“And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn our in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away” (Matthew 27:59-60).

In that quiet place, the stone having been rolled over the entry and sealed, Mary and Mary having observed, and now with soldiers sitting there, little was known that though the body of Jesus lay still in that rocky tomb, there was very much going on in the spirit.

I am no theologian–well, maybe I am. Given all my studies of the Scripture for forty-three years, maybe I am a bit of a Bible-scholar, eh? That said, I make no such claim. But I do think upon Scripture much, and when I read certain things, other things come to mind. That said, my mind goes to thinking what transpired during that span of time the corpse of Messiah laid wrapped up in cloth in Joseph’s grave.

I’ve taught on the theme of resurrection before in my Foundational Truths class. And in my teachings on Righteousness I’ve also covered briefly this multi-day period between Jesus’ death and His resurrection.

We all know the reason for the crucifixion. Christ died for our sins. He bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we being dead to sin might live to righteousness. Jesus gave His life a ransom for many. He not only bore our sin, but Paul teaches He became our sin. He became, as it were, a loathsome thing to God. He was punished by God with the punishment that was our punishment, that was our due on account of sin. I think most Christians understand this, at least the just of it.

Punishment for sin however does not mean simple, physical death. It means eternal banishment from God. It means forever in hell. It means you are forever cut off from God with no chance of returning. It means there is this chasm between you and God which cannot be spanned. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus is the mediator between the two of you, that He can bridge the gap–but that is a topic for another time. I speak about what was happening between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

What I mean to say is that in paying the penalty for our sin, the brutal and unimaginable pain of being crucified was not the end of it. In fact, it was not even the greatest suffering to be had by our Lord. No, the greater pain of all time and eternity was that of the Son–forever one with the Father, being cut off from the Father.

We breeze over the cry of Jesus from the cross when He said, “My God! My God! Why have You forsaken Me?” We cannot for a moment consider Jesus was just saying this to make sure He fulfilled the Scripture. No, He fulfilled the Scripture by being cut off from God, forsaken by the Father. Jesus Christ, the Son of God from all eternity; one with God, of the same essence as God, Himself the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, this One was at the moment of crucifixion, separated from God. He experienced in real time what every man, woman, and child will experience when their time comes and they have not been reconciled to God. Banished from God. No, His cry was a real one. He, in agony no man could ever imagine, truly questioned the Father: “Why have You forsaken me? Why? Oh, why? “

Yet He did not give up His faith. He said, “Into Your hands I commit my spirit.” And, “It is finished.” Meaning to say, “I’ve done what you commanded Me to do.” “I’ve born the punishment due these, and as the worst part, I am banished from You.”

If we believe in the atonement at all, and are at all familiar with the Scripture, we know it did not end there–the punishment, I mean. No, what awaits all men apart from God is not only physical death, and not only an eternal separation from God, but assignment to the dungeons of the damned, the garbage heap of humanity–Hades, or hell as we would know it. To pay the penalty for our sin, fully pay it, Jesus had to go to hell.

Now this is where I might be a little theologically unclear. Maybe that is because the theology itself is unclear. But the trusted creeds tell it this way, and I believe Scripture supports it, if not outright describes it.

It is written that, “He ascended”–as in the resurrection, but then says, “what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?’ And, in another place, “You will not abandon My soul to Hades”–that is to say, “You will not leave Me in hell.”

I think the kingdom of darkness thought it had clinched the deal upon the death of Christ and His being forsaken by the Father. They had Him now. Now the whole earth, their domain then and even now, was theirs and would be forever uncontested. They had Him in their clutches. I’m thinking, just speculating because I don’t really know, that Jesus must’ve experienced at least a taste of that awful place: He had to experience what all lost souls indeed will experience, if He were to fully pay the price, to fully “taste death for every man”.

But Death nor that dark kingdom could not hold Him (Acts 2:24). No, instead He stripped them of their powers. He made some declarations, some proclamations to them there in that prison (1 Peter 3:18-20). And then, wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, the Power of God showed up, the glory of the Father, the Holy Spirit. And He yanked Him up from that God-awful place. He was innocent. He was the Son of God. The Father said, in effect, “No way, Jose!” On His way up, He laid hold of those held captive. He disarmed the rulers and the authorities; He made a public display of them (Colossians 2:15). The timing was such that upon His being snatched up by the Holy Spirit, His spirit was reunited with His body and, lo and behold! The resurrection!

Again, I am speculating as to some of this. Not one of us knows for certain what happened during that time Jesus body lay in the tomb. But we get glimpses. And we know He fully paid the penalty for our rebellion against God.

“The Lord (that is, the Father) was pleased to crush Him (Jesus), putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord (the Father) will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He (the Father) will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant (Jesus), will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great; and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:10-12).

The thing to learn from all this is that it was of God. The Father was pleased to crush Him. In observing the anguish of Jesus’ soul, the Father would be fully satisfied. Jesus would bear our iniquities and, by this, make us right with God.