Did Christ go to Hell?

Someone asked me if Jesus went to hell after He died on the cross.  I know that some people teach exactly that - they say that because unrepentant sinners go to hell, it must be that if Christ be made sin for us He must bear the full punishment of sin and also be sent to hell.  The question then, is  - if hell is eternal (my last sermon), then how is it that He could have been raised?   I thought it appropriate to write out my response, as this is a difficult theological point.

Firstly then, let us understand that when Christ died on the cross He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30).  The rest of the verse says, “With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”  That makes it clear that His work on earth was complete, and implies that His work was made complete by His death. 

The book of 1Peter reveals much to us about the death of Christ.  1Peter 3:18-20a says, “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.”

Notice Peter’s first point (remembering that ALL Scripture is inspired by God), “Christ died for sins”.  It doesn’t say “Christ died and was subsequently punished for sins”.   That’s because When Christ was made sin for us, He bore our sins in His body (1Peter 2:24), which was crucified.  When we by faith believe in Jesus Christ and receive Him as our savior and Lord, our sins are laid upon His body (by faith, not by tangible fact).  Those sins earned a just wage – separation from God and death.  So Christ called out “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” (or “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Matt 27:46, Mark 15:34).  That this was for the sins of both those who lean upon His death (AD) and those who looked to His death by faith in the Old Testament (BC) is seen in Christ quoting Psalm 22:1 in that act.  The people of the old covenant and the people of the new covenant are brought together in Christ. 

That is the wages of sin –separation from God and death.  The question that remains is why hell was not waiting for Christ as it is for all who perish apart from His sacrifice.   The answer to that question is the very same fact.  Christ’s sacrifice.  It is all-sufficient for salvation.  The act of the divine and only sinless one dying, and the shedding of His blood is enough.  That’s why He could say, “It is finished”.  So after He died, God raised Him back up, “He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.” (1Peter 3:18b)

What happened next is again revealed to us in 1Peter.  By the Spirit of God (not by power nor by might, but by His Spirit), Christ descended (again see 1Peter 3:18b-19a) into Sheol (the abode of the dead) and preached the Gospel (believe on His sacrifice for sins and so be saved) to those who had died apart from the Gospel to that point in history.  1Peter 4:6 elaborates, “For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.”

As I read and understand this, those in Sheol who believed - who had been looking forward by faith to the one sacrifice which would not merely cover their sins but wash them away - were then redeemed from the pit (Sheol).  See Job 33:28 and Psalm 103:4. 

The Spirit then raised Christ from the dead as 1Peter 1:21 says, “Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.”

Through this verse and others like it (see Hebrew 1:3 and 10:12) we know that Christ was raised to heaven and sits at the right hand of God making intercession for us (praying for us).  He did not go to hell.  Hell is an eternal place from which there is no escape.