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What Did Jesus Do During the Three Days After the Cross? – LIVE Q&A for March 28, 2024

What Did Jesus Do During the Three Days After the Cross?

This week, Pastor David’s lead question comes from Liz in South Africa via Facebook:

Good day Pastor Guzik, I take my grandchildren for Bible study each week. They asked me what Jesus did for the 3 days between His Crucifixion and His resurrection. Can you please direct me to one of your teachings on this?

Liz, I don’t think we can be entirely clear about this. I’m going to tell you two things that I think Jesus did in that time between the yielding of His life off on the cross and when His resurrection was made evident on Sunday morning.

I’m not going to get into the whole, “on what day did Jesus die and how could it have been three days and three nights in the grave” thing unless someone specifically asks.

I would say that Jesus did at least two things in that period between the cross and the resurrection:

Jesus preached a message of condemnation and judgment to imprisoned spirits.
Jesus preached a message of freedom and liberation to those who had died in the faith and were waiting for the completion of their salvation accomplished by the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

1 Peter 3:18-20a: The Message of Condemnation and Judgment to Imprisoned Spirits

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient,

[19] He went and preached to the spirits in prison: Apparently this work was done in the period after Jesus’ death but before His first resurrection appearance to the disciples. Jesus went to Hades – the abode of the dead – and preached to the spirits there.

[19] Spirits in prison: Though some have regarded these spirits as human spirits, it is more likely that they were demonic spirits. We know that their disobedience was in the days of Noah (1 Peter 3:20). We have evidence that this was a time of gross sin for both demons and humans when there was an ungodly mingling of humans and demons (Genesis 6:1-2).

[19] Preached to the spirits in prison: We also don’t know exactly why Jesus preached to these imprisoned spirits. In all probability this was preaching (the proclamation of God’s message), but it was not evangelism (the proclamation of good news). Jesus preached a message of judgment and final condemnation in light of His finished work on the cross to these disobedient spirits.

In doing this there was a completion in Jesus’ triumph over evil, even the evil that happened before the flood. The Bible says that even those under the earth must acknowledge Jesus’ ultimate Lordship. Here Jesus was announcing that fact: “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth” (Philippians 2:10).

Peter did not say that Jesus preached the gospel of salvation to the imprisoned spirits.
Instead, Jesus announced, proclaimed His triumph over evil. That was bad news for them, but it would be good news – comfort and encouragement – to the suffering Christians that Peter first wrote to.

“What His message was we are not told. Why only those disobedient in the days of Noah are mentioned is not stated. What the purpose or result of Christ’s preaching was, is not revealed. On all these points we may form our own conclusions, but we have no authority for anything approaching dogmatic teaching.” (Morgan)

1 Peter 4:6: Jesus Preached a Message Liberation to Those Who Had Died in Faith

For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

[6] For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead: Peter also says that because of this eternal judgment the gospel was preached to the dead. The righteous dead know and live on in constant awareness of the reality of eternity – and are rewarded by this understanding as they live according to God in the spirit.

Peter has already told us that Jesus preached to the spirits in prison, preaching a message of judgment (1 Peter 3:19). Apparently during this same time Jesus also preached a message of salvation to the faithful dead in Abraham’s Bosom (Luke 16:22) who anticipated the work of the Messiah for them. This preaching to those who are dead was not the offer of a second chance, but the completion of the salvation of those who had been faithful to God under their first chance.

In some sense, Jesus “shut down” the part of Hades of blessing, comfort, and refreshment. But the area of Hades reserved for torment is occupied until the final judgment.

In doing this, Jesus fulfilled promises:

That He would lead captivity captive (Psalm 68:18 and Ephesians 4:8)
That He would proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound (Isaiah 61:1 and Luke 4:18).

Two Things Jesus Did Not Do in the 3 Days Between Crucifixion and Resurrection

Jesus did not stay in Hades. Jesus was in Hades after His death on the cross, but He did not remain there. According to Acts 2:25-32, Jesus could not remain there.
Jesus made no atonement in Hades; the price was already paid on the cross (John 19:30) when Jesus suffered in His physical body (Colossians 1:19-22). Jesus went to Hades as a victor not as a victim.

Three Days and Three Nights – Does it Have to Mean 72 Hours?

Jesus said in Matthew 12:40:

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.

In the minds of many people, this means that Jesus specifically said that He would be in the tomb for 72 hours – three 12-hour days, and three 12-hour nights, adding up to 72 hours. In addition, Peter said in Acts 10:40 that Jesus was raised on the third day, not “after three days.” Repeatedly, the gospels said Jesus would be raised from the dead the third day (Matthew 16:21, 17:23, 20:19; Mark 9:31, 10:34; Luke 9:22, 13:32, 18:33, 24:7, 24:21, 24:46). Almost all these references are the words of Jesus Himself. Do these contradict with the period described by the phrase three days and three nights?

Literally – taking the words just as they are – three full days and three full nights would mean at least 72 hours. On the third daycould mean as little as 26 hours (a portion of one day, a full second day, a portion of a third day). Again, do the words of Matthew 12:40 contradict either what actually happened, or the phrase on the third day?

If Jesus was put in the tomb in the late afternoon of Friday, and His resurrection was revealed after daybreak of Sunday, that would add up to some partial days and nights along with some full days and nights, and maybe even less that 40 total hours (say from 4pm Friday to 6am Sunday).

However, there is clear evidence from Jewish writings from the general time of Jesus that the expression “x-days and x-nights” was a figure of speech that could refer to any portion of a day or a night. One could refer to the same event happening three days and three nights and happening on the third day without any contradiction.

We are familiar with figures of speech; we use the all the time. When we say that two baseball teams are going “head to head,” we don’t mean that they will actually battle by one team banging their skulls against the skulls of the other team.

Or, today in social media we may speak of someone being “cancelled.” We mean that they are removed or restricted from some social media platform – but 100 years in the past or 100 years in the future, people might wonder if the phrase “they were canceled” meant that they were murdered!

These figures of speech are clear to us, but they might not be clear to someone 100 years in the past or 100 years in the future. We face some of that same challenge with ancient figures of speech, and it’s really helpful when we have ancient writings that explain these ways of speaking.

Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah (around the year AD 100; cited in Clarke and other sources) explained this way of speaking when he wrote:

“A day and a night make a whole day, and a portion of a whole day is reckoned as a whole day.”

This demonstrates how in Jesus’ day, the phrase three days and three nights did not necessarily mean a full 72-hour period, but a period including at least the portions of three days and three nights. There may be other good reasons for challenging the traditional chronology of Jesus’ death and resurrection, but it is not necessary to fulfill the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:40.

In addition to that, there are some biblical examples where a portion of a day is referred to as a whole day, or where the phrasing “after two of days” (or whatever number) is understood to mean “on the second day.”

The Scriptures contain several examples which clearly show that in Bible times a part of a day was often equivalent to the whole day.

Genesis 42:17 says Joseph incarcerated his brothers for three days. Genesis 42:18-26 says he released them on the third day. It is unlikely that in prison in three days in 42:17 must mean a minimum of 36 hours.
1 Samuel 30:12 and 13, the phrases three days and three nights and three days are used interchangeably.
Esther 4:16 says that Esther fasted for three days, night or day before appearing before the king. Esther 5:1 says that Esther went before the king on the third day.
In 2 Chronicles 10:5 Rehoboam told Jeroboam to come back after three days. In 10:12, it says that Jeroboam returned to Rehoboam on the third day, and he did this as the king had directed. Because of the figures of speech used at the time, when Rehoboam said, “come back after three days,” Jeroboam rightly understood this as “on the third day.”
It’s kind of complicated, but the same figure of speech was used by Cornelius when he said Four days ago I was fasting until this hour in Acts 10:30. When you dig into the chronology, the event happened about 72 hours (three literal days) earlier. Yet Cornelius, using the figures of speech common in his time, spoke of it as four days.

What exactly made Jesus endure the cross? How did He defeat death, yet He died?

This question has been the cause of much theological meditation. The Bible makes it very clear that Jesus defeated death at the cross. But how did that work? What is it that He defeated? Here’s my understanding of it. Jesus defeated death because death overstepped its bounds in coming after Him. Death had no claim on Jesus because He was sinless. He was born with a sinless nature, just like Adam and Eve were initially created without a sinless nature. This is difficult to comprehend because it sounds so far from us, but it’s true. Jesus never once sinned in His entire life. When death came at Jesus, He had to yield Himself to death. But nevertheless, death took Him when He did yield Himself to it. Death overstepped its bounds. Through the power of His resurrection, death had no claim on Jesus, because death had no claim over a sinless life. Therefore, Jesus was able to sort of turn the principle of death against itself and conquer over death. That’s why the Bible says that Jesus is the first fruits of the resurrection. He’s the trailblazer, the forerunner. All God’s people, who have put their faith in Jesus Christ – in who He is and what He did especially at the cross and in His resurrection – are born again by God’s Spirit, and they will share in the glory of Jesus’ resurrection.

That’s the best way I can describe how Jesus defeated death, even though He died. He did it in a way that sort of trapped or ensnared death, causing the principle of death to overstep its bounds. It seems that God was determined to do this in a proper way. In our imagination, God could just make a decree against death and say that it’s no longer valid. But something like that would have fallen short of fulfilling God’s righteousness in the fullest extent. God is concerned not only to do things, but to do things in a way that are according to His own righteousness and character.

Did Judas have any chance for repentance, or was he doomed because he was always a hypocrite towards Jesus?

Good question. In theory, Judas had a chance for repentance, but not in practice. This is apparent because Jesus called Judas “the son of perdition.” Perdition is not a word we use very much today, but it means “destruction,” and usually destruction in the sense of judgment. In Hebrew phraseology, to call somebody “the son of” something meant that they were totally and completely identified with that thing. Therefore, when Jesus called Judas “the son of perdition,” He was saying, “This man is the embodiment of destruction of judgment and even damnation.”

Based on that description of Judas, I would say there was no chance for repentance for Judas. But in theory, Judas could have repented. In theory, Judas could have done what Peter did. There’s a sense in which both Peter and Judas denied Jesus. Now, of course, Judas’ crime was significantly worse. Peter didn’t betray Jesus in the way that Judas did. But there’s at least some similarity to the sins of Peter and Judas in denying Jesus. But Peter repented. Judas was filled with remorse and regret, but never really repentance. It’s possible for a person to be sorry about their sin, without truly being sorry for their sin. So, there’s a big difference between Judas and Peter in that regard.

How do we explain Jesus dying on Friday and resurrected on Sunday as three days and three nights?

I had a feeling this question might come up because tomorrow is Good Friday. Today is a Maundy Thursday, the day we recognize as when Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. Tomorrow would be Good Friday, the day we recognize as when Jesus was crucified. There are people who dispute this traditional chronology about the day of Jesus’ death. They usually don’t dispute the day of His resurrection. When they dispute the day of Jesus’ death, they do it because they feel they have to accommodate the period of time of three days and three nights. This is what Jesus said in Matthew 12:40, “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.” In the minds of many people, this means that Jesus specifically meant three days and three nights, adding up to 72 hours. They would argue to accommodate three full days and three full nights, otherwise they’d assume Jesus’ words were not true.

So, were His words in Matthew 12:40 a problem? In many other places, Jesus said that He would be raised from the dead on the third day. Three days and three nights makes it sound like it would be after three days, so if you have three 24-hour days, and then Jesus is raised again, He would actually be raised on the fourth day, not on the third day. But Acts 10:40 says that Jesus was or would be raised from the dead on the third day, which is repeatedly mentioned in the gospels.

Therefore, we have to ask ourselves, does the traditional chronology contradict three days and three nights? And is the idea of resurrection on the third day contradicted by the idea of three days and three nights? Does it mean a literal 72 hours? Taking the words literally, three full days and three full nights would mean something like 72 hours. However, “on the third day” could mean as little as 26 hours, as you could have an hour in one day, 24 hours of the second day, and then an hour in the next day. Conceivably, “on the third day” could mean as little as 26 hours. So, is there a contradiction, either with a traditional chronology or between the statements “three days and three nights” and “on the third day”?

There is clear evidence from Jewish writings from that general time that the expression “X number of days and X number of nights” was a figure of speech that could refer to any portion of a day or a night, so a person could refer to the same event happening across three days and three nights and happening on the third day without any contradiction. It’s possible because it was a figure of speech. We have our own modern figures of speech that may not have been clear to earlier generations. There is an ancient writing by Rabbi Eliezer ben Azariah from around the year 100 AD which has been cited by Adam Clark, Bishop Lightfoot, and many other sources. It explains this way of thinking about a day and a night making a whole day, and a portion of a whole day also being reckoned as a whole day. He’s explaining the figure of speech.

So, this demonstrates how in Jesus’ day, the phrase three days and three nights did not necessarily mean a full 72-hour period, but a period that included at least a portion of three days and three nights. Now, there may be other good reasons for challenging the traditional chronology of the crucifixion of Jesus, saying that Jesus was crucified on Thursday instead of Friday. But I think there is very sound evidence that Jesus’ words in Matthew 12:40, that He would be in the earth three days and three nights, would allow for being crucified on Friday, dead for a portion of Friday, all day Saturday, and a portion of Sunday. It fits with that figure of speech.

What do you think of certain “seeker sensitive” churches refusing to speak of the blood or the cross this weekend, because it offends visitors?

In American culture, Easter is a day when many people who wouldn’t normally go to church are willing to visit a church. It’s a great day for evangelism. When you know that you’re speaking to people who don’t yet believe, you want to be careful to avoid using Christian jargon without explaining it. But I would certainly agree that we must be direct and passionate in speaking about the cross and what Jesus Christ did. Paul said to the Corinthians, “I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” We must be clear that salvation does not come to humanity through the excellent teaching of Jesus, by teaching of the nobility of His humanity, or by teaching of the martyrdom that He made by a good example on the cross.

No, salvation comes through His sacrificial death. It was a sacrifice in the place of guilty sinners, but what Jesus achieved on the cross was valid and true in so many dimensions. The primary dimension is that He died in the place of sinners, but that’s not the only dimension at all. This needs to be preached with power and passion, especially at an opportune time like Easter Sunday.