REALLY PUZZLING!
This is really puzzling. Why while in the grave, would Jesus go to hell and preach to the people of Noah’s day? They are already dead, was he giving them another chance to be saved? What did Peter Mean when he said Christ preach “to the spirits in prison . . . in the days of Noah”
This series addresses the concerns we all have: the concern for sin, evil, death, dying, and what happens after we die. Is there hope after death? When God created us, humans, he intended for us to live forever in a loving, peaceful relationship with him. But this relationship has been broken by sin.
Here, we address the origin of sin and look more closely at death and dying.
But, instead of looking at death negatively, we look at it in the context of hope, the promised hope based on what Jesus did for us when he died and came back to life again.
From the Sabbath School Adult Bible Study Guide 2022 Quarter 4: Sabbath.School (See also Hope Sabbath School and 3ABN Sabbath School)
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Let’s invite the Spirit of God
Heavenly Father, wisdom and understanding comes from you. Open our minds so that we may comprehend your word.
In Jesus’ Name Amen
Peter in 1 Peter 3:13-20 talks about Christ preaching “to the spirits in prison” in the days of Noah.
How did Jesus preach “to the spirits in prison . . . in Noah’s day when he was building the ark/the boat to escape the flood?
Peter 3:13–20
13 And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?
14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.”
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.
17 For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
18 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,
19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,
20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. (1 Peter 3:13–20)
Reading this could lead one to think that the spirit continues to live on after the body dies. Is Peter saying that Jesus visited hell while he was still in the grave and preached to the spirits of the people who lived before the Flood?
What’s puzzling is that if Peter meant that Jesus literally preached to the spirits of the people in Noah’s day it contradicts the Bible’s teaches related to getting additional chances to be saved after we die as in Hebrews 9:27, 28.
27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. (Hebrews 9:27, 28)
So, the question is why would Jesus preach to people who have no chance to be saved?
Even more, Jesus preaching to the dead spirits in hell in Noah’s day doesn’t match the Bible’s teaching that the dead are asleep in an unconscious state in the grave and will not be awakened until Jesus returns to wake all those sleeping in the grave, some to condemnations and some to everlasting life as in
John 5:28, 29
28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:28, 29)
In other words, those sleeping in the grave are not conscious of what is going on around them. Similar to us, we are not aware of what is going on around us when we are asleep. However, different from us, their morning comes when Jesus wakes them from the dead when he returns to this earth.
In the meantime, the following text lets us know that the dead do not interact with the living, nor do they interact with one another.
This is a false conception that Satan has perpetuated down through the ages “you will not surely die” as spoken Genesis 3:4
Job 14:10-12
10 But man dies and is laid away; Indeed he breathes his last And where is he?
11 As water disappears from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dries up,
12 So man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, They will not awake Nor be roused from their sleep. (Job 14:10-12)
Psalms 146:4
4 His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish. (Psalms 146:4)
Ecclesiastes 9:5
5 For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten. (Ecclesiastes 9:5)
Ecclesiastes 9:10
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going. (Ecclesiastes 9:10)
I Corinthians 15:16-18
16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.
17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. (I Corinthians 15:16-18)
I Thessalonians 4:13-15
13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. (I Thessalonians 4:13-15)
It is evident the dead are in an unconscious state sleeping in the grave until Jesus comes.
I know, I know, “but so and so says”. But what does the Bible say?
Well, could Peter have been referring to the fallen or evil angels who had been disobedient in Noah’s day?
Hardly, for the Bible speaks of the evil angels as still disobedient today according to Ephesians 6:12
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)
I Peter 5:8
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (I Peter 5:8) (Split)
Jude tells us that “6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;” (Jude 1:6).
Therefore, these evil angels have no chance to be saved. (Split)
This is puzzling! So, what did Peter really mean?
Notice that in 1 Peter 3 the “spirits in prison” of verse 19 are identified in verse 20 as the “disobedient” people in the “days of Noah.”
Therefore, we should understand that the “spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:19) are “the people” (1 Peter 3:20) in Noah’s day that God was trying to save.
Hence, the word written as “spirit” in 1 Peter 3:19 means living people who can hear and accept God’s offer to be saved.
The words “in prison” is symbolic it is referring to the prison of sin, not a literal prison. Read more about this prison of sin in Romans 6:1–23; Romans 7:7–25).
So then, how did Jesus preach to the people who lived before the Flood? Jesus preached to them through Noah who was divinely instructed by God as in Hebrews 11:7
7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. (Hebrews 11:7)
And II Peter 2:5
5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;
(2 Peter 2:5).
It was not Peter’s intent to instruct on what happens when we die. What Peter wrote was written in the context of what it means to be faithful servants of God.
God granted [the antediluvians] the people of Noah’s day one hundred and twenty years of probation, and during that time preached to them through Methuselah, Noah, and many others of His servants. Had they listened to the testimony of these faithful witnesses, had they repented and returned to their loyalty, God would not have destroyed them. . .
“For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” Christ was engaged in this warfare in Noah’s day. It was His voice that spoke to the inhabitants of the old world in messages of warning, reproof, and invitation. He gave the people a probation of one hundred and twenty years, in which they might have repented. But they chose the deceptions of Satan, and perished in the waters of the Flood.—Ellen G. White Comments, in The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 1, p. 1088. (Split)
Now that that has been cleared up. If the dead are asleep in an unconscious state, how can the dead who was killed for the sake of preaching Jesus cry out from under the altar? Find out, Day 6 The Souls Under the Altar
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