After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. 1 Peter 3: 19-22
The above passage in technically complicated but theologically important it also is another one of those passages that demand a reading of the Bible as a singular document and not just a grouping of literature tossed together. In the four verses quoted, we must deal with hell, angels, the pre-flood generation, baptism and the body resurrection of Jesus Christ and his ascension into heaven. I am only going to cover verse 19 in today’s blog.
Verse 19a is not hard to interpret. David Guzik is my favorite Bible commentator; I will simply quote his words from the Blueletterbible.org in reference to this passage. “Jesus did die in His body, but was raised from the dead by the Holy Spirit. Here, the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. It also tells us that the Father raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 6:4), and it says that Jesus raised Himself from the dead (John 2:18-22). The resurrection was the work of the Triune God.”
“He went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits” Jesus’ proclamation is the announcement in an eternal shift in character of mankind, and changed the operational nature of heaven and hell itself. This shift was not anticipated by the demonic world. “None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” 1 Corinthians 2:8 The rulers of this age could be applied to the earthly leaders of the time such as Herod and Pilate, but I do not believe that the verse is speaking about the earthly realm. My position is based on Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Herod, Pilate and the earthly rulers were nothing but instruments of their father the devil anyway.
The Proclamation of Authority
Jesus proclaims governing authority of the abode of the dead. The question of authority is answered in Revelations 1:18 “I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. “ Jesus is connecting his life death and resurrection to the authority over “death and Hades” Listen to one of the coolest aspects of this truth. The devil can’t even go home at without Jesus’ permission. Beyond being just fun to say, it speaks to this fundamental shift of authority that we as believers need to understand.
Jesus marks this shift when he says of the John the Baptist. I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." Luke 7:28. What is different is that death has been defeated. There were sections of abode of the dead that moved when Jesus finished his proclamation.
Luke 16 describes the compartments and the communication that went on between these sections of Hades. There is a conversation between Abraham and a rich sinner who was condemned because of his failure to believe Mosses and the prophets. Abraham says these words. ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ Luke 16:25-26.
This whole section of the abode of the dead moves locations when Jesus is making his proclamation, Ephesians 4:8 sings this truth to us. “ When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” The captivity that he lead captive was Abraham, Lazarus and the faithful Old Testament saints that included John the Baptist. It was a quick enough work that I believe it included the thief on the cross that Jesus promised “would be in paradise”
(Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) Ephesians 4: 9-10
This verse describes the beginning of a victory parade of Jesus the righteous that has its crowning glory in Colossians 2:15 “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” This verse separates the distinction between Old Testament saints and New. The Old Testament saint had an armed guard with keys to a prison that was controlled in death and blocked spirtual seeing and hearing for all but a few anointed people. New Testament saints are free from sin, the devil, and the fear of death. They are empowered to walk spiritually as naturally as they do physically.
Everything Adam lost Jesus won. The Old Testament saints did not have this, so many of us believers live a weak spiritual life fearing an enemy that has been defeated. It is because we think that we need to do something when Jesus did everything. Believing that is what gives us the victory. That is why this brief passage is so important to our spiritual life because... “the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Romans 5:15
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