Now, that's leading captivity captive when you basically are sent there as an inmate,
but then you end up with the keys.
That is leading captivity captive.
Jesus Christ went there with the sins of the world.
That's how he went in, right?
But then he arose victorious, having conquered death and hell, and saying, I have the keys
of hell and of death.
And you know, when Jesus Christ, obviously the Bible doesn't talk a whole lot about this
subject as far as, you know, what that was like or give us a vivid description of that.
Obviously, there are lots of descriptions of hell, but there's not a ton of information
on Jesus while he was in hell, but here's what we know.
We know that when Jesus was in hell, he said that he had hope because he knew that his
soul would not be left in hell.
He said to the Father, thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.
Neither wilt thou suffer, thine holy one, to see corruption.
And of course, the Bible says that God raised Jesus from the dead.
Now, some people look at this and they get confused because they say, well, over here
it says that God raised Jesus from the dead and Jesus is relying on God saying, you're
not going to leave my soul in hell.
That's my hope.
But then other places, there are statements like where Jesus says, you know, I have the
power, you know, no man taketh my life from me, but I offer it up willingly.
I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it up again.
Or when Jesus said, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.
So we have a couple places where Jesus is saying, I will raise up this body.
I will resurrect from the dead.
I have the power to lay down and I have the power to raise it up again.
But then we have a lot of other scriptures that talk about God the Father raising up
Jesus from the dead.
Many places.
I'm not going to go through all of them for sake of time, but there are plenty.
So you know, what do we make of this?
And the Bible also involves the Holy Spirit in the resurrection.
Here's what I believe is that basically the resurrection of Christ was a collective act
of all three Father, Son and Holy Ghost that they collectively, right, resurrected Jesus
Christ from the Jesus.
I don't believe that Jesus just resurrected from the dead all by himself on his own because
otherwise, why does it say God raised him up?
Referring specifically to God the Father.
And also, why would he say thou wilt not leave my soul in hell if he basically is just going
to do it himself at any time?
If he just basically does it all on his own, then he wouldn't be saying thou wilt not leave
my soul in hell.
So I believe that it was, but I do believe him when he says I have the power to take
up my life again and I will raise it up.
But I believe that it was a collective thing where the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost
are all involved in the resurrection.
Which makes perfect sense because think about it.
When we do a baptism, it's in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost and
the baptism pictures the resurrection.
And so it makes sense that when you baptize someone, you're invoking the Father, Son and
Holy Ghost and that's the power that raised Jesus from the dead.
The power of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost that they all participated in the resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
And so I think it's dumb when people have these doctrines that say, oh well, you know,
when Jesus descended into the lowest parts of the earth, when Jesus was in hell for three
days and three nights, you know, he didn't suffer there.
He's just, he's just, it was just a, he's just a victory lap.
He's just enjoying it down there.
That doesn't make any sense because he's saying, I'm just glad I'm not going to be left here.
Thou will not leave my soul in hell.
That's my hope.
That's what is causing me to have joy that I know that it's going to end because God,
the Father is not going to leave me here.
And so if it's such a great place or if he's just down there just having a party and just,
he can just leave whenever he wants and he's just, you know, that doesn't make any sense
my friend.
He led captivity captive.
He started out as the captive and he led captivity captive.
He turned the tables.
He left with the keys of hell and of death.
And when Jesus was in hell for three days and three nights, it was not a picnic.
He was not down there having a picnic.
He was down there bringing the sins of mankind down to hell and conquering death and hell.
And he went there and people say like, well, he did everything on the cross.
Look, of course the cross is what's emphasized in the Bible.
Of course the gospel emphasizes the death on the cross.
But what about the burial and what about the resurrection?
You know, it's stupid when you try to cut up the gospel into little pieces and say,
well, which part really saves us?
Which part really paid for our sins?
Hey, I just, is there a box for all of the above?
Because that's what I'll take.
It's just as silly as when MacArthur said, you know, oh, it wasn't his blood that saves
us.
It's just his death.
It's the same thing when people say, oh, well, he did everything on the cross.
So that means he didn't do anything about our salvation in hell.
He didn't do anything to pay for our sins in hell because it was all done on the cross.
Folks, no, it wasn't all done on the cross because what about by his stripes were healed?
That wasn't on the cross.
That was before the cross, right?
I mean, didn't he have to be tried and mocked and flogged and wear the crown of thorns and
put on the purple robe and have the purple robe removed?
I mean, folks to sit there and say, well, it's all going to be on the cross.
Hey, the cross is the key thing.
That's the, that's the crux of this thing.
So guess what?
The virgin birth is part of the package.
How about Christ's sinless life?
Yes, the Bible says we're saved by his death.
We're saved by the cross.
We're saved by his blood.
But you know what else it says?
It says we're saved by his life.
So we're not just saved by his death.
We're saved by his life.
Well, which one is it?
The death of life?
It's both.
We're saved by his sinless life that he lived because that's the righteousness that got
imputed unto us.
But really specifically when it says we're saved by his life, that's specifically referring
to the resurrection.
And so to sit there and say, well, it was all finished on the cross.
What was finished?
Because he still had to resurrect.
So you got to get that finished in context.
And so Jesus Christ died and was buried and rose again.
Obviously that's the gospel on the back of a postage stamp.
If you want to get the short version, here's the short version.
Jesus died and was buried and rose again.
He died for our sins according to the scriptures.
That's the short version.
But the long version includes a lot more than that.
And the long version also includes the fact that while his body was buried, even though
this is not the big giant important thing that the Bible just keeps emphasizing, it's
still there that Jesus Christ during those three days and three nights descended into
hell and he said, I was dead and behold, I'm alive forevermore.
He did not just die a physical death.
He also died spiritually because of the fact that he didn't just die a physical death,
but he also faced the wrath of God for us.
Think about it.
I mean, those who are unsaved experienced God's wrath.
Jesus experienced that.
That's why he's even saying, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
That's why it became dark over the face of the earth.
He became sin for us and took the punishment of God and experienced the wrath of God.
And look, some people believe that he experienced the wrath of God somehow on the cross, that
he did all that on the cross.
And look, if people believe that, fine.
Okay.
But he certainly experienced the wrath of God for us.
And the Bible is crystal clear that he went down into hell for three days and three nights.
And it's also crystal clear that he was not having a picnic down there and that he's relying
on God, the father in some way, shape or form to not leave him there.
Okay.
And of course, all of the symbolism of the Old Testament points to this because you have
all the burnt sacrifices and burnt offerings and the offerings made by fire.
In fact, every single offering is made by fire.
All the animal sacrifices, it's a burnt offering in some way, shape or form because even the
ones where they ate it, they would burn the part that they didn't eat.
They would eat the meat.
Obviously, they don't burn the meat.
They're not doing occasion style, but they would eat the meat and then they would burn
the other part.
Or there was the whole burnt offering where the whole animal would be burnt.
And somebody who was trying to dispute this doctrine said, well, if Jesus Christ went
to hell for three days and three nights, why do we have no symbolism of that in the Lord's
Supper?
Where's the fire in the Lord's Supper?
And the thing about that is like, well, where's the virgin birth in the Lord's Supper?
Where's the resurrection in the Lord's Supper?
Where's the flogging in the Lord's Supper?
You know, it's just like, it's like, okay, the Lord's Supper is just pointing us to the
broken body of Christ and the blood of Christ, just pointing us to two things.
But what's so foolish about this anyway is the fact that there is fire in the Lord's
Supper anyway because of the baked bread.
Because you're not eating it raw.
You're not eating a raw dough.
It's not, you know what I mean?
It's been bacon in the oven with fire.
And so that falls apart pretty fast.
All the offerings in the Old Testament are made by fire.
That's a picture of the fact that Jesus Christ's soul went into the fires of hell for three
days and three nights and he paid for our sins.
Yes on the cross, amen.
But guess what?
There's a whole big process that he went through of the virgin birth, the sinless life, fulfilling
prophecy, going about doing good, preaching the Word of God, being beaten, being mocked,
standing before Herod, standing before Pilate, dying on the cross, sold the sins into hell,
conquers death in hell, resurrects through the collective power of Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost all working together to work about the resurrection.
He comes up from the grave.
He shows himself alive for 40 days.
He ascends up to heaven.
But it's not even done yet because it's not over yet because he ever liveth to make intercession
for us.
So daily he's pleading and praying for me as the song says.
And by the way, after Jesus rose from the dead, because he said, oh, you know, if you
think Jesus went to hell for three days and three nights, you're denying the blood atonement.
Folks, the blood makes an atonement upon the altar.
And guess when Jesus put the blood on the altar?
Not when he was on the cross.
When Jesus Christ died on the cross and shed his blood, he was buried and rose again.
And then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the mercy seat in heaven.
He ascended into heaven and sprinkled the blood in the mercy seat because the temple
down on earth is a replica, the tabernacle, rather, is a replica of what's in heaven.
So Jesus Christ actually took his literal blood up to heaven, sprinkled it on the mercy
seat seven times in heaven.
And the Bible teaches the blood of Christ is still there right now in heaven on the
mercy seat.
And that is the blood that guarantees our salvation right now.
It's up in heaven and it speaketh better things than that of Abel because Abel's blood cried
to the earth for vengeance.
Jesus' blood says being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that's in
Christ Jesus.
So Jesus' blood speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Abel's blood said revenge.
Jesus' blood says forgiveness, redemption.
And so therefore you can't just take it is finished and just run with it because Jesus
Christ is still up in heaven daily making intercession for us.
His blood had to be sprinkled on the altar.
He had to resurrect from the dead for crying out loud.
And so if you actually look up the word finished in the book of John where it's found, it's
used three other times in the book of John and it's always saying the same thing.
Gospel of John, I've finished the work which thou gave us me to do.
I'm here to do the will of the father and to finish his work.
Three times he talks about I'm going to finish his work, got to finish his work, finish his
work, gets up on the cross, says it is finished.
Hmm, I wonder what's finished.
Let the Bible interpret the Bible.
People want to just say, well, that means everything for your salvation had to be.
Well, is that?
No, because the resurrection, the blood, the sprinkling, the altar, all that.
And you know, the blood atonement, guess what the blood atonement is when he sprinkled on
the altar.
There's the blood on the altar to make an atonement for your souls.
It's just a semantics.
It's a word game.
Straw man.
You don't believe in the blood of atonement.
Who here believes that the blood of Jesus Christ is what saves us?
Put up your hand if you think the blood of Jesus Christ saves us.
Okay, put your hand up.
Who here thinks Jesus Christ's death on the cross saves us?
Okay, who here thinks is the resurrection that saves us, is that we're saved by his
life?
Well, can you guys figure out what you believe?
Because obviously it's all of these things and it's a foolish question is that which
one is it?
Which one is it?
You know, basically, you know, you got MacArthur on one side saying it's not the blood.
And then you got these bozos saying it's only the blood.
It's like, well, no, it's all of the above.
And it's a silly question to say which one is it?
Well, when exactly, what exact moment did he pay for our sins or which part is it?
Well, when he's getting flogged, he's paying for our sins, but not when he's descending
into hell.
It's like, well, you know, why don't you just read the Bible?
Just go by what the Bible says.
The Bible doesn't split these hairs.
And look, what do we emphasize when we're out soul winning?
We emphasize the death, burial, and resurrection.
But does that mean that we don't believe in everything else?
We believe all of it.
And so I'm not going to sit there and say, well, because one thing's emphasized, I'm
going to ignore the other thing.
You know, we believe the whole book.
We emphasize what God emphasizes, but we believe everything that the Bible teaches.
And so if you study Barak and you learn about this captivity captive concept from Barak,
and then you apply that to what Jesus did, it make perfect sense that Jesus Christ goes
from being the inmate in hell, the captive to leading captivity captive, walking out
of there saying, I have the keys of Helen of death.
Now I'm the warden.
Okay.
And that's leading captivity captive.
So anyway, I got to hurry up and finish.
I wanted to spend a little time on that because it's important, but jump back to judges five
and we'll quickly finish up here.