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There is some speculation about where Jesus was—that is, where His spirit was—for the three days between His death and resurrection. The clearest indication we have in Scripture of where Jesus was between His death and resurrection comes in His conversation on the cross with one of the thieves crucified next to Him.
What is clear from Scripture, though, is that Jesus was not a prisoner in hell for those three days. In fact, Colossians 2:15 would seem to say just the opposite, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
Christ’s descent into Hades was anticipated by Jesus himself in Matthew’s Gospel. "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40)
So did Jesus spend the three days between His death and resurrection in a temporary paradise? Or did His spirit go directly to heaven? Scholars debate these questions, but all Christians find hope in the resurrection – knowing that one day all believers will dwell with Him there eternally.
Some use Ephesians 4:7-10 to teach that Jesus went to hell or to Hades to release the prisoners held there and take them to heaven or into God’s presence. The idea is that before His death, all Old Testament believers were in Abraham’s bosom—the paradise part of Hades.
Hell Was Not Made for Humans. Jesus clearly states that hell was not originally intended to be the abode of humans. In Matthew 25:41b Jesus says that “the eternal fire [is] prepared for the devil and his angels.” No one has to go to hell. They have a choice.
Buried in the middle of the Apostles’ Creed is a profound mystery of the Christian faith, the affirmation that Christ ‘descended into hell.’. This clause explains where Christ in the three days between the crucifixion and the resurrection. But this explanation raises a storm of questions: Did Jesus really go to hell?
Did Jesus go to hell between His death and resurrection? A common teaching is that Jesus was in hell between the time He died on the cross and when He was resurrected. The issue has been complicated by a clause in the Apostles' Creed (which is not part of the Bible).
First, resurrection after three days of death proved to Jesus’ opponents that He truly rose from the dead. Why? According to Jewish tradition, a person’s soul/spirit remained with his/her dead body for three days. After three days, the soul/spirit departed.
Jesus teaches, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). He went to the grave, but Jesus did not suffer the torments of hell.