypt.

As Israel was removed from Egypt and came into contact

with other nations, Israel would find themselves being hated by
other nations on the surface of the earth. As they were hated
within Egypt, they would be hated in other nations. It would be
typical that these nations would resist God and would resist
Israel. As a result, these nations would eventually be brought
down to Sheol by the hand of God. The hatred for Gods nation
that existed on the surface of the earth would continue within
Sheol. As the number of individuals contained within Sheol
grew, there would still be those uncircumcised in heart toward
God hating those circumcised in heart toward God.

God Divides Egypt and Goshen

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 Now the Lord said to Moses, Rise early in the morning
and present yourself before Pharaoh, as he comes to the
water, and say to him, Thus says the Lord, Let my
people go, that they may serve Me. For if you will not let
My people go, behold, I will send swarms of insects on
you and on your servants and on your people and into
your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full
of swarms of insects, and also the ground on which they
dwell. But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen,
where my people are living, so that no swarms of insects
will be there, in order that you may know that I, the Lord,
am in the midst of the land. And I will put a division
between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign
shall occur. Then the Lord did so. And there came
great swarms of insects into the house of Pharaoh and the
houses of his servants and the land was laid waste
because of the swarms of insects in all the land of Egypt.
Exodus 8:20-24

When the time came for God to deliver Israel from

Egypt, He first divided the Israelites from the Egyptians. The
ones who would serve God would be separated from the
Egyptians in general and would dwell for the rest of their
limited time in Goshen. The ones who would serve Pharaoh
would be separated from the lsraelites and dwell in Egypt
outside of Goshen. God would be in the midst of the land and
would cause swarms of insects to be in Egypt while there were
none in Goshen. The land of Egypt would be laid waste while
Goshen remained as it was. The people of God would dwell in
safety and abundance even though the land around them was in
waste and the people surrounding them were in torment.

From the point in time that God divided Egypt and

Goshen, the Egyptians suffered torment in Egypt while the
Israelites were protected from torment in Goshen. The nation of
those uncircumcised in heart toward God suffered torment
while the nation of those circumcised in heart toward God were
protected.

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 As the individuals from the two nations died physically
and descended into the region of Sheol, God maintained the
same division between those uncircumcised in heart toward
God and those circumcised in heart toward God. Those who
had died while uncircumcised in heart toward God would live
in torment and those who had died while circumcised in heart
toward God would live in protection.

Hail Strikes Egypt

Then the Lord said to Moses, Rise up early in the

morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, Thus
says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, Let My people
go, that they may serve Me. For this time I will send all
My plagues on you and your servants and your people, so
that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the
earth. For if by now I had put forth My hand and struck
you and your people with pestilence, you would then
have been cut off from the earth. But, indeed, for this
cause I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you
My power, and in order to proclaim My name through all
the earth. Still you exalt yourself against My people by
not letting them go. Behold, about this time tomorrow, I
will send a very heavy hail, such as has not been seen in
Egypt from the day it was founded until now. Now
therefore send, bring your livestock and whatever you
have in the field to safety. Every man and beast that is
found in the field and is not brought home, when the hail
comes down on them, will die. The one among the
servants of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord
made his servants and his livestock flee into the houses;
but he who paid no regard to the word of the Lord left his
servants and his livestock in the field. Now the Lord said
to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that hail
may fall on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast
and on every plant of the field, throughout the land of
Egypt. And Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky,
and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to

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 the earth. And the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt.
So there was hail, and fire flashing continually in the
midst of the hail, very severe, such as had not been in all
the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail
struck all that was in the field through all the land of
Egypt, both man and beast; the hail also struck every
plant of the field and shattered every tree of the field.
Only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel
were, there was no hail. Then Pharaoh sent for Moses
and Aaron, and said to them, I have sinned this time; the
Lord is the righteous one, and I and my people are the
wicked ones. Make supplication to the Lord, for there has
been enough of Gods thunder and hail; and I will let you
go, and you shall stay no longer.
Exodus 9:13-28

Pharaoh exalted himself against God and His people

repeatedly by refusing to allow Moses to lead the nation from
Egypt. Gods response to Pharaohs exaltation of himself was
that of anger. From the midst of lightning and fire,
representative of that anger, God sent hailstones to crush those
who would exalt themselves and disregard His word. The
hailstones fell on Egypt but did not fall in Goshen. The result
was that death was experienced in Egypt, but not in Goshen.

Three characteristics representative of those living in

Egypt were self-exaltation, disregard of Gods word and death
that came as the result of those attitudes. On the other hand,
three characteristics representative of those living in Goshen
were the exaltation of God, regard for His word and life that
came as the result of those attitudes.

This opposing set of characteristics would also be

evidenced among those dwelling in Sheol. Those
uncircumcised in heart would be experiencing death as the
result of failing to exalt God and regard His word. Those
circumcised in heart would be experiencing life as the result of
exalting God and regarding His word.

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 These details about the plague of hail have given us some
of the characteristics about the people that would be seen to be
dwelling in Sheol, but one detail about the plague of hail gives
us one characteristic describing the geography of Sheol. The
detail is the presence of the fire during the storm. During the
hailstorm, fire ran to the earth and struck the ground. The fire
struck the ground within Egypt, but not in Goshen. We will see,
therefore, that within Sheol there are two different types of
ground surfaces. Fire runs along the ground surface of the area
in Sheol within which the uncircumcised dwell. There is no fire
upon the ground surface of the area in Sheol within which the
circumcised dwell.

The Plague of Darkness

Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand

toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land
of Egypt, even a darkness which may be felt. So Moses
stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was thick
darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. They did
not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place
for three days, but all the sons of Israel had light in their
dwellings.
Exodus 10:21-23

Another division between those dwelling in Egypt and

those dwelling in Goshen was experienced during the plague of
darkness. During that plague, the nation of Egypt experienced
darkness so thick that it could be felt. At the same time, the
Israelites in Goshen had light in their dwellings. We have
already noted that Sheol is an area of darkness. If we make the
distinction between the areas of Sheol as is seen between the
areas of Egypt and Goshen, we see that one area of Sheol is
covered in darkness while the other area is filled with light.
This gives us another characteristic of the geography of Sheol.
The area of Sheol in which the uncircumcised in heart dwell is
filled with darkness. The area of Sheol in which the
circumcised dwell is filled with light.

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 The Death of the Firstborn

Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, On the

tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for
themselves, according to their fathers households, a
lamb for each household. Now if the household is too
small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his
house are to take one according to the number of persons
in them; according to what each man should eat, you are
to divide the lamb. Your lamb shall be an unblemished
male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from
the goats. And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day
of the same month, then the whole assembly of the
congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. Moreover,
they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two
doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they
eat it. And they shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted
with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and
bitter herbs.

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, This is the

ordinance of the Passover: no foreigner is to eat of it; but
every mans slave purchased with money, after you have
circumcised him, then he may eat of it. A sojourner or a
hired servant shall not eat of it. It is to be eaten in a single
house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside
of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it. All of
the congregation of Israel are to celebrate this. But if a
stranger sojourns with you, and celebrates the Passover to
the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let
him come near to celebrate it; and he shall be like a
native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat
of it. The same law shall apply to the native as to the
stranger who sojourns among you.
Exodus 12:3-8,43-49

The last division made between the Egyptians and the

Israelites living in Goshen was the death of the first-born. For

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the Egyptians, the death of the first-born included the death of
son or daughter. It included the death of first-born human and
first-born animal. It was the final plague brought on Egypt by
God as He judged the gods that were worshipped throughout
the land instead of Him. For the Egyptians it was a day of
mourning. For the Israelites it was a day of rejoicing. The
Israelites celebrated the Feast of Passover in which the Passover
lamb was slain so they could live in the presence of death. The
Feast of Passover was instituted as a perpetual ordinance for all
who would be circumcised in heart toward God. While on
earth, strangers from anywhere could come from the nations,
obey God by circumcising the males, thereby showing the
circumcision of heart toward God, and then partake in the
Passover meal. It would be an annual celebration of the death of
the lamb and of Gods salvation for them and their family.
Then, as each individual died physically and descended to
Sheol, God would allow them to again celebrate with their
family in the presence of their enemies; within the presence of
those who were uncircumcised in heart toward God.

Within the confines of Sheol, those who died while

uncircumcised in heart toward God would mourn for their own
spiritual death and for the spiritual death of their loved ones.
Within the confines of Sheol, those who had died while
circumcised in heart toward God would rejoice as they partook
of life. Their gathering would be a celebration and reunion of
the family of God.

The Geography and Characteristics of Hades

True Record Agrees with both Hebrew and Greek

In the minds of many, the mental image of what hell is

like is based upon word pictures that have been derived from
Greek mythology. Greek mythology is exactly what it says it is.
It is myth. It is not true. It does not agree with the scripture
record. However, some Greek words do partially describe some
aspects of the true reality of hell, since the pictures they paint

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do agree with the Hebrew picture of hell as recorded in the
scripture record. As we study the picture painted by certain
Greek words, we will rely on the use of the words inspired by
the Holy Spirit and recorded to be a part of the whole of the
scripture record. That which is true as described in the Greek
usage will also be true as described in the Hebrew usage. The
word picture that is false will conflict when compared with the
Hebrew picture. The word picture that is true will agree when
compared with the Hebrew picture. By engaging in this process
with each Greek word and the picture it presents, we can
disregard mans myth about what hell is like and accept the
picture of what hell is like as presented in the whole of the
scripture record.

Hades is the Equivalent of the Hebrew Sheol

The use of the Greek word Hades is based within Greek

mythology. The word could be used in either of two ways.
Within that mythology, Hades could be another name for Pluto,
the god of the lower regions. Hades could also refer to the place
called Orcus, the nether world, and the realm of the dead. Like
the Hebrew word Sheol, Hades was a dark and dismal place in
the very depths of the earth.

In the Greek usage of the word Hades to describe hell,

not all agrees with what we have seen as described in the usage
of the Hebrew word Sheol. Both words describe an
underground, subterranean place. The Hebrew Sheol indicates
that hell has two areas within it. One area contains those
uncircumcised in heart toward God. This area is one of
darkness, death, and torment. The other area contains those
circumcised in heart toward God. This area is one of light, life,
and comfort. Excluding all Greek mythology, the Greek
description of Hades is equivalent to the Hebrew description of
Sheol except that it is simply described as the realm of the dead.
With this understanding, we can add some more detail to the
picture of hell as described through the use of other Greek
words found in the Scripture record.

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 Unrepentant Cities to Descend to Hades

Then He began to reproach the cities in which most of

His miracles were done, because they did not repent.
Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if
the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which
occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in
sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless I say to you, it shall be
more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of
judgment, than for you. And you, Capernaum, will not be
exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades;
for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred
in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless I
say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of
Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.
Matthew 11:20-24

We have previously seen that nations who resisted God

while on the surface of the earth would be brought down to
Sheol in judgment. Here Jesus states that cities of people could
experience the same thing. They would choose to not obey God
and would harden their hearts against Him. They would go to
their death uncircumcised in heart toward God and take their
place among those of like kind who had preceded them to
Hades, otherwise known as Sheol.

Hades Contains Abrahams Bay

Now there was a certain rich man, and he was habitually

dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor
every day. And a certain poor man named Lazarus was
laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed
with the crumbs which were falling from the rich mans
table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his
sores. Now it came about that the poor man died and he
was carried away by the angels to Abrahams bosom; and
the rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades he
lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far

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 away, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and
said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send
Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and
cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame. But
Abraham said, Child, remember that during your life
you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad
things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are
in agony. And besides all this, between us and you there
is a great chasm fixed, in order that those who wish to
come over from here to you may not be able, and that
none may cross over from there to us. And he said,
Then I beg you, Father, that you send him to my fathers
house- for I have five brothers- that he may warn them,
lest they also come to this place of torment. But
Abraham said, They have Moses and the Prophets; let
them hear them. But he said, No, Father Abraham, but
if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!
But he said to him, If they do not listen to Moses and the
Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises
from the dead.
Luke 16:19-31

These verses describe two areas within Hades. It gives

the same description of hell as did the description detailed by
the use of the Hebrew word Sheol. As in the picture of Sheol,
one area is an area occupied by those who had lived and died on
earth unrepentant of their sins with their hearts uncircumcised
toward God. Those in this area were now experiencing agony
and torment, many for the first time since they were born.
Those who had lived and died on earth repentant of their sins
with their hearts circumcised toward God occupy the other area.
Those in this area were now experiencing comfort, many for the
first time since they were born.

At the physical death of the rich man, his spirit left his
body and descended into the depths of the earth, either
described in the Greek as Hades or in the Hebrew as Sheol. At
the death of Lazarus, his spirit left his body, descended into the

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depths of the earth, and was carried by angels across the chasm
dividing the two areas to the area called Abrahams bosom.

This passage of scripture refers to a geographical area in

the depths of the earth referred to as Abrahams bosom. The
word bosom is translated from the Greek kolpos. Kolpos
can have three different meanings. One meaning can be the
front of the body between the arms. A second meaning is the
bosom of a garment or the upper forepart of a loose garment
bound by a girdle and used for keeping and carrying things. It
is a fold or pocket similar to that in which a kangaroo keeps
young. The third meaning is a bay of a sea.

The description of Abrahams bosom has been viewed by

some as being only figurative. With the literal description of
this area within Hades so visually defined within scripture,
however, its reality should also be described literally.

A literal description of Abrahams bosom would describe

it as a place within Hades, as Goshen was a literal place within
Egypt. It would be an area within Hades but it would be unlike
the rest of Hades which surrounded it. Abrahams bosom would
have the characteristics of Goshen and the area of Hades, which
surrounded Goshen, would have the characteristics of Egypt.

Within Hades, Abrahams bosom would be a place where

the family of God was gathered together in the same way that
Josephs family was gathered together in Goshen. Separated by
time and physical death on the surface of the earth, Gods
family could be reunited beneath the surface of the earth in
Abrahams bosom so they could cry for joy in each others
arms.

Abrahams bosom would also be a bay or safe harbor

from the storm of Gods anger that was directed toward those
outside of Abrahams presence; toward those who had died
uncircumcised in heart toward God.

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 The geographical area to which the angels carried the
body of Lazarus was named in honor of Abraham, the one who
is noted for his belief that God could bring even the dead to life.
Abraham and Sarah had experienced a degree of this reality in
their own lives while living upon the surface of the earth and
they could comfort the others dwelling with them in Abrahams
Bay. They could impart their faith to those who had died
circumcised in heart toward God and who were awaiting their
own resurrection from the dead.

The Shepherds Protection in Abrahams Bay

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me

lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet
waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of
righteousness for His names sake. Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil;
for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they
comfort me. Thou dost prepare a table before me in the
presence of my enemies; Thou hast anointed my head
with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and
lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Psalm 23:1-6

As a shepherd, David had experienced the reality of the

protection of God for both himself and his flocks. Later, as
king, shepherding the nation of Israel, he experienced the same
provision. As a prophet, David foresaw the time when he and
those who were circumcised in heart toward God would be
forced to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. He
saw that even within the confines of Hades, God would
continue to protect and hold those who were circumcised in
heart toward Him. Even within the depths of the earth, there
would be no reason to fear.

After their physical death on the surface of the earth, God

would confine His flock to the protection of Abrahams Bay.

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He would feed them, anoint them with oil, and cause their cups
to overflow. The flock would realize that even while they were
confined to hell, only the goodness and the love of the
Shepherd would surround them. Even while they were within
the valley of the shadow of death, God would hold His lambs in
His bosom as David the shepherd held his lambs in his bosom
while on the surface of the earth.

The Geography and Characteristics of Gehenna

Gehenna is a Valley of Fire in an Ocean of Darkness

In our description of hell, we have made the analogy that

hell is an ocean of darkness similar to the ocean of water that
covers the surface of the earth. We have seen that this ocean of
darkness lies under the surface of the earth. This area can be
named by the use of the Hebrew word Sheol or by the use of
the Greek word Hades.

As we look at the geography of the oceans of the earth, it

can be noted that darkness increases as the descent is made
from the surface to the floor. The earths ocean floor contains
many valleys or trenches. Some have been explored, but there
are several that are so deep that exploration is impossible.
These characteristics of the oceans of the earth are also
representative of the ocean of Sheol or Hades. Gehenna is a
valley that lies at the bottom of the floor of hell. Descent is first
made from the surface of the earth down into the darkness of
hell. Then at the floor of hell, descent can further be made into
Gehenna, a valley or trench reserved for the destruction of
human beings.

The Origin and Use of the Word Gehenna

Gehenna is the name of a valley near Jerusalem. Known

to the Hebrews as the valley of lamentation, Gehenna has an
interesting history. Before the reign of king Josiah, the valley
was used as a place of sacrifice to the idol Moloch. Fires were

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built within the valley and little children were thrown into the
fires as they were sacrificed. Until they experienced death
within the flames, the children were heard to scream.

Josiah abolished these sacrifices to Moloch and since that

time, the Jews have hated the valley. It came to be used,
however, as a garbage dump. Refuse, including that of dead
animals and unburied executed criminals, was thrown in and
burned so that the refuse could be disposed of. In order for the
disposal to be complete, fires were made to burn continually in
the valley.

This history of the valley allows the use of the word

Gehenna to be more clearly understood as we study its use in
the scripture record.

Gods Authority to Cast Human Beings into Gehenna

And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those

who kill the body, and after that have no more that they
can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: Fear the One
who after He has killed has authority tocast into hell; yes,
I tell you, fear Him! Are not five sparrows sold for two
cents? And yet not one of them is forgotten before God.
Indeed the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do
not fear; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Luke 12:4-7

There always have been individuals living on the surface

of the earth who have brought much harm to others. Many of
these have arrogantly resisted God and thought they could
freely persecute and kill as they wished, expecting no
consequences for their actions. Some have devoted their entire
lives to intimidate through the use of fear, terrorizing all who
would come into contact with them. In their arrogance, these
individuals have forgotten that what they could do while on
earth is only limited. Even at their worst, they could only
torment for a short time. This changes however, when these

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individuals die physically. At this point in time, they are
themselves subject to being cast into Gehenna to experience
Gods anger. God has not forgotten what these individuals have
done. Now these individuals will learn a lesson under the
surface of the earth that they did not learn while living on the
surface of the earth. They will learn what it means to fear God
and His torment.

Gehenna Exists to Destroy Body and Soul

And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable
to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy
both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:28

Throughout the history of mankind, the enemies of God

have brought death to others. They have been able to destroy
the bodies of many without being able to destroy the working of
their minds, the exercise of their wills, or their emotional
composure. They may have thought of ingenious ways to
destroy others and may have murdered in cold blood with no
expressed emotion. However, when they come to Gehenna to
be destroyed by God, they will experience the destruction of
their soul. They will not be able to exercise their will against
the will of God. They may have intellectually deceived
themselves about the reality of hell while living on the earth,
but in Gehenna its painful reality will be known to the mind. In
addition, all of the emotions associated with every kind of
anguish will be experienced. There will be no emotional
comfort. They will feel every possible discomfort and pain that
can be experienced. Death in Gehenna will not be merciful or
speedy. It will be slow and agonizing beyond human
comprehension. It will be so slow that it will take eternity to
carry it out.

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 Uncircumcised in Heart Sentenced to Gehenna

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,

because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from men;
for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow
those who are entering to go in. ...

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because

you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte;
and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much
a son of hell as yourselves. ...

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you

tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the
weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and
faithfulness; but these are the things you should have
done without neglecting the others. You blind guides,
who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Woe to you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the
outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full
of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first
clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the
outside of it may become clean also. Woe to you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed
tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside
they are full of dead mens bones and all uncleanness.
Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but
inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. ...

You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape

the sentence of hell?
Matthew 23:13,15,23-28,33

The scribes and Pharisees were the teachers of the Law

of Moses. As those who taught others, they should have taught
that the Law commanded the love of God, as shown in the
exercise of obedience to His word, and the love of man, as
shown in the exercise of mercy and compassion. As teachers of

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the Law, they should have been those foremost in showing their
service to God by loving and serving their fellow men.
However, they developed a religious system that became rigid
and claimed to be serving God even though they did not do
service to their fellow men by being merciful and
compassionate toward them. By doing this, they were really in
rebellion to what God had commanded them to do in the spirit
of the Law.

The rigid religious system of the scribes and Pharisees

disregarded the internal condition of the heart and replaced it
with a regard for outward, physical appearances. To God, the
One who searches the earth and looks into the hearts of men to
see their true spiritual condition, this was detestable.

Gods desire was that every individual simply be honest

before Him, admit to the true condition of his heart, and confess
his sin to God, rather than to try to cover it up. Once that was
done, the individual could accept Gods love and forgiveness
and in turn, love and forgive others.

Many of the scribes and Pharisees however, did not want

to admit that they needed forgiveness for anything. What they
did then was to continually improve how their physical
appearance looked while at the same time they became more
and more insensitive to their internal spiritual heart condition.
They appeared to be righteous before man, because man could
only see what was on the exterior. God, however, looked at the
heart and saw it for what it was. They were obedient to God in
the smallest of His laws, but were disobedient in the bigger of
them. They were disobedient to the spirit of the Law and were
classified as transgressors of the Law, but because they would
not admit to their transgressions, they could not receive Gods
offered forgiveness, and they would die in their sin.
Uncircumcised and hardened in heart toward God, they were
not aware of their true spiritual condition and would therefore
be sentenced to Gehenna.

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 The Fire of Gehenna Not Quenched

And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is

better for you to enter life crippled, than having your two
hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire. ...

And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is

better for you to enter life lame, than having your two
feet, to be cast into hell. ...

And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out; it is

better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye,
than having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where their
worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.
Mark 9:43,45,47,48

There are two characteristics of Gehenna that are

noteworthy. The first is that Gehenna is a valley within which
unquenchable fire exists. Like the valley after which it was
named, its fires burn continually. The second characteristic of
Gehenna is that refuse is thrown into it to be destroyed.
However, unlike the refuse and maggots that were consumed by
fire in the valley outside of Jerusalem, the fire will never
consume those who are thrown into the Gehenna of hell. God
will throw people into Gehenna for destruction, but their
destruction will last throughout eternity. It will never end.

The Geography and Characteristics of Tartaros

The Origin and Use of the Word Tartaros

According to ancient Greek mythology, Tartaros was a

subterranean region within the earth, which was the abode of
the wicked dead. Tartaros was the deepest abyss of Hades. The
word can be defined as meaning to incarcerate in eternal
torment. As with the Greek word Hades, it is necessary to
understand the use of the word as used by writers inspired by

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the Holy Spirit and recorded in the scripture record to have the
correct definition of the word.

Angels Cast into Tartaros

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but
cast them into hell and committed them to pits of
darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the
ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of
righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a
flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He
condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to
destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them
an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter;
and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual
conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and
heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt
his righteous soul tormented day after day with their
lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the
godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under
punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those
who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise
authority.
2 Peter 2:4-10a

The word Tartaros is used to describe the last of the

geographical areas within the confines of hell. In the context of
writing about the judgment of those who sin against God, Peter
records that God cast angels into Tartaros for the purpose of
awaiting future judgment. Tartaros is the equivalent of a
holding cell within hell in which prisoners are kept while
awaiting judgment. Some details concerning this judgment of
these angelic prisoners can be seen in connection with the battle
that took place in hell between Jesus and Satan.

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134
 FOUR

Battle and Victory

Battle Between the Son of God and Satan in Hell

With an understanding of the geography of hell, it is

easier to understand the nature of the final battle that took place
at that location between the Son of God and Satan.

The battle was one between two personalities. One

personality was that of the Son of God, obedient to the will of
His Father. The other personality was that of Satan, in rebellion
to the will of God. The Son of God was committed to bring
light and life to the human race. Satan was committed to keep
the Son of God and the human race in darkness and death.

There were only two possible outcomes that could result

from the conflict between Satan and the Son of God beneath the
surface of the earth. One outcome could be that Satan would be
successful in his rebellion to God and would be able to keep the
Son of God dead and eternally incarcerated in the depths of the
earth. If that were the outcome, every descendant of Adam
would also be eternally incarcerated within hell at the time of
his or her eventual physical death. The other outcome could be
that, because the Son of God had never rebelled against His
Father, He would be able to live again and overpower death, if
indeed God could actually give life to His Son after He had
experienced spiritual and physical death. If that were the
outcome, the Son of God would be able to give the life that He
had received to all those descendants of Adam who had

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experienced physical death while their hearts had been
circumcised toward God.

When Satan and the Son of God came face to face, it was
not to exchange pleasantries or to engage in formalities. They
came together to engage in what might be termed a battle to the
death, but their battle entailed more than the simple purpose of
entering into personal hand-to-hand combat. They came
together face to face to determine if the dead spirits of Adams
descendants who had physically died after they had become
circumcised in heart toward God could be brought to life. By
the end of the confrontation, either Satan would keep all of
Adams descendants in death and separated from God, or God
would make a way for some of Adams descendants to live and
be joined to Himself and His Son. These would be the ones who
were, before Christs death on the cross, or who would be, after
His death on the cross, circumcised in their hearts toward God
the Father, as the Son of God had been circumcised in His heart
toward His Father.

The Purpose of the Son of God in the Battle

And you know that He appeared in order to take away

sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in
Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.
Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who
practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is
righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for
the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God
appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the
works of the devil.
1 John 3:5-8

In addition to allowing Himself to die in exchange for the

lives of humanity, Jesus Christ appeared in the flesh for another
specific reason. Now that His death as the sacrificial Lamb of
God had just been accomplished, He was in the position to
accomplish His second major mission. Now, beneath the

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surface of the earth, Jesus would destroy and loosen the works,
the effort, and the occupation of Satan.

Satan knew that individuals were spiritually dead when

they came into the domain of hell upon their physical death.
This had happened to multitudes of people who had died
physically while their hearts were uncircumcised and hardened
against God. This had also happened to others like old
Abraham, the leader of all those who physically died after they
had become circumcised in heart toward God, and who were
waiting for the coming of Messiah while confined within
Abrahams Bay, that area of hell otherwise known as Paradise.
It had even happened to the Son of God after His death on the
cross. They were all now under his control, under the control of
death. Since Satan had brought about the death of humanity in
the Garden of Eden, it could be said that he was in control of all
humanity. In his mind, there was no reason things should ever
change.

Satan thought that his absolute control over all humanity,

exercised through the power of death, would continue
unopposed. In opposition to God, he had brought about the
deaths of Adam and Eve. They had experienced spiritual death
and now were in Abrahams bosom after their physical deaths.
Satan had engineered the spiritual deaths of all of the
descendants of Adam and Eve through the contamination of
Adams blood. All of these descendants who had experienced
physical death were now either within the confines of
Abrahams Bay or within the outlying areas of Hades. Now,
even Jesus the Son of God had experienced spiritual and
physical death and had been brought to Hades. Satan had
managed to bring about the deaths of all present within this
place, either directly or indirectly. Satan thought he was the one
in control. He was the one who exercised the power of death
and he thought he would be in the position of exercising it
forever.

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 There was only one problem with Satans logic. In
obedience to God the Father, Jesus Christ had permitted
Himself to be brought to this place to face Satan. His purpose
for coming was not to simply break Satans control over those
who were circumcised in their hearts toward God. His purpose
in coming was to carry out Gods promised destruction of
Satan. God had promised Satan in the Garden of Eden that a
seed of Eve would arrive on the scene and crush his head even
though that seed would experience the crushing of his heel.
Jesus knew that He was the promised seed and He knew that
Satan had managed to cause His death. Jesus also knew that this
series of events had been known by His Father ahead of time.
Jesus knew that His crucifixion and resulting death, both
physical and spiritual, amounted to the equivalent of an injury
that could be healed, like the crushing of a heel. The time would
shortly come when Jesus, the promised seed, would deliver a
powerful blow to Satan during combat, destroying Satans
control that he used to exercise over those who were
circumcised in heart toward God. Jesus would deliver a blow to
Satan that would be like the fatal crushing of a skull.

The act of destroying Satans endless death grip on

humanity would take place during his battle with the Son of
God while in the depths of the earth. In the depths of hell itself,
in the place where death reigned supreme, Satans power would
be broken and a way would be made for those who were
circumcised in heart toward God to experience life.

The Purpose of Satan in the Battle

When Satan and the Son of God came face to face in hell,
it appeared that Satan had finally become victorious in his
rebellion to God. Since Jesus Christ had exchanged His life for
all of humanity and had become sin on their behalf, He had died
in sin. He died separated from His Father, not because of His
own transgressions, but because of those of all humanity. Like
all of Adams descendants, He came under judgment and
sentence to hell. Now He was spiritually dead and confined in

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hell as every other individual who had transgressed Gods law.
He still trusted in His Father to deliver Him from this condition,
but it looked as if Satan had the upper hand for the first time
since he had originally rebelled against God. In essence, Satan

had custody of the Son of God. Satan hated both God and His
Son. Now he could take out his hatred for both on the One that
was now powerless to do anything to counter his actions. He
could manifest his true personality in all of its totality. Before
we see what happened at this point, however, it would be
beneficial to see how Satans rebellion to God began and how
his hatred for Gods Son continued to grow since that time.
This will give an understanding of the intensity of the battle
which took place between the two.

Lucifer Created and Placed in Eden

Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre,

and say to him, Thus says the Lord God, You had the
seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious
stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz, and the
diamond; the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper; the lapis
lazuli, the turquoise, and the emerald; and the gold, the
workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you.
On the day that you were created they were prepared.
You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed
you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; you
walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were
blameless in your ways from the day you were created,
until unrighteousness was found in you. By the
abundance of your trade you were internally filled with
violence, and you sinned; therefore I have cast you as
profane from the mountain of God. And I have destroyed
you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of
fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you
corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast
you to the ground; I put you before kings, that they may

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 see you. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the
unrighteousness of your trade, you profaned your
sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought fire from the midst
of you; it has consumed you, and I have turned you to
ashes on the earth in the eyes of all who see you. All who
know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you
have become terrified, and you will be no more.
Ezekiel 28:12-19

In order to understand the reality of what happened

during the battle between Jesus and Satan in the depths of the
earth, it is essential to understand that Jesus has been the Son of
God throughout all of eternity past. He has always been the Son
of God. As is true with earthly parents, the Son of God holds a
special place in the heart of His Father. God the Father loves
His Son and God the Son loves His Father. At some point in
eternity past, God the Father determined to have His Son create
a universe filled with supernatural things and supernatural
beings. After the creation of the universe and the beings within
it, the Son was then to receive all that had been created and
control it according to the wishes of His Father. In this way the
universe and all the beings within it would function together in
harmony.

One of the most majestic beings that was created by the

Son of God during this time was an archangel known as
Lucifer. He was created to serve God and cover the earth with
music. As Lucifer would fill the earth with music, he would
lead the beings in the earth in worship of and obedience to God.
As part of his function, Lucifer would also act as a sort of
master of ceremonies for the universe. He would get the
attention of all and then direct the attention of all to the
activities of the Son of God, the One who held the center of
attention and the One who created the universe for His Father.
The result would be that all within the universe would
acknowledge the prestige given by the Son to the Father and
offer to them and the Holy Spirit the respect and service due the
co-creators and co-rulers of the universe.

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 Lucifer was uniquely prepared to carry out his job
description. Lucifer carried a type of fire within him. In
addition, he had precious stones of every type covering him, so
that the fire within him would shine to all around through the
stones that covered him. In addition, he had musical
instruments built within him. Whenever he moved, he made
music. No modern day singer or sequined stage performer
could ever come close to duplicating the light, color, and music
that originated from Lucifer as he functioned as Gods master
of ceremonies for the universe.

Lucifer functioned in the position for which he was

created for a period of time. He kept the focus of his attention
upon the Son of God and through his music led others to
maintain the same focus. While he did so, the entire universe
was in harmony with Gods order and God was able to fill the
universe with His manifested presence. This harmony,
however, was about to be disrupted and the disruption would
have drastic effects upon the peaceful universe. Lucifer would
shift the focus of his attention from the Son of God to his own
beauty. As he looked at his own beauty, Lucifer disregarded the
purpose for which he had been created. He disregarded the fact
that he had been created to serve and worship God and to lead
others to do the same. Lucifer started to think that because he
was so beautiful, the rest of the universe should worship and
serve him as he had led others to worship and serve God.
Lucifer became so obsessed with the thoughts of being
worshipped and ruling that he convinced himself that he could
successfully lead a rebellion against God and remove Him from
His throne. Lucifers rebellion, however, would not be the
success that he had planned.

Lucifer Rebels Against God

How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the

morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to
the earth, you who have weakened the nations! But you
said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise

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 my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the
mount of the assembly in the recesses of the north. I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make
myself like the Most High. Nevertheless you will be
thrust down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit.
Isaiah 14:12-15

Lucifer had great plans for himself. He had allowed

himself to become so enamored with his own beauty and ability
that he lost touch with the reality that every created being is
subject to God the creator. God is, by His nature alone, supreme
ruler over all. All is necessarily subservient to Him. Any being
that attempts to make or expects God to be subservient to him
does so through ignorance or arrogance. In Lucifers case, it
was purely a matter of arrogance. Lucifers arrogance caused
him to be thrown from the heavens and fall to the earth like a
dying, shooting star.

Lucifers Name Changed to Satan

Satan Cast Down to the Earth

And He said to them, I was watching Satan fall from

heaven like lightning.
Luke 10:18

While Lucifer was contemplating and planning his

attempted overthrow of Gods throne, he was engaging in a
delusional fantasy. When he actually attempted to carry that
delusion out, he received a strong dose of reality. As Lucifer
and his followers tried to carry out the actual attempt to
overthrow God, God released His anger and it hit Lucifer like
lightning. In the same way that nitroglycerin is exploded to put
out an oil well fire, the anger of God exploded and put out the
fire within Lucifer. He was no longer a shining star, but a burnt
cinder. He fell to the earth to be known as Satan. The glee that
was associated with his delusion of expecting to be ruler over
all was now replaced with hate directed toward God for keeping

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him from obtaining his desires.

After the formation of Adam and Eve, Satan would

manifest his hatred of God by designing a plan to bring spiritual
death to the human race by encouraging Adam and Eve to rebel
against God, as he had rebelled against God. After he had
succeeded in this effort and God had responded by promising
that a seed of Eve would crush his head, Satan would use his
energy in an attempt to prevent the arrival of the One who
would carry out what God had promised.

Satan Attempts to Stop Gods Promised Destruction

After God had instructed Adam and Eve to offer blood

sacrifices in order that the innocent blood of animals could be
exchanged for their guilty blood, both Adam and Eve obeyed
God and followed His instructions. As they were obedient to
Gods instructions, they were to teach their children also how to
be obedient to God. In turn, their children would teach their
own children, and from somewhere among those future
descendants would come the one who would, in cooperation
with God, crush Satans head. Satans only hope to deter Gods
promise of having his head crushed was to bring the future
descendants of Adam and Eve into rebellion to God. If each one
of them could be brought into disobedience to God, then they
would be classified as lawless and uncircumcised in heart, and
could not be used by God to fulfill His promise. The logical
course of action was for Satan to first attempt to bring the
children of Adam and Eve into rebellion to God as soon as
possible. If Satan could cause each one of them to rebel against
God by choosing not to obey Gods specific instructions
concerning the offering of the required blood sacrifices before
they had children of their own, Gods promised destruction
would be averted. In addition to this, Satan would have a
following of human beings who would also be exercising
rebellion to God.

Satan Inspires the Death of Abel

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 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought
an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. And
Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock
and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for
Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his
offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry
and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain,
Why are you angry? And why has your countenance
fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted
up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the
door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.
And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when
they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his
brother and killed him.
Genesis 4:3-8

Cain and Abel were both instructed by Adam about

Gods requirements concerning the offering of blood sacrifices.
Both knew that the only type of offering that would be
acceptable to God was the blood sacrifice.

As the time came for the brothers to make an offering to

God, Abel made an offering from the flock. Since part of the
offering was a fat offering, Abel had to have killed at least one
of the flock and poured out its blood in exchange for the
spilling of his own blood. Since this was the type of sacrifice
that was required by God, God accepted his offering.

Cain brought a bloodless offering to God. Since the

shedding of blood was required by God as part of the offering,
God did not accept Cains offering. God did, however, speak to
Cain and essentially told him that if he did bring the proper
offering, it would be accepted.

Cain, however, did not want to be obedient to God and

present the type of offering that God required. Cain had
determined that God should accept whatever kind of offering
that was brought to Him. There is no doubt that Satan was

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telling Cain how unfair God was in making such specific
demands concerning the offerings that were to be presented to
Him. In the same way that Satan encouraged Eve to rebel
against Gods command not to eat any fruit from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, so he also encouraged Cain to
rebel against God and refuse to offer the appropriate sacrificial
offering. As Cain rebelled against Gods command, he became
angry with God. As his anger grew, Cain became more upset
with what he thought was Gods unjust demands. By the time
he and Abel returned to work in the field, all it took was a
simple statement from Abel mentioning the situation to cause
Cain to become violent. In anger, Cain struck out and killed
Abel.

Satans strategy to temporarily avert his own destruction

had worked. He had not only been successful in encouraging
Cain to rebel against Gods command to offer a blood sacrifice,
but he had caused Cain to increase his guilt by murdering
another human being. Cain had shed innocent human blood
rather than innocent animal blood. Neither he nor his dead
brother Abel could be the one used by God to crush Satans
head.

Satan Promotes Mass Rebellion and Wickedness

Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the

face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that
the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were
beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever
they chose. Then the Lord said, My Spirit shall not
strive with man forever, because he also is flesh;
nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty
years. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days,
and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the
daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those
were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great
on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his

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 heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry
that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved
in His heart. And the Lord said, I will blot out man
whom I have created from the face of the land, from man
to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I
am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found favor
in the eyes of the Lord. These are the records of the
generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man,
blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. And Noah
became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and
Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God,
and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked
on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had
corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to
Noah, The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the
earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold,
I am about to destroy them with the earth.
Genesis 6:1-13

Satan had been successful in his attempt to cause Cain to

rebel against Gods law concerning the offering of blood
sacrifices. In addition, Satan had been able to draw Cain into
such a state of rebellion that Cain had struck out at Abel in
anger and had killed him. For at least a period of time, Satan
would be free from Gods promise of having a seed of Eve
arrive on the scene to crush his head.

As the earth began to be populated, some individuals

determined to walk with God and follow His commandments
and precepts. They identified themselves as His followers and
were obedient to the instructions given by God to them through
their ancestor Adam. Among these was Adams third son, Seth.
Among Seths descendants would be found Enoch, Methuselah,
and Noah. These would be noted as individuals who walked
with God when many around them did not.

By the time that Noah had fathered three sons and they
had taken wives, all of the rest of the population of the earth

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had rebelled against God and His commandments. Of all of the
people that lived on the earth, only Noahs immediate family of
eight were circumcised in their hearts toward God. All of the
rest had rebelled against God, become hardened in their hearts
toward Him and had engaged in the practice of numerous
activities that were abominations to Him. While these
individuals were engaged in their rebellion to God, Satan was
developing a strategy to further his own continued rebellion.
The minds of mortal men could only conceive of certain types
of wickedness to engage in while rebelling against God. It
would take the mind of Satan to conceive of a type of
wickedness that the mind of man could not, and at the same
time, be a part of his continuing effort to attempt to avert Gods
promise to crush his head.

Satan knew that God promised that a seed of Eve would

arrive to crush his head. Whoever the seed would be, Satan
knew that the individual had to be birthed by a female to be
brought into the world and that the individual would be his
enemy. If Satan could encourage any of the females in the earth
to rebel against God in the same way that he encouraged Cain
to rebel against God, then none of those specific females who
had entered into rebellion would be chosen by God to give birth
to the one that would crush Satans head. Satan would draw as
many men and women into rebellion against God as he could,
but even within this group he would personally direct
supernatural activity that would affect the females in the earth,
making them special objects of his violently hateful and
perverted personality.

As the individuals outside of Noahs immediate family

slipped into greater degrees of rebellion to God and into greater
degrees of wickedness, depravity became widespread. The
worst shown by any member of the human race, however, was
nothing in comparison to what would soon be revealed as
coming from the mind of Satan.

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Angels to Cross Boundaries only on Gods Order

Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot

was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he
rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the
ground. And he said, Now behold, my lords, please turn
aside into your servants house, and spend the night, and
wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your
way. They said however, No, but we shall spend the
night in the square. Yet he urged them strongly, so they
turned aside to him and entered his house; and he
prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread,
and they ate.
Genesis 19:1-3

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by

this some have entertained angels without knowing it.
Hebrews 13:2

Angels are spiritual beings that were created by God to

obey His commands and carry out whatever they are instructed
by Him to do. They do not act on their own initiative. Many
have specific and continual functions. Their activity is often
within the realm of the spiritual world, but they have the ability
to cross over from the spiritual world into the physical world
and appear to be normal human beings. God created them to do
so only on His direct order and only to accomplish what task
they had been given by Him to do.

Satan Orders Angels to Cross Boundaries

The majority of angelic beings created by God to serve

Him have continued to do so since their creation and will
continue to do so in the same manner in the future. However,
this is not true for all of the angelic beings created by God.
After Lucifer failed in his attempt to overthrow God, he was
thrown out of heaven. The angels that rebelled against God with
Lucifer at that time were also thrown out of heaven. Unlike the

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angels who remained faithful and obedient to God, the angels
who followed Lucifer in his rebellion continued to rebel against
God as they associated themselves with his continued rebellion
in the earth.

With Lucifers name now changed to Satan, he

formulated plans to oppose Gods purposes in the earth and
continued in his attempt to thwart the promise of the coming of
the seed of Eve, the One who would crush his skull. Knowing
he would never rule from heaven, and still desiring to be like
God, Satan determined to exercise rule in the earth and gave an
order to some of the rebellious angels to cross over into the
physical realm and assume the form of human beings.

By commanding these angels to cross over boundaries

established by God and taking advantage of mankinds overall
rebellion, Satan gave added insult to God and to the females of
the earth by mocking Gods promise of the coming seed. He did
so by ordering some of these angels, beings referred to as sons
of God, to engage in sexual intercourse with the daughters of
men, and produced a race of giants, the Nephilim, who would
propagate more violence upon the face of the earth. The
Nephilim used their size and strength to intimidate, bully and
force violence upon any who would attempt to resist them.
Again Satan thought that he had done all that was necessary to
avert Gods promise of the coming seed. He had managed to
bring all of mankind except a small handful of eight into
corruption and rebellion. He was of the opinion that they were
not much of a threat, and after all, the flood of violence and
corruption that surrounded them would soon destroy them, even
if they tried to resist it. Satans only problem was that God was
also viewing what was happening on the earth. Although God
was sorry that He had to do it, He would soon destroy all flesh
that had been contaminated by the violence and corruption that
was filling the world.

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God Brings Judgment on the Ancient World

Angels Cast into Tartaros

God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast
them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness,
reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient
world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness,
with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the
world of the ungodly.
2 Peter 2:4,5

As the ancient world became filled with Adams

descendants, fewer and fewer of them desired to walk with God
and follow His instructions and precepts. As mankind continued
in their rebellion to God, those who did desire to walk with God
found it more difficult to do so as each day went by. They were
surrounded by those who mocked and bullied them for taking a
stand of being obedient to God, and no doubt faced possible
violence from them if they persisted in telling them that they
also needed to do the same.

Gods response to the conditions present on the earth was

to bring judgment. His judgment would be exercised toward
human and animal flesh on the earth and toward the angels who
had crossed into the physical world without His order. Except
for Noahs immediate family and the animals with them in the
ark, a flood of water would destroy all human and animal flesh.
Since the angels had no physical flesh to destroy, they were
placed within Tartaros to await final judgment.

Satans Hatred for God Grows

From the moment that Lucifer deluded himself into

thinking that he was the one that should be served instead of
God, he began to develop hatred for God. That hatred continued
to grow within him as he counseled rebellion against God
among the angels in Gods service.

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 After Lucifer led an attempted coup of Gods throne and
was cast to the earth, he lost the brilliant beauty that shone from
within him, he lost his name, and he lost his favored position
within the universe. In addition to simply hating God, Satan
also hated God for the loss of these things.

Satans Hatred for Women and a Forming Nation

After Satan managed to engineer the spiritual death of the

human race by drawing Adam into rebellion, God confronted
him at the scene of the crime. At that point in time, God
proclaimed to Satan that he would experience a deathblow for
his actions and that the deathblow would be administered
through the seed that would come from Eve.

Satan hated God for this spoken promise of retribution,

but his hatred began to include those who could be used by God
to bring the promised seed into the world. This would include
two groups of people. One group would be those who would
continue in obedience to God and preserve the practice of blood
sacrifice as given to Adam. These would later be identified as
those who would form the nation of Israel. The second group
would include the women from among that nation, one of
whom would physically bear the seed, bringing him into the
world through the act of childbirth.

Satans Hatred Directed Toward Jesus

Satan hated God because he was jealous of Him and he

hated God for all that God had done to him as a result of his
rebellion. He hated the earth that God had created and blessed.
He hated the race of people that God had caused to populate the
earth. Paramount in Satans mind, however, was his hatred for
the promised seed, the adversary that God promised would
crush his skull.

When God spoke of the promise of the coming seed to

Satan in the Garden of Eden, Satan had no idea who the seed

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would be. The only way that Satan could attempt to prevent the
seed from fulfilling the mission of crushing his head was to
draw Gods righteous people into rebellion against God or kill
them. Either way, his purpose of stopping the coming seed
would be served. He would first attempt to get them to harden
their hearts and turn away from God. If that did not work, he
would inspire someone to kill them. Even before the Hebrew
nation was formed, this strategy would be implemented, but it
would not prove to be effective enough to prevent the coming
of the promised seed.

After Jesus Christ had been conceived in the womb of

Mary through a supernatural conception and brought into the
world as a baby, Satan tried to kill Him by inspiring king Herod
to search for and kill Him. As were all of Satans attempts, this
attempt to avert the crushing of his skull was foiled by God.

After Jesus Christ matured and entered into His ministry

to Israel and humanity, it became clearly evident that one major
aspect of what He was doing was destroying the kingdom of
darkness and death that Satan had managed to build within the
nation and the world. He brought deliverance and healing to
those He identified as being bound and tormented by Satan. It
was His purpose not only to destroy Satans kingdom but to
destroy Satan himself.

After John the Baptist baptized Jesus, God spoke and

stated that He was well pleased with the actions of His Son. If
there was any doubt about it before this time, Satan knew now
that Jesus was the seed that God promised would crush his
skull, and he proceeded to attempt to divert Him from His
mission. While Jesus was enduring His time of temptation in
the desert, Satan came to Him and tried to draw Him into subtle
rebellion to God. If Satan could get Jesus to yield to his
manipulations, Jesus would have sinned against God and never
would have been able to deliver the deathblow. Contrary to
Satans expectations, Jesus continued to obey what God had

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previously instructed in His word, and Satan failed in his
attempt.

Having been unsuccessful in his attempt to get Jesus to

rebel against God, Satan tried to kill Him physically. Jesus had
just come into Nazareth and had entered the synagogue on the
Sabbath. He read a prophecy from Isaiah that essentially
described how the Spirit of God had anointed a certain
individual to destroy what was Satans kingdom, and Jesus said
that He was the one who fulfilled the prophecy. Not wanting
the Son of God to talk about how his kingdom was going to be
destroyed, Satan inspired the hearers to rise up and drive Jesus
out of the city in an attempt to throw Him over a cliff. At this
point, Jesus simply walked through the crowd and went on
about His business.

Satan had failed to draw Jesus into rebellion against His

Father and now he had failed to kill Him. For the next three
years while Jesus ministered to all who would receive Him,
Satan found that he was helpless to counter His actions in any
way. This caused his hatred for the Son of God to grow even
more.

At the end of those three years of ministry within Israel,

the time came for Jesus to be sacrificed as the Passover Lamb,
to be crucified on the cross. The time had come when Jesus
would no longer resist Satans efforts to overwhelm Him with
death and darkness. As Jesus ate His last Passover meal with
His disciples, Judas yielded to Satans inspiration to deliver
Him into the custody of the Jewish high priest. Satan literally
entered into the body of Judas, and when Judas led the soldiers
to where Jesus was, Satan used the body of Judas to give Jesus
the kiss of death. Up until this point, Satan had been powerless
to bring any kind of harm to the Son of God. However, it would
only be hours until He would die spiritually. At that time, Jesus
would lose all ability to defend Himself against Satan. Shortly
after that, Jesus would die physically and His spirit would
descend into the prison of hell. When that happened, Satan

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could do whatever he wished to the Son of God, the One he had
hated so much and had waited so long to harm. With Jesus in
hell, Satan would not have to use yielded human puppets to
vent his hatred for the Son of God. He could do it personally,
with full force, and nothing could be done to stop it.

Jesus Christ Descends into Hell

Jesus Christ is seized by Satan

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning
with God. All things came into being through Him; and
apart from Him nothing came into being that has come
into being. In Him was life; and the life was the light of
men. And the light shines in the darkness; and the
darkness did not comprehend it.
John 1:1-5

When Jesus Christ came to the earth, He was filled with

the life of God. The life that was within Him was the light of
men. The earth itself was enveloped in death and darkness. As
the life of God pierced through the death in the earth, as the
light pierced the darkness, the death and darkness attempted to
comprehend Jesus Christ. In the Greek, the word for
comprehend means to take eagerly. It means seize or
possess. The death and darkness in the earth attempted to
seize and possess Jesus Christ as He came to the earth,
conceived in the womb of Mary. The life of God within Him,
however, repelled and thwarted the attempt. It was impossible
for death and darkness to seize Jesus Christ.

As Jesus developed to maturity as a man and entered into

His appointed ministry, the life of God continued to flow
through Him, dispelling death and darkness wherever He went.

After Jesus was crucified on the cross and the sin of

humanity was laid on Him, He died spiritually and the life of

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God that was within Him was destroyed. Now there was
nothing to resist the death and darkness surrounding Him. Now
that Jesus was spiritually dead, separated from His Father and
unable to ascend into His presence, He descended into hell
where Satan, his demon princes and his demon powers seized
Him.

For three days and nights Satan tortured Jesus while He

was held in the grip of Satans demon lieutenants. From within
Tartaros, the demons who had crossed into the physical world
on Satans order to rape women and intimidate everyone they
could were yelling cheers, hoping that Satan would be soon in
the position to overthrow Gods throne in heaven and force
their release.

From within the protection of Paradise, also known as

Abrahams Bay, those who had died physically while their
hearts were circumcised toward God looked across the chasm
and watched in horror at what was happening to the promised
seed, the Son of God, Messiah. On the surface of the earth, the
disciples of Jesus were scattered and in hiding, fearful for their
lives and in sorrow over the death of their Lord.

In the heavens above, God was also viewing the violence

taking place beneath the surface of the earth. He was on His
throne and acting as judge of the universe. He was reviewing
every action that had been taken by His Son. He was gathering
evidence to determine if His Son had ever committed any type
of transgression against Gods royal law of love. He was
gathering evidence to determine if His Son had ever been
disobedient to any of His commandments. In the end, God
would have all of the evidence that He needed to determine if
Jesus was innocent of any transgression and was therefore
righteous. If evidence was gathered that Jesus was righteous,
God would release His Son from prison.

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The Justification of the Son of Man

And by common confession great is the mystery of

godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, was
vindicated in the Spirit, beheld by angels, proclaimed
among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in
glory.
1 Timothy 3:16

The Mighty One, God, the Lord, has spoken, and

summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its
setting. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has
shone forth. May our God come and not keep silence; fire
devours before Him, and it is very tempestuous around
Him. He summons the heavens above, and the earth, to
judge His people: Gather My godly ones to Me, those
who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. And
the heavens declare His righteousness, for God Himself
is judge.
Psalm 50:1-6

Jesus Christ experienced the death that was deserved by

all humanity for the transgressions of the law of love that had
been commanded by God. While He was on the cross, the sin of
all humanity was placed upon Him and He died in the place of
every individual. After His spiritual death was followed by His
physical death, Jesus was placed in hell, not ever having
committed any offense against Gods law. He had allowed
Himself to experience the judgment for others while He
remained innocent.

The judge of the universe had determined that the death

of Jesus Christ satisfied the judgment that had to be exercised
against humanity. As judge of the universe, God determined
that Jesus was innocent of any transgression. Since the evidence
that had been gathered constituted proof that Jesus was
innocent, the court declared Him righteous.

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 When it was determined that Jesus was innocent and
therefore righteous, God declared that life be given back to
Him. He had committed no sin and therefore could not be held
in death.

The Life of God is Placed within Jesus Christs Spirit

So also it is written, The first man, Adam, became a

living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:45

After Gods declaration of His Sons innocence, God sent

the Holy Spirit to place the life of God into the dead spirit of
Jesus. The same life of God that Jesus had within Him from
eternity past now caused Him, the last Adam, to become a life-
giving or make alive spirit. God breathed life into the last
Adam in the same way that He had breathed life into the first
Adam.

The Son of Man becomes the Firstborn from the Dead

The Son of Man to become the Firstborn of Many

For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and

transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in
whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And
He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all
creation. For in Him all things were created, both in the
heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things
have been created through Him and for Him. And He is
before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He
is also head of the body, the church; and He is the
beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He
Himself might come to have first place in everything.
Colossians 1:13-18

And we know that God causes all things to work together

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 for good to those who love God, to those who are called
according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He
also predestined to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the firstborn among many
brethren.
Romans 8:28,29

Before Jesus died spiritually on the cross, He had the life

of God within His spirit. When the sin of humanity was laid on
Him as He hung crucified, He lost that life within, and His
spirit died and withered. When the life of God was again placed
within His spirit after it had been determined that He was
innocent of any transgressions of Gods commandments, the
life of God again gave life to His spirit and it was regenerated
from its atrophied condition. What had been dead was now
alive, and now that He again possessed the life of God, He
could freely give it to others. He would give it to others who
were circumcised in heart and were willing to receive it. In this
way, any descendant of Adam could also be brought from
spiritual death into spiritual life. Anyone in the future who
would receive Jesus and accept the life that He had to give
would also experience the same transformation within his or her
spirit as He had experienced. Anyone who would not receive
Jesus and the life of God that was now in Him would remain in
his condition of spiritual death.

Jesus Christ Disarms Rulers and Authorities

Jesus Christ Triumphs Through the Cross

Having stripped the rulers and the authorities, He made a

show of them in public, triumphing over them in it.
Colossians 2:15 (King James II Version)

Satan and his darkness had previously tried to seize the

light, the life of Jesus Christ, as He came to earth. That action
failed. Satan was, however, able to seize Jesus Christ after He
died spiritually on the cross and descended into hell. While
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within the confines of hells darkness, Satan seized Jesus. Satan
seized Him in the same manner as the soldiers on the surface of
the earth had seized Jesus while He was physically alive. After
His betrayal, the soldiers then struck Him, spat in His face,
mocked Him and gave Him sour wine. A similar mockery now
took place under the surface of the earth. Since there was
nothing that Jesus could do to resist, Satan gave orders for his
lieutenants, his chief rank of demons, to hold Jesus. As they did
so, Satan carried out all of the methods that he had devised
since his failed attempt to dethrone God to bring further
torment to the Son of God. Satans torture of Jesus continued
for three days.

When the Holy Spirit had placed the life of God into the
spirit of Jesus and He was made again spiritually alive, Jesus
could do something about His situation. He acted immediately
and stripped the rulers and the authorities of their hold on
Him. Like a powerful electrical current that can hit a person and
throw him violently, the life of God came into and flowed
through Jesus, striking His captors, both paralyzing them and
throwing them away from Jesus. In the darkness of hell, it was
as if a lightning bolt had just lashed out from within the spirit of
Jesus and pierced the darkness.

While all of His actions were in plain view of those in

heaven, of those in Paradise, and of those in hell, Jesus made a
display for the purpose of showing that between Satan and
Jesus, Gods promised seed, there was no competition. Jesus
had emerged from the conflict as the victor.

While Satan was stunned by what had just happened,

Jesus fulfilled Gods promise of Satans destruction as spoken
in the Garden of Eden. Jesus delivered a blow to Satan and
crushed his skull.

In Colossians 2:15 the word translated into the English

triumphing has three meanings. One meaning is a noisy
song, sung in honor of Bacchus, the god of wine. A second

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meaning is to make an acclamatory procession. A third
meaning is to conquer or give victory.

Combining the meanings of this word to form a picture

of what happened, it can be seen that, after Jesus crushed
Satans head, Jesus started singing a noisy song in honor of His
Father, the One who had enabled Him to conquer Satan. As He
continued His victory song, He started a procession,praising the
greatness of God. It was now a one-man procession, but it
would not stay that way for long.

Jesus Christ Renders Satan Powerless

But we do see Him who has been made for a little while
lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the
suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by
the grace of God He might taste death for every one. For
it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and
through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to
glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through
sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are
sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is
not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will
proclaim Thy Name to My brethren, in the midst of the
congregation I will sing Thy praise. And again, I will
put My trust in Him. And again, Behold, I and the
children whom God has given me. Since then the
children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise
also partook of the same, that through death He might
render powerless him who had the power of death, that
is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of
death were subject to slavery all their lives.
Hebrews 2:9-15

When Jesus delivered the blow to Satan that crushed his

skull, Jesus rendered Satan powerless. The word translated
powerless means to render idle or useless, or to vanish
away, make void. Through the action of Jesus, Satan was not
simply paralyzed or immobilized. Satan did not lose this battle

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to return for another. Satan still existed, but his existence had
changed. Now, it was as if he had vanished, as if his very
existence had been voided out. He would continue to exist,
since he was created to live eternally, but from this moment on,
his existence would amount to being absolutely nothing. He no
longer mattered.

Jesus Christ Takes Two Keys from Satan

And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man.

And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, Do not be
afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and
I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I
have the keys of death and of Hades.
Revelation 1:17,18

Before Jesus crushed Satans skull, Satan held mankind

in death. The race was spiritually dead, due to the
contamination of the bloodline that resulted from the first
Adams transgression. When anyone died physically, they were
drawn to hell. Even the ones who had died while their hearts
were circumcised toward God were drawn into this prison,
although their spirits were carried across the chasm and were
placed within Paradise. Even then, Satan had them locked in
death and locked in hell.

After Jesus crushed Satans skull, He took from Satan the

key to death and the key to hell. Satan would no longer have
control over either.

Jesus Christ Proclaims Judgment to Angels in Tartaros

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the
unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having
been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
in which also He went and made proclamation to the
spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when
the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah,

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 during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is,
eight persons, were brought safely through the water.
1 Peter 3:18-20

After Jesus defeated Satan in combat and started singing

His victory song in honor and praise of God, He proceeded to
fulfill the next step of His mission within hell. His mission was
to make a proclamation, an official public announcement.

In these verses the writer Peter indicates that Jesus was to

function as a herald. The definitions of the word herald have
interesting applications when applied to the nature of the events
that had just taken place and to the nature of the events that
would soon take place within hell.

A herald can be an official at a tournament of arms with

duties including the making of announcements and the
marshaling of combatants. In the confrontation that had just
taken place between Satan and Jesus, Jesus was Gods official
combatant and spokesman.

A herald can be an officer with the status of ambassador

acting as official messenger between leaders, especially in
war. In the long-standing war between God and Satan, Jesus
was the messenger for God, delivering His message to Satan.
Jesus would also act as Gods messenger to those who had been
held captive by Satan in hell as prisoners of war.

A herald can also be an official crier or messenger.

After Satans defeat, Jesus would act as the official crier, the
officer who would proclaim the orders of the highest court in
the universe. As the official crier of the universal court, Jesus
would make public the proclamation of the court concerning
judgments of death and judgments of life. Jesus would publicly
proclaim what the court had determined would be bound and
Jesus would publicly proclaim what the court had determined
would be freed.

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 The key to understanding what Peter was writing about in
this passage is given in the reference to the flood of Noah.
During Noahs flood, the flood of water was the vehicle for the
judgment of God upon those who had hardened their hearts
toward God and who had, in rebellion to Him, practiced
unrighteousness. The flood of water was that which covered the
unrighteous with death and buried them in the ocean of hell.
The flood of water was also the vehicle for the mercy of God
upon those who had circumcised their hearts toward God and
who had, in obedience to Him, practiced righteousness. The
flood of water was that which would raise the righteous above
the death and deposit them on a mountaintop.

The message that Jesus was to proclaim in hell was

twofold. He was to proclaim Gods judgment to all within hell
who had hardened their hearts in rebellion to God and who
would experience eternal separation from God as the result.
Jesus was also to proclaim Gods mercy to all within hell who
had circumcised their hearts in obedience to God and who
would experience eternal union with God as the result.

The first proclamation made by Jesus was to the angels

confined in Tartaros. With their repeated history of rebellion to
God, Jesus announced the judgment of the universal court for
their continued incarceration. They had hoped for release in
case of Satans successful overthrow of Gods throne, but now
that Satan was defeated, there was no hope of release. As these
angels heard Jesus make the proclamation of their judgment,
every false hope of release was shattered.

Jesus Christ Proclaims Deliverance to those in Paradise

The Inhabitants of Paradise Experience Spiritual Birth

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right

to become children of God, even to those who believe in
His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of

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 the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:12,13

The second proclamation made by Jesus was to those

confined in Paradise. With their continued history of obedience
to Gods command to offer blood sacrifices combined with
their faithful trust in Gods promise to provide an individual
who would die in their place, Jesus announced the judgment of
the universal court for their conditional but immediate release
from death. Jesus simply proclaimed to the residents of
Paradise who He was. He told them that He was the Son of God
who was sent to earth by His Father as the Lamb of God. He
told them that each one of them could receive the life of God
that was in Him, if they would receive Him as Gods Lamb and
join themselves to Him. They could do so by simply believing
that He was truly the Lamb of God, the sacrifice who poured
out His blood for the forgiveness of their sins, and then receive
Him by confessing with their mouths that He was their Lord.
As they did so, they would receive the right to become children
of God. Then, just as the Holy Spirit had placed the life of God
into the dead spirit of Jesus and made Him spiritually alive, so
the Holy Spirit would place the life of God into their dead
spirits and make them spiritually alive.

This proclamation brought by Jesus to the many

inhabitants of Paradise had been expected for a long time. The
expectations for the arrival of Jesus had been building as some
of earths earliest inhabitants communicated about their
experiences with God to the more recent inhabitants. The
expectations for the arrival of Jesus had been building as each
of Gods prophets compared the different descriptions of
Messiah that each had received and communicated that more
accurate and total description of Messiah to the community
through oral tradition.

By the time Jesus arrived in Paradise and proclaimed the

message of the universal court, all of the inhabitants were ready
to join themselves to Jesus. They were ready to receive the

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forgiveness for their sins available through His shed blood and
receive the life of God that was in Him. All of the inhabitants of
Paradise did so and the Holy Spirit placed the life of God
within their spirits. Each individual had now been made
spiritually alive, born into the family of God through the agency
of spiritual birth. They would all join Jesus in His song of
praise to God and join the procession that He had already
started. Joined together with Jesus in the lead, they would all go
home.

The Inhabitants of Paradise Cleansed from Sin

Jesus Begins His Ministry as High Priest

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good

things to come, He entered through the greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say,
not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats
and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the
holy place once for all, having obtained eternal
redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the
ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled,
sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more
will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

For when every commandment had been spoken by

Moses to all the people according to the Law, He took
the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and
scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book
itself and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the
covenant which God commanded you. And in the same
way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels
of the ministry with the blood. And according to the Law,
one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood,
and without the shedding of blood there is no
forgiveness. Therefore it was necessary for the copies of

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 the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but
the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than
these. For Christ did not enter a holy place made with
hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor was it
that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest
enters the holy place year by year with blood not his
own. Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often
since the foundation of the world; but now once at the
consummation He has been manifested to put away sin
by the sacrifice of Himself.
Hebrews 9:11-14,19-26

After Jesus completed His first mission in hell, the

mission to crush Satans head, He still had His second
assignment to fulfill. That assignment was to act as herald, as
the spokesman for God. As the spokesman for God, He
delivered Gods message of judgment to the angels confined in
Tartaros. Then Jesus went to Paradise and delivered Gods
message of mercy to those individuals.

When Jesus delivered Gods message to the inhabitants

of Paradise, He was speaking and acting for God just as Aaron
had spoken and acted for Moses. As Aaron was the mouthpiece
for Moses, so Jesus was the mouthpiece for God.

Aaron acted on the instructions of Moses concerning the

yearly atonement made for the tabernacle and for the sons of
Israel. In the same way, Jesus also acted on the instructions of
God concerning the final atonement made for the tabernacle
and for the sons of the first Adam. Aaron acted as high priest
for the yearly cleansing of the tabernacle of Moses and of all
people who would worship God there. Jesus acted as high priest
for the final and absolute cleansing of the tabernacle of God and
of all people who would worship God there.

As Jesus was sacrificed on the cross, He shed His own

blood as the Lamb of God. As Jesus proclaimed Gods message

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as herald of God to the inhabitants of Paradise, and they
received the forgiveness available through Him, He acted as the
high priest of God and the people were cleansed from their sin.

Now that the people had been cleansed, Jesus would lead
them into the heavenly holy of holies where they could take
their place in Gods tabernacle and worship Him there. Jesus
would ascend as high priest into the tabernacle of God. From
there He would continue to function as high priest, cleansing
from sin all those who would first believe in Him as Son of God
and Lamb of God, and who would follow that belief by their
confession of Him as their personal Lord.

The Family of God Enters the Sanctuary of God

But let the righteous be glad; let them exult before God;
yes, let them rejoice with gladness. Sing to God, sing
praises to His name; cast up a highway for Him who
rides through the deserts, whose name is the Lord, and
exult before Him. A father of the fatherless and a judge
for the widows, is God in His holy habitation. God makes
a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into
prosperity, only the rebellious dwell in a parched land. ...

A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan; a

mountain of many peaks is the mountain of Bashan. Why
do you look with envy, O mountains with many peaks, at
the mountain which God has desired for His abode?
Surely, the Lord will dwell there forever. The chariots of
God are myriads, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is
among them as at Sinai, in holiness. Thou hast ascended
on high, Thou hast led captive Thy captives; Thou hast
received gifts among men, even among the rebellious
also, that the Lord God may dwell there. Blessed be the
Lord, who daily bears our burden, the God who is our
salvation. God is to us a God of deliverances; and to God
the Lord belong escapes from death. Surely God will
shatter the head of His enemies, the hairy crown of him

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 who goes on in his guilty deeds. The Lord said, I will
bring them back from Bashan. I will bring them back
from the depths of the sea; that your foot may shatter
them in blood, the tongue of your dogs may have its
portion from your enemies. They have seen your
procession, O God, the procession of my God, my King,
into the sanctuary. The singers went on, the musicians
after them, in the midst of the maidens beating
tambourines. Bless God in the congregations, even the
Lord, you who are of the fountain of Israel. There is
Benjamin, the youngest, ruling them, the princes of Judah
in their throng, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of
Naphtali. Your God has commanded your strength; show
Thyself strong, O God, who hast acted on our behalf.
Because of Thy temple at Jerusalem kings will bring gifts
to Thee. Rebuke the beasts in the reeds, the herd of bulls
with the calves of the peoples, trampling under foot the
pieces of silver; He has scattered the peoples who delight
in war. Envoys will come out of Egypt; Ethiopia will
quickly stretch out her hands to God. Sing to God, O
kingdoms of the earth; sing praises to the Lord, to Him
who rides upon the highest heavens, which are from
ancient times; behold, He speaks forth with His voice, a
mighty voice. Ascribe strength to God; His majesty is
over Israel, and His strength is in the skies. O God, Thou
art awesome from Thy sanctuary. The God of Israel
Himself gives strength and power to the people. Blessed
be God!
Psalm 68:3-6,15-35

The context of this psalm describes God enthroned in the

heavenly sanctuary, the heavenly holy of holies. This is His
habitation. This is where He dwells. From His throne He looks
into all of the earth and identifies two categories of people.

One category contains the people who are rebellious to

God. Wherever they live, they dwell in a parched land. They are
the enemies of God.

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 The other category contains the people who are
righteous. Whatever their station in life, be it fatherless, widow,
or prisoner, they praise God. Their praise of Him forms a
highway into His presence. When that highway is formed, God
travels on that highway to their position in the earth, wherever
that position may be. When He arrives, He acts on behalf of
them and commands the destruction of those who would bring
harm to His own. Whatever the situation, He provides whatever
is necessary to bring salvation to His righteous.

God even sees into the depths of hell itself and notices
those who are held captive there. The psalm describes an escape
from death, the dependability of God shattering the head of an
enemy, and the Lord vowing to bring back Gods people from
the depths of the sea. While in hell, Jesus provided an escape
from death for the righteous in Paradise. He shattered the skull
of Satan. Jesus went to the depths of the ocean of darkness, the
pit of hell as described by the prophet Jonah, and brought Gods
people into His heavenly abode.

The psalm then describes the procession of the righteous

from Paradise into the immediate presence of Gods throne. It is
the procession into the sanctuary of all those who experienced
spiritual birth while in the depths of hell. It is the procession
begun when Jesus crushed Satans skull and continued when
those in Paradise joined Him in singing praise to God, after
they had received the forgiveness and life of God that was in
Jesus.

The psalm describes two other things that are important

to the understanding of what was actually happening as the past
inhabitants of Paradise entered Gods sanctuary. The psalm
states that God hast led captive Thy captives.

We will look at this statement in detail, for it will give

the proper understanding of what was happening as individuals
were coming into the place where God had decided He would
dwell forever.

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 The statement hast led captive Thy captives is
generally assumed to refer to Jesus bringing the inhabitants of
Paradise with Him to Gods throne as He ascended from hell.
Although this did happen as Jesus led the procession from hell
to Gods throne, the statement is referring to something else
entirely, although it is related to the ascension of Jesus and the
inhabitants of Paradise from hell into the heavens.

In the King James translation of Psalm 68:18 the verse is

presented as hast led captivity captive. The definition of the
Greek word translated as captivity can mean exiled or
exile. The definition of captivity is a forced removal from
ones own country. The definition of the Greek word
translated as captive can mean to take, to lead away, or
drive or take away. The paraphrase of Psalm 68:18 could be
said to read exile to lead away, exile drive away, or exile
take away. In other words, the exile had been taken away. To
put it simply, the exile of Jesus and the inhabitants of Paradise
from their home country had been removed. Now that they
were no longer exiled from where they belonged; they could go
home.

Residents of Paradise Exiled from their True Home

Residents of Paradise looked for a City prepared by God

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He

who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is
a rewarder of those who seek Him. By faith Noah, being
warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence
prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by
which he condemned the world, and became an heir of
the righteousness which is according to faith. By faith
Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a
place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he
went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he
lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign
land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow-heirs

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of the same promise; for he was looking for the city
which has foundations, whose architect and builder is
God. By faith even Sarah herself received ability to
conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she
considered Him faithful who had promised; therefore,
also, there was born of one man, and him as good as dead
at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in
number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the
seashore. All these died in faith, without receiving the
promises, but having seen them and having welcomed
them from a distance, and having confessed that they
were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say
such things make it clear that they are seeking a country
of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that
country from which they went out, they would have had
opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better
country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not
ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a
city for them.

And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell
of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and
Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered
kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained
promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power
of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness
were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign
armies to flight. Women received back their dead by
resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their
release, in order that they might obtain a better
resurrection; and others experienced mockings and
scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They
were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted,
they were put to death with the sword; they went about in
sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-
treated (men of whom the world was not worthy),
wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes
in the ground. And all of these, having gained approval

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 through their faith, did not receive what was promised.
Hebrews 11:6-16,32-39

The inhabitants of Paradise all led different types of lives

while living physically upon the surface of the earth. Some had
been prophets. Some had been kings, and some had been
priests. Others had held governmental offices while others had
been common laborers. Some were highly educated while
others remained illiterate.

In addition to coming from every walk of life imaginable,

the residents of Paradise appeared to have different degrees of
success in life as they placed their faith in God. Some died
wealthy while others died in poverty. Some were valiant in
battle and others were tortured by their captors. Some lived
long lives while others died in their youth.

The one thing that they all had in common was the faith
that they placed in God and the belief that God would reward
them. No matter what happened to them while they lived on the
earth, no matter what they did or did not have, God would
reward them with Himself.

As these people placed their faith in God while living on

the earth, they experienced a measure of their reward. They
experienced a degree of the fullness of God Himself, but each
one longed for more of that fullness. God had determined that
He would fulfill that longing by bringing them into His
immediate presence. In His presence, they would be able to join
themselves to Him totally and He could join Himself to them
totally. Like Adam and Eve were originally joined together to
become one, so God would be joined with those who came into
His presence to become one. Joined together as one, God and
His family would form an actual city designed and built by
God. The design for the city would be the same design that was
given by God to Moses. The city would form the heavenly
tabernacle of God. The building of the tabernacle, the building
of the heavenly dwelling of God, would begin as Jesus led the

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procession of the inhabitants of Paradise into the presence of
God sitting on His throne.

God Lifts the Ban of Exile from His Presence

The common confession of those who had placed faith in

God while living on the earth was that they were strangers to
the planet. They lived on the earth, but the earth was not their
true home. They knew that they were exiled from the presence
of the holiness of God due to the presence of sin which
contaminated them. Although they could experience a measure
of Gods presence while living on the earth, they were under a
ban of exile from the immediate holy presence of God until
their sin was removed.

When Jesus functioned as high priest during His

proclamation to those in Paradise, those individuals received
cleansing from sin through the application of the blood of Jesus,
the Lamb of God. At that immediate time, the ban of exile was
lifted for all who would receive Jesus as the Lamb of God and
confess Him as their personal Lord. Once they had done that,
they could ascend into the presence of God.

God Begins the Building of His Tabernacle

God Receives Gifts in Exchange for His Gift

As the former inhabitants of Paradise ascended into the

presence of God in the heavens, they were awed by His
holiness, His glory, and His majesty. They knew that they
would never have been able to come into His presence unless
He had given His Son to them as the sacrificed Lamb of God.
God had given His Son to them, as He had for all humanity, as
a free gift to all who would believe in Him and then receive
Him, confessing Him as personal Lord. As they realized the
nature of Gods gift to them, each one desired to offer
themselves in return, as gifts to God. They had each received
the Lamb of God as Gods gift and now God would receive His

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multiple gifts in exchange. The only gift that any had to offer
God was that of themselves. Each individual presented himself
to God in service and worship. God, inturn, accepted the gift of
each individual and placed that individual in position around
Himself.

Moses had constructed a temporary tabernacle according

to the pattern of Gods original architectural design and had
within it, met with God face to face. Now God had begun the
construction of His permanent tabernacle, the permanent
dwelling in which He would meet each and every member of
His family face to face.

Events Related to the Death of Jesus Christ

The Veil of the Temple is Torn

An Earthquake Takes Place

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud
voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is, My
God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? And some
of those who were standing there, when they heard it,
began saying, This man is calling for Elijah. And
immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he
filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed, and gave
Him a drink. But the rest of them said, Let us see
whether Elijah will come to save Him. And Jesus cried
out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from
top to bottom, and the earth shook; and the rocks were
split, and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the
saints who had fallen asleep were raised.
Matthew 27:46-52

As Jesus released His dead spirit from within His body after He
was crucified, several things happened. The veil of the temple
was torn in two and God exited the holy of holies. As the earth
opened up to receive the sin and death that had been placed on

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Jesus, some tombs were opened, exposing the corpses to the
open air. For the three days that the spirit of Jesus was in hell,
many of these corpses remained unburied, lying on the surface
of the earth, while the body of Jesus was placed in a tomb.

Events Related to the Ascension of Jesus Christ

Jesus Resurrected from the Dead

Believers Resurrected from the Dead
Mary Gives Angels Message to the Disciples

Now late on the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the

first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe
earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord
descended from heaven and came and rolled away the
stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like
lightning, and his garment as white as snow; and the
guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.
And the angel answered and said to the women, Do not
be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who
has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just
as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. And
go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from
the dead; and behold, He is going before you into
Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.
And they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and
great joy and ran to report it to His disciples.
Matthew 28:1-8

As Jesus rose out of hell toward the throne of God, His

spirit was filled with the life of God and His spirit was drawn
back into His body. As His spirit entered His body in the tomb,
the life of God contacted His body and transformed it.

Jesus was now resurrected from the dead, alive within the
tomb. The entrance to the tomb was closed. This posed no
problem for Jesus, because in His resurrected body He could

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pass through it at will. The problem concerned others. Unless
the tomb was opened, many would doubt the fact that He was
alive. Unless it was opened supernaturally, some would say that
only human beings alone had opened the tomb. God therefore
sent an angel to open the door by force, showing the world that
Jesus had been brought to life by God in a supernatural and
miraculous way that could not be denied. The evidence of the
resurrection of Jesus was plainly clear to Jesus disciples, to the
Jews and to the Romans.

Bodies of Dead and Buried Believers Resurrected

Resurrected Believers Enter Jerusalem

And the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the

saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out
of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy
city and appeared to many.
Matthew 27:52,53

The Holy Spirit had been sent by God into hell to give
the life of God to Jesus after He had been declared innocent by
God, the judge of the universal court. As Jesus proclaimed the
availability of Gods forgiveness and cleansing to those in
Paradise, the Holy Spirit also delivered the life of God to them
as they believed in Him as the Lamb of God and received Him
by confessing Him as their personal Lord. As the power of the
Holy Spirit lifted Jesus and His procession upward toward
heaven, the power of the Holy Spirit also contacted the surface
of the earth as it passed through it. The power of the Holy Spirit
contacted the earth and it contacted the bodies of those who had
died and had been buried after they had placed their faith in
God. As the power of the Holy Spirit contacted some of the
bodies buried in the earth, those bodies were resurrected at the
same time the body of Jesus was resurrected. These were
individuals whose spirits were with Jesus in Paradise. As they
were resurrected, they entered Jerusalem and no doubt had to
explain to others how they got there. Not only had they
experienced spiritual life after spiritual death, but they also

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would experience physical life after physical death, possibly
having to communicate to others the details of their
experiences.

The Disciples See the Empty Tomb

Jesus Appears to Mary and the Disciples
Jesus States He Must Ascend to God
Jesus Sends His Disciples as God Had Sent Him

And so she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other
disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken
away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they
have laid Him. Peter therefore went forth, and the other
disciple, and they were going to the tomb. And the two were
running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than
Peter, and came to the tomb first; and stooping and looking in,
he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in.
Simon Peter therefore also came, following him, and entered
the tomb; and he beheld the linen wrappings lying there, and
the facecloth, which had been on His head, not lying with the
linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. Then entered
in therefore the other disciple also, who had first come to the
tomb, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they did not
understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.
So the disciples went away again to their own homes. But Mary
was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept,
she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she beheld two
angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet,
where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her,
Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, Because
they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they
have laid Him. When she had said this, she turned around, and
beheld Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are
you seeking? Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to
Him,Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you
have laid Him, and I will take Him away. Jesus said to her,
Mary! She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, Rabboni!

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(which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, Stop clinging to
Me; for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My
brethren, and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your
Father, and My God and your God. Mary Magdalene came,
announcing to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that He
had said these things to her. When therefore it was evening, on
that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were
shut where the disciples were, for the fear of the Jews, Jesus
came and stood in their midst, and said to them, Peace be with
you. And when He had said this, He showed them both His
hands and His side. The disciples therefore rejoiced when they
saw the Lord. Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace be
with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you. And
when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them,
Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their
sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they
have been retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called
Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other
disciples therefore were saying to him, We have seen the
Lord! But he said to them, Unless I shall see in His hands the
imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the
nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe. And
after eight days again His disciples were inside, and Thomas
with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in
their midst, and said, Peace be with you. Then He said to
Thomas, Reach here your finger, and see My hands; and reach
here your hand, and put it into My side; and be not unbelieving,
but believing. Thomas answered and said to Him, My Lord
and my God! Jesus said to Him, Because you have seen Me,
have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet
believed. Many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in
the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life
in His name.
John 20:2-31

After Jesus was crucified and died, His disciples buried

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 Him. For the next three days they grieved over His death.
Towards dawn on the first day of the week, two women, both
known as Mary, went to the tomb of Jesus to continue the
mourning of His death. To their surprise, the stone closing the
entrance to the tomb had been rolled away and those guarding
the tomb had fallen to the ground as if they were dead. In
addition, an angel was sitting on top of the stone door. As he
stated that Jesus had risen from the dead, he invited the women
to look inside the tomb and see for themselves the truth of his
statement. They did so, but they could not yet comprehend that
Jesus was no longer dead. Not wanting to be associated with the
open tomb or the fallen guards for fear of the Romans and the
Jews, they quickly left and went to the other disciples to relate
to them what they had seen.

In the minds of the two women, the only thing that could
account for what they had seen was that for some reason,
somebody had first surprised and overpowered the guards,
opened the tomb, and then had removed the body of Jesus to
another location. Mary Magdalene ran to the disciples John and
Simon Peter and gave to them her impression of the
circumstances surrounding the event.

As soon as John and Simon Peter received Marys

message, they went back to the tomb with her. After they saw it
was empty, they went back to their home, not fully
understanding what had happened.

After John and Simon Peter left the tomb, Mary stayed
behind, still thinking the body of Jesus had been stolen. When
she saw another person, she assumed he was the gardener and
thought he had possibly removed the body of Jesus from the
tomb. However, when her name came from the gardeners
mouth, Mary realized the person she assumed to be the
gardener was, in fact, Jesus.

Jesus now told Mary to stop clinging to Him. In her

mind, Mary was only thinking of Jesus as she remembered

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Him. She remembered Him arrested and condemned to death.
She remembered Him lashed and crucified. She remembered
Him in the tomb. She remembered Him only as dead. Jesus was
telling her not to cling to those remembrances of Him. He had
died, but He was no longer dead. She was to let go of her
thinking of Him solely in terms of death, because He was now
alive. Now it was time for Mary to remember Him as alive. As
He had been made alive and had given life to those in Paradise,
He would continue to give life to those who had believed in
Him and had received Him as their personal Lord.

After Mary recognized Jesus she went to the other

disciples and told them she had actually seen Jesus alive. Like
Mary had been doing while at the tomb, the others were still
clinging to their thoughts of Jesus as dead. It was difficult for
them to comprehend there was even a possibility that Jesus was
alive. Even if what Mary was saying was true, what could Jesus
do about their immediate circumstances? They had other, more
immediate things to think about.

In addition to the sorrow that the death of Jesus had

brought to those who had loved their friend and Lord, many had
given up all in life in order to follow Him. Now they had no
direction as to what course in life to follow. In their minds, the
one who proclaimed Himself King of the Jews had been
sentenced to death, and now, after finding the tomb of Jesus
open, it was almost certain that either the Jews or Romans
would seek them out in order to take them into custody for
questioning.

Later that evening, while the group of disciples continued

to hide behind closed doors, Jesus came to them and stood in
the middle of the group. As He told them to be at peace, they
saw that He was truly alive, as Mary had said. As they looked
more closely at Him, they saw the wounds caused by the
crucifixion. There was no doubt about what they had heard
from Mary now. The same Jesus who had died after His
crucifixion and had been buried was truly alive. They had not

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just heard this to be true, but had seen it to be so. This fact
brought them peace of mind. The sorrow that they had
experienced due to His death was now replaced with joy as they
recognized that He was alive.

As the disciples continued to rejoice in the fact that Jesus

was no longer dead, He again told them to be at peace and said
that He was sending them as His Father had sent Him. As they
had experienced peace as they believed that Jesus had been
raised from the dead, so they would experience peace as they
obeyed Jesus and allowed themselves to be sent wherever He
chose.

Disciples Instructed to Go to All Nations

Disciples Instructed to Leave for Galilee

And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they
came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.
Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid; go and take
word to My brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they
shall see Me.

But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the

mountain which Jesus had designated. And when they
saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All
authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I
commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to
the end of the age.
Matthew 28:9,10,16-20

After His resurrection from the dead, Jesus appeared to

His disciples in Galilee and told them that He had received all
authority in heaven and all authority on earth. While acting in

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the authority of Jesus, the disciples were to go to the nations the
earth and proclaim the same message that Jesus had proclaimed
to Israel and to the inhabitants of Paradise. As they did so, they
would enable people from every nation to receive cleansing
from sin through Jesus, who became the Lamb of God in their
behalf. The disciples would enable people to receive the life of
God that was in Jesus and would enable them to be joined to
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The
disciples would enable people to experience spiritual birth after
they had experienced physical birth. The disciples would enable
people to be set as living stones within Gods heavenly
dwelling and become an eternal part of the family of God.

All Inhabitants of Earth Allowed to Join Gods Family

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of
angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-
born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of
all, and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, and
to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the
sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of
Abel. See to it that you do not refuse Him who is
speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused
him who warned them on earth, much less shall we
escape who turn away from Him who warns from
heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He
has promised, saying, Yet once more I will shake not
only the earth, but also the heaven. And this expression,
Yet once more, denotes the removing of those things
which can be shaken, as of created things, in order that
those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be
shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to
God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for
our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:22-29

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 The tabernacle of God is the place where God has
determined to dwell throughout all eternity. It is His living city,
a living organism. It is the heavenly Jerusalem. It is a general
assembly, the gathering of all who have become first-born from
the dead. It is a church comprised of humans whose names are
recorded in heaven.

The tabernacle of God is composed of the spirits of

righteous men made perfect by God. The blood of the Lamb of
God has cleansed its only occupants from the spiritual
contamination of their blood. They have received the
forgiveness of God and the life of God that is available only in
Jesus Christ. The tabernacle of God is composed of people who
have allowed themselves to hear and act upon the warning that
placing faith in anything or anyone else except Gods Son, who
was and is Jesus Christ, will end in their total and absolute
destruction.

Those who have failed to accept that Jesus Christ was the
Son and Lamb of God are not in the tabernacle. Those who
have believed that He was the Son and Lamb of God, but failed
to acknowledge Him as their personal Lord, are not in the
tabernacle. These individuals have been eternally exiled from
the presence of God as the past inhabitants of Paradise were
temporarily exiled from the presence of God.

The tabernacle of God will exist forever. It is permanent.

It will be eternal. While everything in the unseen, spiritual
world, and everything in the seen, physical world is shaken, it
will stand. When all is consumed in the fire of Gods presence,
it will shine in the fire as a jewel.

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