He descended into hell. The third day he arose again from the dead.
How many times have I acclaimed ‘well, that was hell’, or ‘I have been through hell and back?’
Of course, we use that as imagery – our human understanding of what hell is – the burning fire and unending torture, the eternal isolation from and deprivation of God. But let’s consider the understanding of the ‘hell’ that the Creed speaks of.
This hell, Sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek, was the word used to describe the abode of the dead. It’s important to remember that before Jesus’ resurrection, the gates of heaven, of paradise were closed and all those who died before the joy of the resurrection were waiting, waiting for Jesus to bring them into paradise, the dwelling place of God.
At this time, there was silence on earth. Jesus has died and was not among us. He had descended to hell as Saviour, proclaiming the Good News to those holy and just souls who were waiting there. Until that time, they were deprived of the vision of God. There is definitely a difference between this hell and the hell of the damned.
I like to take a moment at this time in the Creed to imagine the incredible joy that must have resounded as Jesus arrived in their midst and as the gates of Heaven opened and welcomed each and every one of them home.
After Jesus freed the souls awaiting Him, His soul united itself with His sacred Body that had lain in the tomb. He rose again of His own divine power. He possessed a gloried and risen body. When I proclaim these words of the Creed, I spend just a second trying to comprehend the impossible.
There’s a song by Mercy Me, ‘I Can Only Imagine’, that has me singing with my eyes closed every time I hear it. One of the versus goes like this:
”Surrounded by your glory, what will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you Jesus, or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence? To my knees will I fall?
Will I sing hallelujah? Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine. I can only imagine.”
When my finite time here on earth comes to an end and my forever begins, I imagine those words by Mercy Me. It is for this reason that Jesus rose again. For me. So I too can enter into Paradise.