The Bible gives us a number of eyewitness accounts of the events that occurred from Good Friday when Jesus died to Easter Sunday when He was resurrected from the dead, but we do not usually pay attention to the whole story. because some of it is spread around in the New Testament. We take our cue from the movies made on the subject rather than from the full biblical text. Yet there is much to be gained by reading what is on the pages of scripture as opposed to reading into the Bible our preconceived notions.
Some details are without question. We have eyewitness accounts (the Gospels and several epistles) of exactly what happened. Other details are logically derived from what is written in the Scriptures. They take a little more work to understand. Some things are more vague and speculative, but they can still be informative.
I am going to attempt to paint a picture or tell a story involving all three sets of data. It is my story, my understanding of the events as they happened. You can and should evaluate for yourself whether my tale has merit, but then, that is always true when listening to any teacher.
What is Known by Eyewitness Account?
On Friday, early in the morning before dawn, Jesus is arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane by temple police under the guidance of Judas Iscariot (Mk 14:43-50). The cohort is led by Malchus, the servant of Joseph Caiaphas, who was, at that time, the High Priest. Joseph Caiaphas was the son-in-law of Annas, the capa or head of a mafia-like family in league politically with the Romans. Annas had himself once been High Priest and five of his sons had succeeded him in that role.
These men were authorized and empowered by Rome to rule Israel in matters of religion and to manage the temple as long as they kept the peace. They were even permitted to execute people for religious infractions by stoning them to death, but they were not permitted to crucify anyone without direct Roman participation.
The High Priest was the leader of the Sanhedrin, a group of 71 elders, chief priests, lawyers, scribes, and Levites who governed Israel in religious matters and, in the absence of a king, governed them civilly under the auspices of their conquerors. Their real power was only in Judea, but they had influence throughout Israel as the Supreme Court for religious affairs, such as divorces, rituals, religious practices, etc.
Most of the Sanhedrin were Sadducees who were religious liberals and moralists. The Sadducees did not believe in spiritual reality, angels, life after death, the coming of a literal Messiah, etc. There was a complement of Pharisees on the Council who were religiously conservative and based in keeping the Torah. They believed all of the things listed above that the Sadducees thought of as merely metaphorical
When Jesus is arrested in the Garden, most of His disciples flee but not before Peter cuts off the ear of the servant of the High Priest, Malchus (Jn 18:10). Jesus calms the potential melee, heals Malchus’ ear and goes quietly with them to the house of the High Priest. Peter and John follow along at a safe distance. Since John is known to the High Priest (Jn 18:15ff), he gets Peter and himself admitted to the central courtyard where they can observe the “trial.”
Peter’s garb is recognized as Galilean and he is accused of being a follower of Jesus, the criminal being tried. Peter denies it three times vehemently and about dawn, flees the scene in disgrace. The more low-keyed John hangs in to witness it all.
The trial is an effort to get Jesus to blaspheme by claiming to be the Messiah or the Son of God. It does not take long for this to happen. The time has come for all things to come to pass concerning the slaying of God’s Paschal Lamb (Jesus) and the salvation of mankind. Jesus is hustled off to the house of Pontius Pilate, the Roman Procurator. The Council wants Pilate to order Jesus to be crucified because they do not have the authority to crucify Him themselves.
Pilate hates the Jewish leadership and attempts to avoid what to him is an obvious fraud. He does not see any real guilt in Jesus and he does not like to be manipulated by these crafty men who are always writing to Rome complaining about his brutality and his governance. (History records that Pilate was eventually recalled for these very reasons and there he took his own life.)
Pilate attempts to pass the buck to Herod, but that does not work. Pilate orders Jesus to be scourged, hoping that would pacify their blood lust. When that fails, Pilate washes his hands of it and gives them the edict they demand.
Jesus is whipped so badly that He loses too much blood to be able to carry His cross all the way up the hill. He is crowned with thorns, mocked in royal robes, spit on and brutalized by soldiers trained for battle but stuck in peacetime. When they finally get Him to the top of Golgotha, they nail Him on the cross with spikes driven through his wrists and foot bones. He is crucified between two thieves and suffers horribly for six hours.
From the cross, Jesus forgives His tormentors (and us) and makes arrangements for the care of His mother. In the absence of His brothers, Jesus assigns her care to His best friend, John, who is apparently the only male disciple on the scene. Jesus finds time to minister to the thief on His right and enigmatically promises him that they will be together today in Paradise when Jesus comes into His kingdom (Lk 23:42-43).
With Passover fast approaching and the weather being “really weird,” the Jews are anxious to wrap this all up. The sky has been mysteriously black since noon and it is now three pm. The soldiers are also afraid and want to get on with it. As is customary, they break the long bones of the legs of the two thieves which results in quick suffocation and death. Jesus has already died at His own declaration, “It is finished. Father, into Thy hands I commit My Spirit.”
Just to make sure that He is dead, a lance is thrust into Jesus’ lung and “bloody water” pours out. Jesus has drowned in his own serous fluid. The sky is darkened and an earthquake hits the city below resulting in some nominal damage. There was apparent vandalism in the temple. Someone or something slices in half the great curtain that hangs between the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place .This was a balustrade curtain, 15 x15 feet in height and width, and is made of heavy, thick materials.
Since Sinai it has functioned metaphorically as a sin barrier between the people and God. Now that Jesus has bought us all direct access to God with His blood, it is no longer needed. It was also rumored that many people were visited by the ghosts of dead relatives. Weird weekend! (See Mt 27:50-55 below.)
Matt 27:50-55And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook; and the rocks were split, 52 and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. 54 Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” NASB
Jesus is taken down, quickly wrapped in a shroud, and laid in the garden tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a righteous Pharisee on the Council who has been a clandestine follower of Jesus. Jesus’ body is slathered in 100 lbs of spikenard provided by Nicodemus, another righteous Pharisee, also a secret follower of Jesus, and then is wrapped in a long linen cloth as was the custom (Jn 19:39-40).
Spikenard was an expensive perfumed wax-like substance used in cave crypts and mausoleums to keep the stench of the decaying corpse from preventing others to be buried there while the body was gradually turning to dust.
Apparently, no one informed the women closest to Jesus that this had been done. They came back Sunday morning bringing oils and spices for that very purpose. This was the poor man’s alternative to spikenard. A huge stone is rolled in front of the cave and two soldiers are stationed to guard the tomb (Mt 27:64-66). The Jews all rush home to observe the Passover.
So far, this narrative is pretty consistent with the traditional telling of the events. Usually the next recorded event is the Sunday morning conversations between several women and some angels and between Mary Magdalene and Jesus Himself. The focus from this point on is the resurrection of Jesus and a couple of esoteric details about the tearing of the temple curtain and some locals popping up out of their tombs and terrorizing their families (as mentioned above).
But that is not all the Bible tells us of what happened. Let’s take a look at what else it does tell us and the conclusions we can reach from these revelations.
When Jesus died, His body was laid in a tomb and remained there until Sunday morning early, but His soul went to Sheol like all of the millions of human beings who had died before Him. But, unlike all the millions of humans that died before Him, Jesus’ soul showed up in Sheol with His Spirit intact. His soul should have arrived there “asleep” like the millions that had preceded it, but this soul showed up in a very different manner to the eternal consternation of Satan, the jailer, who receives the shock of his lifetime!
What is the Soul?
According to Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary), the soul is a word with two distinct meanings in the Bible: First, the soul is that which makes a human or animal body alive. This usage of the word soul refers to life in the physical body. The best example of this usage are those passages in the New Testament in which the Greek word for soul is translated as life. “For whoever desires to save his life [soul] will lose it,” Jesus declared, “but whoever loses his life [soul] for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36-37).
Second, the word soul also refers to the inner life of man, the seat of his emotions, and the center of human personality. The first use of the word soul in the Old Testament expresses this meaning: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (soul)” (Gen 2:7). This means more than being given physical life; the biblical writer declares that man became a “living soul,” or a person, a human being, one distinct from all other animals.
The soul is described as the seat of many emotions and desires: the desire for food (Deut 12:20-21), love (Song 1:7), longing for God (Ps 63:1), rejoicing (Ps 86:4), knowing (Ps 139:14), and memory (Lam 3:20).
In the New Testament, Jesus spoke of his soul as being “exceedingly sorrowful” (Matt 26:38). Mary, the mother of Jesus, proclaimed that her soul “magnifies the Lord” (Luke 1:46). John prayed that Gaius would “prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 2).
After the Fall of Adam and Eve, heaven was barred from human access. God stationed two cherubim at the mouth of the Garden of Eden to prevent man from reentering it. The Garden eventually disappears from the human realm and was thought to have been transported to Heaven. Man could not enter into Heaven when he died.
Upon his death, man’s body, which had originally been created for eternal existence, was buried in the ground and disintegrated. Man’s spirit returned to God and his soul went to Sheol, the place of the dead known to the Greeks as Hades (Eccl 12:6).
Eccl 12:6-7 Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel at the cistern is crushed; 7 then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. NASB
What Happens When People Die?
The answer depends on when in history someone dies. The answer was different for people who died before the Resurrection of Jesus than it is for the righteous dead who died after the Resurrection of Jesus. Before the Resurrection, everyone who died went to a place called Sheol (or in the Greek, Hades), and there they “slept” until they were ready to be judged. After the Resurrection of Jesus, the righteous go directly to Heaven when they die. The unrighteous still go to Sheol when they die and, according to the Bible, they also “sleep.”
At the time of the Second Coming, certain people will be sent to Hell. These will be the first residents of Hell as recorded in the Bible. At the end of the world, all the unrighteous of Sheol will be sent to Hell as well. One of the best ways to sort this out is to follow the biblical judgments.
No one can go to Heaven or Hell until they have been judged. No one who is assigned to Sheol has yet been judged. In any age or at any time, Sheol is the place of the “unjudged” dead, a warehouse for those who have died but have not yet been judged. (A better explanation of the nature of Sheol is still to follow.)
There are four judgments spoken of in the Bible, and there is two guiding rules;. First, you can only die once after which you will be judged. Second, you are only judged one time and in only one of the four judgments.
(Heb 9:27) It is appointed for a man to die once and then comes the judgment.
First Biblical Judgment
The saints that Jesus takes with Him to Heaven (the saints He awakens in Sheol between Good Friday / Holy Saturday) are judged at that time. This is their first opportunity to be judged, and they cannot enter Heaven until they are judged.
Second Biblical Judgment
The believers who die after the Resurrection of Jesus are judged individually as they die. This is the first opportunity for them to be judged, and they cannot enter Heaven until they are judged.
Third Biblical Judgment – The Sheep and the Goats Judgment
After the Second Coming, at the beginning of the Millennial Reign, after the Wrath of God has wiped out the enemies of Israel at the end of the Tribulation, Jesus separates the Gentile survivors into two groups. These are known as the Sheep and the Goats (Mt 25:31-46). This is a judgment on those who were not Jews and not Christians at the time of the Second Coming.
The goats will be those who have persecuted Israel in the Tribulation and they will be consigned to Hell along with the Antichrist and the False Prophet. These are the first humans recorded as being sent to Hell. Up until that moment, Hell will not have been populated. The sheep are those who had befriended Israel during the Tribulation without becoming either Jewish or Christian and they are the starting Gentile population for the Millennial Reign.
Only the goats are judged in any final sense. They are sent to Hell along with the Antichrist and False Prophet. They had to be judged before they could be sent anywhere. The Sheep continue to live and are judged individually when they die.
Fourth Biblical Judgment – The Great White Throne Judgment
The second of the end time judgments comes at the end of the Millennial Reign. This is known as the Great White Throne Judgment or the Final Judgment. This judgment will be for all those who are alive at the end of the Millennial Reign who have never been judged before and for all of those who are still asleep in Sheol.
The unrighteous dead in Sheol are awakened and condemned. This is their first opportunity to be judged, and they cannot enter Hell until they are judged. They cannot be judged twice, so they were not judged when they died. Therefore, they were “stored” in Sheol until Death and Hades gives up their dead at the end.
Remember: there is no conscious moment in the grave, so they feel like they died in Noah’s day (for example), and awakened the next minute at the Great White Throne Judgment. It SEEMS to them as if mere seconds have passed. By logic this latter group will be awakened, judged on their deeds, found wanting and consigned to Hell. The righteous and unrighteous living are then judged. This is their first opportunity to be judged, and they cannot enter Heaven or Hell until they are judged.
The last to be judged at the Great White Throne Judgment will be Satan himself. The Bible records that when he enters the realm of Hell all of the fallen humans will rise up and taunt him (Is 14:9-12). After that, death, Sheol (Hades) will no longer be needed and will be consigned to the realm of Hell.
The first conscious moment anyone has after they die is their judgment, no matter how many or how few years have passed while they were “asleep.” Everyone lives once, dies once and is judged only once. There is no reincarnation.
Heb 9:27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,…NASB
Just as there is no reincarnation, neither is there annihilation. Once a human soul comes into being, it is immortal. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body (or being) that will never cease to exist.
1 Cor 15:44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. NASB
What is the Nature of Sheol?
Sheol is the Hebrew term for the place of the dead, aka, the grave. It is referred to in scripture as “a prison,” “the pit” or the grave. The Greek name for Sheol is Hades. They are the same place. Sheol/Hades is not what we call Hell. Hell is a different place altogether. Sheol is described in the Bible as a place of sleep or mindless dreaming. There is more on the nature of Sheol/Hades to follow.
Sheol was/is, in effect, Satan’s “trophy room.” By conquering mankind, Satan gained control over them, captured them and imprisoned them when they died in Sheol, his kingdom. Paul called Satan “the god of this world” (2 Cor 4:4). In Sheol, Satan had imprisoned Adam and Eve, Abel, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Job, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Josiah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Isaiah and the other prophets and, eventually, John, the Baptist.
Those were just some of the famous ones. He had millions of other righteous men and women whose sin prevented them from going to Heaven when they died. In fact, Satan had captured every human being except Enoch and Elijah, who, according to the Bible, were taken bodily into Heaven. Satan was planning on adding Jesus as his most precious trophy. It was the reason he stirred the crowd to demand that Jesus be crucified. If Satan had known what was going to happen, he would never have had Jesus killed.
The Bible describes Sheol as a place of sleep or mindless dreaming. The people who went to Sheol were not aware of anything around them. There is not one conscious moment in the grave. One minute you die and the next conscious moment you are called to judgment even if 10,000 years have passed on earth.
Ps 146:2-4 I will praise the LORD while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. 3 Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. 4 His spirit departs. He returns to the earth; (and) in that very day his thoughts perish. (NAS)
Eccl 9:5-11 For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their memory is forgotten. 6 Indeed their love, their hate, and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a share in all that is done under the sun. 7 Go then, eat your bread in happiness, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart; for God has already approved your works. 8 Let your clothes be white all the time, and let not oil be lacking on your head. 9 Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life, and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, verily, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going. (NAS)
Job 14:10-14 “But man dies and lies prostrate. Man expires, and where is he? 11 “As water evaporates from the sea, and a river becomes parched and dried up, 12 So man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens be no more, He will not awake nor be aroused out of his sleep. 13 “Oh that Thou wouldst hide me in Sheol, that Thou wouldst conceal me until Thy wrath returns to Thee, that Thou wouldst set a limit for me and remember me! 14 “If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my struggle I will wait, until my change comes. (NAS)
Job does not expect to know anything or be aware while he is in Sheol, but he does not think that Sheol is his final end. Job’s high theology expects an afterlife, somehow and sometime after Sheol when he once again has “flesh” and eyes. He sees Sheol, the place of the dead, as a temporary place or state of sleep.
Job 19:26-27 “Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; 27 whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes shall see and not another. My heart faints within me. (NAS)
Job is not the only Old Testament man who believed in Sheol as a place of death and death as a condition of sleep. Nor was this belief limited to the Old Testament. As we shall see, Matthew, Luke, Peter, Jesus and Paul held the same view in the New Testament.
Ps 13:3 Consider and answer me, O LORD, my God; Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, (NAS)
Is 38:18 For Sheol cannot thank thee. Death cannot praise thee. Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for thy faithfulness.” (NAS)
Jer 51:39 (Concerning the judgment of Babylon) When they become heated up, I shall serve them their banquet and make them drunk, that they may become jubilant and may sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake up,” declares the LORD. (NAS)
Dan 12:2-3 “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. (NAS)
Matt 27:49-53 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook; and the rocks were split, 52 and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. (NAS)
Acts 13:36-37 “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers, and underwent decay; 37 but He whom God raised did not undergo decay. (NAS)
1 Cor 15:6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; (NAS)
1 Cor 11:28-30 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. (NAS)
1 Cor 15:16-26 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; 17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. 20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, 24 then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death. (NAS)
1 Cor 15:51-52 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. (NAS)
1 Thess 4:13-18 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. (NAS)
2 Peter 3:3-4 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” (NAS)
David, Solomon and Isaiah also describe Sheol as a vague dream state or a place of unconsciousness (Ps 6:4-6; 31:17; Eccl 9:10; Is 38:18). Jesus referred to Lazarus when he died as being “asleep.” When the disciples misunderstood the terminology, Jesus tells them plainly that “Lazarus has died.”
Jesus pointedly waits four days until Lazarus is stinking before He goes to wake him from the dead. He wants it to be clear that we all know Lazarus has died (John 11:11-15) and is not just in a coma.
John 11:10-16 This He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, that I may awaken him out of sleep.” 12 The disciples therefore said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep. 14 Then Jesus therefore said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15 and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.” NASB
Reanimation is Not Resurrection
There is a significant difference between resurrection and reanimation. Only Jesus has been resurrected from the dead so far (1 Cor 15:20-24). The rest of the righteous dead will be resurrected, and will receive their glorified bodies at the Second Coming. Lazarus and all others in the Bible who were “raised from the dead” were reanimated in their same physical bodies and had to die again later. That is not true resurrection. Logic defends “soul sleep” for these people. Are we to suppose that these many people were called back from Heaven or Hell?
The gates of Heaven were closed to all men before the death and resurrection of Jesus, so the dead were not yet in Heaven. Once again, are we to think that Lazarus, and the synagogue official’s daughter, and Dorcas, the house church leader, and the widow of Nain’s son, etc. had gone to Hell, the lake of fire, the place of eternal damnation? (As we shall see, Hell has not yet been populated.) No, they were called back from Sheol, the place of the dead.
Since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden, Heaven was closed for “normal traffic” until Jesus died for us on the cross. If this were not true, Jesus would not have had to die. The fall of Adam and Eve had shut Heaven’s gates against us. With the possible exception of Elijah and Enoch, who are listed in the Bible as “taken up into Heaven” (Gen 5:22-24; Heb 11:5; 2Kgs 2:9-1), no humans had yet gone to Heaven until Jesus opened the gates, and took a host of “captives” with Him. According to the Bible, no one is yet in Hell. Hell does not become operative until the Second Coming. (Rev 19:20-20:3).
What Happened When Jesus Went to Sheol?
When the soul of Jesus showed up with His Spirit intact, Satan knew something had gone horribly wrong. All of his other captives had shown up without the Holy Spirit (Eccl 12:6). Jesus did not just passively enter as all others had done before Him. He broke down the gates with His powerful voice (Ps 29), and called forth the righteous dead by name, much like he had called forth Lazarus in a “dress rehearsal” just three weeks earlier in Bethany. The Bible says He embarrassed Satan in front of all his minions. His authority over the righteous dead is stripped from him and his impotence is exposed.
Eph 4:8-9 Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.” (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?)
1 Peter 3:18-19 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, (NAS)
Col 2:14-15 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. (NAS)
The righteous dead are going bananas, greeting each other, jumping for joy, praising God’s faithfulness and dancing like drunken sailors. Once Jesus got the undivided attention of the myriad of men and women whose sins had just been expunged by His shed blood, He proclaimed the Gospel to them and they accepted Him as their Lord and Savior.
The unrighteous dead still lay sleeping in their mindless condition. Their names had not been called. God’s foreknowledge had enabled Jesus to prepare the list, known biblically as the Lamb’s book of life. The unrighteous dead remained untouched by Jesus’ presence and His words. They had already rejected any interest or claim in both.
Jesus gathered up this host of Satan’s captives. He made them His own captives (subjects)and cancelled their indebtedness to Satan. They belonged to Him now and He told them in a most meaningful way, “Come follow me!” and they did, all the way to Heaven!
Ps 68:18-27 Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captive {Thy} captives. Thou hast received gifts among men, even {among} the rebellious also, that the LORD God may dwell {there.} Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, the God {who} is our salvation. God is to us a God of deliverances; and to GOD the Lord belongs escape from death. Surely God will shatter the head of His enemies, the hairy crown of him who goes on in his guilty deeds. The Lord said, “I will bring {them} back from Bashan. I will bring {them} back from the depths of the sea; that your foot may shatter {them} in blood, the tongue of your dogs {may have} its portion from {your} enemies.” They have seen Thy procession, O God, the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary. The singers went on, the musicians after {them} in the midst of the maidens beating tambourines. Bless God in the congregations, {even} the LORD, {you who are} of the fountain of Israel. There is Benjamin, the youngest, ruling them, the princes of Judah {in} their throng, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali. (NAS)
He led them to the very gates of Heaven, formerly located on earth in Eden, locked, barred and guarded by those same cherubim assigned just a short 4,000 years ago to keep out Adam & Eve. It was for man’s benefit that these gates were closed and guarded. The Cherubim had been assigned then to keep man from getting to the Tree of Life and becoming eternal in his progressively degrading condition. That would have been the very definition of Hell; i.e., living forever but always getting worse.
Now they were positioned to prevent man from coming before the throne of God unworthily and being slain by the wrath of God for man’s unholiness. The wrath of God is not God’s anger. It is that which protects His presence from all ungodliness. God is not mean. He is just “Other.” If you pick up a live 220 wire and you are not grounded, it will kill you, but the wire is not “mad at you.” It is just more than you are able to handle.
Ps 24:3-6 Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? and who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive a blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 This is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Thy face — even Jacob. NASB
But Jesus was not bringing ungodly men and women before God’s throne. His traveling companions were all by then washed in the blood that Jesus had just shed on Calvary, pure as a baby’s heart, white as the driven snow. They had nothing to fear from a loving Father long awaiting their return as repentant prodigals. They had nothing to fear in the presence of the Good Shepherd who had rescued them from the Valley of the Shadow of Death.
So Jesus challenged the gates of Heaven to open before the King of Glory. According to the Bible, the cherubim demanded His credentials, but it was all pomp and ceremony. They knew who He was. “I am the King of Glory.” Jesus said. “Open, ye gates, and be ye lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of Glory might come in.” And wide they swung and will never be closed again.
Ps 24:7-10 Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in! 8 Who is the King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty. The LORD mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in! 10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory. NASB
We have now seen the first judgment. Jesus awakened all who were judged to be righteous or rightly related to God. (They were, nonetheless, sinners everyone). Then He took them and presented them to the Father. It is a procedure He will repeat a million times as each one of us comes home.
This brings us to the second judgment. This applies to all believers who die after the Resurrection of Jesus. If I die before He returns, I will stand before God and be accused by Satan, the Accuser of the Brethren, and he will have plenty of valid data. I will know that I am guilty and undeserving of living in the presence of God forever.
I will slowly turn to leave, fully convicted, but then Jesus will rise from where He sits at the right hand of the Father. “Wait!,” He says to all of Heaven, that great cloud of witnesses. This is Billy Wayne Clark and his name is written in my Book of Life. I grant Him MY righteousness, imparted as a gift and imputed to him as if it were his own righteousness.”
I can feel the fresh spirit coursing through me. I know that I am clean. I am justified; i.e., treated “just-as-if-I’d” not sinned at all. I see my accuser slinking away, defeated yet again. I see the warm and welcoming smile of My Creator and hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master.”
I can hear all of Heaven rejoicing around me, joining in celebration of my victory; i.e., His victory in my life. I am led off by others in the livery of the King to find my assigned place of service and be dressed in the appropriate robes so I can hurry back and participate in your arrival.
This is the individual judgments of the saints, the second of four judgments. Now we can join the martyrs as they cry out to the Father, “How long, Oh Lord, must we wait to receive our resurrection bodies.” “Are we there yet, Daddy?” We are encouraged to be patient until all the appointed ones have come in.
Rev 6:9-11 … I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, should be completed also. NASB
And since days in Heaven are not like days on earth, we quickly find ourselves listening for the sound of the seventh trumpet. And when it comes, we will see Jesus mount His great white horse and go slay the wicked with the sword of His mouth. As He comes through the eastern sky, we will arrive with Him. And suddenly our bodies will find us from the grave, from the ocean, from the dust and ashes and we will be corporeal once more, whole, as created, as intended from all time.
Our bodies will be similar but different. They will be as Paul describes them in 1 Corinthians 15, whole, young, vibrant, flawless. We will all be in our early twenties (or whatever age the wise Creator made Adam and Eve), but we will never age again. Aging is part of dying, the curse for sin. Our bodies will be like the one Jesus has had since that first Easter Sunday, able to walk through walls, to apparate like Harry Potter, yet able to eat fish and be embraced by humans.
Speaking of Easter Sunday, I remember that I have not quite finished the story of the Three Days That Changed It All. As Jesus was leading His band of captives from Sheol to Heaven, He made a quick stop in Jerusalem. He had to pick up His own body from the tomb. Then He had to roll away the stone (with that same powerful voice) and physically emerge from the grave, triumphant, glorified and victorious.
He saw Mary and the women approaching, faithful but fearful. They had come to honor Him at their own risk, so He honored them. He presented Himself to Mary Magdalene and told her to go tell the men cowering in the upper room that Jesus, the Christ, was risen. He told her to be comforted but not to touch Him, at least not just yet. He had not yet ascended to the Father and did not want to bring any transferred unregenerate human DNA into His presence. When he came back later in that day, it was hugs all around, but not until He presented himself spotless and without sin as the Lamb of God.
Biblical scholars have long noted these events and the biblical texts describing them. This may be somewhat new to you, but it is as orthodox as the Resurrection and as old as the Bible. King David wrote three Psalms that prophetically gives tribute to the events of these three days. One you will be very familiar with. They are sometimes called the Passion Suite of Psalms. They are Psalm 22 (Good Friday), Psalm 23 (Holy Saturday) and Psalm 24 (Easter Sunday).
Psalm 22 begins with very familiar words of Jesus on the cross. “My God, My God. Why hast though forsaken Me?” In Aramaic it reads “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” (Mk 15:34-35) Jesus is not in despair on the cross. He is praying Psalm 22, a prayer that was written in advance for Him 1000 years before He needed it. It is a prayer that Jesus would have known very well from the liturgy of the synagogue and temple, and it is His last prayer to God before He dies. If you read it with your mind focused on Good Friday, you will see it matches up with the eyewitness accounts.
Ps 22:6-19 But I am a worm, and not a man, a reproach of men, and despised by the people. 7 All who see me sneer at me. They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, 8 “Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him. Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.” …11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near; for there is none to help. … 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me. 15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws. and Thou dost lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs (a euphemism for Gentiles) have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encompassed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; 18 They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. 19 But Thou, O LORD, be not far off; O Thou my help, hasten to my assistance.
Psalm 23 is seen to be a prophetic word concerning the victory of Jesus in Sheol. It actually begins with the last part of Psalm 22. Here the Messiah is proclaimed as Lord in the assemblies of Israel and affects a great rescue of the righteous.
Ps 22:22-29 I will tell of Thy name to my brethren. In the midst of the assembly I will praise Thee. … 25 From Thee comes my praise in the great assembly. I shall pay my vows before those who fear Him. 26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied. Those who seek Him will praise the LORD. Let your heart live forever! 27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will worship before Thee. 28 For the kingdom is the LORD’S, and He rules over the nations. 29 All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship, all those who go down to the dust will bow before Him, even he who cannot keep his soul alive. NASB
God’s power is seen as covering not only the whole earth but as able to save those who go down into the grave, even those who cannot keep their soul alive.
Ps 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I fear no evil; for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. 5 Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou hast anointed my head with oil. My cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. NASB
God is seen as so faithful that, even in Sheol, the righteous soul will prosper. The Messiah is seen as going down into the valley of the shadow of death and having victory in the midst of His enemies. These are the events of Holy Saturday that we on earth could not witness, but did in fact occur.
Psalm 24 gives us a description of the Messianic King as having clean hands and able to command the Heavenly Gates to open. Here is poetic prophecy of the event of Easter Sunday that we on earth could not witness, but also did in fact occur.
Three remarkable days that changed everything. Three days that make it possible for us to be reconciled to God. Three expensive days that required the 2nd person of the Trinity to give up His place of glory and go at risk of losing it all by becoming one of us. That is what we celebrate at Easter, and this is the full story.
Epilogue
As outlined earlier, there are two other judgments described in the Bible. Both occur in the end times. The first one is called the judgment of the Sheep and the Goats. This takes place at the beginning or the Millennial Reign after the Wrath of God has wiped out the enemies of Israel at the end of the Tribulation. This is a judgment on those who were not Jews and not Christians at the time of the Second Coming.
The goats will be those who have persecuted Israel in that age and they will be consigned to Hell along with the Antichrist and the False Prophet. These are the first humans to enter Hell. Up until that moment, Hell will not have been populated.
The sheep are those who had befriended Israel without becoming either Jewish or Christian and they are the starting population for the Millennial Reign.
The second of the end time judgments comes at the end of the Millennial Reign. This is known as the Great White Throne Judgment or the Final Judgment. This judgment will be for all those who are alive at the end of the Millennial reign who have never been judged before and for all of those who are still asleep in Sheol. By logic this latter group will be awakened, judged on their deeds, found wanting and consigned to Hell.
The last to be judged will be Satan himself. The Bible records that when he enters the realm of Hell all of the fallen humans will rise up and taunt him (Is 14:9-12). After that, death, Sheol (Hades) will no longer be needed and will themselves be consigned to the realm of Hell. But all of this is a narrative for another time.