I Can't Blog: Reading The Lines

This week at Link has probably been my favorite week thus far. We had a pretty dope speaker, D.A. Horton, come in and talk to us and answer some questions that he answered with biblical support. I can honestly say that with each session we had, I was more and more interested. One thing that really stuck out and blew my mind, was when we got onto the topic of whether or not Jesus descended into Hell after being crucified, for 3 days. This is something that I had heard being said multiple times while growing up. Today, however, after really looking at the scripture, I realized it's not true at all, and it didn't take extreme studying to figure that out.

When mentioned that Joyce Myer mentioned of Jesus going to Hell for three days in one of her books, D.A. said that it was not true and that she never took it back and that she just let it sit. I was confused, and so were some of my other classmates. We had heard countless times that Jesus went to Hell after his crucifixion and then rose from the dead. I immediately went to scripture to find where I had heard that. I remembered hearing something along the lines of "He descended into the lower parts of the earth" (I was wrong). What I was looking for was Ephesians 4:9 which states

"(In saying, 'He ascended,' what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?"

Ephesians 4:9 (ESV)

I read that verse maybe 4 times. Then I read the study notes at the bottom that said " lower regions, the earth. In the incarnation, Christ descended from the highest heavens to the lowest regions (i.e., to the earth), where he suffered, died, and was buried, but where he also defeated death and rose again."

Now, I really hope that y'all are understanding this, because I didn't and I was frustrated. I didn't understand it, though, because I looked over it 4 times. I didn't stop and actually read it, I read it in a hurry because I thought that what I was taught was right and didn't want to be wrong. The way I read it was "....he had also descended into the lower regions of the earth?" and looked over the (i.e., to the earth) in the study portion. So I'm sure that when I asked D.A. to explain what the lower regions of the earth was and why Jesus suffered and how I was confused and thought that meant he went to hell, I'm sure he thought in his head: "She literally just read me the answer. What the heck."

Christ descended from Heaven where he was first at the right hand of God. He descended onto the earth, where he had his ministry and died for our sins which were his sufferings. Another verse proving that Jesus did NOT descend into hell include:

" he [David] foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption."

Acts 2:31 (ESV)

I don't know. Maybe this wont blow your mind like it did mine. But it made me realize, I looked over that verse so many times, I looked over the study of the verse so many times, and still was blind to what it said. It made me sit for a second and think "what else have I mis-read? What else have I overlooked." ya know? I am very grateful for this learning experience though. I know, now, that when reading and studying God's word, I will start to pay more attention to the context and words that I am reading. Cause, I don't want to rearrange His words into my own. Cause my words aren't perfect, my words are crud. His words, however, His words are the real deal, y'all.