Our Lord Jesus Christ Was Not Tormented in Hell

If you've been a Christian for any length of time, I'm sure you've heard it taught - that after Christ's death, He descended and was tormented in Hell and rose again on the third day. Many pastors teach it. Unfortunately, it is not true. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not descend into Hell to be tormented for three days. I pray the Lord helps me to speak the truth in love and that He will open eyes and hearts through this post. My goal is not to attack this position, but rather, to correct the theology of some who might not know this, or some who might have felt the position was wrong but didn't quite know why.

Charles Spurgeon once said:

"If a crooked stick is before you, you need not explain how crooked it is. Lay a straight one down by the side of it, and the work is well done. Preach the truth, and error will stand abashed in its presence."

One of my dearest friends approached me recently to help her study this subject and to help her lay out an argument for why this position of Christ descending into Hell is wrong. So many points were brought up, I decided to blog it, and maybe help many in the church understand the truth. So let's jump in, and Lord Jesus, please be with us in this.

First, let's dive into the reason why God created Hell and what it was originally meant for. Originally, God created Hell for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41). Since Satan and his fallen minions are angelic, spiritual beings who can never die, they needed a place to go that separated them from God's mercy to live solely in God's wrath. They had rebelled against the full knowledge of the glory of God, and as a result, were cast out of Heaven to await judgment. They had sinned directly before the face of God Himself. We know the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Demons cannot die, nor can they stand in Glory. Therefore, they "die" eternally in Hell. Even for humanity, Hell is called the "second death" (Revelation 20:14). Just as those who come to know Christ are born a second time (John 3:3), those who never know Christ die a second time. Once in flesh, and once for all eternity.

We know the wages of sin is death, but an eternal being cannot "die", therefore, there is no atonement to God after one passes away into eternity. There is no second chance once you breathe your last breath. Nor can you pay your own wage of sin, because you are not righteous; you will die in your sins and be lost in Hell. Therefore, only a Righteous One can die for your sins and not be lost Himself - that would be our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here's where imputation of our sin and His righteousness comes into play. Remember 2 Corinthians 5:21 - Christ became my sin so that I could become the righteousness of God in Him. While He hung on that cross, it's as if I hung there, and the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God (Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:3). In other words, our lives were swapped on the cross, and when Christ died, I died. Now, I am a new creation in Christ Jesus, the old has gone, the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17). Through my union with Christ, He now lives His life through me, and my old life has died in Him.

Beloved, we have lost the doctrine of a believer's union with Christ if we believe He descended into Hell to be tormented in flames for three days. Nowhere in Scripture are we told that we descended with Him in torment. When we are in Christ, we died with Him and are raised with Him. That is it. Nowhere are we told we went to Hell with Him. Nowhere. I challenge you to find the chapter and verse that says it. All true Christians are united with Christ on the cross, never again to be separated from Him. We must be united on the cross, as it is our lives that have died in Him. That is our point of union with the Son of God. It follows then that if Christ went to the flames of Hell, then so too did we in Him. But no, that is not what God demands as payment for sin. It is not hellfire that pays for sin, rather, it's being able to endure the wrath of God in full measure and die, which is what Jesus did - ON THE CROSS.

Now, there is a verse in 1 Peter 3:19, which says Christ, when He was in the grave, preached to the spirits in prison, those bound in chains since the days of Noah. But remember the parable He preached about the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). There was a place that was not in torment, Abraham's Bosom, sheol, or hades. This is not the same place as where the rich man was, burning in hellfire across the wide chasm. Abraham's Bosom is where the righteous dead came to rest before the Atonement. This is where Christ went. In Hell, there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. But clearly, Christ is said to be preaching His victory to those in chains. This cannot be. If Christ is being tormented Himself in hellfire for three days, He cannot be preaching His victory at the same time, as He would not yet be victorious. Notice the verse right before that one, 1 Peter 3:18 - "being put to death in the flesh, but being made alive in the spirit." The Apostle is speaking of Christ. If He is tormented in Hell, He CANNOT BE alive in the spirit, as Hell is literally the death of the spirit - the second death. Also, notice 1 Peter 2:24 - "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed." 

Christ bore our sins in His body on the tree, not in Hell. It is by His wounds we have been healed, not by any torment in Hell. Remember Leviticus 17:11 - the life of the flesh is in the blood, for it is the blood that makes atonement. There is no blood in Hell. Christ poured out all His blood on the cross. That is where the Atonement was made.

Let us consider the cross. Christ endured the Father's wrath upon Him for our sins when Christ was forsaken at Calvary (Matt. 27:45-47). It was also the will of the Father to both crush Him (Isaiah 53:10) and smite Him (Isaiah 53:4). God's wrath was experienced by Christ before His death so that when He died, the Atonement would be finished once and for all. Christ is the only man who could ever do this because He is also God in flesh. The wages of sin is death, then the consequence is God's wrath in Hell. Humanity cannot atone for themselves, being unholy and unrighteous, therefore, they die IN their sins and must be eternally separated from God by His wrath as a consequence. In other words, man pays the wage, then suffers the consequences in Hell. But Christ, being our righteous God, COULD atone for sin in His body. He suffered the consequence first, then paid the wage, namely death. Therefore all punishment for sin was meted out upon Christ as He hung on the cross. Is there anything in Scripture that tells us the Atonement was finished there? Yes. From Christ's own lips. John 19:30 - "It is finished."

Further, upon the moment of Christ's death, the temple veil tore from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51). What was the temple veil? About a 3-foot thick curtain that separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies, where the shekinah glory of God dwelt over the Ark of the Covenant. Only the high priest was allowed in the Holy of Holies one day a year - the Day of Atonement. But upon the MOMENT of Christ's death, the veil was torn; the way was open and clear. This didn't happen the morning of His resurrection after getting out of a supposed "three day torment" to pay for sins in Hell. No. This is further confirmed in Hebrews 10:19-20 - "we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh." The rending of the temple veil symbolized the rending of our Lord's body, as He is the Door, and thus the Way to God was open upon His death.

All of Christ's atoning work was FINISHED in His flesh on His cross. Where was He for three days? In sheol, in hades, in Abraham's Bosom, preaching His victory to those in chains, and leading the righteous dead into their heavenly rest. Please do not believe the lie that Christ suffered hellfire for three days before rising again. Scripture only teaches we died with Him and are raised with Him. Even baptism symbolizes this, as there's no third step for suffering in Hell with Him. Simply dying and rising. If you listen to preachers who teach this false doctrine, please place them on the shelf and ask the Lord to lead you to more sound men of God.

To say Christ suffered in Hell is to say our sins somehow survived His death, even though the wages of sin is DEATH itself. If they survived His death, then how can we be assured of His victory? How can we know they're truly dead if they did not die on the cross? Our sins and our old life DIED WITH CHRIST on the cross. If He was tormented for three days, then our sins are stronger than death (wrong) and our old lives did not die with Christ (wrong). If He went to Hell, then so too did we through our union with Him (wrong).

Pray for wisdom in this and search the Scriptures, Church. We died with Christ, and we are raised with Him. There is no doctrine in Scripture of being with Him in hellfire. Our Lord Jesus Christ was not tormented in Hell. Christ drank the full cup of God's wrath upon the cross of Calvary.

Amen.