The Harrowing of Hell

"The Harrowing of Hell" by Duccio di Buoninsegna (1308-1311)

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous,

to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit,

through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when 

God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built... (1Peter 3:18-20a)

...at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father.

(Philippians 2:10-11)

"He descended into hell." (The Lord's Prayer)

Holy Saturday. We don't talk about it much.  We are reminded of the cost of our salvation on Good Friday and then the actualization of our salvation on Easter Sunday. We skip over Saturday because we don't like to dwell on the dead body of Jesus lying in the tomb.

But Jesus wasn't dead. Not totally...

Crucified in the body but alive in the Spirit, Jesus went to Hades where he preached to the prisoners who had long ago died during the deluge.  

It makes us uncomfortable.

Because if Jesus was made known to those who did not have a chance to know him in their lifetime on earth, those that even "disobeyed" God, than there is the suggestion that those who die without a saving knowledge of Christ today will still have a chance to meet him face to face and accept Christ as Lord and Savior when they die. 

Perish the thought.

Because if the Lord really "descended into Hell" and if 'every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth," then our belief in Christ has to mean more than just life with Him after we die. If Jesus is available to the living and the dead, then those of us who are living can no longer think of salvation as just a divine insurance policy, redeemable upon death.  

At least, not according to Scripture.

The harrowing of hell means that no one is really beyond the love of God. And if this is true, than Christianity limited to a post-mortem, empty-tomb, reward is not enough. There has to be some merit to knowing the Lord before death. 

Of course there is. 

The veil has been torn between us and the holy. We have access to the Creator...the wonder of this world and the promise of the world to come. Our faith has one foot planted in the sealed tomb of Saturday and the other planted in the empty tomb of Sunday. We are Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday people.  We have life with God today and life with God for ever and we can never fall out of the reach of our Savior who will storm the gates of Hell for all who would follow Him.

Church Stopping. Less Doing, More Being.