That’s right … Jesus went to hell when He died. Did you know that? Most people don’t. No, He wasn’t on vacation, but on a mission. Three days passed between the time Jesus died on the cross until He was resurrected from the grave. The devil had something Jesus needed to take away from him. Do you know what that was? And He did it for you and me. In the sermon below Dr. David Jeremiah addresses the subject.

Prior to this Satan had full rights and control over the soul of all mankind. We were his … lock, stock and barrel. But Jesus paid the price so that we could be ransomed and escape our destiny. He paid a price He did not owe. We owed a debt we could not pay. We needed help that only Jesus could offer us.

I am so thankful that Jesus was willing to pay the price I could not pay. Resurrection power is mine and it is available to you as well. If the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you (and me) we have the promise that He will quicken our mortal bodies … that death will have no sting or victory over us.

BTW, Who raised Jesus from the dead? Did God the Father do it? Did the Holy Spirit do it? Or did Jesus raise Himself from the dead? In studying the Scriptures you will find that all three of them did it. Want proof? … God the Father raised Christ from the dead — Ephesians 1:20, Acts 2:24, Romans 10:9, Galatians 1:1 … the Holy Spirit raised Christ from the dead — 1 Peter 3:18, Romans 1:4, Romans 8:11 … and Jesus raised Himself from the dead — John 2:19, 21 and John 10:18. Wicked men could kill His body, but they could not change His eternal nature or diminish His divine power. In John 10:17–18 Jesus says something that no mere mortal could ever say: “I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.” No one else in the history of the world has ever had the authority both to lay down his life and to raise it up again.

Yes, Jesus really did go to hell. He had no choice … not unless He would have summoned Satan to appear before Him … with the keys. I think God’s way worked out best. It always seems to. Satan and his demons know they are whipped and don’t stand a chance against God. But they don’t want us to know it.

There was once a man who witnessed the power that is in Jesus’s Name and wanted that power to use for his own selfish gain. So he tried using the name of Jesus. It didn’t work out quite the way he had anticipated. A demon from hell confronted him and said “Jesus I know and Paul (the Apostle) I know, but who are you?” And then the demon beat him unmercifully. He lived thru it, but you can bet he never tried that again. It is a dangerous and foolish thing to misuse the Name above every name.

You might ask … if God is more powerful than Satan why didn’t/doesn’t God simply kill (destroy) Satan and his demons? I will simply answer that for now by saying that God has a plan and a purpose in everything He does. I will write more about this at another time. The answer to it is quite interesting.