Did Jesus descend into Hell? Yes, He did. Here’s how and why:
”Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)” (Ephesians 4:8-10)
During the time of the Old Testament, all the righteous people that died with their faith in God intact, went to a special place reserved for them. It was called The bosom of Abraham (Luke 16:23). It was actually in Hades (Greek for the Hebrew Sheol – the unseen world of departed spirits). That was the compartment of the righteous, Tartarus being the one where the wicked dead went. Both the bosom of Abraham and Tartarus were in Hell (Hades, Sheol), with a gulf in between (Luke 16:26).
When Jesus died, He went exactly to that place, where the righteous dead were residing and were in a sense – captives (because they were not in Heaven), and He liberated them, taking them with Himself to Heaven after His resurrection. Some of them even got resurrected and appeared to many (Matthew 27:52-53). These are the captives Ephesians talks about – Jesus led them all out of Hell and into Heaven, since the keys of death, hell and the grave were already in Him. After the time of Jesus, every saint that dies, goes straight to Heaven, because Jesus has prepared a place for them there. Hallelujah!
