Introduction
All Christians agree that Jesus went to heaven after he rose from the dead. But where did he go when he died? Where was he in that interval period between his death and resurrection? I was forced to re-think this due to my children when they were young (they are all grown up now) asking me deep profound theological questions at the worst times (mainly as after they were tucked in bed, prayers done, lights out).
"Daddy?” (Said in a very sleep voice)
“Yes sweetheart” (Said in a slightly exasperated voice)
"Why do we say that we believe that Jesus descended to the world of the dead?, when he told the man on the cross next to him ‘Today you will be with me in paradise’”?
“Ummmm”
“What is the world of the dead Dad, is that heaven or hell, or is it something different”?
“I will tell you in the morning”
“No Dad, tell me now!” (Said in a very awake voice)
I managed to escape on that occasion, but my kids were relentless and would not let me off the hook nor fudge the answer. So this article comes out of the many conversations I had with my kids on this subject. Thanks kids!
So! Where did Jesus go when he died?
To my limited knowledge there appears to be three views regarding what happened to Jesus during that interval period:
View no.1: Jesus descended into Hell after he died – “as it was necessary for Christ to suffer the full extent of human punishment for sin, which he would not have done if he had not gone to the place of eternal punishment”. (Gordan Bray, The Faith We Confess, p.29).
View no. 2 :Jesus did not go to Hell at death but experienced Hell on the cross when he drunk the cup of God’s Wrath. So, he went to Hell at the cross in a sense and at death Jesus went to Heaven. (This is the view of the Reformer John Calvin – Institutes, II.xvi.10).
View no. 3. Jesus did not descend into Hell nor Heaven after he died, but went to a place of interval, also known as Hades, that is the place of departed spirits.
The First View?
For many years I strongly rejected the first views for two reasons:
a. If Christ had to endure eternal punishment beyond death then his words “It is finished” (which in the Greek is one word) is meaningless for his atoning work on the cross was actually ‘unfinished’ or ‘not quite finished”.
b. If Christ, upon death immediately enter Hell, then his promise to the criminal in Luke 23:43 (“Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” - ESV) was not true.
The Second View?
Thus I concluded that the second view was correct. That on the cross Jesus experience the punishment of Hell on the cross and that at death he went to Heaven, and concluded that the Apostle’s Creed was wrong when it states that (‘he descended into Hell) and that the point of the creed was to emphasise more the fact that Christ really did die, rather than where Christ went when he died.
The Third View?
The first time I ever encountered this view was having a conversation about this view was when I was invited to a Rotary Dinner in my final year of high school (back in 1992). I do not remember how the conversation started, all I remember is that I was speaking with an elderly Anglican Christian brother (from a different parish to mine) about what happens when we die and he told me that at death the Lord Jesus went to some place called Hades (pronounced Hay-deez) and this meant “place of waiting”, or place of interval. I had been a Christian for three years so of course knew what the Bible taught about Heaven and Hell, but Hades? I had no idea, so in my 18 year-old mind I arrogantly wrote him off as a misguided try-hard imitation Roman Catholic who was trying to teach me that there was a placed called Purgatory.
Thus this view is not one I visited again. However as you now know, I had young children who like to ask me deep theological questions as I put them to bed and around they were asking such questions, I also happened to be listening to a Lenten series of talks entitled What Happens When You Die by an Evangelical Anglican Bishop Julian Dobbs (who is the Bishop of the Diocese of the Living Word). I also had niggling questions of my own:
If Jesus experienced Hell on the cross when he drunk the cup of God’s Wrath then…
a. Does this mean Jesus went to Heaven twice, firstly after he died, and then again when he ascended into heaven? (which is what I had initially concluded)
b. How could Jesus have preached to those spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:18-20) if he went to heaven when he died?
c. Why does the Apostle Creed say that after Jesus died he descended to Hades?[It is important to note that in its original version the Apostles Creed states that Jesus did not descend to Hell, but to Hades and some churches have correctly noted this and have altered the Creed at this point to read “He descended to the world of the dead”]
d. Why does the Apostles Creed say that Jesus only ascended into Heaven after he bodily resurrected?
The conversation from that elderly Anglican Christian at that Rotary dinner thirty years ago vividly came to mind.
So here is the third view again…
3. Jesus did not descend into Hell at his death, nor did he go to Heaven, but went to a place of interval (Hades).
In the NT we read a letter that was written by the Apostle James, who says “The body without the spirit is Dead”, (James 2:26). At death our spirit is separated from our bodies (which break down).
But the great hope of the Christian is that we know that this separation of the body and the spirit is not the final condition of humanity.
It is only temporary. It is an interval. The NT speaks very clearly about that great day when the Lord returns our body and spirit will be joined together (the NT word for this is 'resurrection').
When Jesus died there was also an interval between his death and resurrection, between the separation of his body & his spirit, and their coming together again which happened when he rose from the dead on the third day. We know this to be the case because from Friday afternoon to Sunday Morning, Jesus’s body was in the tomb. The amount of time the Lord Jesus spent in this place of interval was short.
We know also from the Gospels that after Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to his disciples over a period of forty days and then he ascended into heaven with his resurrection body.1
So where will we go when we die?
The most common way I think Christians answer this question is this way:
“When we die, we go to heaven.”
If we define heaven as being the ultimate destination, that is, the place where Christians will be when they are bodily resurrected, the place that Jesus has prepared for us (John 14:1-6), this is absolutely true.
However…
this bodily resurrection will not happen until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that being the case, we are still no closer to answering this question, “So where do we go when we die?”
Or in other words, “Where do we go immediately at death”?
Soul Sleep?
There is a view that states that when we die, we enter into soul sleep and ‘wake up’ when Christ returns. The view can be expressed like this:
Bill is a 93 year-old Christian man who dies in 2024. His granddaughter Nina is 33, who is also a Christian. She dies at the age of 93 also, 70 years after Bill’s death. For us who are alive on earth, both of them are asleep in Christ and will ‘wake up’ on resurrection day when Christ returns, but from their point of view there is no interval, they wake up at the same time, with a new resurrection body when Christ returns to the earth (and the dead in Christ are raised first - 1 Thess.4:16).
However, this view fails to consider the Scriptural teaching that says that spirits of those who have died are alert and aware of their surroundings and the passing of time.2
The place of interval?
Historically, Christians have always known that there is an interval between a Christian’s death and bodily resurrection, that long or short (depending on the time between the Christ’ ascension and Christ’ return) there will be an interval during which we will be disembodied spirits, just as Jesus was between his death and resurrection (remember he is our model); and when Christ returns, our spirits and bodies will be brought together again3.
The Lord Jesus also used a term to refer to this place of interval and the word that he uses is the word that I mentioned earlier, Hades.
Hades is the word that Jesus uses in Luke 16:23 in the account of the Rich man and Lazarus.4 Yet most of our translations of the Bible translate the word as ‘Hell’ instead of Hades and place the latter as a footnote suggesting that Hell and Hades are one in the same place. However, they cannot be the same place for Jesus deliberately uses a different word that we translate as the word Hell and it is the final destination where unbelievers go when they are bodily resurrected, to the place that has been prepared for the Devil and his angels5.
Hades should not be confused with Hell. Hades is also not Purgatory. Purgatory is a man-made invention, a place where a person is purged from their sins in order to make them acceptable to be in God’s presence and has no Scriptural support.6 Hades is the term that simply means place of departed spirits, the place between death and physical resurrection.
The First Clue – Luke 23:42-43 and the Word ‘Paradise’.
For Jesus at his death and for us at our death, there was and is for us an interval period. Jesus has been there, and it is the place of departed spirits awaiting the resurrection.
The first clue comes in what Jesus said to the dying criminal on the cross (Luke 23:42-43).
The criminal said to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom”. Jesus answered, “Truly I say to you, today you will be in paradise with me.”
In his life the Lord Jesus was very deliberate in the use of his words, he used words that had very specific meanings to the people he was talking with. On the cross, Jesus did not promise the criminal who acknowledged him as Lord that he would be with him in heaven. (Remember Heaven refers to the place where the righteous will go after they have been bodily resurrected at the return of the Lord Jesus).
I used to think for many years the word paradise was synonymous with heaven (just as I thought Hades was a synonym for Hell.) However, I believe that Jesus’ use of the word paradise was deliberate. 'Paradise' in the Bible days was a term used to refer to the King’s Garden. It is used in referring to the Garden of Eden, of the Garden city at the end of the Bible. Paradise in the Bible refers to the garden of the King. This garden is not the palace of the King, it is not the Father’s house, it is not the place of many rooms that the Lord Jesus talks about in John 14.7
Jesus is saying to the criminal in a sense, “I am not taking you to the Father’s house today, but I will take you into the king’s garden and I can do that right now, today and we will be there together.
This tells us that the interval is much nearer to heaven that what we can ever be on earth. “Paradise will be far better than anything we have experienced in this life because we are walking in the unimaginably close, intimate personal presence of the King of Kings”.8
Three Stages:
Perhaps it may be helpful to summarise this in stages:
Stage 1 – Invited into the garden: all those who confess Jesus Christ as Lord will be received, will be saved. All those who responded to the Lord’s summons to come and be with him. This is done while living.
Stage 2 – Be Inside the garden: walking there with the King, enjoying the Sovereign in the presence of his garden, his paradise. The place of interval
Stage 3 – Be inside the palace: into the Father’s house, the room that has been reserved and prepared for you personally by the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:1-4). This will happen at Christ’s return when our souls and bodies are joined together again.
The Second Clue – 1 Peter 3:19
In days gone by and in some places today and a palace not only has a garden where the King walks with his friends (and remember Jesus says “I no longer call you servants but friends”) but also has a dungeon. A cell that is not the palace itself, it is a prison. In the NT there are hints, that in the interval (in Hades),there is not only a garden of wonderful delight, walking with the master, but also a prison, an environment of separation.
Perhaps one of the most perplexing statements in Scripture is made by the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 3:18-20:
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
We are told which spirits he preached (or perhaps declared his victory to); those who were drowned in the flood of Noah authenticating his supreme authority. And The Lord Jesus did this between his death and bodily resurrection. And notice the Spirits are in prison, not in the garden.
The Third Clue – Luke 16:19-31
19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
In this ‘parable’9 from the Lord Jesus, we see that at death there is a place of segregation, shut off and shut out. This segregation and separation from Almighty God and from God’s people is the worst kind of segregation. There is also suffering in this place of separation – (see vv.23-24)
In Hades there will be suffering for those who are in the place of separation. What kind of suffering? We don’t really know, but we do know that there will be mental suffering because one’s memories will be active. And regret will be one of the most awful things one will have to bear. The regret of knowing that the life we have known on earth is over and that there is no altering of our choices, in particular, their choice to reject God’s gift of grace in the Lord Jesus Christ and there is no comfort of any sort. This certainly seems to be the experience of the rich man. In this place of interval, that Jesus calls Hades, there will be two different environments, a prison and a garden, an environment of peace and fellowship and an environment of torment and separation.
The Prison Environment – What we know
1. One cannot go back from this prison to life on earth
2. One cannot go from the prison to the garden.
3. One is completely aware of their condition and their surroundings- there is no soul sleep.
4. It is a place of segregation and separation – from God and from God’s people
5. It is a place of suffering for those who are there, and they are given no comfort.
6. Those in this spiritual prison must go from this spiritual prison to somewhere else (Hell), for this is not the permanent or final stage of existence.
The Garden Environment– What do we know
1. We will be very much awake in paradise. There is no soul sleep
2. We will be with the Lord Jesus Christ! And enjoy beautiful fellowship with him.
3. We will be with Abraham (Luke 16) – we will meet all the people of faith, including the Apostle Paul. Angels will also be there and if you die alone, or unwanted or uncared for, or in a tragic accident, God has his angels waiting for you on the other side to care for us! It is wonderful! No wonder the Apostle Paul states that he desires to depart.10
4. We will be with Jesus the moment we die. His promise to criminal crucified next to him is also a promise for all those who trust in Christ!
5. Those in paradise will go from this spiritual garden to somewhere else (Heaven) for this is not the permanent or final stage of existence.
How is it decided whether we go to the garden or prison?
The biblical answer is clear. There is absolutely no confusion at all. What decides your ultimate destination, also decides your intermediary destination. Those who have never heard of Christ will be judged as to whether they have lived up to the light that they have received in their conscience and what has been revealed in creation. Those who have heard of Christ will be judged by their response to him. What response we make in this life, determines our destination in the next.
Summing Up
When Jesus died, he went to Hades, the place of departing spirits. In this place there are those are enjoying paradise with the King, but there are also those who are in prison. Both environments exist in this place of waiting, or place of interval where all the dead await their resurrection bodies that are fitting for their ultimate destination. Either God’s mansion (that Jesus promises that he will prepare for us – John 14:1-6), which the NT term is Heaven or into the place that is prepared for the Devil and his angels which the Bible calls Hell.
So this is the third view. There is a lot to take in, a lot to get one's head around, it does not answer all questions I have. But it is view that I am happy to run with.
A Big “Thankyou!”to:
That elderly Anglica Christian brother and the conversation we had over thirty years ago.
The talks and work done on this subject by Bishop Julian Dobbs, who I am indebted to.
The badly timed questions of four children who would not go to sleep.
Remember the Apostle Paul tells us that we too will receive a resurrection body at Christ return, he also refers to Christ as being the firstfruits – that is the first of many to follow. (see 1 Cor. 15)
(See - Rev.6:9-11).
(see - Luke 16:19-30).
(see -Matt 25:31-45)
Article XXII - Of Purgatory
The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory, Pardons, Worshipping, and Adoration as well of Images as of Reliques, and also invocation of Saints, is a fond thing vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.
When the Lord Jesus talks about his Father’s house with many rooms, he is not talking about the interval after death, but to a distant future, because he says that he will come back to take [us] to be with him, that you may also be where I am”.
Bishop Julian Dobbs - What Happens When We Die, Bishop’s Online Bible Series that he gave in 2017.
Some think that this passage is a parable of the Lord Jesus, an earthly story designed to highlight a spiritual truth. However, I am not convinced as this account of the rich man and Lazarus presents spiritual truth directly, with no earthly metaphor. The setting for most of the story is the afterlife, as opposed to the parables, which unfold in earthly contexts. In short it, does not read like a parable. It is never called a parable. Also, the Lord Jesus mentions names of individuals. In either case, the Lord Jesus gives us a glimpse into the place of departed spirits, the place where everyone will go when they die, that place of interval between death and bodily resurrection, the very place The Lord Jesus went to when he died.
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. Philippians 1:21-23.