O Death, Where Is Thy Sting?

The Harrowing of Hell

Preface

Christ is risen.

He is risen indeed.

Christ is indeed risen. But from whence has our Lord arisen? We testify that Christ is risen from the dead. But in our modern English manner of speaking that is not as clear as it would have been to our Jewish and Greek ancestors.

To say that Christ is risen from the dead, means more than just simply that Christ died and came back to life. When we say that Christ is risen, we understand that Christ is risen from Hades, from Sheol, from the underworld, the realm of the dead. The Lord Christ has risen from that dark prison and pit which has held the souls of all humanity captive for thousands of years. Our Lord descended, and ascended again.

For in saying that he ascended, he rose, what does it mean but that he also descended into the lower regions of the earth. He who descended (to Hades), is the one who ascended far above the Heavens, that he might fill all things (Eph. 4:9-10).

The Lord God told our first father Adam, that in the day in which he disobeyed and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he would die. The wages of sin is death – Spiritual separation from the presence of God, in whose presence alone is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore, imprisoned in the underworld.

Sheol has thus become place a great black darkness, where they lay in the land of the forgotten (Ps. 88:12) for thousands of years in the bonds of their imprisonment. Thus David says Their graves become their homes forever, and their dwelling places to all generations (Ps. 49:11). Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol; death is become their shepherd. Their form is consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell (Ps. 49:14).

And why? Because contrary to what many modern people think, and many funeral services indicate, death does not remove our sin. In our death our sin still remains.

And so the destiny of all men, from the beginning of the world has been to die, and to have their souls remain in the bonds of their dark imprisonment, being ruled over by Death’s strong bands.

Ethan the Ezrahite therefore asks in Ps. 89:48: What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?

Ps. 49 says, Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life for the sake of another; for the price of the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit (Ps. 49:7-9). Indeed, no mere man can ransom our souls from the pit.

But only the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the great salvation that the Scriptures have been looking toward. Not just earthly temporal deliverance from earthly tyrants, like Pharoah. But a great and mighty exodus of the souls of all God’s people from Sheol.

On this Holy Day of Easter, we celebrate that Our Lord delivered His soul, and the souls of all the Saints from the power of Sheol and Hades. So that now, when we die, our souls go directly to be with the Lord in Heaven. And that is why Jesus says He is the resurrection and the life. “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26). And for that we give thanks to God. Alleluia!

There is a long and venerable tradition in the history of the Church in which people have written fictional accounts of certain biblical stories and events, trying to add encouraging and imaginative details to the story of our redemption, in order to help the people of to internalize Scripture better.

It has been known as Pseudepigrapha. Today we might call it Christian Fanfiction. And there are a number of versions of this in the early church in which saints have written accounts about how they imagined what Christ’s descent into hell would have looked like.[1] And today, I want to follow in that same tradition, and tell you the story of what I think it could have been like when the Lord Jesus died and went down in his spirit to the realm of the dead, not to suffer the punishment of hell, but to proclaim liberty to the captive spirits who were held in prison, and how he set our forefathers free (1 Pet 3:18-19).

So journey with me to Sheol as we seek to understand this great mystery of our salvation, and the fulfillment of the Scriptures.

O Death, Where Is Thy Sting?

It was dark, as it had always been. But the darkness seemed deeper and colder and deader than before. There was an uneasiness in the stale motionless air. Something was happening, we could sense it, but we didn’t know what it was. Then suddenly there was an earthquake such as hell never has experienced. And a crash of thunder filled the hall of Hades. And there stood Satan, confounded as to how it is that he had been so transported from his lofty abode in heaven down to the pits of Sheol. (Luke 10:18).

The prince of Hell, Death himself approached Satan and asked him, “How are you fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn?” (Isa. 14:12) What does your unexpected presence here mean?”

“Certainly I must be here on account of the fact that I succeeded in my plan to kill Jesus of Nazareth,” Satan replied. “I have been awarded the opportunity to welcome his soul down into your impenetrable prison, and see our enemy vanquished once for all.”

As Satan and Death were thus conversing, a strange light began to fill the dungeon, and we could see one another. With much confusion as to what this could mean, one said one thing, and another something else. But the Prophet Isaiah spoke up, and began to encourage the people with the ancient words of his prophecy, saying,

 
The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
    on them has light shone. (Isa. 9:2)

And while we began to wonder for joy what this could mean, the light which shone upon us grew brighter. Then father Simeon came, and congratulating all the company, said, to us, “Glorify the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God. He is the one whom I took up in my arms when an infant in the temple, and being moved by the Holy Ghost, I said to him, and acknowledged, “Now mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel.”

Hearing this, all the saints who were in the depth of hell, began to rejoice.

Then came forth another saying, “Behold, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, John the Baptizer, prophet of the Most High. I went before his coming to prepare his way, to give the knowledge of salvation to his people for the forgiveness of sins. For I, John, when I saw Jesus coming to me, being moved by the Holy Ghost, I said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” And I baptized him in the Jordan River and saw the Holy Ghost descending upon him in the form of a dove, and heard a voice from heaven, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’

“And while I was going before him as His forerunner to tell the people of his coming up there on earth, my life was cut short by King Herod. And now I have come down here to tell you likewise, to prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. For the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. (Mark. 1:3; Matt. 3:2)

At this, John’s father Zechariah recounted the words of his benediction, when he spoke by the spirit saying:

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
    for he has visited and redeemed his people
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
    in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we should be saved from our enemies
    and from the hand of all who hate us;
to show the mercy promised to our fathers
    and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
    that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
    in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
    in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
    whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
    to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:68–79)

To this, all the caverns of hell began thus to shake with loud rejoicing, which only made Death confused and angry, for never have his prisoners ever had reason to rejoice. And thus Death began to deliberate with Satan as to what this could mean.

 
The Devil thus began to gloat saying, “Prepare to receive Jesus of Nazareth, he who boasted that he was the Son of God, and yet was a man afraid of death, saying, ‘My soul is sorrowful even to death.’ Look, here he comes to you lowly and afraid of your mighty power.

“This is the one who did many injuries to me and my demons, and to many others; for those whom I made blind and lame and those also whom I tormented with several devils, he cured by the power of his word; Even, those whom I brought down here dead to give to you, he has at times by force taken them away from you. But now he is here. Rejoice O Death, you mighty Prince of Hell! For our great adversary is vanquished, given over to our power.”

But at this, the Prince of Hell perked up, and asked the Devil with a shudder in his voice – “Who is this one, who is so-powerful a prince that he removes people from my grasp, and yet a man who you say is afraid of death? For all the kings of the earth are subject to my power, whom you have brought to my subjection by your power. But if this man be so powerful in his human nature, that he can wrest people from my domain from up there? – then I swear to you by the truth, that he is almighty in his divine nature, and no power can resist him."

“When therefore you heard him says that he was afraid of death, he designed to trick you, O Satan, for he knew that you, in your pride, would be so foolish as to kill him, who is the prince of Life. This will now be to your downfall for everlasting ages.”

Satan then replied to the prince of Hell, “Why do you express a doubt? What makes you afraid to receive this Jesus of Nazareth, both your adversary and mine? As for me, I tempted him and stirred up my old people the Jews with zeal and anger against him. I sharpened the spear for his suffering; I mixed the gall and vinegar, and commanded that he should drink it; I prepared the cross to crucify him, and the nails to pierce through his hands and feet; and now his death is near at hand, and look, I will bring him here to you, and he shall be subject both to you and me forever.”

But the Prince of Hell shook his head in disbelief, and with eyes wide with madness replied to the Devil, “You just now said to me, that he took away the dead from me by force. No one has the power to remove anyone from my grasp except almighty God.”

“Who then is that Jesus of Nazareth that by his word he has taken away the dead from me without prayer to God? Is this the same one who took Lazarus away from me after he had been four days dead, and did both stink and was rotten, and of whom I had possession as a dead person, yet he brought him to life again by his power?”

Satan, answering the prince of hell with a stupid and prideful grin, “It is the very same person, Jesus of Nazareth.”

When the prince of hell heard this, he shuttered, and said to Satan, “I adjure you by the powers which belong to you and me, that you do not bring him here to me! For when I heard of the power of his word, I trembled for fear, and all my impious company were at the same time disturbed; For we were not able to detain Lazarus, but he gave himself a shake, and with all the signs of malice, he immediately went away from us; and the very earth, in which the dead body of Lazarus was lodged, spat him out alive. And I was powerless to hold him thence.”

“You fool! I know now that this Jesus is Almighty God, for who could perform such things as this? He alone who is mighty in his dominion, and mighty in his human nature, who is the Savior of mankind! Bring not therefore this person hither, for he will set at liberty all those whom I hold in prison, and bound with the fetters of their sins, and he will deliver them to everlasting life.”

And while Satan and the prince of hell were discoursing thus to each other, all of a sudden, a voice as of thunder and the rushing of mighty winds was heard from within the depths of hell, saying,  

“Lift up your gate, O ye princes; and be ye lift up, O everlasting doors, that the King of Glory shall come in.” (Ps. 24:7)

When the prince of hell heard this, he thrust Satan away from him saying, “Depart from me, and begone out of my habitations; if you are such a powerful warrior as you boast, then go fight with the King of Glory. But what do you have to do with him?"

And he cast him forth from his habitations.

Then the prince began to shout orders to his impious officers, “Shut the brass gates of cruelty, and make them fast with iron bars, and fight courageously, lest we be taken captive.”

But when all the company of the saints heard this, they spoke with a single loud voice of anger to the prince of hell:

“Open thy gates that the King of Glory may come in!”

And at this the holy prophet and king David, cried out saying, “Was this not what I spoke of when I wrote:

‘Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
    and he delivered them from their distress.
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
    and burst their bonds apart.
Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,
    for his wondrous works to the children of man!
For he shatters the doors of bronze
    and cuts in two the bars of iron.’ (Ps. 107:10,14-16)

“Rejoice O Saints, for I wrote elsewhere saying, “God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol…(Ps. 49:15); And therefore I know now, that when I thus wrote that he will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let his holy one see corruption (Ps. 16:10), he spoke of the one to come. And behold, he is at the very door.

At this the Prophet Hosea was giddy with laughter, and spoke thus to Death and Satan saying,

“O death, where is thy victory?

O death, where is thy sting?”  (Hos. 13:14)

Then there was a great voice, as of the sound of thunder and mighty rushing water, saying again, “Lift up your gates, O princes; and be ye lifted up, ye gates of hell, and the King of Glory will enter in.”

And the Prince of Hell responded in despair, without a thought, “Who is this King of Glory?”

To which David, and all the Sons of Korah, replied in song,

 
“The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle!”

 
At this all the saints joined in with loud shouting, as if they knew the refrain from deep memory –

 
“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up ye everlasting doors; And the king of glory shall come in. Who is this king of glory? The Lord of Hosts! He is the King of Glory!

And immediately with these words, the brazen gates were shattered, and the iron bars broke in pieces, and all the locks and bolts of the ancient prison doors had become unfasted, and all those who were bound fast in prison, their shackles had fallen off.

And with his invincible power the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Glory appeared to those who sat in the deep darkness and the shadow of death, in the form of a Man.  

For He who said, ‘Let line shine out of darkness,’ shone in the darkness of Hades to give to those who sat in the darkness of the shadow of death the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4:6)

At this the Prophet Isaiah said:

Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
    my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
    he will bring forth justice to the nations.
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
    a light for the nations,
     to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
    from the prison those who sit in darkness. (Isa. 42:1-2;6-7)

The Lord there stood, as though it were his banner of salvation, holding the cross, the very weapon of his victory, still drenched in his blood.

 
The Prophet Zechariah spoke saying:

As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
    I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. (Zech. 9:11)

Immediately Hades cried out: “Woe is me. For I have lost. I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; I am Undone, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Glory! (Isa. 6:5) We have been conquered: woe to us!

“But who are you, Jesus of Nazareth, that has such power and might, that come here without sin? You who seem to be small and yet of great power, lowly and exalted, the slave and the master, the soldier and the king, who has power over the dead and the living?

 
“You were nailed on the cross, and were placed in the tomb; and now you are free of my power, while in my abode? How is it that you trample down death by death, and come to give life to all who were in the tomb, and have thus destroyed all our power. You are Jesus the Christ, the Lord and King of Glory.”

 And at the name of Jesus, death and the whole underworld bowed the knee. (Phil.2:10)

Then, without answering him a word, the King of glory seized Satan by the head, and delivered him to His angels, and said:

 
“With iron chains bind his hands and his feet, and his neck, and his mouth, that he might not deceive the nations any longer.” (Rev. 20:3). Then He delivered him to Hades, and said: “Take him, and keep him secure till my second coming.”

And as Satan was being taken away to be bound for a thousand years in the bottomless pit, the spirits of the Nephilim, known as the Shades, arose to meet him, to take him down to Tartarus. As the Prophet Isaiah predicted:

Sheol beneath is stirred up
    to meet you when you come;
it rouses the Shades to greet you,
    all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
    all who were kings of the nations.
 All of them will answer
    and say to you:
‘You too have become as weak as we!
    You have become like us!’
 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
    the sound of your harps;
maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,
    and worms are your covers.
“How you are fallen from heaven,
    O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
    you who laid the nations low!
 You said in your heart,
    ‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
    I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
    in the far reaches of the north;
 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
    I will make myself like the Most High.’
 But you are brought down to Sheol,
    to the far reaches of the pit.
 Those who see you will stare at you
    and ponder over you:
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
    who shook kingdoms,
 who made the world like a desert
    and overthrew its cities,
    who did not let his prisoners go home?’
 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
    each in his own tomb;
 but you are cast out, away from your grave,
    like a loathed branch,
clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,
    who go down to the stones of the pit,
    like a dead body trampled underfoot.
 You will not be joined with them in burial,
    because you have destroyed your land,
    you have slain your people. (Isa. 14:9-20)

And with that, Satan was ushed into the bottomless pit.

Then the Lord spoke to his people saying:

“In a time of favor I have answered you;
    in a day of salvation I have helped you;
I was kept by God, and have been given to you
    as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
    to apportion heritages to the desolate.

 And thus I say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
    to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’ (Isa. 49:8-9)

“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” (Isa. 60:1)

“I have not forsaken you, nor have I forgotten you. As a woman could not forget her nursing child, nor that she should have compassion on the son of her womb, neither have I forgotten you to have compassion on you.

“Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Let your children make haste, for your destroyers and those who laid you waste are no more to be found. Lift up your eyes and see. (Isa. 49:14-18)

For the Lord spoke of me in a vision to your godly ones, and said:

 “I have granted help to one who is mighty;
    I have exalted one chosen from the people.
 I have found David, my servant;
    with my holy oil I have anointed him,
 so that my hand shall be established with him;
    my arm also shall strengthen him.
 The enemy shall not outwit him;
    the wicked shall not humble him.
 I will crush his foes before him
    and strike down those who hate him.
 My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him,
    and in my name shall his horn be exalted. (Ps. 89:19-24)

And with words as old as creation, he then spoke saying, Adam, where are you (Gen. 3:9)? And finding him with his wife Eve, he stretched forth his right hand, and he lifted them up, and with his right hand, he put the sign of the cross on their foreheads. At this the Lord spoke secret words[2], which I did not at that time hear, but have been revealed elsewhere. And at these words, Adam responded saying:

 
 The Lord is my strength and my song;
    he has become my salvation.
 Glad songs of salvation
    are in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the Lord does valiantly,
     the right hand of the Lord exalts,
    the right hand of the Lord does valiantly!”
 I shall not die, but I shall live,
    and recount the deeds of the Lord.
 The Lord has disciplined me severely,
    but he has not given me over to death.
 Open to me the gates of righteousness,
    that I may enter through them
    and give thanks to the Lord. (Ps. 118:14 – 19)

And looking at his Son and his God, Adam bowed to Jesus, and kissing the wound in his side, said:

 This is the gate of the Lord;
    the righteous shall enter through it.
 I thank you that you have answered me
    and have become my salvation.
 The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone.
 This is the Lord's doing;
    it is marvelous in our eyes.
 This is the day that the Lord has made;
    let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Ps. 118:20– 24)

With that the whole of Hades was filled with shouts of praise saying:

 Save us, we pray, O Lord! Hosanna!
    O Lord, we pray, break us out! (Ps. 118:25)

The Prophet Hosea remembered the words he wrote saying:

I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol;
    I shall redeem them from Death. (Hos 13:14)

And with that, Christ ascended on high, leading a host of captives in his train (Ps. 68:18).

Upon bringing us to Heaven, the Angelic Hosts greeted us saying:

 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
    We bless you from the house of the Lord.
And all the captives rejoiced saying,
 The Lord Jesus is God,
    and he has made his light to shine upon us. (Ps. 118:26 – 27) Alleluia!

APPENDIX

The Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday

Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead.

Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated. For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

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[1] I have consulted and even quoted directly from the Gospel of Nicodemus in this work.

[2] See the Appendix to find out these words.