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It is written:
Romans 15:4-For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
One of the great teachings of Scripture is known as the Descent. It is the teaching that in the three days between His death and resurrection, the Spirit of Jesus was preaching in the world of departed spirits, Sheol (also known as Hades), especially to the spirits of the dammed. While this teaching is emphatically taught in several passages of the New Testament (cf. 1 Peter 3:18-21; 4:6), the early church also proclaimed that it was found in numerous other Scriptures.
Burnfield notes:
“Before leaving our discussion of 1 Peter 3, it is worth noting that 1 Peter is not the only book in Scripture where the early Church found evidence for the concept that Christ descended into Hades. The following passages were also used to support this view[ 197]: Psalm 68: 18; 69: 33; 107: 16; Isaiah 9: 2; 45: 2-3; 49: 9, 25; Zechariah 9: 11-12; Ephesians 4: 8-9; Philippians 2: 9-10; Colossians 2: 15.” (David Burnfield, Patristic Universalism: An Alternative to the Traditional View of Divine Judgment, 2552-2555 (Kindle Edition): Boca Raton, Florida: Universal-Publishers)
One of the themes throughout the Old Testament is that one day the Lord would redeem and ransom those who were in Sheol/Hades. For example, Samuel declared:
1 Samuel 2:6-The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up.
The Lord will “bring up” those who are in “the grave” (i.e., Sheol). This is a promise found throughout the Old Testament, especially in Psalm 107.
Psalm 107 is a Psalm of thanksgiving to God for who He is and for what good things He does for the children of men. In this passage, the psalmist brings out the good that God does in saving the dammed from Sheol:
Psalm 107:10-16-Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, Bound in affliction and irons—. 11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, And despised the counsel of the Most High, 12 Therefore He brought down their heart with labor; They fell down, and there was none to help. 13 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, And He saved them out of their distresses. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, And broke their chains in pieces. 15 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! 16 For He has broken the gates of bronze, And cut the bars of iron in two.
Let’s study.
The first thing to examine is the spiritual condition of these people. Notice that the psalmist is clear that they are “bound in affliction and irons”-because they had rebelled against the words of God, and despised the counsel of the Most High. Please notice that these people are clearly those who are in captivity of some kind because of their rejection against God’s Word. These are sinners and rebels against the Most High. Moreover, the fact that they are “bound” indicates that they are in a prison of some kind.
The second thing to notice is where these people are located. They are “the shadow of death.” That phrase is used continually throughout the Old Testament to have reference to the realm of Sheol/Hades. For example:
Job 3:5-May darkness and the shadow of death claim it; May a cloud settle on it; May the blackness of the day terrify it.
Job 10:21-22-Before I go to the place from which I shall not return, To the land of darkness and the shadow of death, 22-A land as dark as darkness itself, As the shadow of death, without any order, Where even the light is like darkness.’ “
Job 12:22-He uncovers deep things out of darkness, And brings the shadow of death to light.
Job 38:17-Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?
Psalm 23:4-Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Sometimes the phrase was used to have reference to those who are alive and in the grip and power of Hades.
Isaiah 9:2-The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.
Luke 1:79-To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”
The phrase therefore had primary reference to Sheol/Hades, and then secondly to those alive who were under the power of Sheol.
We also see the phrases, “gates of bronze,” and “bars of iron” in this passage:
Psalm 107:16-For He has broken the gates of bronze, And cut the bars of iron in two.
The same phrase is used by Isaiah in describing how God will pave the way for Cyrus the Great:
Isaiah 45:2-‘I will go before you And make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze And cut the bars of iron.
The phrase was used throughout non-canonical material to reference the realm of Sheol. Indeed, one of the early church fathers (in discussing and defending the Descent of Christ into Hades) references this passage:
“The jailers of Hades trembled when they saw Him. And the gates of brass and the bolts of iron were broken. For, look! The Only-Begotten, God the Word, had entered Hades with a soul—a soul among souls. Hippolytus (c. 205, W), 5.194.”) (David W. Bercot, Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, 7952-7954 (Kindle Edition): Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC)
Clearly, the people here are identified as being in Sheol/Hades, and their only hope of deliverance is through the Lord God. When they repent of their wickedness, they cry out to God from thence and are forgiven and restored.
Third, the condition of forgiveness and salvation is dependent upon the repentance of the ones who are lost. This is an example of God allowing suffering in a person’s experience to try and bring them to repentance, which is the Bible idea of remedial suffering.
Isaiah 19:22-And the LORD will strike Egypt, He will strike and heal it; they will return to the LORD, and He will be entreated by them and heal them.
Fourth, it bears repeating: the only One Who can rescue these people from this terrible fate is the Lord Himself. Throughout the Book of Psalms, we see that apart from God’s intervention, there is no hope of redemption apart from the Lord.
Psalm 88:9-18-My eye wastes away because of affliction. LORD, I have called daily upon You; I have stretched out my hands to You. 10 Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise You? Selah. 11 Shall Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave? Or Your faithfulness in the place of destruction? 12 Shall Your wonders be known in the dark? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? 13 But to You I have cried out, O LORD, And in the morning my prayer comes before You. 14 LORD, why do You cast off my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me? 15 I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth; I suffer Your terrors; I am distraught. 16 Your fierce wrath has gone over me; Your terrors have cut me off. 17 They came around me all day long like water; They engulfed me altogether. 18 Loved one and friend You have put far from me, And my acquaintances into darkness.
It may be argued that all of this language in Psalm 107 is symbolic of people who are still alive. If so, it does not change anything: for the symbol must be true in order for there to be any significance. In other words, if the symbol is of God rescuing living people from hopeless situations by comparing it with God rescuing people from hopeless situations in Hades, then it would only have meaning if God was going to actually save and rescue people from Hades! Either way, the message is the same: the lost in Hades are given opportunity to be saved by calling to the Lord.
Fifth, we should also note here that religions outside of Israel believed in the idea of gods or goddesses descending into the realm of the dead for the purpose of redeeming someone who was deceased. A good example comes from the ancient “goddess” known as Ishtar, who it is said descended into the underworld to rescue her lover, Tammuz.
“It was the sad time after the death of the fair young god of spring, Tammuz. The beautiful goddess, Ishtar, who loved Tammuz dearly, followed him to the halls of Eternity, defying the demons who guard the Gates of Time. But at the first Gate, the guardian demon forced Ishtar to surrender her sandals, which the wise men say symbolizes giving up Will. And at the second Gate, Ishtar had to surrender her jeweled anklets, which the wise say means giving up Ego. And at the third Gate, she surrendered her robe, which is hardest of all because it is giving up Mind itself. And at the forth Gate, she surrendered her golden breast-cups, which is giving up Sex Role. And at the fifth Gate, she surrendered her necklace, which is giving up the rapture of illumination. And at the sixth Gate, she surrendered her earrings, which is giving up magick. And finally, at the seventh Gate, Ishtar surrendered her thousand-petaled crown, which is giving up Godhood. It was only thus, naked, that Ishtar could enter Eternity. R.A.W. Cosmic Trigger”. (Robert Anton Wilson, Ishtar Rising: Why the Goddess Went to Hell and What to Expect Now That She’s Returning, 8 (Kindle Edition): Grand Junction, Colorado: Hilaritas Press, LLC)
Ishtar, of course, was often recognized as a ‘goddess’ who morphed between male and female, and she expected the same of her priests and priestesses.
“That said, an Old Babylonian text first translated and published in 1997[ 188] seems to confirm at least some of the Bible’s negative characterizations of Inanna’s Canaanite counterpart, Astarte, including cult prostitution, “cross-gender activities… and the performance of sexual acts.”[ 189] Since we’d like to keep this a family-friendly book, we won’t dig much deeper into the personality of Inanna, but it’s safe to say she definitely was not a girl you’d bring home to meet your mother. In fact, she wasn’t always a girl, period. You see, while Inanna was definitely the goddess with the mostest when it came to sex appeal, she was also androgynous, sometimes depicted with masculine features like a beard. On one tablet from the first millennium BC, probably some three thousand years after Nimrod, Inanna says, “When I sit in the alehouse, I am a woman, and I am an exuberant young man.”[ 190] Her cult followers included eunuchs and transvestites, and she was apparently the first in history to make a practice of sex reassignment: She [changes] the right side (male) into the left side (female), She [changes] the left side into the right side, She [turns] a man into a woman, She [turns] a woman into a man She ador[ ns] a man as a woman, She ador[ ns] a woman as a man.[ 191] It’s incredibly ironic. The twenty-first century progressive ideal of gender fluidity was personified five thousand years ago by the Sumerian goddess Inanna. She’s celebrated by modern scholars as complex and courageous, transcending traditional gender roles, turning Inanna/ Ishtar into an icon of independent man/ woman/ other-hood. (That) a man is like a woman, a maiden is a young man, you have put his offspring in the gutter—are yours, Ishtar… (That) a m[ an goes] the way of a woman, a woman [goes] (the way) of a man, [—are yours, Ishtar.]… You make men obey (the rules of) garments (and) wigs. At night, the women are touched. They are untidy regarding the hair-locks. The woman, like a man, is equipped with a quiver, she holds a bow. The man carries a hairpin, a siBtum, an uḫḫu, a harp. The women are carrying bows, slings, sling-stones.[ 192] What gender activists don’t realize is that Ishtar’s act was already old when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Law. What God taught the Israelites was new. A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 22: 5) You see, deconstructing God’s appointed gender roles isn’t progressive. It’s regressive. Gender activists are trying to turn back the clock about four thousand years. A word about that verse in Deuteronomy: It’s been misinterpreted by some Christians as God’s command that women should not wear pants. That’s not what it means. First, the Hebrew word kǝlî doesn’t necessarily mean “garment.” It can mean “piece of equipment,” “article” or “object”—basically, “stuff.” In this context, the word refers to items that are gender-specific—like quivers, bows, and slings for men, or a hairpin, harp, and uḫḫu for women (whatever that is). In other words, the Law simply says men shouldn’t try to be women and vice versa. It’s a pretty good bet that the verse cited above was specifically directed at Inanna/ Ishtar. Her cult was very old, it extended over the entire biblical world, and shattering God’s boundaries for gender was a key element of her cult. At Inanna’s festivals men dressed as women and women dressed as men, and cultic dancers wore outfits that were men’s clothes on the right and women’s on the left. Some, though not all of, Inanna’s priests practiced same-sex behavior.… Therefore, some of Inanna’s earliest temple personnel displayed same-sex behavior and took on transgender, non-heteronormative identities.[ 193] By emulating their goddess who was both female and male, they shattered the boundary between the sexes.… The cultic personnel of the goddess in their costumes, words, and acts had but one goal: “to delight Ishtar’s heart, give themselves up to (otherwise) for[ bidden] actions.”[ 194]” (Derek P. Gilbert, Bad Moon Rising: Islam, Armageddon, and the Most Diabolical Double-Cross in History, 128-131 (Kindle Edition): Crane, MO: Defender Publishing)
Does the story of Ishtar actually predate Christianity?
If it does, does this suggest that Christians somehow “ripped off” this story from paganism?
The first thing to point out here is that the story of Ishtar descending into the underworld actually dates to around the second or fourth centuries A.D.
“Yamauchi notes that the evidence for two other major “dying-rising gods” put forward by Frazer has been discredited. The resurrection interpretation for the Mesopotamian Tammuz (Sumerian Dumuzi), who was supposedly raised by the goddess Inanna-Ishtar, had been read into the text in much the same way as the assertion that Jesus kissed Mary Magdalene on the mouth has been read into the Gospel of Philip. The end of the myth, both in the Sumerian and Akkadian texts of “The Descent of Inanna (Ishtar),” was lost. In 1960, ancient Mesopotamian religions expert Samuel Noah Kramer published a newly translated poem, “The Death of Dumuzi,” which revealed that Inanna-Ishtar did not rescue Dumuzi from the underworld.” Later in the story’s development, Tammuz was syncretistically identified with the Phoenician Adonis, the handsome youth beloved loved by Aphrodite. Jerome tells us that the second-century emperor Hadrian consecrated a shrine of Tammuz-Adonis in the Bethlehem cave thought to be the birthplace of Jesus. While the Adonis cult spread from its birthplace in Byblos16 to the Greco-Roman world, the cult never attained influence and was restricted to women. As with the texts of the other mysteries, there is no hint of the resurrection in the early texts or images of Adonis. The four surviving texts that do mention his resurrection are to be dated from the second to fourth centuries.17” (M. James Sawyer, J. Ed Komoszewski, Daniel B. Wallace, Reinventing Jesus: How Contemporary Skeptics Miss the Real Jesus and Mislead Popular Culture, 254 (Kindle Edition): Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications)
Indeed, the evidence suggests what is often the case with the alleged parallels to Christianity: usually the “parallels” are skewed and stretched to try and make the case against Christianity, and often the alleged pagan similarities are from after the New Testament. In other words, if anyone “ripped off” anything, it wast the pagans ripping off their doctrines from the Christians!
More importantly, even if there had been a story about a descent into the underworld to redeem someone from death by a god or goddess in paganism, should that surprise us? Don’t all religions in one way or another try to deal with some subject that is common to all mankind regardless of geography or religion?
Former atheist J. Warner Wallace discusses this in detail.
“At first glance, these common descriptions seemed surprisingly similar to characteristics of Jesus. But a closer examination revealed something entirely different. None of the ancient mythologies possessed all the attributes described on this list. At best, a handful of deities displayed ten of the shared characteristics. Most had far fewer (from five to nine). And while these similarities existed broadly, the details among the ancient narratives differed dramatically. For example, although many ancient deities were said to enter the world unnaturally, the way they entered couldn’t have been more different. Attis, for example, was conceived when the god Agdistis was castrated and bled into the ground. From this blood, a tree grew, producing almonds that a goddess later collected and held to her bosom, causing her to conceive Attis. Dionysus’s father, Zeus, destroyed Dionysus’s mother but saved Dionysus by sewing him up in his thigh and keeping him there until Dionysus reached maturity. Krishna was conceived when the Hindu god Vishnu planted two hairs from his head in Krishna’s mother’s womb. Mithras was born out of solid rock. Quetzalcóatl was conceived when his mother swallowed an emerald. When you examine the details related to each similarity between Jesus and ancient mythologies, the resemblances begin to vanish. Jesus isn’t much like the other gods after all. The few broad similarities that do exist are reasonable expectations on the part of humans who are thinking diligently about their experience of the world and the existence and nature of supernatural beings. In the same way that Dr. Greene imagines a set of otherworldly minds to explain the nature of the universe and creates a set of attributes mirroring classic descriptions of deities, ancient humans arrived at a set of reasonable attributes given their common human expectations. The most common of these attributes—unsurprisingly—was simply the ability of each god to do what we expect of gods: they were able to perform supernatural acts.” (J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible, 36 (Kindle Edition): Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Reflective)
The events of Psalm 107:10-16 look forward prophetically to Jesus’ descent into Hades, where He conquered death and hades. Indeed, it is also worth noticing that this theme of the dammed being saved in and from Hades is one that occurs throughout the Psalms.
Psalm 30:3-4-O LORD, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 4 Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.
Psalm 40:2-3-He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. 3 He has put a new song in my mouth—Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD.
King Hezekiah writes in praise to God:
Isaiah 38:17-18-Indeed it was for my own peace That I had great bitterness; But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back. 18 For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth.
Why should we believe the Bible teaching regarding Jesus’ descent into Hades?
First, if the Bible is the Word of God (it is as numerous evidences attest), and if the Bible teaches that Jesus descended into Hades (it does), then Jesus descended into Hades! Second, Jesus’ descent is validated by the historical fact of His miraculous attestation by God (as documented by Jewish, Christian, and pagan historians), and of His resurrection from the dead, by which He was declared to be the Son of God with power (Romans 1:4).
Third, the pagan stories of the Descent reflect mankind’s struggle with evil, pain, suffering, and death.
Why does all of this matter?
First, the Descent of Christ into Hades reminds us that Jesus’ work went to all creation (cf. Colossians 1:16-21). Second, the Descent was a teaching of the Bible found throughout the Old and New Testament periods. It is a reminder to us that God keeps His word. Third, the Descent is also a reminder to us that God is working in ways that we do not fully understand, and to bring good beyond what we understand when we go through trials and tribulations. If you are facing some obstacle in your life, hold to God’s unchanging hand! He will bring you through the fires!
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.